2024 05 The Heart’s Clothed Data I Find Difficult To Name

Mending Hearts: Stitching Recycled Fibers Into Sculpture

Class Sample

This month I was able to register at the last minute to take a workshop led by Lorraine Reynolds at Shake Rag Alley in Mineral Point, WI, taught by Lorraine Reynolds called Mending Hearts: Stitching Recycled Fibers Into Sculpture. 

Lorraine Reynolds

The Class Supplies

I decided to make my Mending Heart a happy story. I decided to make it about my lovely bride, Denice. 

The first step of this project is to create the pocket of significance that will form the central core of the wrapped heart. In that I placed a poem I wrote, a nail for strength, a key for security, a bayleaf with Denice's name on it and a heart rock. All of these items were bagged up in a scrap from one of my shirts and tied with a pink ribbon (Denice's favorite color). 

This was as far as I could get in the workshop time

At home, I decided to assemblage the heart into a shrine.

This cool wood drawer with a unique handle was a purchase at the very unique Wisconsin location,

the Amish Flea Market

I covered the drawer interior with rust dyed paper

I took this photograph in the arboretum at the Biltmore in North Carolina

I removed the pipe handled, used it as a frame and reattached it to the drawer by rotating its orientation

I did a lot of extra sewing on the heart before attaching it in the drawer

I papered the outside of the drawer with a fiber paper

Thus we have The Heart’s Clothed Data I Find Difficult To Name. The title for this piece comes from a poem by Natalie Eilbert called The Lake. It is 15"H X 5"W X 5"D. It consists of Mending Hearts Project with a Nail, Key, Bayleaf, Poem and a Heart Rock. Also it consists of a Wood Drawer with Hardware Handle, Photograph, Mica, Foam Core, Waxed Thread, and Raffia.