Let your peace flag fly

Please note: we are playing with our grandkids for the next week, so I won’t be responding to comments and/or email for now. The new project will re-commence next week, but you are welcome to comment any time!

Today is the International Day of Peace, a fitting time to start a new take on last year's Peace Pin Project.

This time around, I'm sending shreds of repurposed linen clothing stitched with words of peace ...

miniature peace pin/flags inspired by Fiona Dempster's Daily words ...

which you can find in her shop. My goal is to send all of her words out into the world paired with peace.

If you wish to receive one of Fiona's words and a miniature peace pin/flag, please leave a few words of peace in a comment at the end of this post. 

And then, please send your current mailing address to lizackert@gmail.com (even if you think I already have your address, it is ever so much easier if you send it to me in an email as I'm somewhat scattered).

There is no catch and no charge. It is my humble way of spreading a little bit of peace in a world that very much needs it. That said, if you wish to send me an email or link with a picture of where you hang your peace pin/flag once it arrives, I will happily post it in the Works in Progress page, found in the sidebar to the right.

Addendum:

And here, as a perfect example, is Marti's peace pin from last year ...

Earth Prayer
made of cloth hand-dyed with plants gathered from her land in New Mexico

May it soon be joined by new images of this year's peace pin/flags. 

 

Beside myself

I hate losing sight of the back of a cloth ...

which is inevitably what happens when one turns to the front ...

making something of it ...

So many stitches, some intentionally visible ...

others not, here because Deb Lacativa's thread slips from light to dark, making Jude Hill's invisible baste true to its name ...

still others becoming hidden when they don't make the final cut.

Then there are the stitches that have been undone ...

No trace left, and no clue yet about what, if anything, will replace them.

Teach peace

September 21 is the International Day of Peace and this marks the second year I have the privilege of joining with two Australian artists in sending pieces of peace out into the world ... 

Weather-grams by Fiona Dempster and ...

silver-plate peace tags by Barry Smith

As I considered how best to participate this time around, teachers became the focus of my intention ...

It was a challenge with so many teachers who have been, and remain, a part of my life. In the end I decided to choose two new teachers, two art teachers, two writing teachers, and the one person who, more than any other, inspired my own journey into teaching.

To each of them I am sending …

• a repurposed silver-plate peace tag made by Barry Smith
  http://rustnstuff.blogspot.com/2018/07/process-of-pieces-for-peace.html
• a letterpress peace weather-gram made by Fiona Dempster
  https://paperponderings.blogspot.com/2018/07/printing-for-peace.html
• and two teach peace pins stitched on shreds of repurposed linen clothing,
  one to keep and one to give away

In the spirit of Tibetan prayer flags, any or all of these pieces of peace may be placed outside. According to Wikipedia, '"prayer flags are used to promote peace, compassion, strength, and wisdom. The flags do not carry prayers to gods, which is a common misconception; rather, the Tibetans believe the prayers and mantras will be blown by the wind to spread the good will and compassion ... to all"

Note: You can read about last year’s International Day of Peace here: http://imgoingtotexas.blogspot.com/2017/09/ripples-of-peace.html. 
And for those of you who recall last year's Peace Pin Project, there is more to come.

New moons

Up until now, the Moon Myth bases have been made before the moon patches. Now, as the moon wanes, I have turned the process around ...

The waning gibbous is thrifted white damask (50 cents) and Deb Lacativa  dyed cloth (priceless) reverse appliquéd with thrifted charcoal gray linen ($2).

The last quarter moon on the right is worked on indigo shibori cotton dyed at Maura Ambrose's workshop several years ago, sandwiched around a thrifted white damask hem ($1).

There were a few also-ran moons which may or may not make the final cut ...

And good news: we have been in a long spell of no rain, but ever since Fiona's peace weather-gram and Barry's piece of peace (more on that later) were hung on our porch thermometer ...

it has been raining ...

Sadly, but true to the land of flood and drought, the almost-bone-dry Blanco River, home of these rock cairns down the road from us  ...

has now risen and washed them all away ...

If you have Facebook, you may be able to see (and hear) video of the Blanco River.

Moon rise

Page 9 of Moon Myth is another memory cloth of a golden full moon rising over the trees on Cascade Trail ...

Once again, Deb Lacativa's dyed cloth and threads have a starring role ...

And this time I did a turned-edge reverse appliqué lined with a row of split back stitch worked with two strands of floss, while a single strand of detached back stitch danced around the edges of the dyed cloth marks.

Captivated

I love that Don got caught in the reflection of this painting ...

entitled Taos by Dan Namingha.

Our day had begun at Taos Pueblo

https://taospueblo.com/ ...

but the air was hazy and we were asked not to take photos of the residents without permission, so I only took one other picture ...

But we did come away with some hand-crafted memory pieces, chief among them being this cottonwood drum ...

After lunch, and before our ill-fated journey to the Rio Grande Gorge, we went to the Millicent Rogers Museum

http://www.millicentrogers.org/

which had a phenomenal collection, well-presented, as with this historical weaving ...

as well as this weaving in progress ...

Don was on the lookout for some particular artists, so we were gratified that the MRM permitted photography (I always ask).

We found two by Tony Abeyta ...

this one glass-fronted which reflected glare unfortunately ...

We also found one by Fritz Scholder (about whom there will be more in a future post) ...

Unfortunately, I neglected to snap a picture of the pottery process display that detailed Maria Martinez's methodology, but I was quite taken with this bronze depiction of her ...

Likewise, I have but one image of the many, many pieces of pottery ...

We left well-sated, then headed out to meet our destiny on the rim ...

Addendum:

I went to the Wimberley thrift store this morning and found three issues of American Indian Art Magazine (which Don mentioned liking when we were in Taos). It was only when I got home that I realized Maria Martinez was featured in two of the three ...

Time well-spent

Last week with P was gently spent, and naps afforded some time for stitching ...

This was a thrift store find, originally white linen that I overdyed with Prairie tea (Croton) gathered in our yard a couple of years ago. The plackets needed to be tacked down, so I started some detached back stitching with variegated Valdani #12 pearl cotton last month ...

but as so often happens, I liked the back better ...

so the first pass got ripped out and replaced with inside-out detached backstitching. One side done, one to go.

And no, I haven't forgotten our travels need to be documented further ... all in good time.