Sunday, July 1, 2007

Another Challenge

Recently I accepted a challenge from Anna Nowicki regarding some paper clip washers.
She had posted on her blog the message below and I have always been one to take on a challenge.
"Does anyone fancy a small challenge? Whilst training our office junior the other day I came across some paper fasterners with washers. The only problem is we have a largish box of just the washers. Rather than throw them out - being a recycling bunny I decided to bring them home. How can they be used in some form of textile art? If anyone wants to have a go at the small challenge... email me your snail mail address before June and I'll sent you 20 -30 of them. Then you can do something exciting with them and email me photos by the beginning of July and I will post them here on my -blog. If I can think of one I may even come up with a prize for the most inventive idea! So who wants to play"
I asked Anna for 40 discs as I had something in that I wanted to do with them--and trust me it wasn't what I came up with.
Sorry about the blue background on the photo because I had white paper behind it when I took the photo and every time I took a new photo the same thing happened.
I have taken a photo at each stage as I went along so you can see what I did.
The tassel head is copper mesh -for some reason the Tassel photo won't enlarge when you click on it but the rest do..



The discs were silver when I received them and I painted them with a spray copper paint.


I then used 24 guage copper wire...............



And added it to the discs.........................


I then got some brown beads..........................



And added them to the wire and discs and made these charms..........



Then I threaded the charms onto several strands of yarn.....................




And then stitched them onto brown ribbon for support- to form the skirt.
I varied the length of the loops that held the charms to give them an uneven skirt.



Here is a close up of the skirt--I hope Anna likes it.

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow Doreen, that is very cool!

Annica said...

Doreen! You have done it again! :-)It's beautiful!

Maureen said...

The tassel is great Doreen!
Just goes to prove that what one considers junk,another can turn into treasure!

Papoosue said...

That is gorgeous, I'm sure she will love it.

Unknown said...

Oh Doreen, it is gorgeous!!!I send my pictures today. I am very curious to see what everyone has done with them. I hope that Anna don't let us wait to long.

Terri Stegmiller said...

A great idea for using those washers.

Micki said...

This is way cool. I just received my washers in the mail yesterday and I still have no idea what to do with them. I love what you did.

Susan D said...

Oh wow Doreen that is brilliant. I can see I have a long way to catching up with some of you talented ladies in respect of being more adventurous with my work.

Sandy said...

Wonderful tassel, but then you are good at them. I love mine.

Sarah said...

What a great sue of the washers.

Digitalgran said...

Brilliant Doreen. I love your tassel.

Janet said...

If Anna doesn't like it she must be nuts!! That is fantastic! You are just so creative and always come up with the best ideas.

Dianne said...

Wow Doreen - that is the coolest tassel!! Love it!!

neki desu said...

Brilliant!!You've inspired me, thank you.

neki desu

Val said...

I love this tassel Doreen - just brilliant, and I bet it jingles beautifully? Val

Unknown said...

All I can say is WOW WOW WOW - FANTASTIC!

Purple Missus said...

Doreen - this is absolutely fantastic. What a brilliant way to use the washers. It is fabulous.

Now another challenge - what about Carols (A Stitch in Time)to experiment with something from your studio that you haven't used yet, are you going to take that one up too?

Linda’s Textiles said...

Very creative Doreen, another triumph!

Penny said...

Love those washers Doreen, and what a great way to use them.

Dot said...

Beautiful work Doreen! Thanks for showing all the steps you took to make this work of art. Very interesting, and very striking too!