Tuesday, August 18, 2009

MA's Corpse is home!

Here it is, and I love it!! Thank you SO much Robin, Kaite, Miles and especially Arlee.
The head, of course was mine. She was a take-off on Medusa with all her snakes.
Next came the shoulders, by Robin. She has a lovely bead necklace and a pretty brooch at her cleavage, and nicely padded boobies. Thank you Robin!
Next was what Kaite did. Unfortunately my camera doesn't show the true sparkle. It's all metallics and glitters so beautifully. She even added a belly 'button'! Thank you Kaite.
Miles did a very lovely skirt (complete with a bow) and nice knobby knees (wonder if he'd been looking at mine?!). I love the beads...they look like they're handmade. Thank you Miles.
The last part is by Arlee. I know it's hard to tell in the picture, but the coins and beads are dangling from the piece and make the most delightful sound. Thank you to Arlee too!!

The poem reads: 'A very shameless....lips....raised her.....(blank...Miles didn't add any words)...ending with me.

Thank you so much Group 1...I love it all!

Saturday, August 15, 2009

arlee's 3EC





MaryAnne's manly chest:


Robin's lower torso:


Torso open:



Kaite's hips and thighs:



Miles' "feet" of a sort:


and open:




I've added punctuation so the poetry reads "The exquisite starlet, absorbed, ate colossal soul, dancing."

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

arlee's square for Kaite




Written May 5th.

Kaite's EC was a difficult one. Her woven background was wonderful, but tricky to work on, and Miles left no clues really as to where i should join the part i was responsible for, the lower torso and arms. I decided to just pretend there were arms there and crossed some bony hands over a bulging belly in a too small tshirt, then extend into skinny skinny hips :}

I tried to co-ordinate the tshirt with the visible part of Mile's square, and added a belly ring as well. It may not make sense anatomically that she has flesh on her belly and everything else is bones, but that's just part of the fun for an Exquisite Corpse :}

I had been doing a lot of handwork at the time i worked on this square--had almost forgotten how fast a machine can be and what special effects could be used :}

Since we are essentially creating an Exquisite Corpse poem as we go along, my section reads "gleaming ghostly, her"

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Kaite's Exquisite Corpse

Kaite's (my) Exquisite Corpse has sprung home after travelling the world since January this year. Many thanks go to (in order of work) - Miles for the torso, Arlee for the lower abdomen, Mary Anne for the thighs and Robin for the lower legs and of course the head was mine.

I started with a grasshopper head, with blue and silver eyes and orange jaws, as it was mid Summer here and we had a lot of 'hoppers jumping around the garden and at times indoors as well.

Miles gave me a wonderful male torso, perfectly constructed and even with a touch of hair, then he added a beautifully tailored shirt. Thanks Miles, great work, you "lusty carnivore"!

Arlee added a tummy then a pair of "gleaming ghostly" hands which partly cover pink undies and the top of a shimmering pelvic girdle. Such a lot of exquisite work Arlee, thankyou.



Unbelievably, Mary Anne must have read my mind as she added a pair of "mysterious" hairy green grasshopper thighs which are made of shimmering soft plastic and added beads for knees, naturally.




Robin has finished it off with the best pair of platform boots i have ever seen, set in a field of flowers on which the invisible "cow" is probably munching, and she has brought the colour back to blue again. Brilliant Robin, thankyou.

I probably made life difficult for everyone by constructing my background cloth from woven 1 inch lengths of rami linen, which could move about a little, at the wrong times. Just alittle challenge to overcome or try to live with. I also chose to indicate the 7 inch boundaries with short sections of a flexible dressmakers ruler. I've never been known to stick exactly to the 'Rules' as such.
Thankyou everyone who participated in this Exquisite Corpse round robin and thankyou to Arlee for coordinating it. It has been an exciting journey, i am thrilled with my final work and have learnt such a lot from joining in. I have also made some new, good friends from the experience.
The 'poem' says: "the single footed lusty carnivore gleaming ghostly her mysterious cow". .....hmmm....thought provoking!
Kaite

Friday, July 31, 2009

A Tail Artist's Heart Became Bounteous Night

I was so thrilled to receive my completed exquisite corpse home this last week! Here she is in all her glory.

She began with just a head of course, and four empty squares outlined in black thread. The background fabric I chose to use was a white-on-white print that I'd dyed years ago and never used for anything. I thought it had a lot of movement and interest for a background, and I liked the colors.


This is the face that I created, a self-portrait of sorts (me and my big mouth, and ever present pony tail). Words are: A TAIL
This is the neck/chest that Jan made. How do you like those lacy wings, the breast is dimensional by the way. I really love that the heart is right at the throat chakra, one of my key points that I'm working on (ie expressing myself verbally and clearly). The words are: ARTISTS HEART

This is the torso/waist that Betty made. I love the sequined belt, so pretty and flashy, and if my waist were this small in real life, I would totally be wearing one to call attention to it! The word is: BECAME
This is the hips/upper legs that Joanie made. How about that apron, and jeans, (under the apron, is just jeans by the way), I love how this represents a big part of me being the housewifey type and all. The word is BOUNTEOUS
And finally the lower legs/feet that Linda made, dancing away the time of the night. Isn't that beaded watch and parts a cool addition? The word is: NIGHT

Here is the whole thing (click picture to see it larger). The poem reads:
A Tail Artist's Heart Became Bounteous Night.
I'm considering switching out the "i" in tail for an "l", because then it would wind up being a very descriptive self portrait!
I'm thinking this would be fun to hang on the outside of my studio door so visitors will know who they're going to encounter...
This was a really fun round of this project, I'm glad that I talked myself into participating and can't wait to see the other three completed corpses from my group as well as all the others, which will all be posted in some form or another here at Exquisite Corpse Textiles
or at our Flickr Group.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Nancy's Exquisite Corpse - third round

Here's Nancy's third round EC:

She's been dubbed MoonChildFortuna. A fortune telling, belly dancing, all-seeing gypsy/witch/goddess. Each artist wrote a note to go along with her section. I've included those with each photo.

Her poem says, "Bright goddess, dance the fringed night."





by Nancy S.M. Waldman - Cape Breton, NS, Canada
I used old watch faces for the eyes.


by Donna Funnell - Milton, ON, Canada
As the deadline draws near I have to put the finishing touches on block #2. I must confess I felt around on the head for its placement but I did not peak. I was inspired by a book I bought on Goddesses. In all the illustrations, the goddesses wore intricate neckplates and bare bosoms! I decided to make the neckplate on my embellisher. It consists of blue felt, a blue printed silk scarf (from S.Army store) and yarn from the dollar store. I added bits and pieces of scrap yarn. The diamond shapes are cut from some Christmas ribbon and all the beads are from my collection. I am very much into recycling and using what I have.



by Debby Albrecht - Litchfield, MN, USA
I enjoyed working on this piece for you. Making clothes without a pattern was a challenge since I've never done that before. The clues left for me were a bare tummy and a bit of blue top with burgandy/magenta stitching. So first image in my head was belly dancer. With that thought, I went looking for possible fabrics. The skirt is short but has about 1 1/4" hem if you want to let it down. I hope my work blends well with the previous.




by Emmy Schoonbeek - Drachten, The Netherlands
It was so much fun working on this piece. I could only think of "dansen" ("dancing")



by Kate North - Surrey, UK
When I started thinking about legs, what popped into my mind over and over were the legs of the wicked witch of the East lying under the house in the Wizard of Oz. So... I hope you don't mind my wicked witch legs - with Ruby Slippers of course! In terms of technique, I wanted the shoes to sparkle but didn't want to use tons of beads or sequins, so have combined a sparkly fabric with punchinella (sequin waste) and sheer fabric. The background is heavily quilted to give the legs some body.
Thank you all for another wonderful collaborative experience! You are all beautiful artists as well as charming, long-distance, creative-companions. One might say "Goddesses". And a big HUGE thank you goes out to arlee who has been our High Priestess and Chief Bottle Washer for all these months. Great idea and great job, arlee!

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Machine Quilting Unlimited article