Mandala XXXII

(Above:  Mandala XXII. 32 1/2" x 32 1/2". Found objects hand-stitched to a section of a tattered quilt.  Found objects include:  half of a film reel; keys; blue and red, plastic bottle caps; assorted beer caps; vintage Bombay plastic cocktail forks; hinges; metal frame hangers; Tinker Toy wooden spools; buttons; puzzle pieces; champagne muslet caps; Starbucks coffee stoppers; owl-eyed paper clips; laminated Tampa Nugget cigar bands; drapery hangers; soft, white, rubbery things that were the two halves of a medical device that holds a long needle for prostate radioactive seed implants (had to ask the nice nurse who donated them to my friend Flavia); and rabies vaccination tags for our cats ... past and present.  Click on any image to enlarge.)

  

(Above:  A 1000 piece puzzle of dogs.)

The inspiration for this mandala was another serendipitous experience.  Just when we received the rabies vaccination tag for Ernie, a friend donated a puzzle to my stash.  She generally passes her puzzle along to other friends, people to work puzzles.  But, this one was missing two pieces. She blamed her dogs.  She thought perhaps I could use puzzle pieces for a mandala.  She was right!  (Frankly, I can't imagine working this puzzle.  It looked impossible.  I sorted out all the "edges" for this mandala.)

(Above:  Detail of Mandala XXXII.)

Steve and I had no intentions of putting Ernie's rabies vaccination tag on a collar.  Ernie, like our previous cat Max, has no desire to wear one.  I tried to get Max to wear a nice, Velcro tear-away collar.  He lost the first one inside of two weeks; he lost the second one in two days; he lost the third one in two hours.  Cats have their own minds, and my cats don't seem to want to wear a collar.  Thus, the folder in our file cabinet contained all the tags from over the years for all our cats along with their veterinarian records.  What a find!  What perfect timing!  Dog puzzle pieces and cat rabies vaccination tags.  They were meant to be become a pet inspired mandala!

(Above:  Ernie's rabies vaccination tag.)

Ernie, of course, helped with every stage of this mandala.  Officially, Mandala XXXII has been "cat scanned"!

 

Speaking of a medical procedure, the odd shaped white objects surrounding a Tinker Toy wooden spool came from my friend Flavia whose work is all about recycling.  Flavia's friend saves various medical plastics for her.  What Flavia can't use, she has kindly passed on to me.  Both Flavia and I have extensive and strange stashes of found objects.  It's nice to have like-minded artist friends because "normal people" generally don't understand keeping so much useless stuff! LOL!