Mandala CXXXI

(Above:  Me with Mandala CXXXI. Click on any image to enlarge.)

Since returning from a week-long art retreat outside Pickens, I've managed to catch up with the custom picture framing that piled up during my absence and stitch this new Found Object Mandala.  

 

(Above:  Mandala CXXXI. Custom framed: 37 3/4" x 37 3/4". Found objects hand-stitched to a quarter of a vintage quilt. Found objects include: Two sets of miniature bowling pins; plastic doll hands; a white plastic cookie cutter in a red plastic lid with a smaller yellow lid; purple and gold coffee K-pods; fourteen hinges; old slides keys; twenty-eight touchless door openers; sixteen, black door stops; twelve bronze-colored shower curtain rings; fourteen external toothed lock washers; a set of metal taps from a pair of tap shoes; buttons and beads.)

This piece was a bit more difficult than others because I only had seven of the larger sized miniature bowling pins.  It's much easier to lay out four, six, eight, twelve, or even sixteen.  Seven is tricky ... but I had no choice about it!  I only had seven.  This meant there is definitely an orientation to this piece.  The light pink pin points upward.  None of the others are parallel or perpendicular to the perimeter.

 

(Above:  The vintage quilt before I cut it into four pieces.)

The picture above shows the vintage quilt before I cut it.  Every quilt I've used cost no more than $17.50 when purchased at Bill Mishoe's auction.  Bidding often starts at six dollars and goes up to $7.50 and then by interments of $2.50.  So, if someone offers the twenty-dollar bid, I drop out.  To me, an old quilt might still have some use if someone wants it for twenty dollars.  Otherwise, I'm figuring that it has no more function as a blanket and is in need of a "second life".  I think I only paid $12.50 for this particular quilt.  It really wasn't in dreadful shape or terribly stained.  Yet, if you look closely, the blocks don't all line up properly ... especially in the upper right corner ... which was the section I used for this Found Object Mandala.  I'm pleased with the transformation from "quilt" to "art quilt"!

 

(Detail of Mandala CXXXI.)

I wasn't sure I'd ever be able to use the metal taps from the tap shoes.  Obviously, the heel taps are different from the front/toe taps.  Yet with a firm orientation (as opposed to a Found Object Mandala that can hang either as a square or a diamond), I could put two in the top corners and the other two in the bottom corners.

 

(Above:  Detail of Mandala CXXXI.)

I am a little sad that fewer people might be reading this blog post.  Why?  Well, my original subscription service was discontinued.  I'm in the process of using another service ... which I did link to this blog but perhaps not properly.  (The site still hasn't registered the subscription feed.)  If you are reading, please do sign up.  Maybe I will be able to tell if the service is working! LOL!