Three, small Found Object Mandalas

(Above:  Mandala LXXX. Custom framed: 16" x 16". Found objects hand-stitched to a single, vintage quilt block. Found objects include: an entire, wooden set of chess pieces; a glass floral frog; wooden alphabet letters; casino chips; bronze colored perfume vial funnels; sewing machine bobbins; and buttons.  Click on any image to enlarge.)

I've been busy stitching more found object mandalas in anticipation of next month's Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show.  This past week, I got my booth assignment.  I'll be in booth 102.  Due to this on-going pandemic, the show really didn't feel real until I got my booth assignment.  Now, I'm getting a little nervous.  When this happens, I stitch more!  As a result, I have these three new pieces finished, photographed, and entered on a brand new blog!  This new blog documents the entire series.  CLICK HERE to access it.

(Above:  Mandala LXXX, detail.)

Even though my fingers were itching to stitch, I had serious reservations about this found object mandala.  It just wasn't looking "right".  Something seemed "missing".  Then, totally unexpectedly, the mail came.  A cyber friend sent exactly what I needed!  The wooden alphabet was in the box of goodies!  THANK YOU, Connie!  Truly, there's more than a bit of serendipity at play in this series!

(Above:  Mandala LXXXI. Custom framed: 12 1/2" x 12 1/2".  Found objects hand-stitched to a single block of a vintage quilt. Found objects include: an orange valve; New Castle Brown Ale bottle caps; casino chips; laminated Tampa Nugget cigar bands; keys; insulin needle caps; and buttons.)

This little, found object mandala was totally inspired by the orange valve.  I bought it at an antique shop in Carlsbad, New Mexico while enjoying a month as the artist-in-residence at nearby Guadalupe Mountains National Park.  I found several other "treasures" there which will appear in future works.

(Above:  Mandala LXXXI, detail.)

I'm really having a great time using colors that generally don't work together especially well on such a small surface.  Putting together orange, pink, blue, purple, and yellow is actually fun!

(Above:  Mandala LXXXII. Custom framed: 11 1/4" x 11 1/4". Found objects hand-stitched to a single block of a vintage quilt. Found objects include:  a part of a meat thermometer mounted on a red, plastic bottle cap; dominoes; parts of a brass light fixture; round-shaped, crystal chandelier prisms; laminated Tampa Nugget cigar bands; brass screw eyes; vintage capacitors; and buttons.)

This mandala almost didn't happen.  Why?  Well, whoever made the vintage quilt must have run out of the light-colored, printed fabric.  So, instead of a nice, rose-colored fabric "cross" in the center ... with the four light-colored, printed fabric in the corners ... one of the corners was also the rose fabric.  It looked ridiculous.  It screamed, "I'm all wrong."  But, the arrangement of dominoes hides this mistake nicely.  Everything fell into place as soon as the "error" wasn't obvious!  I really love bringing new life to old things.

(Above:  Mandala LXXXII, detail ... and if you look closely, you can see the substitution in the original fabric selection!  Lower left!)