I made some macrame ornament gifts for our niece who recently moved to New Zealand.
I used yarn from her grandmother’s stash to make the tree. Even the large green bead was from her grandmother’s craft stash. Her grandmother died in 2011. I thought it would be a nice connection.
I documented the ornaments on a piece of canvas. When I shot detail images of the snowflake an odd thing happened.
This is the same image rotated 180º.
While reorganizing my garage studio space I found one of my Egyptian Paste test pieces had apparently been used as a hotel for mice.
The mice managed to get in the garage and found all of the dried and drying plant materials sustaining.
When I was cleaning the space after the mice were relocated, it didn’t occur to me that I should look through the boxes of pieces stored in the space.
The box was constructed of hardware cloth and Egyptian paste. After firing the box, it was lined with black nylon and bound closed with strips of the same fabric. The fabric was dipped in diluted wood glue and hit with a heat gun, for a shrink wrap effect. I like that nylon can look like a skin, exposing the structure under it.
I have posted about this piece in the past. Pleased that the pieces have not developed a light coating of sodium.
The pieces were constructed of hardware cloth, some had the addition of nails.
The Egyptian paste was used like spackle and the lot fired to cone 015.
What to do with the mouse house? I am leaning toward popping it someplace, out of the way, in the garden.
Quote Used–Be Yourself; everyone else is already taken.
On a bazillion sites the quote is attributed to Oscar Wilde. According to Wilde folks, he did not write it or say it.
Top Portion–Be Yourself;>
I layout out the code multiple ways to make sure that I really want to use it. I often use an old version of Flash to layout my projects. I like Flash because I make symbols and it is easy peasy to replace them.
The code is based on Morse Code.
Left to Right–Dot, Spacer, Dash
Center Section is Bargello Embroidery
Bottom Portion–Everyone else is already taken.
Completed Piece
Border in rust yarn is based on tap code. The code is–Not an Oscar Wilde Quote
Tap code is a 5 x 5 code with k and c the same code.
The hanger is not a rod it is a piece of tubing that showed up after my husband did an annual on his Cessna. I believe is used for the brake lines.
I stitched on a layer of grey felt to the back of the piece to prevent seeing the wall through, but also to add a sleeve for the hanger (based on quilt hangers), and to add a pocket. The pocket is for notes on the piece. It is common for me to forget the quote used in a piece. Find myself needing to read the code to figure out the quote. The plan is to pop the information on the code and decisions made into the pocket.
Quote from Return to Montauk
“There are only two things that matter…There’s the thing you did that you regret; the thing that cannot be undone. And then there is the thing that you did not do, that you should have done that you regret too. But it is too late now.”
I condensed it to–The thing you did that cannot be undone. The thing you did not do, that you should have done. And the word, Regret.
Layout
Body Blocks
Body Dash Block
Materials
Tree wrap (1.25″ x 1.75″), bamboo (1″ x 1.25″), fiber, and safety pin.
Regret Blocks
Regret is an act of perseveration. If left unchecked, it can alter and erode a life. It can become a darkness.
Regret Dash Block
Materials
Tree wrap (1.25″ x 1.75″), roofing felt (1″ x 1.25″), fiber, and safety pin.
Bargello Embroidery
Too Busy and Cannot See the Bargello Stitch
Bargello with Birthdates in Code
Thought adding coded birthdays to Bargello design would be fun. It is too busy. Difficult to read the code and the Bargello design.
First Version Lucky Penny
There is a piece of tree wrap stitched to the back.
The piece is too small for the card.
Completed Greeting–Lucky Penny
Detail of Lucky Penny Code
Dark Brown is used for dots, tan for dashes, cream is used for spacers. The code it stitched in vertically–first column is L, second U…
Detail of 1960 Lucky Penny
Card Interior Label
Greeting Ready for Shipping
A piece of foam is tucked inside to support the weight of the embroidered piece.
The card is wrapped with two layers covering the embroidered piece with the penny.
The Morning Glories were grown from harvested seed.
The Morning Glories needed more space for growth.
Knew the cotton and jute Icords would come in handy, some day.
A patch of volunteer Morning Glories.
For nearly two months my Bowiea was just a bulb. No growth. In the past before one section died back another was sprouting.
This morning the bulb looked like this–
Removed Plant from Medium 2020 July 27
Eraser Used to Clean Up
Spent Stems
Used the Spent Stems With Tan Wool Yarn to Make an Icord
Stitched the Icord Together to Make a Small Vessel
The plant is vining so I rotate it a couple of times a day.
The Bowiea flowers are quite small, but lovely.
New Growth 2020 October 26
South African National Biodiversity Institute–PlantZAfrica
Knit and Fulled Memory Pieces in Progress
After the pieces dry, code will be added, and an application of a stiffener.
The pieces were mostly loom knitted, partially fulled by hand, then popped in the dryer on high heat with a pair of old sneakers.
Loom knitted bowl on 72 peg round loom with two strands of wool yarn.
The bowl will be fulled, bit shy of felting for some of the stitch texture to still be seen.
After fulled, the code for Memories are altered to prevent conflict with the present. will be embroidered onto the exterior.
Used three colors of wool to embroider 1 square by 6 square pieces of 1/4″ hardware cloth. Dark brown for dots, tan for dashes, and cream for spacers.
I used oil sticks fix up the 5″ x 7″ panel.
Each letter has four rectangular blocks. To make the rows tidy, I added spacers if a letter had fewer than four dots, dashes, or combinations.
Each letter is a group of four rectangular blocks that are fastened at top and bottom with a safety pin. There are fourteen blocks–thirteen letters and one spacer.
Used thin dark grey sock fiber to bind through the head and loop of the safety pins.
The silver dots are the edges of the hardware cloth.
My hope is to oxidized the safety pins to add the feel of age.