03/11/2021
Every order we take has its own unique set of challenges. A very dear friend just lost his father to Covid. The funeral is today. (I did ask for permission to use these photos.). My friend wanted to drape the casket in a special quilt, and yet he wanted there to be flowers, tulips specifically, and the rest he would leave to me. I wanted there to be flowers of course, but I wanted him and his mom to be able to see the quilt because that was their initial decision for covering the casket.
In trying to determine my final design, I knew it needed to have quite a bit of transparency, and yet I wanted lots of color and line and movement and to me, it needed to have some wood tones, because Tim's father was a furniture maker.
I settled on winged elm for my wood, and created a long oval shield by binding and tying my elm branches together with bind wire. Rather than using big bricks of foam, I went with slivers of Midnight Oasis in clear water tubes. These would be my only sources of water, but by choosing the right product mix, this would work, and I would just let this be an exposed mechanic as I didn't want to clutter the cleanliness of the design trying to cover tubes. I also used some tulips with the bulb still attached so that the family could take them out and plant them if they chose to. The bulbs with the roots are just fabulous botanically anyway.
I think the final result was fantastic, it was so lightweight I could (and did) carry it with one hand. It was "see-through", so you could really enjoy the quilt nestled underneath, and it had so many qualities you rarely see in sympathy work. Really bold curvilinear lines, layers of colors and textures, captivating movement, I just thought it really came out well. I was pleased with it, my friend was so happy with it, and I just wanted to share it. I'm looking to do much more in this direction. I hope you like!
