Mandala CCLVIII, Harley-Davidson Orange Reflectors

 

(Above:  Mandala CCLVIII, Harley-Davidson Orange Reflectors. Custom framed:  20" x 20".  Found objects hand-stitched to a section of a vintage quilt. Objects include:  A child's yellow 45 record; a red plastic lid; a blue faucet handle; bottle caps; red drink swizzlers; green and blue plastic lids; wooden clothespins; dominoes; shower curtain hooks; red telephone plugs; laminated Tampa Nugget cigar bands; foreign coins; pink can pull tabs; Starbucks coffee stirrers/beverage plugs; decorative blue spirals; orange Harley-Davidson reflectors under which are cardboard Coke souvenir discs; assorted buttons and beads.  Click on any image to enlarge.)

I've had the orange Harley-Davidson reflectors for a long while.  They were "auditioned" several times but never made the cut.  They never seemed to work while designing earlier mandalas.  They were either "too big" or "too orange" or just didn't balance with the center and/or other objects.  Often, I wished I had eight instead of only four.  I might have been able to use them on a larger mandala ... if I had more. 

(Above:  Detail of Mandala CCLVIII.) 

There's something about size and color and the number of objects that need to be "right" in order to assemble a nice mandala.  The objects need to "play well together".  The quilt also lends a certain, almost unnameable influence over the objects.  Finally, this small mandala was ideal for the reflectors!

 

(Above:  Mandala CCLVIII at an angle.)

Most of my Found Object Mandalas are framed in "floater" styled moulding.  This is a framing solution that doesn't have the lip of the frame coming over the top of the piece.  This one, however, isn't in a floater.  It's framed using a traditional moulding ... but one with a very reflective inner gold lip that acts almost like a mirror.  In the image above, the reflection of the laminated Tampa Nugget cigar band and the two, pink can pull tabs can be seen on the inner lip of the frame!  Cool!