More work on my Mappa Mundi

Since last week, I have been sewing on the Mappa (Above) adding more tiles and crochet. As you can see (Below) some progress has been made…..the bottom image show the additions:

But it wasn’t going to sing, no matter how many things I added. When I discussed it with my critique group, Daryl suggested minimizing the outer border. She thought the 4 small globes in the corners were really distracting, and she ‘s right. One possibility is to cut out the central map and just sew it onto a black background. That would certainly give it a much bolder appearance:

Or something like this (Below):

This is just a VERY rough Photoshop plan. But if I place the central globe on a neutral, lighter background, like this one, I can keep all the information (including the 4 globes, so viewers can see the origins of the design), without creating an over-complicated mess.

So that’s what I’ll work on this week.

Also, I gave a Zoom presentation on my old wool work - the art created by boiling dark and light wool together. I stopped doing that when I was living part-time in Seattle, but the presentation reminded me of how much I loved that work. So I boiled up a new piece (below), which - despite doing it twice - does not work at all. Oh well. Try again.

Stay well, stay sane, more next week

Sewing homes on my Mappa Mundi

When last we looked, my version of the Mappa Mundi was being printed, and the ceramic tiles (which each have the word home, in many different languages) were being fired, painted and waxed.

Now, many of the tiles are sewn on, and I’ve started adding bits of dyed crotchet:

Here are some detail photos:

This isn’t exactly what I had planned. In my mind, I was thinking the ‘homes’ would be linked by threads, the way I had them in that practice piece (see below, right). But the art had different ideas….

(Below) Not sure about this netting. It looks a lot better from a distance.

That’s it for now. Next week either more stitching, or perhaps more from the Medieval Bodies book. It’s due back at the library soon, and I keep researching subjects that Hartnell mentions in the text. But I keep going farther and farther afield - medieval images of the uterus, early instances of anti-Semitism, and the location of the foreskin from Christ’s circumcision.

Oh well. Stay safe.