Archive for April, 2015

When is a quilt finished?

Friday, April 17th, 2015

Quilting is always open to recycling and reworking.  These fish first appeared on the ‘Fish Cube’–a 6-sided version of an aquarium that I enjoyed putting together.

The Fish cube missed something essential about quilting, however.  It did not have a softness that invited you to feel the smoothness of the silk.  This winter, I went through some of my leftover work to see what needed reworking.   The three pillows are a big improvement on the old format.  The silk paintings are not complex enough, and the quilting was not elaborate enough to qualify as a sculptural piece.  They are much better this way.

the infinite bowl…

Wednesday, April 15th, 2015

These two small maple bowls have not quite escaped from the chunk of wood that is their origin.

As with many shapes made on the lathe, there are some additional  pieces that were needed to make them, but never appear in the finished product.   Some of the magic of the craft comes from what you don’t see.

Both are about 4″ on the long side.