SOWA Open Market 2010 Boston

The SOWA Open Market is a great place to find all kinds of great products and meet the artists who make those products.  There are jewelry vendors to clothing vendors, furniture to pottery.  Lots of people of all ages from all over the globe.  It's a great family place to go and you can bring your pet too!  There are food vendors selling breads, fruits and vegetables and flowers as well as sandwiches, beverages and snacks. Take a look at the pictures above (I did not take these) for an idea of what the SOWA  is all about.  It runs throughout the summer and into the fall.  I am not sure what the last date is but I will post it if I find out.

Rusty Ol' Cotton

Rusted Cotton Fabric left on a clean piece of steel for a short period of time.

This piece was placed on the steel after the one above so the rust is a bit more saturated .

The rust has spread and the fabric has captured the image of this migration.  The contrast of the white mingled in gives interest to the piece as the well as the darker areas, there is a sense of depth.

This particular piece of fabric was left on for over a week and as you can see the rusting continues even though the piece was dry.  Rust would eventually distress the fabric even more creating holes and even turning the fabric into nothing but rust dust with little evidence of what was once there.

This is a closeup of the previous picture.

These small pieces of old cotton have been rusted.  These small pieces of old cotton have been rusted.  They were made as an experiment to see what would happen to fabric left to deteriorate on a piece of steel which was brushed to a clean surface.  Each piece was left in place undisturbed for a day or so.  The steel was not cleaned between each application of fabric.  Here are the results of my casual experiment.

 

Just a couple of dolls

Race Car Doll - showing detail of race car banner

back side Race Car Doll

Race Car Doll face and hair

Race Car Doll front view

Detail of crocheted miniature basket

Detail of painted on face, necklace (turquoise stone) and wool jacket

Front view of Gypsy Doll.  Free form croceht skirt, painted legs with texture.

Here are two more dolls that I made.   They are not your typical play dolls.  Made from cotton mostly and any other materials that I had on hand to use.  The Racing Car Doll has little cast racing cars on her sash that were made by Ralph Scudieri.  Many of the materials used in the "dressing" of these two dolls were things that would have otherwise have been tossed into the trash.  Instead I have re- purposed those items.  The skirt on the Gypsy Doll with the red hat was crocheted by me with embroidery floss as was the little basket she carries in her hand.  The basket has a blue lapis egg in it!  The dolls were painted with ordinary latex interior house paint.  Can you tell what some of the items used are or what they are from?