A challenge that has so far eluded me is to document the process of my work. I have never photographed each step in the process of making a substantial piece. Recently I established a relationship with a Gallery in Tokyo, Japan. The negotiations across time zones and languages inspired me to endeavor to record the basic process in a series of photographs.
The piece Hot On A Cold Trail II depicts a wolf in a snowy nighttime landscape. There is something fascinating about being in a very wild, quiet, snow covered landscape at night. A rare experience, exhilarating. The wolf is searching, whether for a real wolf or a spirit wolf is up for interpretation.
I begin all boxes with basic sketches of the box. Next I make paper patterns out of graph paper to use for determining cloth and wood panels. I refer to each side of a box as a panel. Each panel is made independently, and is complete on its own.
This image shows how I transfer a drawing, in this case the wolf head, to wool. I use tracing paper basted to the fabric panel. I carefully cut out the area of the tracing paper that I intend to bead next, leaving the background paper as my boundary.
This pic illustrates my messy work table. I really do clean it often. It is just that beads and thread and fabric and junk does not lend itself to an organized look, even though it is organized in truth.
Now you are making progress.
He is getting bigger!
Work faster Molly! You have a deadline!
Don’t stop to cook dinner, just power through.
After beading the central figure I can move on to land and skyscape elements. On all the boxes I keep in mind the three dimensional effect of where the panels meet, however, with landscape elements the correct order and density of background elements is critical.
All four exterior panels laid out in sequential order.
I tend to keep the panels side by side and work on each in stages. I probably work on each panel six different times, building it up a little each time, making sure that all the exterior panels are worked on in a cohesive manner.
And now all the interior and exterior panels have been completed, trimmed, and laid out to make sure I didn’t lose track of the sequence at some middle point.
I neglected to take pictures of the part of the process where I cut the 1/8″ birch veneer plywood to shape, glue the corresponding exterior and interior beaded panels on the wood, sew edges of fabric around the wood, edge, and then interlock the edge stitches to form a seam. I realize I skipped a lot of phases, especially parts that are less than self-explanatory.
Sorry.
I was busy, doing all the above.
Also, when I reach the last ten percent of a project I am not very excited anymore. I really have to push to finish, especially if I have not broken up the time with other projects. Once I finish the piece I am all kinds of happy again and will talk about it and take pictures and smile, but not the last ten percent. Next time, I will photograph the glue and edge work, I promise.
But we can fast forward through two days where my hands hurt real bad and I complained a lot but no one listened.
All done, so proud.
I went a little different route with this box. Normally my boxes would just have a lid. The lid may lift off completely or be a hinged lid, but always on the top of the box.
This time I decided to make the side of the box the opening. It is hinged and has a magnetic closure at the base. It makes a delightful snap sound and feel when it closes. To open you would apply slight pressure at the seam where the powder blue beads meet on the side panels. When the box opens you can see the interior showing a night sky filled with stars and wolf paw prints spiralling to a north star. Wolf on the sky path.
This piece just shipped to the Little Coyote Gallery in Tokyo, Japan. I look forward to my pieces having international homes.
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This is truly magnificant art work, Molly. I love it. You are so very talented.