One of the beautiful and powerful aspects of blogging, and of following artists blogs, occur when opportunities are offered to join circles of stitchers from around the world. For me, Mo Crow is one strong articulate creative woman who I love to follow. She inspires me greatly.
So – when the opportunity came up to be involved in Mo’s work, I jumped in eagerly! This is the work and some detail about it – ‘I dream of a world where love is the answer‘ – Wander and browse if you haven’t already.. there are plenty of rich details and narratives to follow…
My piece, my pennant of the gifted wedding dress arrived in the post, and – as ever – I thought for a long time about it. Ideas in gestation – embryonic but growing, always with the same seed of beginning, lots of musing. It took me a season to think it over. Mo talks often of the moon, we link up talking about the moon – it is a strong common thread for us. I decided to steep the dress fragment in a solar bath and a moon bath from Beltane to Solstice. I wanted to send Mo something that had weathered, had absorbed our rays, was imbued with a sense of place different to where it will be, but deeply connected – from the northern hemisphere to southern..
The dandelion – sun and moon together, from the flower to the seedhead.
The jar warmed outside in my garden in the sun, was cooled inside on my kitchen table by the moon. I carried it in and out, watching it carefully. When I finally opened it at Beltane it was warm in my hands from the sun and the lid whispered as I released it. Two bees came to look and we always have crows overhead. The cloth had taken on a subtle ‘barely there’ colour. I knew this would be the case as it is a ‘synthetic’, for me that was part of my thinking about what Mo calls our ‘beautiful broken world’ – would it respond, could it change? It took colour, gentle but there…
And so, as Autumn colour develops outside, I laid out the piece on my table. I found the words ‘I dream of a world where love is the answer’ echoing and circling in my mind for months. On the bus, out walking, I repeated them in sequence, out of sequence, in a rhythm.. and the final piece reflects this.
The backing cloth is silk organza dyed with woad. The magical moments of pulling the cloth from the dye never fail to excite me, the yellow is dandelion solar dye.
The thread was a gift from my wonderful friend Kay Swancutt .
And the stitch that holds it all together? French knots are a vital and enduring part of my stitch language. For me they are about thoughts, they are a tactile embodiment of these, they are like prayer beads..
So, it wings its way to Mo to be part of the ‘gathering’, to join the circle. Go well little piece, play your part in mending our world. And a heartfelt thank you to Mo for your inspired work, your integrity and your creative spirit, hands and heart…
boostitch 