Festival Hats Tapestry (in progress)

My family helps me unwrap some crack seed wrappers for my tapestries. Later, they will help me eat them, too. Most of my wrappers come in the mail from family in Hawaii. The produce netting I use come from friends and family all over. My dad picks up old rice bags in Hawaii when he comes across them and I have friends who bring back flour bags from the Philippines.
























(In progress piece above)

This piece pays homage to the issei (first generation immigrant) Japanese sugar plantation workers of Hawaii. The background pattern is abstracted from plantation work clothes worn by women. I find it inspiring that despite the harsh conditions and their being impersonally identified by a numbered brass disc (bango), the women had the creative energy to express their individual style. On many plantations distinct work clothes emerged: unique hat styles, vairations on sashes, variations on aprons and leggings. The types of fabric used showed a blending of the West and East and a mixing of ideas from other cultures on the plantations.

Sketch of completed piece.
























Hats formed over trash can lid.

Building kimono

These past few days I have been trying to complete this piece. Kind of busy, though, with the Fourth of July weekend. Here are some pictures of the progress. I completed the green wrapper edging and some of the smaller neuron elements. To create the neuron elements I designed the outline in Illustrator and printed out templates in two different sizes. I used the smaller sized template for the sleeves and the larger template for the middle section.

Making neurons: I twisted the wire with a drill and then shaped it to the template. After the wire forms were completed, I gave each neuron a skin of Chan Pui Mui wrappers attaching with the PVA bookmaker glue. The larger neurons were also covered with kozo paper and manga. After they dried. I placed them on plastic bags outside and glazed them with a UV resistant coating (Golden Polymer Varnish with UVLS)
















Once the glaze dried I added some orange silk to the middle of each neuron (I used YES glue). This is the sort of nucleolus. My children have been curious about these funny forms and it has given me the opportunity to talk to them about cells. My almost four year old scurried off with one neuron to play with, but I got it back in good form.




















Sheer blue silk, courtesy of Colleen Quen couture, covers the large neurons. YES glue used here. Kind of nice to use glue after so much stitching with the waste canvas layer and then the orange raw silk layer.




















Here is the kimono as of this afternoon. This evening I completed papering the large neurons and decided to add blue produce netting to some areas of the sleeves to add more weigh to them. The floor was such a mess. Bits of fabric and food wrappers everywhere. I vacuumed the room a bit just so that bits of scraps don't attach to the elements I make tomorrow. I'll be making large yellow neurons, perhaps three. I hope to complete this by Tuesday and then comes the fun of making the box to ship it in.