Spirit Cloth

a change of heart

...in general i have to say i am horrified at the current state of affairs in this country.  it seems that change is a necessary factor for survival. a change of heart can be a good thing if it involves growth. find it in yours.

staying cool

...yesterday i was thinking maybe a cool cat is just so cool, there is no need for a story.

..then, last night  i was wondering ...is it possible to have a heart too big?

...this morning i am back to ...no, that's cool.....a big heart is a keeper of the rhythmn of the bigger drum.

yesterday i got to talk to lainie from red thread studio.  on the phone.  for real!  how cool is that?

let's all read that fabulous post once again shall we?

shadows

it stormed yesterday (in more ways than one) and it rained all night.  as the sun returned this morning, i left the curtain closed to enjoy the shadows of mom's gift of dried lavender against the ancient pattern on the cloth.  the shadows in the thin fabric seemed almost a watery reflection of my dreams last night. i dreamed of fabric. i dreamed of brother nemo who is walking around some where in asia . i woke thinking of my son. a reflection of yesterday.  a day filled with life and fabric and a few unexpected shadows.

light and dark still fills my focus...so i'm working with another long cloth this morning.... the one where she looked outside herself... maybe to get a better look at her own shadow i thought, which was really her reflection.  i want to express that in cloth but first i traced and cut her form from a cloudy plastic sleeve recycled from an old discarded photo album.  the pages are aged and the photos can no longer be viewed clearly.  this is making a great stencil for me to use as a guide.  and the milky translucent quality is just what i want.  i will search for a very sheer linen for this layer of self...i think i have it somewhere.  i am sure it is somewhere.  in some dark corner.

building an edge

with one scream out of the way, i am working on another.  this piece is very unstable. it is being patched as i go, ragged style and sewn to a very thin sheer background to keep it light and flowing.  it has lots of silk velvet and i wanted to retain  flexibility and movement for maximum light play and the illusion of constant shift.  i have also added that old thin worn patchwork as a backing and it was an irregular shape, one corner completely missing... making the piece somewhat edgeless in terms of a frame.  i have applied a thick band of indigo stripe (thicker where needed) from the back side to contain it and fill in the missing spaces...otherwise it will keep growing in some blob like motion. 

some spots are thinner than others, especially where the cut outs are... so i am patching from both front and back and stitching the layers together to even out the weight, monitor its softness and keep it all together. the back of this one will evolve from process i guess. this one is a bit of a struggle in cloth making.  but a long and arduous process brings the gift of richer story.

...a soft scream could be a moon's lullaby...judging from a newly formed ring, a full spectrum of acceptance.

cut from the same cloth

...her eyes had adjusted to the darkness. 

...by the light of her own heart she recognized something familiar in the beast that came to meet her at the edge of her nightmare.

...the night became a crazy quilt. she felt warm and safe. (and a bit foolish)