(Above: Untitled cradle full of wrapped and stitched wooden spools. The piece NEEDS A TITLE! Click on any image to enlarge.)
I love wooden spools ... always have. I've made several pieces using them. Right now, there's a group in a fiber vessel at Lorton, Virginia's Workhouse Art Center's "Art of Fiber" national juried show. That piece even sold! It's called Ancestors. I made so many last December that I have two pieces with the same name. The second group will be on display in the 33rd annual Mesa Contemporary Crafts national juried show from Jan. 27 - March 18, 2011. Both pieces have been in exhibitions before ... at the same time. (The original blog post for Ancestors is HERE.)
Still, I seem to collect more wooden spools ... but I don't want to repeat exactly the same thing. Ancestors suggested that each little spool was like a family member from past generations. Collectively, they gave the appearance of a "family tree" and evoked memories and traditions and handicrafts of grandmothers and great grandmothers. The work is personal while still being universal. So ... what to do with the next couple of hundred wooden spools?
On the drive to Slippery Rock for Thanksgiving, I wrapped and stitched spools. While there, I acquired even more spools ... once my grandmother's. I don't really know how many there are.
Well, I got the wooden cradle at Bill Mishoes' every-other-Tuesday-night, walk-around auction of used household items ... my very favorite place for "found objects". A little glue on spindles that were literally falling out stabilized the structure. I cut old shutter slats for the cradle's bed and fashioned a "mattress" from an old pillowslip and feather pillow. (Boy was that fun ... feathers all over the living room!)
The work is done ... but I still haven't landed on the perfect title. To me, each spool is like a narrative ... a tale spun in thread ... a story told in yarn ... a yarn told to a child ... the thread of life as a bedtime fable. So ... I need help! Here are the titles I've been wrestling with:
Bedtime Stories
Family Narratives
Tell Me a Story
If Threads Could Talk
Tales from Childhood
I'm open to suggestions! Leave a comment here or email me at mouse_house@prodigy.net! Thanks!
