Large In Box CDLVIII

(Above:  Me at my Babylock Tiara free-motion machine stitching Large In Box CDLVIII.  Click on any image to enlarge.)

Everyday I stitch.  I love stitching both by hand and by machine.  Yesterday I shared two, hand-stitched In Box series pieces that were finished, melted, mounted, photographed, and framed. I mentioned that I always have more than one piece going.  One of the pieces "in progress" was Large In Box CDLVIII.  It progressed while all the other pieces sat idle, but it got totally done!

 

(Above:  Large In Box CDLVIII.  Layers of polyester stretch velvet fused together on a piece of black, recycled, synthetic industrial felt.  Free-motion machine stitched before being melted with two sizes of soldering irons and an industrial heat gun.  Custom framed with UV filtering/anti-reflective glass.  34" x 22". $575.)

After I finished stitching, it was stapled to a stretcher bar.  This prevents it from shrinking during the melting techniques.  Two sizes of soldering irons were used to melt holes through the layers of polyester stretch velvet.  I can now do this inside!  The new oven's hood vents to the outside but I still wear my carbon filtering respirator.  I'm too close to do otherwise but at least the kitchen doesn't get stinky. 

 

(Above:  Detail of In Box CDLVIII, including my signature block.)

Melting inside has two advantages.  First, I'm not outside under the hot, hot, hot sun.  Temperatures here are hovering around ninety degrees.  Second, there's no wind.  Believe it or not, ninety degrees is COOL for a soldering iron.  A breeze actually cools them.  There's no breeze in the kitchen!

 

(Above:  Steve framing the work.)

Although I've always been the one to design our framing and the one cutting the mats, it's Steve who builds the frames, cuts the UV filtering/anti-reflective glass, and closes each frame.  I'm lucky to have such a nice, big (literally sanctuary-sized) studio but I'm also lucky to be part of a great, artistic team effort!