Several months ago, I was contacted by a nice lady who wanted a mandala created from nostalgic objects that reminded her of elementary school days. She was willing to collect these items herself. Then, she mailed them to me. I went through the box, laid out a potential design, and sent a photo for her approval. Almost immediately, she wrote back and I went to work.
In order to form a circle around the "teach time nursery clock", I used a lid from one of our pots. It was just the right size and provided an edge against which I could line up all the wooden numbers. Each number was pre-drilled and then held in place by a stitched bead.
The next thing I had to figure out was the size of the button circle. It needed to create the space for the stubby colored pencils. Then, I attached the rulers and the elements selected for the corners.
Some of the colored pencils had to be sharpened to shorten them. Some were a little shorter than the average length, but finally I got them all stitched in place. The points went between the wooden numbers. A gold bead went at the end.
The next two concentric circles were stitched according to the original design. Yet when they were finished, I added several other elements. This generally happens. It is a rare time when my initial plan isn't altered. I start out with a clear idea but end up working intuitively. Thankfully, my client knew this in advance and loves the results. It's in a box and whizzing its way to its new home!
Now ... I should have already written a blog post about last weekend. Steve and I went to The Mansion at Strathmore in North Bethesda for the opening of a juried show called Full Circle. Three of my Found Object Mandalas were in the show. One received an honorable mention. The trip was great and we spent a fabulous day in nearby Washington, DC visiting the Hirschhorn, the Smithsonian Asian Art and African Art museums, and turning in my metro card for a senior pass. Wow! Half fares from now on! We also saw a free concert on the Kennedy Center's Millennial stage and went to Wooley Mammoth Theater for a one-man show called Guac, a presentation by the father of a student murdered during the Parkland school shooting. Believe it or not, it was billed as a comedy despite the very serious and compelling topic addressing gun violence. I laughed and I cried.
