Mandala XIV

(Above:  Mandala XIV.  Click on any image to enlarge.)

The is the last mandala made from a tattered, vintage blue-and-white quilt. The porcelain clock face can turn so that it can be hung as a square. On point, it measures 29" x 29" and includes antique medals donated to my stash by my friend Phillippa Lack from Wyoming, square cut nails, keys, clock parts, vintage paper clips and modern ones too, beer bottle lids, hair clips, miniature locks, nail clippers, buttons, and screw eyes. I'm now working on a new mandala that is on a vintage Grandmother's Flower Basket quilt section.

(Above:  Detail of Mandala XIV.)

Everything is stitched down using pale blue #5 perle cotton.  Generally, I don't use glue on my fiber artwork but this piece had to have some.  Hot glue keeps the medals from flipping over, especially the ones on the top that wouldn't stay in that position.  Thankfully, hot glue is actually acid-free.  It just doesn't come off fabric very well.  Yet, it doesn't damage the cool, antique awards that are dated from 1907 to 1911.  

(Above:  Detail of Mandala XIV.)

These medals were for things like "signaling" and "range finding".  I'm now precisely sure what these activities even were.  Others were for swimming and reading.  I had the perfect number for this quilt ... alternating one side and then the other.  Phillippa also sent the many, tiny keys. 

(Above:  Mandala XIV, detail.)

I've been collecting beer caps forever.  I get them from all sorts of places, not just by drinking beer.  Luckily, I had enough Heineken and New Castle caps to have a total ring with alternating red and blue stars.