Going global

Lest you think I've been slacking in the studio this week after all the other-people's-art posts, be reassured. I've been stitching my fingers off. Here's a sneak peek of my digital print project: I've been reading about the work of Alighiero e Boetti and his stitched world maps (actually crafted by Afghani women). I'm teaching a pattern exploration class in the summer that uses world textiles for inspiration. And I'm completely obsessed by my blog visitor map in the sidebar.

So I scanned in images of textiles from various regions of the world, put them into repeat in photoshop, created my own pattern for the ocean fill, filled in all the areas with the patterns, and used the large format printer to print the image on cotton. After a bit of sewing to seam the gores together into a sphere and some embroidery, I decided to add French knots to represent my blog hits. All those little black dots there.... thank you readers!

Maybe I'll add some more based on tomorrow's visits, then it'll be time to stuff and finish the form. I bought an old globe with a stand I'll use for my softy globe presentation. Hopefully it'll spin! I'll share final photos next week- it has to be finished by Thursday!