Thursday 26 August 2010

Ancient History

Can it be possible?
I was rooting through my old photos and I have found a 'thing' I haven't shared yet.
I made it for a City and Guilds project, and that was in 1996.
How remiss of me.
There is a bit of everything on it. It was made form an Ikea carrier bag in the days when the big brown ones were free and made of very sturdy paper.
Its a hat for Perseus. In the myth he had a magic hat of invisibility. I thought if I made it look like the sky, or more particularly the weather, he would become camouflaged and that was as near as I could make it to invisible.
So I added raindrops, sunshine and showers. There just happened to be a 'Sunshine and Showers' theme to the 'Fashion and Embroidery Show' competition that year so it was killing two birds...with one hat.
I painted the brown paper and added little things to it, including 'words of invisibility', then I covered it with tea bag paper and other tissue, and printed and painted motifs onto the top surface. Strictly speaking it wasn't paint but food colouring, some of it mixed with acrylic pearl medium. 
Thats where the irridescence comes from. Even now, 13 years later, it still retains its colour.
I stitched spirals and stars on water soluble fabric, added some tiny pearl beads and mirrorfoil behind cut areas, some shisha and some hand stitch. Some of the spirals were slit and re positioned, and moved to add shape and structure.

Then I constructed some beads from the paper and covered some wire with stitch..
and constructed the hat in the shape of an African Chiefs hat I had seen in the Museum of Mankind.
The sunshiney bits were on the outside and on the top and the showery bits were inside the flaps.
And the Competition?
Entries had to be 2d and framed.
So I didn't bother.

37 comments:

Soggibottom said...

Your rooting to eh :-) x x x
So pleased cos, I thought it only me :-)

Joei Rhode Island said...

You make me giggle. Love it.

Sheeprustler said...

Wow, and stunning, and gorgeous, and all those other inadequate words. And I hate rigid guidelines like 2D and framed! This is wonderful and it made me smile and feel happy. Lucky Perseus.

Caroline said...

Wonderful new hat - glad you went your own route - 2d and framed is so old hat!

Robin Mac said...

What a hoot, imagine trying to fram your wonderful creation - of course you wouldn't bother, it is superb as it is. Cheers, Robin

Marigold Jam said...

Stunning! Love it.

Jane

A time to dance said...

Its wonderful Jackie, I do the legend of perseus at work...I love the attention to detail and the newspaper cuttings, you are a lady of many talents ...but then as your biggest fan I think I knew that already...thanks for yesterday your company was such a blessing......

Lynette (NZ) said...

VERY cool hat - gorgeous spirals and the beads are the crowning glory!!

French Nanny said...

It looks fab! Perhaps you should have taken a picture of it and framed that and entered it!

Sue said...

I love seeing work from when people were at college. I think there is such an energy and freedom when you can make something just for the pleasure and experience of it and you are not thinking 'will this sell' or 'why am I spending my time on this', ie having to justify design decisions on anything less than creative reasoning. This hat is fab. I love your 'early work'. x

Chrissie said...

the hat is exquisite - what a step up in life for an Ikea brown bag!

Maggi said...

Glad you found this and shared it. You would have no problem getting it entered these days - thank goodness things have changed.

Rachel said...

Fabulous! That's one truly magical hat!

Heather said...

I love your 'thing' - thankyou for sharing it with us, it's beautiful. I'd say Perseus's hat was ahead of it's time for 13 years ago and very innovative. The colours are gorgeous and all the little additions and embellishments blend with one another so well. How boring of them to want only framed and 2D items.

Twiglet said...

What a beautiful little gem - so glad you saved it to share with us.

Wendy said...

I LOVE it!!!
(I wouldn't wear it, but i love it all the same! You should display it somewhere in your house... Or maybe in your car so it can see the light of day.)
=-)

Maria Dent said...

A wonderful piece Jackie!
I have awarded you a blog award. Please pop over to my blog to find out more.

Gina said...

What a magnificent hat! Great fun.

Jan said...

Love the hat! You did a great job of showing the weather. Now I want to see a picture of you wearing it!! ha ha, I'll let you slide on that.

I'm home from the beach. I took a photo of a big rusty building for your husband. I might put it on my blog, I haven't downloaded my photos yet I don't know if it turned out or not. But when I saw that big building I thought of you and your hubby.

Mermaid's Purse said...

Competition or not it's lovely and really interesting thought process behind it!

sea-blue-sky & abstracts said...

It's terrific!

Anonymous said...

Some things are worth waiting for!

Hey, what happened to all of your wall-hanging pieces over on Etsy?? I was just fixing to do some shopping!

Magpie's Mumblings said...

As my kid would say...SWEET, which, I gather is an all-purpose word that covers anything that is pretty special. I think Perseus is a lucky guy to have such a SWEET hat!

Anonymous said...

Its stunning. Love all the hidden bits that make you want to look further. As usual, I love the colours you use too. Amazing what you can do with a paper bag!
Penny

luciebeebee said...

great idea, and so beautifully executed: ít's good to see how good stories give inspiration for gorgeous creations: well done!!!!!

Judy Martin said...

Fantastic imagination.
And thank you very much for the tour of the outer Hebrides in the last post as well. Your blog is very interesting.

Julie said...

Wow! Beautiful!

lilylovekin said...

Lovely hat! By the way I love that you went back "north", sometimes I feel the pull myself to return to my roots but the time isn't right.

jeanette, mistress of longears said...

What a stunner! Such imagination and execution! It's really much too good for the competition!

menopausalmusing said...

Jackie, this was a lovely post. Just lovely! I particularly like the curly wire and beads atop the hat! A lovely quirky touch to a great piece.

Friko said...

Golly, You have ideas and know how to to execute them.
I am impressed.

Unknown said...

fantabulous!

Greedy Nan said...

Thanks so much for commenting on my blog - very sweet of you.
You do such special work - I'm a big fan even if I don't always leave a comment. I'm taking it all in and dreaming of when I'll be half as good.

Elizabeth said...

Simply Stunning!! I bet that you ahve more treasures that youa re hiding away!!! tHANK YOU SO VERY MUCH FOR INSPIRING ALL OF US WITH YOUR GLORIOUS TALENTS!!!

Jane said...

Love the hat and the interpretation of invisibility.

Unknown said...

Wow that is absolutely Incredible
I love it
xoxo

Linda Vincent said...

What a fabulous piece...you always inspire me Jackie.
(Its because of people like you that I'm considering doing a C&G in embroidery.)
Linda x
PS I remember those IKEA bags; they were useful for all sorts of things.....



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