"Mother"

"Mother"
2008
tapestry (pulled warp), found object-wool, chenille, linen, rock
24 cm x 14 cm x 14 cm


The rock is four shades of unspun wools in what appear to natural grey colours that I got secondhand somewhere. It usually comes in 3 to 12 ply of pencil rovings, I used 2 plys (plies? they both look wrong!), and it packs down really well at 12 epi, with a thick warp that should probably not be warped at higher than 10 epi, (I like using more epi for 3D pieces as it gives a thicker, sturdier body to the work).

The moss is chenille, left over from a classmate's project. I think Bronwyn, dyed by her too, I believe. The grass is just some of my usual tapestry wool stash, tied in a sehna (pile weave) knot.

The walls inside the figure are scrap beige linen, and the sand is wool sewn around thick cardboard. The wool is scrap too. I think cinnamon-dyed, left over from dye class experiments.

The rocks are from my stash.

I'm a little unhappy with the edges of the cave opening, but I haven't figured out how to change it without changing the appearance of the piece in a major way. I didn't want the edge of the interior fabric or the seam to show, but the whip stitch with a piece of the wool the body is made from causes the edges to curl. I photographed it with interior pins to straighten it, but I can't send it off like that, and don't really like the look of the edge so much either (it's more noticeable in person). Blergh. I'm really happy with this piece otherwise.

I just wish my cat would stop trying to steal it.

Memento Mori (Ilex II)

Memento Mori (Ilex II)
2008
14cm x 14cm
Tapestry, collage

"Memento Mori" is a Latin phrase meaning "Remember you are mortal". It's also the name a genre of art covering art created in any artistic technique which serves to remind the viewer of their mortality.

Ilex is the genus Holly.


The holly leaf piece is 9 1/2cm x 5cm, 20 epi, wool and cotton embroidery floss.

The holly branch piece is 5 1/4cm x 4 1/2cm, 24 epi, wool, silk.

The background is a blown up detail of the holly tree in the fifth tapestry in the Hunt Of the Unicorn Tapestries, a portion of which is the basis of the holly branch piece.

The holly leaf skeleton was collected from the yard of my old home in Vancouver. The leaves fall and over the course of a few months the skin dries out and peels away. I love these things, they're so cool. I'd never seen a leaf do that before. The other trees in the yard didn't do that.