"If you hear a voice within you say, 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced." --Vincent van Gogh

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Soup Bowl - Seriously

The owner of Fusions in Pittsboro asked me to make a bowl for a fundraiser to benefit the Cathmam County Soup Kitchen. I think it might be connected with the "Empty Bowls" project, but I'm not sure. For a set donation, you get a simple soup lunch and you get to choose a bowl made by a local artist to take home.

Since all my art at Fusions is made with recycled materials, I felt I needed to create a bowl that reflected that. I found a pattern for a simple fabric bowl and went about fusing old NC map pieces, dyed paper towels (purple), painted dryer sheets (blues and greens) and candy wrappers (gold) to my base. I finished it by fusing a layer of blue tulle over the top and stitching. It took longer to create the layers than it did to assemble the bowl!
I need to neaten up my satiin stitch along the seams. I put the grommets in, thinking I would "faux lace" the sides, but I didn't like any of the lacing that I tried, so I just left it as is. I am considering adding bead dangles to the four corners for a little more interest. It goes to the shop on Thursday, so we'll see what time allows.

6 comments:

morningDove said...

oh I love this bowl and the creativity in recycling products is a great idea. Love the dangles idea and I think fancy lace just for decoration would be fun.

Anonymous said...

It's interesting Michelle, a picture taken sideways would help in seeing the depth of the bowl. It looks like an over-sized chip bowl at the moment. I like the way you've used maps very original.

Cathie said...

I like this. Interesting use of a map!! I just borrowed a book on how to make those "rope" bowls. Maybe try my hand at that this week sometime.

See you Wednesday girlfriend!

Cindy Ericsson said...

This is great! I just read an article about a fundraiser like this that will take place soon in the DC area.

3rdEyeMuse said...

I think this is such a clever use of recyled materials & to get such a pretty (and useful) item from it all makes it even better. :) Thanks for the link to the pattern. :)

sherry carrigan said...

Very nice Michelle. I'm just amazed at the things you come up with to use in your art.