Ornithopter and creator George R. White at St. Augustine, originally uploaded by State Library and Archives of Florida.
If man could fly like a bird.... I wish this sort of magical flying machine had been the one to work out. I love the old look of the photo, capturing a modern glass and steel looking frame. The dark skeleton underneath the transparent feathers.
This photo inspired a spinning challenge, probably a year ago now. I scoured stores trying to find materials that would capture my favorite details, finally finding inspiration in a set of printed transparency sheets. A few prototype skeins later, I got my yarn-based ornithopter together and framed.
The story behind the yarn has been rattling around the last few days, since I brought this piece along with me to a market this weekend. Usually I get a good fiber-loving crowd, interested in the stories behind the sheep and the fleeces, trivia about the construction of the yarn, that sort of thing. Yesterday though, some of these framed pieces took a lot of attention, mostly in the "I've never seen anything like that" way.
It is weird, yarn is so overwhelmingly functional in most cases, that playing with the idea of yarn as a finished, sculptural piece on it's own is quite strange. I certainly didn't come up with the concept, but when I settle in to make my favorite pieces now, they do have some kind of story, something they are meant to be beyond a craft supply to use en route to another object.
I still don't really know how to tell those stories, and maybe it doesn't matter, and it is enough to know it is there and that I can pet it and look at it. I am off to the Christmas Market again for the day, if you are in town and looking for some last minute gift shopping and a glass of gluhwein.
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