My baby reef won a prize!

This piece took a LONG time to make. Every one of my silk tie pieces is washed, and then I iron a backing fabric, and then cut shapes that need to be sewn inside out and then turned right-side out. Then stuffed so they can stand on their own. and sewn back together and THEN individually placed on a fabric covered wood grid and sewn in place. It sounded so easy when I convinced myself to make it. 

Making the smaller 2 art works, The stars are not just in the skies 1 & 2, was certainly more difficult because each one was so small that everything had to be sewn by hand. I was wrong. 

I was already in love with the stuffed parts that I had set aside. I was making a baby neighborhood reef.

The birthing process had to continue.

I took the soft sculpture, now mounted on a wood base, to a local gallery to be juried for a show. I was SO honored that my little reef was accepted and later received a prize.

This is a labor of love, indeed.

Please visit my little reef. It is my small way of repairing the connection to communities we seldom see.