Swan Song

Upon completing a job for a new client, she expressed such satisfaction with the work and service, that she said she would next bring in a challenging project and would need me to save the day.  To which I said, "Bring it!"

A few days later she arrived with a dozen or so of these small needlework items she had made for her granddaughter.  She sent them off to an unscrupulous framer who did her a terrible disservice.  The items were cut and glued, both actions quite unreversible.  And then that framer went out of business.

cut, glued, and backed

She explained that she had taken these all over town and mailed them to reputable shops all over the country, and they had always been returned to her with the response that there was nothing that could be done.

hard, gluey edges

I spent a good amount of time finding a layout.  Ideally, I wanted to cut openings in a collage mat for all of them, to hide the gluey edges.  But the birthday cake piece was not square, and even if I could cut a birthday-cake-shaped opening, it would look pretty strange in a frame.  So then I wanted to piece them all together like a patchwork quilt, sewing all the edges together with no gaps.  But that was mathematically impossible.

So I came up with the layout in the image at the top of this post:  heads at the top, feet at the bottom, birthday cake in the center.  I sent the photo to the client via email, she approved, we selected materials.

Below is the completed project.  Items are floating and hand sewn to the mat. 

sideview with an oversize vintage rock poster that happened to be in the shop at the same time :)

It pleases me to leave this blog having saved the day, as this author is moving on.  xoxo