Saturday, May 6, 2017

Defiant Skirt Armatures Done


They don’t look like much do they?
The challenge was to make two pieces each with a smooth surface and waved (and longer) at one end and circular (and much shorter) at the other. Each strip of foamcore is tapered and many have to also be twisted to create an object that can stand-alone — and holds it's shape. Do I sound proud?
It took all day — and a long day — Friday to build them. (Beth was chilling and then went to her writers’ conference that continues today.) I worked so hard cutting the foamcore strips my hands keep cramping up something fierce. What you see is plan B; Plan A was a disaster.
One of these pieces will be the front half and the other will be the back half of the dress and both pieces will have words carved into them. There are two more pieces to build: the top front and back. But I have to complete and fuse these pieces before I can build the tops.
Next I plan to coat these pieces in paper pulp to get the surface I want. Then the words have to be carved into the whole piece once it’s assembled, surfaced and any colour(s) I might want are added. I make decisions as I go.
When I do this work, my arms and hands work like yours do. We don’t even think about it; we all work with our hands all the time. But for me, this is wonderful because for much of the time I am not working or at rest, my arms and hands are subject to myoclonic movement.
An important word in my vocabulary since my breakdown is “myoclonic.” My staccato breathing, seizures and my jerking arms are all myoclonic in origin. Myoclonus is not a disease. It’s a symptom of neurological “disorder.”


















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