When I Was 50 . . . .

. . . .I was a college student majoring in Studio Art and one of the courses I took was Surface Design. I was faced with the decision of what to make for my "project." Since I had turned 50 I wanted to do something special for myself and the idea of "Pages" came to mind. I selected events that were highlights of my life. This is the cover. I incorporated pieces of my wedding gown lace and peau de soie, added trims and buttons from my collection, used denim from my kids' blue jeans to make mountains, sewed on a bit of wool fabric from my dad's sport jacket, tacked on tatting made by my grandmother, and fused tear-drop shaped lavender flowers cut from fabric that I used to make a blouse for my mom when I was in high school. Yes, I had saved all these things!   

"Pages" on the left and footprints on the right.

 

I transferred xerox copies of flower images onto fabric using Judith Baker Montano's (author of the Art of Silk Ribbon Embroidery) method of laying the photocopy down on the fabric and rubbing the back of the image with a cotton ball soaked in turpentine. Once the paper became translucent,  it was time to rub the back of the image with the back of a spoon making sure to cover the entire area. Lift and voila! 

I ironed freezer paper to the back of plain fabric, put it in my typewriter and typed the "document." Using a Pigma Pen, I drew the lines, and wrote in the details--date, time, my parents' names, etc. I created footprints by making thousands of tiny dots with the tip of my pen. More to come . . . .