HEAVILY TEXTURED LITTLE WALL HANGING with rusted found items

Hand painted fabric, layered, shapes cut out to reveal the underneath colors, embellished with beads and polymer clay discs.

Rusted found stuff, like bottle caps, washers, half a sieve etc. are held down with bold stitches. A frayed red piece of jersey fabric, I once found on the beach, and a yellow plastic scrap add more texture.

This is a bead made from rolled magazine paper.

I love the bottle cap fringe with the polymer clay beads. These beads and discs were made by the daughter of a friend, long ago when she was a girl. She is all grown up now, married and has a little baby. Back then I once made her day by buying a whole bunch of her beads. Over the years I dug in that box again and again, using beads for projects. Now the box is almost empty. The round red beads are also made from polymer clay and were given to me as a bracelet by another friend. Now they are recycled here.

I always pick up from the ground things that appeal to me, stuff that tells me I can use it in some kind of creative project. Twigs and stones and branches, all kind of dry things like fruit and seeds from trees and bushes, and my favorites, rusted iron items. I store these in a basket and when some muse speaks to me, I take them out.

This little wall hanging measures 50x30cm (20x12"), worked by hand and sewing machine. It is padded and has a beautiful backing fabric.

I made a similar piece three years ago which you can see here.
 

ANNUAL VISIT OF THE STORKS

 STORK, I welcome thy return.
Thou stork, I welcome thy return.
Thy coming is the sign of spring,
And thou dost joy and gladness bring.

 Stork, upon our roof descend.
Thou stork, upon our roof descend.
Upon our ash-tree build thy nest,
Our dear one, and our honoured guest.

Excerpt from an Old folk song

They are back! Resting on their way from Africa to their northern summer residencies.
This is the view from our balcony in the early evening. Every year for some weeks in spring we have this marvelous display right in front of us. At about six o.clock the excitement starts. There is movement in the sky, first high up, sliding dots, round and round...

Then touch down on the trees for the nights rest. Early in the morning they take off. At the end of the day the next batch arrives.

We are always waiting for these beautiful birds to arrive when the sun sets, greeting them happily, listening to their soft just-before-sleep chatter.

Photographs Uri Eshkar.