Even after reading this several times since Friday morning the only image that stayed in my mind was that of teeth, claws and fiery eyes rushing through the woods. SCAREY! So as I posted on the group, I decided to look through a child's eyes and "saw" that those 3 things were all a small child would see if this came at them! So basically this is the 5 year old Cathy's "monster in the closet"...or Jabborwock! I purposely made it as a child might, simple , almost silly,shapes. My almost 4 grandson says it looks like a scarey monster, my 22 yr old with Down Syndrome and therefore much younger in "mind" wants it for a Halloween mask, my 17 year old says it looks stupid...lol...so guess I hit my age group! Anyways, the bacground is flannel, eyes and hands cotton, mouth, red and black satin, and the teeth and claws are...teflon?..the stuff inside potholders. I quilted it pretty heavily ...actually embroidering over all the pine needles to make them stand out more. Also I quilted it in such a way that it is bumpy,,,like the pine cones stick out to make it look more like the woods surrounding him. The odd shape is to focus more attention on the elements of the creature. And tried something new on the binding..twisted tulle in a lighter green, to represent the safer, lighter place where the Jabberwock DOESN'T live.
Here is another interpretation for your quilt.
ReplyDeleteMy seven year old daughter says "It's pretty. It looks like an alligator that wants to eat something bad, so the good things don't get hurt. It's pretending to be scary."
Definately get the feel of the Jabberwocky. The claws - the teeth - very balanced - I wish I could better see the quilting, sounds great. Very interesting idea about the binding, I will have to give that a try! Great Piece, looked like he was fun to create!
ReplyDeleteI love the whimsy! My head kept going to "Where the Wild Things Are" and you've captured it!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments, he was fun to make, although I now have several "mouths" sitting around, took awhile before I made one that I liked..lol
ReplyDeleteTina, I took a close up of the quilting in the pines, still hard to see because the thread is almost the same color and it sinks a little into the flannel, basically it is almost a larger zigzag over all the needles..
Looks like you had a lot of fun making it! I think it would be neat to display a series of different ones on the wall at halloween-time. Interesting about the tulle binding. I've got a pile of tulle leftover from halloween and will have to try that sometime.
ReplyDeleteHi Cathy,
ReplyDeleteBrings back childhood scarey feelings...I had that whole monster in the closet thing going on, too. I still don't like open closets at night!
The piece is colorful and fun in a child-like scary way. I like how you made everything odd...only 3 claws, the eyes going in different directions and different number of teeth on the top and bottom. That adds to the interest.
One question...do you have a way to crop your photos so you take out the extraneous stuff?
Nice job...I look forward to seeing your next fun piece.
Cynthia