After years of creating quilt art, particularly my thread-painted landscapes, I realized that I love thread even more than I love fabric. This lead me to develop a series of sculptures, made only of free-motion stitched threads. It is a multistep process, involving much planning in order to go from a flat surface of threads to a three-dimensional object.
Since I am figuring it out as I go along, not everything works out! Here are some of my better sculptures.
The first shapes I made were tree leaves, experimenting with various species, threads, and amount of cupping.
The first challenge was a "vase", to see if I could make a closed shape, and one that would stand on its own. And, as long as I was going to all that bother, why not make a seascape on it.
Then I wanted to make a spherical shape. So, why not make it a globe - and one with the north pole melting, and a puddle at the bottom.
Continuing on a watery theme, another enclosed shape is a goldfish bowl - but this one has three blue whales suspended inside, also made of thread.
Two versions of a tree. The second has a larger trunk with barklike texture.
And fulfilling a goal I set at the start of my investigations: a teapot! This is called "Green Leaf Tea".
"Tulip Tree Tea for Two" features a branch teapot and nest lid; the egg is hollow. A pair of blossoms and leaves are cups and saucers.
"Dogwood Tea" is second in the teapot set series.
"Chesapeake Bay Watershed" is a metaphor for the fragility of the rivers and streams in this watershed. All the major drainage is "drawn" on this map (south is at the top).
"Gyre" is an exploration of shape and color.
Jewelry is very fun and satisfying to create. Here's a sampling of necklaces, earrings and a pin. More gift items are on a second page.