Package project update 3

Perhaps the most interesting packages are those made from strange miscellaneous things that you or others have kept for a long time, but objectively have no real purpose any more.

A friend from my fiber art group brought me these bits of wood, from which somebody had cut little dolls.  She thought I might find them useful.  And I did -- ten minutes after I came home from the meeting, I made them into a bundle.

Years ago I had a cheap plastic frame for a poster but after a while the plastic warped, cracked and wouldn't hold together.  Why had I kept it all this time underneath the shelves in the workroom?

And my favorite: a dozen sturdy metal brackets to hold up the heavy blinds in my studio.  The blinds came down the week we moved into the house, but the hardware stayed. 

Photo du jour

sign of the week -- going-out-of-business sale

Photo du jour

going up

Package project update 2

Sometimes I make packages out of things that I find on my walks.  I shouldn't be surprised that people are slobs, willing to throw away anything on the street.  So when I pick up some interesting junk, I feel that I'm doing my bit for society.

Landscape guys apparently don't bother to pick up the ends of weed-whacker cord when they run out and need a new cord. 

Lots of pencils are thrown away on the street, especially near schools.  Most of the dowels were part of an art project that somebody had pitched near a school.  And the red sticks were firecrackers, found on the park road on the Fifth of July.

Package project update 1

We've just finished week 34 of the year, which means I'm two-thirds of the way through my package project: each week I make at least one package or bundle of things that I find lying around.  Finding stuff lying around is generally not a problem, since I'm a pack rat, but making up the package requires a bit of imagination.

In a few weeks I've made only one package, the minimum required by the rules.  In other weeks, when I'm puttering around the studio trying to clean up or find something, I'll make a half-dozen or more.  Here's a peek at some of my better packages.

No surprise that much of my stuff lying around has to do with fabric.  I quilted eight pieces in June and July and had lots of pieces of batting left over, generally in strips that were trimmed off after quilting.  There's not a lot you can do to make one bundle of batting look different from the next, but I tried.  The one in the front, for instance, is embellished with some little tiles that my friend saved out for me when she remodeled her bathroom.

When I finish my quilts, I use bleach to write my name, the quilt title and the year on the sleeve.  Then they have to be laundered to wash out the bleach, which gives me lots of raveled clots of threads.  Here's a little bundle of the leftovers, which have always seemed quite beautiful.

Bits of fringe from an upholstery sample book.

An old videotape case, minus the innards and stuffed with bits of fabric.

Finally, here's a bundle of yards and yards of cord made on a pin knitting device.  I started this cord when I was in high school and have been shlepping it around for many decades, occasionally adding a foot or two from leftover yarn.  I once planned to coil it into a cushion or mat, but the colors didn't really go together so I never did.  I realized that it will never look as good as it does right now, tied into a bundle.

Tomorrow I'll show you some more of my packages.

Photo du jour

color-coordinated