Mandala XLIX, The Trophy Mandala

(Above:  Mandala XLIX, The Trophy Mandala.  Framed:  37 1/2" x 37 1/2" on point; 26 1/2"  26 1/2" as a square.  Found objects hand-stitched to a section of an old bow tie quilt.  Found objects include: shiny gold plastic trophies and discs from their stands, a baking cooling rack, screw eyes, buttons, salt shaker tops, plastic water bottle lids, and long needle-like parts of a prostate radioactive seed implant device.  Click on any image to enlarge.) 

Before going off on a whirlwind adventure that included installing two museum shows and an outdoor project during a two-week art residency, I finished this mandala ... and two others that will be blogged tomorrow!  It all started with a conversation about an annual church bazaar.  A friend told me about it.  She insisted that I go because she was sure I'd find things for my mandalas.  She was absolutely right!

(Above:  Mandala XLIX, detail.)

I found the baking cooling rack right away.  I found several other things too.  Then I looked into a box that was under one of the tables.  It was filled with trophies from some shop that had either gone out of business or discarded these examples.  Not one included a brass plate with a name. On the box was written the price:  10-cents each.  Well, that's my kind of shopping!  I scooped them up at once ... even though I wasn't sure exactly how they might work on a flat, quilted surface. 

  

(Above:  The trophies on my mat cutter.)

It was fun taking the trophies apart.  I played around with them on my mat cutter and determined that I probably could stitch them to the quilt.  Several of them included gold discs as part of the trophy stand.  I used these too.

(Above:  Mandala XLIX, detail.)

These trophies look like they weigh plenty but they are actually hollow plastic.  Just to make sure each was firmly attached to the finished mandala, I added plenty additional stitches when mounting the work to the acid-free foam-centered board.  (To learn how I mount these pieces, please visit this blog post that explains the process and how spark plugs were firmly attached.)

(Above:  Ernie helping with this mandala.)

Of course Ernie the Cat is still helping with this work ... even though it couldn't be particularly comfortable to sit on plastic trophies!  Tomorrow I'll blog the other two, smaller pieces that were finished before my art residency!