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Nearly there...
More on Rabindranath Tagore here.
Bickley Script with Bickham Swash capitals, for those of you who love typefaces as much as I do.
A little beading, and I'm putting her away and not looking at her for awhile.
Like, maybe 10 years.
My next post is my 100th. How about that, eh?
If in doubt, raid the lace stash.
And yes, it is hand-done cutwork, from around the turn of the 20th century. It would originally have been a collar.
Pretty, isn't it?
But what's a Tough Dude like me doing, coming on so girly?
Nothing like a Fed Ex parcel from India to cure those Monday morning blues.
When we were in Bombay last Christmas, I did actually manage to do a little research. A friend set me up with a beading company and, caught unawares, I gave them one of Mym's little dolls that I happened to be carrying, to sample.
Today, this turned up on my doorstep. And it made me laugh out loud.
And once I got over the shock of how different it was to the original, I decided I rather liked it. Yet another example of how images transform through medium and interpretation.
I can't produce this as a doll. It's too small (about 10cm high), the seam allowances just aren't there, and the beading will get ruined in the rough and tumble of turning it all right side out.
But I can use it as an applique. The possiblities are endless.
Please tell me what you think, and any ideas you might have. And be honest. There's no point me ordering 50 billion of these if I'm the only person who likes it.
I also tried to have the wedding jacket sampled. But it will cost over US$100 a piece to make. I don't think it's viable.
Everytime I think I'm getting close to finishing this baby, something screwy happens to my mind, and Poof!, I'm off on a whole new (laborious) crusade.
Today it was the halo (no Virgin is complete without one). I went Bollywood on it's ass, and raided my spangly stash (I confess to a weakness for the dancewear section at Spotlight), and found just one tiny piece of fairy princess netting. I used the stars and appliqued them onto the halo.
This simple procedure took all night. I seem unable to get around the Process of Consideration, and thus spend a lot of my time looking at my work, pacing, smoking, (though never in the studio), and thinking, trying to see into the future. Remember, please, that most of this work is irreversible, so you need to be prepared to live with whatever you do. But mostly, I think that it's all about whatever it is that you're really trying to work out in your head. The visual idea presents itself as you resolve.
All well and good.
Except that it takes so much FUCKING TIME.
Anyway, more fun to come...
The veil and bodice are coming along swimmingly.
I don't take clothes very seriously (unlike hair, which I hold sacred). A quick glance at the 10 pairs of black pants (and not much else) in my wardrobe will tell you everything you need to know about my relationship with fashion.
So the potential for drama here was low, and I had a lovely old time.
And when I am stuck for inspiration, I head here for a dose of the Right Attitude. Jude has an exquisite grasp of the concept of heart-and-soul crafting, (her blog's not called Spirit Cloth for nothing) and a quick visit to her puts me back on The Path in no time at all. I want her to know how important her work has been to me. Shot me off in a whole new direction. Freed my mind. The ass followed, (see previous post).
And does anyone else have as much trouble with charmeuse silk (see pleats, in photo, above) as I do? It's like the Anti-Christ of fabric.
Discuss.
Originally, I had visions of a sewing a golden-haired Madonna, floating on a sea of pale-blue and white chiffony stuff, a la Akira Isogawa.
But, late one night, (a Dangerous Time to be making Important Colour Decisions), I took a steel grey thread to her hair.
And now, she's Post-Menopausal Madonna, with Dreadlock Aspirations.
Not...
What I meant...
At all.
And believe me when I tell you, there's no going back in this medium.
Fortunately for me, I had been fortified by an excellent breakfast, in charming company, and could afford to be philosophical.
And, for the record, Stompergirl and the Cherub are lovely, and lovely, in that order. I'm thinking about moving in with them and living Happily Ever After.
You rise as high as your dominant aspiration,
You descend to the level of your lowest concept of yourself,
Free your mind,
And your ass will follow.
Funkadelic - Good Thoughts, Bad Thoughts.
Working on a new embroidery. It's not doing what I expected.
I try not to expect anything.
But it's so hard.
This one's for you, Stompergirl....
It's a blazing hot Sunday afternoon. Too hot for the computer (it crashes from the heat), waaaay too hot for the studio (a wall of glass that faces west: forgeddabowdit), the child is bored and pesky and you have nowhere to go because everyone you know is bohemian (read: poor), and can boast possession of neither aircon nor pool (dammit). Or, they're much smarter than you, and are already at the beach under their shadecloths, with their mobiles switched off.
So.
What do you do?
Do you turn on the oven, crank it up high, and bake teddy bear biscuits?
And then try to pipe happy faces onto them?
Would that be a Good Idea?
Probably not.
I went South there, for a couple of days, but I'm back now.
This was supposed to be part of my embroidery installation, collage, happening... thingy, but given that the image wasn't actually mine (I found it years ago, on the net), I decided against it, and made him into a little doll, instead.
So, a study in Mexican folk art. Here is the original, designed by a Mexican papier mache artist, whose name is lost to me:
Beautiful, isn't it?
and here's me going apeshit bananas on an embroidery of it much too late at night...
Did I ever mention that I loved colouring in as a child?
This is what I mean about seeing the world as interpreted textile... I love the way it changes when you switch mediums, and reinterpret... it's the same image, but with a completely different ambience, and, to me, says something else altogether. I can't tell you how fascinating I find this transformation process.
If anyone does know who did the original, please let me know, so I can credit them. I do remember it's from Mexico, and that the artist worked exclusively in papier mache. And that is all. Anyway, like I said, I don't plan to use him for anything, he's just a little homage to an art tradition worth a lot more attention than it gets.
Viva!
