Lost and Found VIII

 

(Above:  Lost & Found VIII. Framed: 22" x 22". Found objects hand-stitched to a section of a vintage quilt.  Objects include: A tomato server; a metal ring from an inexpensive glass dish; slats from a plastic fan; small, hexagonal chandelier prisms; Tinker Toy connectors; external tooth lock washers; buttons and beads. Click on any image to enlarge.)

I don't have a sterling silver tomato server even though my grandparents (both sides together) purchased twelve, five-piece place settings of International Silver's Joan of Arc pattern for me when I was twelve years old.  Pieces were doled out for birthdays, Christmas, confirmation, and any other achievement.  I had a a nice flatware chest which I considered my "hope chest".  Any monetary gift and almost all the money I earned through babysitting was sent to Grandma Baker to be turned into a serving piece.  I've got an olive fork, a gravy ladle, two slotted and one serving spoon, a butter knife, and a couple of other pieces ... but not a tomato server.  It never occurred to me that one ought to have such a thing.  In fact, I really didn't know what one was until more recently ... when googling for information.  Why?  Well, I've now got several of them.  None are sterling, of course.  All were the result of collecting unique "found objects" at auction.  I've been purchasing "table lots" with all sorts of kitchen implements.  They work well on Found Object Mandalas.  I had no idea that they were invented in late Victorian England and that according to Patrick Dunne, an epicurean antique expert in New Orleans, they were status symbols to “separate the refined from the unrefined.”  To me, these are simply "pretty" and this one became the focal point for Lost & Found VIII.

 

(Above:  The metal ring that was literally hot-glued to the pressed glass dish.  It only took one whack with a hammer to "free" the ring!)

 

From the start, I wanted to use a plastic fan that also came from the auction.  Three slats were broken.  I took apart the fan and played around with the piece.  Something else was needed.  That's when I noticed the glass dish ... which like most of my stash, also came from the auction.  One whack with a hammer, I had a nice "halo" for the tomato server.  Perhaps it elevates status to "refined" despite not being sterling silver.  The tiny buttons came from a local friend whose husband found boxes of them while on his job.  Thanks, Linda!

 

(Above:  Detail of Lost & Found VIII.)

This piece was fun to stitch.  I'm calling it the last piece finished in 2022 even though I actually have a large, Found Object Mandala finished too.  I'll blog it later.  Why?  Well, it was a "first refusal" and I hope to capture a picture of it with its new owners and perhaps even in its new, public place for display.  I'll consider it the best way to start a new year!  Happy 2023!