in between having to hit the couch--it's a cool and very damp day here and the fibro is in full spate. So between aches and pains and fatigue, sewing was the only thing I thought was going to get me off the couch. But I had to post pics of my current work-in-progress! It's consuming me, and it's not like anything I else I do or have done, except maybe that it's got elements of everything else I do in it.This began life as fabric for an obi (I think), which I won at an auction. This is one panel, which is quilted onto several other layers. The cranes are trapunto, and there's some beading on the flowers, maybe more to come.
So the left side and top are not at all finished. The existing corner is just sitting in place and may get rethought yet, as I finish the other two sides. You can't see how dimensional the sides are, but they're stuffed and beaded with onyx, with the bead stitching compressing the tubes into irregularity and the semblance of braiding? Rope? They're about an
inch and a half thick when they're attached. Then there are the stuffed silk and Venise lace borders, in an olive green and a coppery orange with the lace overlaying them. They're about half as thick as the tubular frame parts.
The corners are crocheted wire with more onyx and some great freshwater pearls. The one that's showing has then been set in two concentric beds of pleated/gathered silk.
This is very baroque, not at all my usual style, and puzzling because of it. But the formality of the Japanese fabric seems to demand it; it's not at all what I thought I was doing with this piece when I started it. Odd, the way that works.
More from Diane aka ExcessRUs as I finish this bit of insanity!
4 comments:
It's delightful, Diane. What are the storks carrying in their mouth? What do you see as the final format of the work--a wall piece or integrated into something else? If a wall piece, have you considered how you might bury strainers to keep it square?
I like the sculptural quality of the "frame" and it is indeed baroque in its whimsical freedom from rigid repetition. (Love the color, too; the whole combination is very Whistlerian.) The corner you show is texturally different from the main piece, and more formal. I will be interested to see how you resolve the tension between it and the rest of the piece. I would be happiest if you didn’t repeat it, but that’s your call.
We art teachers are prone to tell our students to not fear veering off in new directions. It’s wild oscillation at first, but eventually you’ll settle down into some steady state, and you’ll have grown in the process.
Are you familiar with the work of Sonia Delaunay? She did some really interesting tapestries with embroidery on silk, very graphical, very modern in a ‘30s kind of way. Danged if I can find an example online but perhaps your local library might have a book.
I saw an incredible beader one time who worked with a lot of Victorian tchotchkes like little hands, jet, worn clock faces, etc, all tied together in tight little crocheted wire nets so you walked away with the sense of having visited a dusty memory. I wish I’d bought something (and I almost never say that). I can see your work ending up being about common memory, incorporating both folklore and your own ideas. It makes me wish you could study sculptural écorché somewhere. Also, if you ever have the time and interest, I know a truly brilliant textile surface designer, Jane Bartlett, who occasionally teaches. Her store website is here: http://www.janellenb.com/.
I am going to add a link to your blog on mine. Many blessings on this new venture. (It's cold and damp here in Rochester too...)
And check this out:
http://dev.surfacedesign.org/members-websites.php
I've given them gold pearls to carry--not sure if they're eggs, food, or nesting materials, but they seemed to go.
Thanks for your feedback. Sometimes I'm painfully aware of the social vacuum I exist in much of the time, and that's hard, although I frequently love the lack of distractions that allows me to work--despite the pain and fatigue. I'm thinking about your observations and suggestions.... Oh, and looking up your references--interesting....
Well, since it's a Japanese stork, I don't think the golden egg is a symbol of fertility, but beyond that, mythology and folklore and imagery are your thing, not mine!
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