More depth of meaning

And after giving an upgrade to the willow tree, I have also been adding more to the 'Tears' dress.

I used marks like this for a piece about refugees and am using them for the other daily bead project. And when thinking about how to give more visually to this dress, I felt it would add more meaning for the viewer. Yes, it has the net, but now these marks give more of a captivity meaning when viewed.

I am making the marks with a soldering iron. Okay, probably would look about the same with a felt tip marker, but using the soldering iron means they are rough looking, more individualistic.
But the marks, like ticking off the days, were not an easy thing to do because I had stitched down some of the netting at certain points!

So, I filled in some gaps with just burn marks.

and then the whole of the back is burn marks. The main purpose of the marks is to take away the whiteness of the underlying fabric - The rust marks here are a lot clearer than on other rust pieces I have done, but they don't cover as much of the surface.

Now to untangle the netting at the bottom again.

Tears for the Daughters of My People

So, nose to the grindstone the past few days. But both deadlines accomplished.
Not, however the beads, but I will do them tomorrow.

Photos of the SAQA Layered Voices piece:

detail

Tears for the Daughters of My People

Imagine this: 275 girls from your child’s school are abducted. 47 escape. 3 ½ years later, 228 are still missing. Furthermore, in the last 5 years, on average 38 women/children are abducted each month from your area.
This is Nigeria. Hearts bleed.
Shed tears for the daughters of their people.

Materials: waxed twine, cotton pearle and linen threads. Reclaimed cotton, cotton lawn, and quartz stone chips.
Techniques: rust dyeing, knotting for nets, machine and hand stitch, beading.

front

back

So, Wednesday and Thursday I stitched 266 quartz chips (tears) to the dress. 228 for the missing Chibook girls Plus 38 to stand for the nameless ones abducted each month.

This was the first time they are accepting wearables, so I wanted to really say something. and a big change from my 'Fantasticals'. I hope they do want this piece. I have also entered Ramshackle Villages which returned from the European Triennial last month.
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And also I received word that Ramshackle Place, my donation for the SAQA Benefit Auction was sold before the lowest price! So, that is good to hear!