I was given this felted wool pod so I started stitching the edge to get a feel for the medium
and kept stitching
’til it turned into a sort of sea urchin
stitching is like braille for the soul but to understand the form I should have started drawing the sea urchin first!
there is much more to explore in this form!
Braille for the Soul
Posted: December 20, 2016 by Mo Crow in Braille for the Soul, It's Crow TimeTags: thread
Comments
It's Crow Time 
No, I like it this way.in fact, I love it as is. I could “see” you, stitching your way around and down, turning the bowl, angling your needle…it is so Mo.
Would you consider selling?
thanks for the query Di, this one’s a xmas gift for a friend in need of soul comforting but the next one will work even better now that I understand the form, will give you first dibs on it.
so devine Mo! .. your work echoes the delicate detail of these beauties.
I want to try one in silver wire and beads… chain mail… (((Roz)))
you didn’t need to study the form, you just invented a new one.
(((Julie))) I tried really hard to be precise & neat with even straight rows for about the first ten minutes and then things just went their own way…
Love this, Mo- your sea urchin is so beautiful!
(((Julie)))
Such beautiful thinking with your hands Mo – I love the way it evolves in your fingertips…what a delight!
an exploration of feeling out the form, the warm fuzziness of felt, the different textures of the stitches and how the lines of stitch give the form a more solid structure
Lovely, what a lucky find
love how the deep purpleness of the felt took me back to being 12 and hearing Purple Haze by Jimi Hendrix for the first time
the strength is in the let it go it’s own way….how do you think of the felt
felt is so beautiful to stitch, the needle slides through so easily but this purple pod was very loosely felted in places which added an extra dimension of wobbliness
lucky find, and you’re right, often we should draw first. and draw and draw, and then…
drawing is how I understand the world, developing an idea can take 100’s of sketches, rarely just one, depending on the complexity of the form and the clarity of the dream. With this piece I tried to respond directly to the haptic sensibility.
I saw this post when it first hit the airwaves and was so taken by it that I had to step away. I’m still struggling to find words that adequately express how much I appreciate your process and the magic that comes from your hands. And if drawing and studying form are wonderful means to an end, so too is the going-ness of this piece.
sort of like a brain bypass straight to the heart of the matter
The stitching makes it (and us) stronger, more what (or who) it is . . . I like that idea.
(((Wendy))) about halfway through I was very close to giving it a decent burial but decided to just keep going & see where it would go first then fell in love with it!
This pod is precious! Like forming something beautiful from a lump of clay. You are so creative. Thanks for sharing.
thanks for visiting Susan
It’s quite beautiful and luminous which is a word that often comes to mind when I see your work.
thanks Stephanie
‘should have’ one should never say that – you didn’t know where you were going and you enjoyed it. the sea urchins were obviously in your mind, you just didn’t ‘know’ it. beautiful
(((Jane))) yes but now that I understand what the form is am busily drawing the details under the jewellers lens in preparation for the MkII
The evolution of your urchin is spectacular and holds some of the mysteries of the deep sea! It’s one of your drawings come to life…
(((hazel))) it is a lively little thing and there is lots more to explore!
The soul only needs beauty………………..
(((Martine)))) love
like very much that you feel its liveliness… a whole new world to stitch into
the Mk2 is in process, very fine random needle lace on “whisper” silk organza with boar bristles for strength & soon to have eyelet stitched beads
…………………………………………!
a new series!
the pictures of the felted urchin actually made me gasp it is so exquisite. I can’t imagine how it, as a gift, could offer anything less than a full-bodied comfort. a palm-sized treasure. Will you tell her about Jimmy Hendrix? That adds to its potency, somehow.
my mind went to “Oliver Twist” and THAT urchin, holding his empty bowl out in the universal gesture of hunger: “Please, sir, I want some more.”
Jimi Hendrix and sea urchins? why am I pulling a blank?
Purple haze?
good one!
I very much like the notion of stitching being like braille for the soul. makes complete sense. I may very well be quoting you, if it’s alright?
as it’s the working title for my next body of work, feel free to quote me & link back to the work on my blog but please don’t appropriate it as your own OK?
Marvelous stuff–the felt, the stitches, the thoughts, the words.
thank you for visiting Carol, this is a very strange hard time for our beautiful broken world, I just read these words of hope for our beautiful broken world today on Terri Windling’s Myth & Moor–
“You cannot ultimately break a rainbow, you can only fail to see its myriad, shattered beauties.”