So here are some of my twigs… results of the playing so far:
Six boxes/seed trays. They are crudely made, rough sawn and I really like them. They are functional and any beauty is in the basic material, not the manufacture.
I gather what I have collected and made, into groups. Each type of fabric speaks a different language. There’s ivory silk, medical swab loosely woven cotton, scrim, cotton lawn, linen, calico, cotton muslin… some very cheap, some expensive, but nothing new (unless you count the medical swab squares which are old but obviously not used! Ha!) The cloth has been collected from: a wedding dress, children’s clothes, men’s work shirts, women’s dresses, table and bed linen, and the donated old swabs of course… I’ve had the pack in my collection for years, just waiting for the right way to use it.
Some fabric initially I found more satisfactory to work with than others. The swabs for instance are so loosely woven I need to use a lot to cover the twigs and the finished appearance is quire hairy. The silk is quite the opposite. But, when there are lots together in a box, they take on a different character, and now, I have a fondness for the roughness, the hairyness…
The silk is expensive, the wrapping with that is smooth and easy, but underneath, they are all from the same box of twigs. The bones of them are the same.
I didn’t originally like the printed cotton lawn, but actually, they are quite cheerful and jolly. The contrast between the box of colour, and the black-painted box with the silk twigs in is pleasing.
As I wrap, I also draw. I have almost completed the A3 sketchbook, currently standing at 155 twig drawings, grouped at about five to a page.
Every drawing different, every twig different, every child different. I still don’t know where this will end up, but I feel it has some mileage in it yet. I will continue to collect, draw, wrap, assemble in different ways… and look for ways to display and show to others.
