Thursday 14 October 2010

Sun and shadow


Hurrah! The sunburst vessel is finished - only it isn't quite a vessel any more! I've been crocheting away like mad this week to get this finished, confidently happy with my idea of a lovely wide, platter shaped vessel, and watching it slowly emerge. When I thought of these organic shapes, I realised I would need a simple form that would show them off to their best advantage so the previous bowl shapes were dropped quickly, and a shallow, broad expanse of curly swirly happiness sounded just the thing!


Putting them all together on the flat - ahhh:)) Now that is nice and bright, and yummily swirly. Kind of looks like very ornate script lettering in places..... But what about into the vessel shape??


Looking good I thought. Took a bit of time to get things placed just the way that looked best but I got there in the end and packed up another evening to get some shuteye. I had a niggling feeling I still wasn't showing this off to its best advantage but decided to sleep on it and hope for a fresh perspective in the morning. Luckily for me I didn't have to wait quite so long! You know how sometimes when you are very tired, your conscious mind has pretty much switched off and you're working on automatic pilot? Yup? Well, I was switching everything off for the night (including me) and heading up the stairs, passing the bowl dimly lit by the stair light, and it hit me. What if it wasn't a bowl?

I have been so locked into thinking 'vessel' that I had missed the obvious - a FLAT piece. Oh, the irony:)) Having a lightbulb moment when that fatigued doesn't do much to promote a restful night's sleep so I gave up and tried hanging it on the wall instead. Tah-da!


Oh, I like! Then I noticed the shadows it was creating....... ooooh! Off the wall it came and back up it went about a foot away, suspended quickly with some cotton from the ceiling. TAH-DA!!


Oh now, what would this be like as a ginormous circle? (Forgetting the fact that this has taken about two solid weeks to make and is only about 45cm/18" in diameter...) Looking at this impartially, the units are a bit too large in scale for the present diameter and would balance a lot better in a larger circle but I will have to have enough dyed yarn and patience to make such a big piece - as well as somewhere to hang it when its finished:))) But I'm thinking I'll have to have a go, somewhere in the near future. Until then, I'll reduce the motif size and stick to a more manageable scale - for now.....:)))


But on to the more practical aspects of the making. The wire is a total success. It bent so easily, maintained the shapes and as long as the spaces between didn't get too large, held together well. The units were stitched together as invisibly as I could make them and I tried to make sure there were enough joins for stability, without compromising the flow of the pattern too much.


The crocheted units have two distinct sides as well. There is the 'right' side which looks nice and smooth and the back which has more visual texture due to the form of the crocheted slip stitch. Again, I fully intended to have the right side facing out but when it was lit up for the photos, the reverse just came to life and it seemed really obvious that it should be the front. Happy surprises all round!


And lastly, the ends! Thank you everyone for all your very helpful and creative suggestions here, on flickr and on ravelry. I tried out a good few ideas but none seemed to gel well with these curly shapes. I eventually decided that any form of disguise was only drawing more attention where it wasn't wanted so I ended up exposing a bit of the lovely copper wire underneath and bending it into a small loop at each end. You can just see the loops in the close-up picture - little glints of copper (aaah, lovely!) - whilst practically helping to keep the stitches on the ends! It works for me till I can think of another solution.

So, it's all finished. I feel a little strange that this baby I've been working on has now been completed. It feels like I've been living with it constantly for so long that I don't want to start anything new quite yet. Maybe I need some quiet time to savour this little achievement and then get back into things tomorrow..... :)


24 comments:

  1. It's beautiful!!!

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  2. Excellent piece. The shadow looks like it's going to be an important element of future pieces, at least for a while.

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  3. Well done Sis! Your sunburst is so full of life and energy. I bet it will make everyone at the exhibition smile! ;-))
    ... and now rest zzzzzzz....

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  4. thank you all:) Going to have an early night and catch up on some sleep!

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  5. What an incredible work of art and I mean that sincerely. Please consider entering it somewhere for others to see. Or wait till you have a series of them.

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    1. Thank you Clara, I really enjoyed making this and have done a small series of vessels as well based on this technique, although I still love the larger wall pieces more:) Sometimes it's difficult to gauge whether the work you make appeals to people so I really do appreciate your supportive feedback, thank you! I had stopped making these but maybe I should reconsider :)

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  6. I knew it was going to be stunning! Well done! Isn't strange how things start one way and end up as something else? This is truly art. LOVE the swirls, and the colours :)

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  7. I think you let it become what it was to begin with!! Fabulous piece and so well done!

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  8. Hi Elaine, this came out just absolutely beautiful and I just love the colors. Love the Idea of just hanging it a bit away from the wall so it creates the shadow.

    By the way, Thanks for stopping by to encourage me to just go ahead and give it a shot. Well I have started on a little project. Will show it of sometimes soon.

    Talk to you soon!

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  9. Hello Elaine!
    I landed into youur blog from iCrochet. I adore this piece you made!
    I do crochet and also design jewelry and this piece inspired me for something new I want to do.
    Come to visit me! my door is always open!

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  10. Oh Oh Oh! I actually can't express in words just how much I love this. Amazing!

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  11. This is absolutely stunning! Supremely gorgeous and unique! I'm madly in love. What thickness of wire did you use? I'd love to make a similar motif on a smaller scale to hang over our bed beside the origami cranes from our wedding...

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  12. Thank you everyone for your lovely comments and support, it's much appreciated :)and lovely to make new friends too!

    Hi Wildbirdsongdesigns :) I also have an earlier post that goes with this one which shows in detail how I've made my shapes and what wire I used too - you can find it here - hope this helps you make your own hanging piece. Love to see what you end up making!

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  13. Hi Elaine. It's 2013 and I have just found your site and this most beautiful Sunburst and Shadow. I am experimenting with your idea and have already discovered it is hard to crochet over the wire when it is bent...so I crochet on the straight and then shape it. It is still more difficult than I imagined, but I am determined to make something similar. Hope that is OK with you. Thanks for sharing it with us.

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    1. Hi there, the technique does take a little practice and the wire can be unwieldy at times! For this piece I used smaller more manageable lengths and experimented with bending as I went or straight then bending. You could use one ongoing length too but that would be rather challenging to handle I think! The fun thing is you can shape, mould or make anything with the technique so do experiment and enjoy making and expressing your own creative voice!

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  14. Hi,
    I have just found this wonderful post via Pinterest and I'm so glad I did. Your work is inspirational. I adore the colour and structure of this 'high end & high class' piece. I mean that sincerely; I would expect to see this is a boutique with a nice price tag too. How very clever and amazing. Shall have to watch your blog now to catch up and see what the finish LARGER piece ends up like. Have a good weekend. Regards Linda

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    1. Thank you Linda, that is very kind. I had poor health for a while and stopped making these but I have been considering going back to them again. You may notice the blog has been a bit idle as well but hopefully that will change as I get my creative mojo working again. Thank you for your inspirational support! Just what I needed to hear:) elaine

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  15. I love your wire/crochet creation! I could see much larger pieces hanging in office lobbies, hospitals, etc. The shadow play would be wonderful and interesting to people passing through!

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    1. Thank you Jane! I would love to create these large pieces for installation in buildings, that would be amazing. I think it would definitely stand out :)

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  16. Please, what material do you use into the crochet???
    Thank So much
    Lucia

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    1. Hi Lucia, the yarn used to crochet this was hand dyed by me specifically for this project. Anything with a long colour run would work but for me it was all about the balance between the shapes and the colours together.

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  17. Just found this piece via Pinterest. It is absolutely stunning and inspiring. Beautiful work.

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    1. Thank you Fifi:) I really enjoyed making this ppiece on a bigger scale than the vessels.

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Hello and thanks for stopping by. Do stay a while and visit. Please do leave a comment - I'd love to hear from you and be inspired by all your blogs out there too:-) elaine xx

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