mending the never ending story of a very good old jacket

Old Man Crow in his very good old jacket
the sleeves are turning into lace
left sleeve detail
right sleeve detail
collar detail
edge detail he wears it well

Sea Urchin II still in process

Sea Urchin II is still in process but I am getting better at making French Knots !

needle lace stitched over Whisper silk organza & boar bristles, vintage glass beads, French knots & thread beads

the top resting over the base, will weave them together once all the French knots are done

This wonderful bundle of naturally dyed vintage cloths and threads arrived from Ulrike all the way from Germany!

Frangipani flowers from one of our gardens

how mending becomes lace with time

Old Man Crow’s old grey denim jacket needed more mending
the denim is over 30 years old and getting very thin, perhaps lace developed as an elaborate form of darning
lace as a timeline
the sleeves are getting quite ornate
an ongoing story of love over time
joining hearts and hands around the world with Jude Hill’s Mending Bee

lichen variations

5H graphite on draughting film Mo 16
lichen stitched on parchment circa 1812 Mo 16
lichen variations

lichen study 2

Lichen study 2 Mo16
5H graphite, ink & gouache on vellum parchment circa 1812
7 cm (2&1/2″) H x 5 cm (2″) W
true scale

lichen study

Lichen Study Mo16
5H graphite on watercolour paper
a little sketch to quiet the mind & soothe the soul

Act of Contrition

Act of Contrition (aka the Doily of Atonement) Mo16
vintage doily indigo dyed by Jude Hill of Spirit Cloth
laser cut star from Els of Fibre Rainbow
indigo dyed thread from Glennis of Shibori Girl
stitched with navy Gütterman upholstery thread
a quote attributed to Bill Murray
“Everything happens for a reason.
Sometimes that reason is you’re stupid and make bad choices.”
recently I behaved very inappropriately and nearly lost two of our best gardening customers
it’s all smoothed over but had to stitch this today to pay my dues…

& there’s plenty of room for further embellishments for the next time I lose the plot!

when I’m dead and gone and all my bits and pieces end up in an op shop (aka thrift shop for those readers in the US)
I wonder what they will make of this one?
!

holding the moon

holding the moon
variations
working out the logistics
holding the face of the dark moon dancer

dancing between the dark and light, still very much in process
the beginnings are here & here

a hopeful thing with feathers for a friend who is waltzing with Jimmy Dancer

looking for logic

looking for the logic in an emu feather
seeing how the barbs are modified to the barest bones in the feathers of this flightless bird
emu feathers are lively and resist being stitched down
even the damaged feathers have a distinct grace and character
and looking at the way a grape vine tendril spirals
this is an ongoing exploration of looking at patterns of lace in nature you can see more of the Key Book going widdershins  here, here, here & here

“You fight with dreams as with formless and meaningless life, seeking a pattern, a route that must surely be there, as when you begin to read a book and you don’t yet know in which direction it will carry you. What you would like is the opening of an abstract and absolute space and time in which you could move, following an exact, taut trajectory; but when you seem to be succeeding, you realize you are motionless, blocked, forced to repeat everything from the beginning.”
– Italo Calvino
If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler
via Whiskey River

this was one of the most difficult books I have ever read, after years of starting and then throwing it against the wall in total frustration I finally got to the last page last year, it’s a brilliant search for meaning in what can often seem to be a confusing and meaningless world

Leaf Lace

exploring the lace like veins in a skeletonized Hydrangea leaf with thread and white ink
and made some French knots for the first time ever!
this is a continuation of looking at patterns of lace found in nature through the Key Book