Tuesday, June 16, 2020

Constellation, inspiration and a flutter of butterflies

The plain stitching, the hemming of the towels, is done, and they are deployed and in use. No pictures, because in laundry or in use, not scenic.

So now I can return to fancy stuff, waiting here.

 I thought you might like to see some of my sources of encouragement. 


Reading clockwise from the top, The Royal School of Needleworks, Respect the Spindle, Butterflies, English paper piecing, Black work, Goldwork, The Unicorn Tapestries. In the middle, Weaving without a loom.

And a flutter of butterflies, stumpwork I created and exhibited a couple of years ago.



The biggest is about 5" wingspan.
 These were part of a big wallhanging, named Sanctuary, made long before issues of  sanctuary cities came about.

 I removed the butterflies from the piece for safety when there were workmen carrying apppliances up and downstairs past them. 

Then I thought I might frame them separately, so I kept them off.  I still need to frame them..and I long ago used the base hanging, a complicated affair of knitting, crocheting and dyeing, for other artworks. I'm not exactly a conservator.

11 comments:

  1. Those butterflies are beautiful! I can't wait to see the completed Constellation project. There is a lot of inspiration in those books I'm sure!

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    1. I'm wondering how constellation will come out, too! We'll both be surprised.

      I hardly ever use actual ideas from books, except for the English paper piecing where I literally took lessons. Usually looking through books like this, and I have others, just sends me off at a tangent and what I make is nothing like the book. Mostly I don't even look at books. Just once in a while.

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  2. Love the butterflies. I often made something and then years later repurpose it. As a maker of things you evolve as does what you create.

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    1. Yes, you move forward. I have worked in a lot of media, depending on what I was saying. And each phase builds on what went before.

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  3. Beautiful butterflies!
    I can see them as a hat band or a feature on a hat. They are gorgeous.

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    1. Thank you. They're wired (that's how stumpwork works) so you can bend them into lifelike poses.

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  4. It's hard to believe something called stumpwork can create such beauty. I looked it up to see what it is - I think I've heard the term, but am not really familiar with it. Really lovely work, Liz.

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    1. Such an unpromising name. I must look up the origin. Thank you for your nice words.

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  5. Interesting to see your book inspirations - I see a couple I hope I can track down at our library. I doubt it, but one can hope. Seeing the butterflies made me think they'd look lovely as a mobile.

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    1. If not you might be able to get them secondhand. It's worth owning them. I rarely buy books but these needed to be around.

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  6. I don't know what I thought stumpwork might be, but I'm sure glad I never placed a bet on it!

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Thank you so much for commenting! it means a lot to me to know you're out there and reading and enjoying.