We received this lovely mixed-media piece from Poppy Sowingseed hand stitched with WireKnitZ® on fiber and paper and confirming once again nothing goes to waste!
Here’s Poppy’s story…
When I take the clothes from the line outside, I can’t help it—I’m compelled to put one or two articles to my nose and breathe-in the fragrance infused by sun, wind and laundry detergent. I like the smell of lined-dried clothes more than any other fragrance on earth! That smell reaches a pleasant depth nothing else can—however; the smell of fresh, clean paper runs a close second, next to the smell of raw lumber. It’s always been thus….call me wacky, but I like the touch and feel and smell of even a simple pad of lined paper. I’m a bit of a “fiber nut”. Not the kind you put in your cereal….I mean I’m hooked on everything that has to do with fibers….the look, touch, smell, feel, colors and more.
Back in the late 1960’s/early ‘70’s I did free hand embroidery to make extra money. (Once I bought an old car with hand embroidered works!) I even made entire articles of clothing all stitched by hand. I liked to be mobile and free and not be confined to a machine. But then life got crowded and took other turns and hand-stitching fell off the table and landed in a box that got stuffed on a shelf.
I’m a crafter…. always fashioning something using one media or another. For the past few years, I’d been working predominantly with paper and whatever odd medium I could get my hands on to enhance my work and pop-it-up a notch on the dimensional plane. My “expertise” was inspirational greeting cards and framed works. This past winter a friend of mine introduced me to WireKnitZ. You might say I became “wired”! I was hyped on the versatility and charm of this innovative product.
Immediately the creative juices hit the blender of my soul! I bought some felt squares; pulled that box of embroidery floss from obscurity (some of the floss showed price tags of 5¢ each); checked the dexterity of my fingers; dusted off my hand-stitching skills; and began to integrate paper; felt; WireKnitZ and various sundry items together into a work called “Cattails”. (No felines were wounded in the process of this work.) I am now underway with a new work, incorporating quilt squares; WireKnitZ, and other items. It will be a wall hanging called, “Aquatic”. What fun!!!!
Poppy Sowingseed
July 23, 2012
Thank you for sharing “Cattails” with us, Poppy, and we’re looking forward to your “Aquatic” wall hanging!
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