Mandala CXIV

(Mandala CXIV. Custom framed: 22 3/4" x 22 3/4". Found objects hand-stitched to a section of a vintage quilt.  Found objects include: A blue plastic lid inside an antique adding machine's ribbon case with a sewing machine bobbin under a glass section of a table lamp; six, black chess pawns; old Ram car keys; small, round, glass prisms from a chandelier; green, metal can pull tabs; blue, plastic water bottle lids; buttons; and green golf tees printed with the word Hawai'i.  Click on any image to enlarge.)

This Found Object Mandala is full of stories.  If it could speak, it would talk about my friend Bert Easter, a "regular" ... like me ... at Bill Mishoe's auction.  Bert has great tastes and several booths at the Red Lion Antique Mall here in Columbia.  Months ago, Bert was the successful bidder on a "table lot".  That means, Bert got everything on and under the card table ... and it was "loaded".  I didn't bid against Bert because there was only one thing on the table that interested me ... the small crib quilt.  But, this crib quilt was really dirty, rather ratty, and sort of smelly.  So, my interest was very limited.  Bert had no interest in it at all. Knowing that I often bid on quilts, Bert simply gave me the old thing.  (Thanks, Bert!)  Well ... I threw the thing into my washing machine.  The setting was on "delicate" but apparently that was too much agitation.  Lots of the fragile pieces didn't hold up.  I wasn't sure I could use this crib quilt at all.

(Above:  Detail of Mandala CXIV.)

More recently (and also at Bill Mishoe's auction), I was the successful bidder on a stack of old, framed artwork.  One of the frames was perfectly square, very chunky, and seemingly "perfect" for a Found Object Mandala.  Generally, my husband Steve and I build our own frames ... but this looked like a new challenge.  It also looked like a good time to try using the crib quilt.  I cut the best section I could and then used the leftover parts to replace the damaged pieces.  I'm never really worried about the condition of the fabric for my Found Object Mandalas because I put a layer of netting over the surface before stitching down any of the objects.  I used a yellow netting ... because there was a lot of yellow in the crib quilt.  

I worried about creating a strong contrast between the chunky black frame and the cheerful yellow fabric.  I knew I needed to bring something "black" into the composition.  The first things I tried were the black chess pawns (also from some random "table lot" at Bill Mishoe's auction).  Then, things fell into place ... not because of the black or the yellow or even the strong blue fabric ... but because the bottoms of the chess pawns were green felt.  Let's face it!  Blue and yellow do make green!

I got some of the car keys from Margaret Blank in Canada. I got the blue water bottle caps from Jane Hiller, a local friend.  I got the green metal can pull tabs from my local friend Flavia Lovatelli ... but the things that really makes this piece are the green golf tees.  Believe it or not, they arrived in the mail from a cyber friend, Rose Kauhane, who lives in Texas.  They arrived on the day I designed this work.  The timing was absolutely perfect.  In a sense, it takes a village to stitch a mandala!