Art Spirals

It's finally done, and yet it doesn't seem like it took long at all. A wonderful 9 months of work -- how fitting. I'll explain the symbolism of the piece.

Mommy is who I am now (at least partly) to my two girls, ages 5 and 7. So this glove describes memories of being a mom. First, the four silver butterflies on the M are for the four miscarriages we had prior to our first child. Both girls are represented with ever growing butterflies on the first and ring fingers. The white owl under the O of mommy is for Harry Potter -- I've read the first five volumes to them and we've loved them. The blocks are for toys, the silver large hand and four small hands to the left of it are for growing hands and my hand training them. The doll, is obvious. She has a piece of beadweaving half visible under her skirt that reminds me of learning this with my sweet older sister, Marti. The heart and sequins in bright colors above the word Mommy are for living in this colorful border town of El Paso. The triathalon symbols in the yellow area symbolize our girls' love of this sport -- and they're quite good at it too!

Now, on to the fingers. The thumb is for my older daughter who loves lizards and nature...see the lizard charm where the thumbnail would be. The first finger has a paw for our older dog Cody who died last year. The three stars in a row are for Orion's belt. I remember teaching them that constellation when they were still in a double stroller and we had both dogs hooked up to the front, like reindeer, and we were pretending we were Santa in his sleigh.
The third finger has frilly and iridesent and pink stuff, see the little purse?, for the dress up phases they both went through, and the younger one is still in. The ring finger has a silver snowflake embedded in it and cold blue/ice colors for the snow that we have fun playing in in the mts of New Mexico. And the pinky finger has a fish on it, for our two fish in our new pond: Bertrick and Fishy. Also the sign language letters are: TLC and my older daughter loves learning sign language, she did that all through first grade.

I am considering submitting it to our local Arts International show (for artists in TX, NM, and the mexican state of Chihuahua), but it says that all submissions must be for sale. Of course I don't want to sell this, it's too personally meaningful for me. However, now that it's finished, it's the memories and the process of doing it that are more important to me than the finished piece. My girls though, will definitely want to have this when they get older. So I guess I could submit it with an outrageous price tag -- $7000?? -- and I'd think no one would buy it. Hmmm.... The bead competitions that I've found so far, don't seem to mind if it's been displayed on a blog already (there has been some talk involving quilts onthe Quilt Art group) and the piece doesn't have to be for sale on them. So maybe I'll do those too/instead. Any advice for me?

Yes, that's the big question. Any day now, children, any day...

Here it is in its latest incarnation:

From The Mommy Glo...

The pinky and index fingers are done...on the index is a pawprint in "Cody Colors" for our dog passed last year; the stars are for Orion's belt and the memory of teaching that constellation to the girls. The sign language is a current study for one daughter and it reads: TLC. And the fish is for our new pond. Follow the album link above for more in progress pictures and closeups.

And this weekend I found a hand statue that will be perfect to display it on:

From Garage Sale F...

For many other cool garage/estate sale finds, click on the album link above.

I've cut apart the glove, finally. Decided to make beading easier and more fun. I'll then reassemble the piece. So this is the glove thumb, with a lizard for my older daughter entangled in vines. This was such fun to do. The embroidery stitch is "fern stitch".

Looking at it offline, I thought perhaps the sign language charm was too close, and now seeing the photo online (amazing how that works) I realize, of course, move it. So I will!

As I'm working on beading this glove, I intend for the entire top surface to be beaded, I'm realizing two things: I need to make more slits in the sides to be able to manouever better, and the lining paper is getting all twisted and curled and torn, not from beading but from "smushing around" inside there. I'm thinking of cutting the whole thing flat, adding new paper, beading it and then stitching it back up with a picot stitch and beads/fringe. what do you think? I think I can make that part of it fit into the whole thing, so that it won't have a jagged stitched together look. The full view.

Close up of the hands area. It represents the many hands I need, and also the growing hands of the kids and my own hand. The "blocks" are cool vintage beads from an estate sale necklace...not sure what they are made of .. bakelite? they're not plastic.
We had four miscarriages before we had our older daughter, so that's what the four butterflies on the M represent. That's from a vintage piece of jewelry. And of course the flying butterflies growing bigger and bigger are our two young girls.

I just love this heart with the bugle bead brilliant rays around it...it feels mexican to me, for some reason, must be the strong colors, which is appropriate since we live on the border.

isn't this doll baby adorable? estate sale find complete with the crocheted dress. 'course it represents the time they played/play with dolls.