As I’ve said before, they have been on my mind for years.

This couple of samples was cropped from a pic I took of several samples back in 2006.  Hand cut black leather and punched gold leather – I know I had some big plan for this but the constant use of a leather punch leads to tired hands and arms, and I dropped the plan.    A change of scale, though, and change of material… well there’s a lot of potential for both ideas.

And these sample snippets are from this afternoon’s experiments – grey nylon organza bonded onto the cream canvas – sure, the pic’s a bit dull but I know what it means.  Down in the LH side are some triangular shapes bonded on of course but then hand stitched in various ways with several threads including metallic.  I keep thinking of how people only repair precious objects, and ‘mending’ is a frequently used motif these days in mixed media and textile works – but I hope I can use ‘mending’ in a non cliché way – I’m working on it.

I don’t think it’s just the bold contrast why I like this little sample- approx. 4cm x 4cm suede leather piece, with a smaller square cut and rotated – those holes are smallest done by the leather punch I have.  There’s no way I could do something  with masses of these squares of leather – oh for a laser cutter here!  But, perhaps another material … this idea has lingered in my mind since 2006, too.