Wednesday 9 January 2008

The Cavalry Arrived Five Years Later

I never got Hebrew font on this computer so I can't write the title. Sorry. And I think I might have forgotten it anyway. It works out to the horses and chariots of Israel-the words are all on the bottom there so look.

I have not bound it-I initially determined I would bind only the bottom and perhaps the sides, but I wanted the jagged raw edges on the top. I am thinking I might use an organza to do a loose binding however. Before anyone asks, it is not square and the pieces were not meant to match up or look the same.

So I had it in my head that I started this piece in 04-then I looked at my journal and discovered I had done it in 03. Oh man. I had the top finished, the wheels finished, everything. It languished because I could never figure out how to add the quilting design I had chosen of horses and wheels. I didn't dare freehand and I couldn't mark the top since it is mostly handpaints and hand dyed fabrics and there is no way I am ever going to wash it. I have never been proficient enough to quilt from the back and anyway I needed to see where Elisha was. So fast forward nearly five years.

When I was scouring the internet for storage ideas for the abbreviated art room (which is still not done because I sent mama to buy me drapery lining and the woman there convinced her to buy batting. She was all "The woman told me to buy this warm and natural stuff..."I said "that's batting!" Well I can always use it for other things. Damn this parenthetical aside is long) I came across someone showing the process they used for quilting with Glad press n' seal wrap. I realized that this was finally the perfect vehicle for my horses and bought some with the intention of using when I finished the art room (which I now realize isn't going to happen for at least five years so what the hell. This one was shorter).

When I got teh noo masheen I decided to try its quilting powers and pulled the press n' seal out. This stuff sticks. It did not shift, heck it didn't budge. And I drew the design right on the top with a sharpie-no bleed through-the sharpie marks did turn the jumping foot pink though.



Here it is with the press n seal, laid out and ready to go. Mama actually asked me why I was taping it to the floor. "The same reason I always tape them to the floor" I said. That woman's memory is so bad, she must be in the early stages of dementia already. Of course it's been a few years since I've done it with life getting in the way.


Close up of the sharpie marks. As you can see I just layered one sheet right over another until I had all the top covered. I stuck them on there before layering the quilt and they did not move at all. I did however remove the press n seal after finishing only the main horse shapes because I didn't want to be picking out five hundred one millimetre sized pieces off of it. I had some trouble with the quilting and am unsure if this is due to the press n seal or the very heavy valdani thread (valdani 30 wt is much heavier than the same from sulky. Where are the standards? I actually like the weight of the valdani better) because the thread broke frequently, even after I started using a metafil needle. I swore at teh noo machine a lot because you can't get into the machine anymore. Who's genius idea was this?

Here is a picture without the flash to show the quilting a bit better. Can anyone see the horses? I think I can only because I know where they are. Still they are there so that makes me happy. I like the way the wheels ghosted in this picture.

Uhh should I mention what this is a quilt OF?

Well...it's complicated. The least complicated version: when I was going to do Biblia/Biblica Hebraica I planned several pieces of which this was one so it is tied conceptually and stylistically to that. It is a depiction of 2 kings 6:17 with nods to the declaration made of Elijah and Elisha as they left the world. The basic design of the top is that of two stylized chariot bodies which were meant to look random and offset. It has a companion that I started and then ripped to pieces in order to overhaul the design completely. That one got stalled at that point while this one progressed to the quilt stage-I also never got around to writing all of the name of that one, heh. The wheels are rather the design focus of both pieces, they are netted lace.

This uses a number of hand painted and some dyed fabrics. The letters in the base are sunprints. It is completely pieced and turned out smaller than I intended because the paper I used as foundation was only that large (heh).

In my quilt journal entry for this piece I babbled for a good page and a half about the might of God and types of Christ and blah blah. Of all of that I'm going to say Elisha was always one of my favorite people in scripture. And of course I always thought Malachi's well worn prophesy was actually saying the Lord would be in the mold of Elisha. I mean really who followed Elijah the first time people? I also tend to pair he and Joshua together as a specific type because of their names and duties, and the transfiguration. It also speaks for the might of God which is never in the things we think it is. That is the mercifully abbreviated version.

ETA: I thought maybe I should add a close-up of Elisha so you can see what he actually looks like. The shoulder in particular was placed weird, but could have been worse. I sketched it, altered and then printed directly to the fabric. The lines were done with a twin needle.

15 comments:

mem said...

Ha HA! This is what you do when you're not working. That's pretty friggin sweet. My comfort in life is knowing that if I am holy enough (ahhahahahahahahahahahhaa oh i crack myself up) I will be able to call out bears on people who make fun of my baldness.

The pictures of the process are cool. The I-could-never-do-this part of me (and no, that is not an invitation) is always curious how it works.

This took you longer than the Athanasius piece.

I did not think you were saying that, precisely. At first I took it you were writing something depressing about me, but I reconsider it now.

mem said...

No, I'm not. Isn't it your turn? Did you get swallowed by more shifts? I don't think I called you Normal recently.

mem said...

Fond of descriptive vs prescriptive / progressive sanctification. I'm pretty sure I sent you an email, but it's at home if I did, so you will just have to endure another several hours without one to use to mock me.

Life pain blahblahblah.

mem said...

I assumed you were talking about my comment about holiness. Prescriptive being what we're supposed to do and descriptive describing God's actions towards us. That's kind of how progressive sanctification works, no? But evidently you were talking about the use of narrative as normative or something. This could be a fruitful conversation.

And what do you mean, too nice? I think I've been too nice to you, you jerk. See if you ever get those books now.

Also, the verification word is "fepqrk," which is an annoyed subatomic particle.

mem said...

What do you call "Go up old bald head"? A mock, or a threat? Your classification of insults is puzzling and dumb.

Hey, I heard a great characterization of name it / claim it: blab it and grab it. Hahaha.

And no, I am not ever going to tell. You'll either get them or you won't, and you will be left in freakish agony due to your ignorance.

The verification word is "dxhal," which is a deluxe version of HAL. I don't think so, Dave.

mem said...

You're old enough to remember when that came out, right?

mem said...

Man, this is just getting easier and easier. Hahaha.

mem said...

It would've made sense if Elijah actually died. But he didn't. They were calling him baldy. What does the Scripture say? They mocked:

"there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head."

Your latter day interpretation of "go up" is obviously fallacious. Even the Bible agrees with me. People who mock bald men get the bears.

mem said...

Including you.

So HA.

Sarah said...

DAMN this is fantastic! The whole thing just heaves with motion. I love the sun printed hebrew letters.

The things that come out of your creative brain continue to amaze me.

mem said...

Did you catch the "idk my bff Jill" line? That was the whole point of that little blurb. They have another one that is probably a bit funnier. If you Google "idk my bff Rose" you'll find it.

And you have been promoted to official spell checker.

Having been a Garfield reader for most of my life, I found those hilarious. I discovered that the Garfield cartoon that came out on my birth day also contains the word "natch," which argues for a lifetime full of them.

mem said...

Oh, sorry. The answer is that I don't really know. Do you want to come along? We're not going evidently until Spring '09, and I have been told to invite someone else along "otherwise you'll be surrounded by chicks." I guess you going wouldn't help with that. But then we could find out if you are annoying to travel with or not.

I am a little dispirited myself. I'm going to sleep. I don't know if you could handle going to bed so early, but maybe a nap before you burn the midnight oil will help.

mem said...

I'm not sure I want to know how "lacfuc" gets translated. Mine is "nmjvk," which should have something to do with "nevermind, just kidding," but I can't figure out what to do with the v.

Is stuffing you in my suitcase code for "Yes, only for free"?

And I don't know isn't code, but if you really do want to go, we could probably work out visiting the place it rhymes with. Danger being, of course, that we would have to leave you behind.

mem said...

I'm pretty sure that you would have to be shorter to fit in my suitcase. And it'd be flippin cold in the hold.

I may get a kilt, though I will be laughed at by all. I will only wear it if I can cut it into pieces, write stuff on it, and have you reassemble it. Before wearing.

I wasn't worried about danger to you. I was worried about danger to me. Your disappearance would probably get me in a lot of trouble.

mem said...

You know that wasn't entirely joking, right? If we have to sedate you to make you compliant, then I don't think it's going to work. We don't want to have to have a separate ksmoD on the plane.