BJP 2013 - Here comes the Sun - December

Cheerio, BJP year 2013! I am thoroughly surprised to see where this year's pieces have taken me. When I started out in January, I had no idea what the details of my Sun theme would be. It seems to be a rule that, once you put your mind to a subject, it will develop more or less by itself. That's what makes working in a series so interesting. Nevertheless, twelve pieces to a series are enough. Let's move on and see what we will dream up in 2014!

 

Sunset

The sun is descending, it is sinking so deep,

lavishing colours, preparing to sleep.

But wait!

I must put things straight:

Did I just say: The sun goes to bed?

That is not true, let me say this instead:

The sun is on duty 24/7,

'cause there's no trade union up in High Heaven.

Imagine! No pay and never a break,

no coffee, no lunch, always awake!

During the day we get plenty of light,

a blanket of darkness all through the night.

Everyone's happy and freely admits:

Our beautiful sun spoils us to bits!

Thank you, dear Sun! Please continue to shine

on our noses, inclusive of mine!

 

That's what sunsets looks like from the reverse side. Did you know?

A few words of gratitude:

First and foremost, thanks go to my (long deceased) teacher, Cäcilie Ahrens, who introduced us ten-year-olds to the basics of the English language during one school year. We had the greatest respect for Ms Ahrens. A number of pupils even lived in constant fear of her. She was a great teacher who guided us with firm and, not so obvious, loving hands. May she rest in peace, although I rather suspect that she is up in heaven teaching angel-classes discipline, and testing their vocabulary.

Second, but just as important: Thank you, Robin, for nudging me into the BJP 2008/2009 in the first place. You know how much that helped me.

BJP 2013 - Here comes the Sun - November

No long story today, because it is late at night, or rather early morning. I am very glad to say that I finished my November piece, so here it is for you to see:

 

Missing the Sun

 

How come, month of November,

that, for as long as I remember,

you and I do not agree?

Dreary grey is all I see

while you are ruling thirty days,

which strikes me as a joyless phase.

On top of that I know you've got

a friend on our neighbours' plot,

an oak – in summertime a beauty –

that now considers it its duty

to let its foliage tumble down

(decay-resistant, hard and brown)

much later than all other trees.

Oak Tree, you are such a tease!

And your acorns – lots of them –

don't drop down close to your stem,

no, you aim them, one by one,

maliciously and just for fun,

at my tired, soggy lawn,

be it midday, night or dawn.

The squirrels cannot store them all,

that's why I have to spend each fall

collecting what you shed and throw.

Today I'll have another go.

November! Oak Tree! What is wrong?

The sun, these days, is weak, not strong.

Is that why we don't get along?

The pale winter sun

Some leaves of the said oak tree, picked off my lawn

and reinforced with iron-on interfacing

Not amused!!

BJP 2013 - Here comes the Sun - September

Limited Dimensions

With my mind lately set on finishing my unfinished objects, my September piece had to be a little patient with me, but here it is now, brand new, finished this morning.

 

Limited Dimensions

I read, and maybe so did you,

a moving story which is true

of Robin Atkins and a donkey,

which shows that, while a path seems wonky,

it may be purposeful and straight.

In any case, the tale is great.

What's that story? Here's the LINK.

Now, what do you feel and think?

The question that we here advance

is: Did they re-meet just by chance,

or are man and beast connected

and subconsciously directed

by the power we call fate?

We'll never get the answer straight.

To the Happy End three cheers!

Oh Sun, caressing Donk's long ears,

did you foresee the story's twists?

Is there a pattern that insists

on being followed to a tee,

a pattern that we cannot see,

but have to live by all the same?

I wonder: What's the secret game?

Obviously, I can't rely

on you to send me a reply.

I know you cannot ease my tensions –

I'm caught in limited dimensions.

You may be wondering why there is a whole animal pyramide on my piece, instead of just one donkey, as would be adequate to illustrate the story. Wellll - it happened like this: I went out to look for a donkey, small enough to sit in the centre of my 6" x 6" piece. I soon met one, but ... he was not alone ... Now, we all know that donkeys have a reputation of being stubborn, and this one turned out to be no exception. When I asked him whether he would like to become the star of my bead picture, he thought that over for a while and then said that he might consent to accept that job, but only on two conditions. First: His pals had to accompany him. Second: His fee would have to be paid in Carrot currency. What could I do? I was in a tight spot, so I agreed, and here they all are. May I introduce: The donkey's name is Oskar, his friends are dog Benno, cat Winnifred, rooster Lorenzo.

Here's some more background information:

Rough layout after the fabric had been prepared.

I made the carrots from polymer clay (Fimo), with a hole from one end to the other to fix them to the background and add the greenery.

Fastened to the embroidery hoop.

Silk backed with thin, iron-on interfacing; two different fabrics fused on top.

Ready to be taken off the embroidery hoop.

I purchased the blue glass firefly in London/UK, at one of the gateways to Beading Paradise (see information below). I then elongated the tail with some seed beads.

The raffia bee was given to me by one of my children's friends many, many years ago. It was the craze at that time to knot these sweet little critters.

Details about the a.m. London bead shop, last updated in summer 2011:

The Bead Shop www.beadshop.co.uk

21a Tower Street, London WC2H 9NS; there is a good map on the website.

Business hours: Mon 13.00 – 18.00, Tue – Fri 10.30 – 18.00, Sat 11.30 – 17.00,

however downstairs area Mon – Fri only until 17.00, Sat only until 16.30.

Tube: Leicester Square (Piccadilly or Northern line) or Covent Garden (Piccadilly line).

Have fun with Oskar and friends!

BJP 2013 - Here comes the Sun - July

I had this piece of black silk – the blackest black – that I wanted to use. How do sunlight and black go together? Not very well. So, what could be the theme? A cloudy day? Not dark enough. An eclipse? Still not dark enough. But wait ... WHAT IF ...

OFF! Sun and Earth going to Pieces

 

What if ...

life was no more teeming,

with all of us forever dreaming

an icy dream on pitch-dark plains

neither touched by droughts nor rains,

nor by sound or laughter,

even aeons after

the sun burst into splinters,

followed by eternal winters ...

What if ...

there were no nights, no days,

no colours – yellows, reds or greys –,

no light at all from any source,

just vicious storms and winds so coarse

blowing, raging, reeling,

nowhere love or warmth of feeling ...

What if ...

long after our sun's forgotten,

the earth extinguished, lying rotten

to its lifeless, frozen core -

somehow, one day, another door

would open in the universe

to eliminate the curse,

revealing worlds with brandnew features,

other suns and unknown creatures ...

... that would be the greatest thrill!

What a pity that we will

be no part

of that new start.

Finally, I want to say:

Let's be grateful for each day

that we are granted on this Earth.

At every moment it is worth

all our love and constant care.

Of that we ought to be aware.

This planet is not our toy.

Put up a signboard: „DON'T DESTROY!“

Some detailed photos:

You find the story of this shard below.

My favourite shard because it comes from a set of china used during happy family times.

Four colourful shards.

Bits and Pieces.

Leaves and Flowers.

The Poem

I wrote the poem just before a big thunderstorm broke forth. The air was stifling, damp and thick, electrified. The sky looked menacing. The sun was concealed. All sounds were strange. I had been at a loss of how to put my theme into words, but suddenly, in the middle of this threatening atmosphere, the poem came, and I had to grab pen and paper to write it down ...

 

The Piece

Materials: Silk, iron-on interfacing, beads, shards, electric light switch, wire, cable staples.

The making-of held surprises as well as mishaps, for example:

When digging into the boxes of my mosaic shards, I cut my hand and swore most un-ladylike. Good that no one was near enough to listen.

Every now and again, when I had forgotten to file a particularly sharp edge, the thread would snap without warning, beads would fly in all directions. Poor things, they met their unglamorous end in the depths of my carpet flooring, and finally in the vacuum cleaner.

„100 % off“ was a lucky-surprise find in the mosaic-stash section „Shards with Writing“. It is part of a plate that I bought at a junk shop for mosaic purposes years ago. All over the plate, it had said: „100 % coffee“. Unfortunately, I tried to be too perfect when clipping the edges with my mosaic tongues, and so broke the shard in two. But never mind, I think that fits the theme.

Actually, I think the piece looks much too cheerful and decorative considering the disaster it is supposed to describe. But what can you do when BEADS are playing the lead ...

Thank you for visiting my blog. Have a happy time!

BJP 2013 - Here comes the Sun - June

The things we will do for a BJP piece ... Shocking!

The stolen Glass Stone

The other day, oh what a shame,

I brought disgrace upon my name:

I stole – and I'm not making fun –

the very centre of the sun!

On this page you can admire

the object of my bad desire:

A glass stone, round and bright,

acting as the sun, and sitting tight.

It was a piece of decoration

that I "found" at a location

called Rose Café, a pleasant place.

I left with an angelic face ...

At least I did pay for my coffee

and that delightful chocolate toffee.

I hope you will not tell a soul

of my disgusting thieving role.

Admittedly, it caused me stress.

But in the end – what a success!

P.S.:

Please comment or send a mail:

Do you think I'll go to jail?

corpus delicti

If worst comes to the worst: Cry for Help

The materials that went into this piece:

Red silk, very thin iron-on interfacing, ultrasuede

Stolen glass stone*

Candy foil

Beads and thread (of course)

Parts of an empty matchbox

Lace and ribbon

EURO-store doll with altered face

*Mind you, I have a large collection of glass stones, including dozens exactly like the pinched stone - but it had to be THIS one! Crazy or criminal, or both?

I rather like the back of this piece, and I thought you might like to see it, as well as some of its details:

This photo was taken just after I had removed the stitched piece from the embroidery hoop.

The edging had still to be done,

and the prison cell with its inmate had not been mounted yet.

Later, as an afterthought, I touched the white edges of the matchbox up with a black marker

The ultrasuede reinforces the glass stone

I was quite surprised at the look of the text cloud from the reverse.

The words cannot be identified, nor even most of the triangles surrounding the cloud.

Alright, if you have followed me up to this point, I want to say thank you for your interest and patience. Bye-bye for now, have a good time, and stay honest!