This picture does need explaining: exactly in the center is my sewing machine in its white case. Above it are the Roots of Yggdrasil, larger by one whole branch and its tributaries, thanks to generous donations of toilet paper tubes. Actually all around it are the Roots; it has completely engulfed the airspace that I usually occupy when I sew. In the foreground is the costume for Lady Macduff; cut out and ready to go. Time to rearrange all the furniture and make more room for art!

How did I end up sewing costumes again? The drama teacher hunted me down; I did not attend the parent meeting, I have not been hanging around the middle school, I have been waiting for my son in the darkest corners of the parking lot. But some how I ended up sewing the gowns for Ladies Macduff and Macbeth. Actually I am flattered - I love to sew and not having girls of my own I get a kick out of sewing the costumes for the female leads in the school plays! Thank you Ms F!

Here and some other view of ”Roots” and a close up.

I have worked on the piece from every angle so that each view is as interesting as possible. There is an interesting tension developing from the fact that each tube is the same dimension and does not taper as a tree or blood vessel does. I had to haul it outside to photograph and discovered it barely fits through the door. As I have been generously gifted with a sack of new tubes, I can see a problem developing. This kind of practical problem is a constant bedevilment to me as an artist.

I have done away with the newspaper and flour paste layer entirely and am just using dye rags with white glue. This is quicker and appropriate as I want to keep the tube-like aspect.

I have been given many toilet paper tubes but am on the look out for more. If any readers of this blog donate tubes to me I will give you a free present!

I haven’t posted for a while - with the holidays and all. And skiing! Got to put all that snow to good use. Also major problems with posting pictures to the blog - we changed servers and pictures just don’t post the way they used to.

That doesn’t mean I haven’t been creating (but not necessarily finishing). The best way to fight off the winter blues is, of course, to start something new. I just happened to have a box of toilet paper rolls that I had been saving for a rainy day, also some white glue and tie dye rags - voila- the Roots of Yggdrasil.

Because the toilet paper tubes are all the same dimension, there is a natural harmony in the design of this piece. After I constructed the main branches I tried to build up the piece by a system of creating a branch of two tubes, then adding a single tube to one of the resulting branches and another branch to the other. In this way the piece would be built up in units of three, which because we have three bathrooms, I invisioned the toilet paper tubes arriving in sets of three. The combination of this algorhythm plus a random, unthinking approach would mimic nature. Afterall, what is more beautiful than a tree. Well, not all trees are actually beautiful; you have to sample many to get something that could be considered art; and I only have time, energy and toilet paper tubes for one Yggdrasil.

In Nature some pruning of weak or under-utilized branches would also be occuring, so I pulled of some branches and rearranged a bit for a more open structure. Some of the branches joined one another, so the work began to take on a more placenta-like appearance… (more tomorrow)

I made an armature from PVC pipe and sticks, then tied straw on to it. I didn’t have time to make the armature carefully enough, though, and it started to come apart.

All the old clay; all the clay contaminated by plaster, and all the low-fire clay. All 200 pounds or so. I collected it together, sliced it up and wedged in some coffee grounds for organic content. What is it going to be? Why a bog monster of course.

The dragon is now firmly attached to the celing with three strands of fishing line. Once the wings are completed they will be attached using ladders, and the dragon will be complete! I’m already planning the next dragon I make. I’m thinking to base it off this:

We moved the dragon into Daniel’s room. I had to carry it up a ladder into his second floor balcony. It was too long to snake in through the hall door. Luckily it is impressively light; probably about 40 lbs. Now we just have to figure out how to hang it from the ceiling! Not an easy task as the bedroom has a very high ceiling (this picture is taken from the loft).

We brought the dragon outside to finish painting it. We went through all of our paint, so Mom had to get more blue. After painting it, we used a ladder to hoist it up onto the balcony.

At long last, the skin of the dragon has been completly placed, with the finishing of the neck. Tomorrow morning, we will take the dragon out to the driveway, and start spray-painting it blue. After it is done being painted on each side, I believe we will apply a coat of gloss to make it shiny before using a pulley to lift it into it’s new home. Once it is in there, the wings and other finishing touches like the tongue and ears will be created and applied.

The completed body

Saturday’s expedition was the Seafair Torchlight 5k, where Mom, Dad, Rhys, Carol, Courtney and Aaron went as pirates, and I was the calamari that was running away from them. We got second in the group costume contest, beaten by people dressed up as the characters from Pirates of the Caribbean.

The mantle is made of tie-dyed cloth stretched over a paper and wire frame, while the tentacles are a wire frame inside a stuffed cloth tube that was also tie-dyed. Amazingly, we made almost the whole costume in one day.