I have had a set back with the September challenge. After being happy that all my deliveries of various materials all finally arrived and that I had some free time, things were starting to go well. That was until I crystallised my feathers. For the September challenge I am creating a kite that will be part made of red feathers. The challenge was to celebrate the achievements of Helene Dutrieu as an aviator. Early in her career she got the nick name ‘Girl Hawk’ which became my starting point for the work. It was by chance when researching hawks that I discovered a kite called the Hawk and from there my idea grew. I am working on top of the original Hawk kite to create a new interpretation of Helene’s work, a new Girl Hawk. The kite will be covered in red feathers (a symbol of courage). It was at this point things started to go wrong. I set about dying my feathers and had done research into how this may be achieved, and what to not do such as use boiling water. Despite my best efforts the feathers have crystallised and really can’t be used on the kite. I had no idea feathers could crystallise until it happened, although with the right chemical reaction I am sure most things can.
In other news the August challenge, of constructing a shirt without needle work is going well. I have currently got the body work and two lengths for the sleeves pinned out. I am now at the stage of starching the sleeves into the shape that I need and then attaching the whole thing together, and this is the tricky bit, so there is time for it to go wrong still. I do hope it doesn’t.
I now only have two pages in my challenge book to fill, and in twelve days there will be no time left to submit challenges!
