Most of my Found Object Mandalas are created by assembling bits and pieces from random times and places. Such was the centerpiece for this piece. It started out with the tiny tintype of an anonymous little girl. It was taped inside a small booklet sent to me from a friend. Oddly enough, the tintype fit into the embossed gold foil spandrel I had in my stash. Like the velvet lined case behind it, that spandrel predates the tintype by several decades ... but they looked so good together! So I poked holes in the foil and the case and stitched them together.
At the time, I wasn't sure this combination would work as the centerpiece for a mandala. Though I've used ambrotypes in the center of a few mandalas, I always put them on something round. I wasn't sure I had anything that would work ... but then I noticed a porcelain plate I'd purchases at an antique mall. I picked it up because it had a decorative border, one with holes! But, I really didn't like the hand-painted fruit design ... so I hadn't used it. Amazingly, the tinytype/ambrotype case assemblage aligned perfectly with the holes. So I stitched it there!
Next, I needed a suitable background. I rummaged through the box in which I store old quilts and pulled out one I'd never used. Why? Well ... it was really thin ... as in just a Southern summer quilt, the sort without batting. It was well made but also damaged. The red and white polka dot fabric used for the center of the medallions might not always have been "red and white". The "dot" had disintegrated years ago. The "white" now seen is really the back of the quilt ... meaning ... just one layer of fabric. There was another reason why I hadn't cut this quilt. It was dated ... 1841 ... multiple times ... in sepia ink. This was some sort of signature quilt. The writing is difficult to read now, but many lines are Bible verses, names, and towns in upstate New York. Like most of my quilts, I didn't pay more than twenty dollars for this one. It seemed sad to cut something that old, but truthfully, it was the only real way to give parts of it "a second life".
To solve the problems presented by this antique quilt, I simply stapled two layers of fabric behind the quilt. (All my mandalas are stitched while stapled to a stretcher bar.) What fabric did I use? Of course it was repurposed! I cut up an old damask tablecloth, one with stains from some holiday dinner. This provided a more substantial base. Like always, I pinned a layer of bridal tulle over the surface before stitching down any of my objects. This nearly invisible layer protects the fragile, threadbare areas of the quilt.
Then, everything else simply fell into place. I worked intuitively, picking up things that seemed to go with a "little girl" and the nostalgia of "long ago". Most of the objects have been waiting in my stash. I laminated the 1950s paper doll clothes more than a year ago. I think the gold plastic spools have been waiting for even longer. Of course, my stash has a big box of anonymous photos that were used on the tops of the spools. The farm tokens were "newer to me"; I bought them last month at the Pickens County flea market ... which was also where I got the modern "spinner" toys for the corners. Best of all, I used colorful buttons. I'm really pleased with how this Found Object Mandala turned out!
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