I am at a point where I have finished the original triangulated series, and am now putting the finishing touches on 3 or 4 pieces…backing, hangers, etc. While I’m on a break from designing new pieces (although there are always ideas forming in my mind) I have spent some time working on my studio, organizing my tools and my wall space. Always feels good to grab a tool from its designated place vs. digging through boxes and tool bags looking for it.
I also finished my antique scissors display, framed in an old repainted thrift store frame and pinned to foamboard wrapped in burlap. Finishing this gave me some ideas for dimensional elements in my upcoming pieces…!
There’s a new pet keeping guard over the studio. I received a castoff wall hanging fish tank a couple weeks ago. I made a pretty paper frame for it to hide the plastic seal, and found a bamboo stalk to grow in it. My new studio fish Isis is now happily installed on the wall near my sewing machine.
We took a trip to the Philadelphia Flower Show, and fought through the crowds for a few hours. Buying plants is a weakness of mine, and I brought home some awesome plants that I installed throughout the house. Makes me want to incorporate plant life into some of my pieces somehow!
This staghorn fern was already mounted on a rough slab of wood, and to make it fit better into the decor I framed it in burlap and a handmade wooden frame by my friend Michael Heffernan of MDH Woodworking.
I also picked up a bunch of air plants and installed them various places. I took a vintage pottery pie plate and made an insert to which I attached a few air plants, twigs and some of the moss we collected in Austin in the fall.
I always find inspiration in the delicate work of gardening, the eye for composition one must have when planting new plants and the organic unpredictability of branches, shoots and flowers. While installing my new plants, I finally managed to hang the trunk of fallen pine that I carted home from Virginia last time I was there. It has this amazing sculptural feel now that it’s finally up on the wall. Wasn’t a pretty process getting it to stay there, but now that it’s hung I’m so pleased that I stuck to my intentions and went through with it.
So, not much new in the realm of tapestry design, but immense creativity has still been happening this week. Everything I do leads to another new idea.
Here’s a little daily inspiration, pictures from our Italian dinner we made last week. Yum.
