The felt and fiber studio issued a 2nd quarter challenge to take pictures of things that you might usually pass by and see how the details could inspire us to felt, knit, weave or sew something. I took a photo of chipped paint on cement.

I decided that I really wanted to play up the multitude of layers on the cement by creating each layer using a different media or technique and exposing each one through holes and rips in subsequent layers.

The first layer is a brown silk scarf that I nuno felted with brown, green and cream wool fibers. I purposely left a lot of the silk exposed so it would get textured when I fulled the wool.

The second layer is paper rods made from navy and gold mulberry silk paper that I created using the Korean papermaking process called joomchi and the 3rd layer is free motion embroidery on cheesecloth .

The final layer is also made with the Joomchi method. This time I fused multiple sheets of mulberry silk paper in different colors and created rips in the paper that expanded into the thin “ribs” of paper across the center.

So now I had this almost 4 foot long multi-layered piece and had to decide what to do with it. My mother convinced me that it would make a nice wall hanging but we both thought that it needed a little something extra to tie the colors and layers together. I started by building on the felt rope I created to hang it – that had a feel of macramé so I kept adding ropes in colors that I pulled from the piece. I also added one little slice of wood and took a picture to see if I liked it and wanted to add more. It was at this point of taking photos that a completely different image emerged for me.

It could be because I watch too much Project Runway but I see an evening gown when I look at it now. I decided to play on that even more and added more ropes as a “belt” to finish off the design.

Having just watched the red carpet at the Met Gala, I am pretty sure this outfit would have fit right in. What do you think?

What else do you see? My daughter sees a waterfall, my mother sees skulls. It is like looking at clouds – I can’t wait to bring this one to the art fair and see what others visualize.