We spent a wonderful day at The Eden Project during our holiday. I’ve been before but it was all as fresh and new and even more awe-inspiring this time round. So as a textile response, did I soar to the heights of the tree canopy in the rain forest biome?
Quite the reverse, but very much in keeping with the Eden ethos, I feel.
Near the den building area, one of the friends we went with found a chunky, heavily rusted washer on the grass. Knowing how much I love things like this, and the rustier the better, he picked it up for me.
I had some rusted soft cotton with me and a scrap of fine, floaty silk in a pale rust colour. They went together beautifully and the washer was attached with long straight stitches in hand dyed turquoise stranded silk thread.
I did needle weaving around some of the bars and buttonhole stitched others to vary the density of thread to washer.
Then fly stiches around the outside, lining them up with the straight stitch spokes of the washer…
…and meandering lines of running stitch in a rusty coloured stranded cotton radiating out from the point of the fly stitches to the edge of the fabric.
A thing of beauty from a used and discarded object. A tiny, tiny echo of the ethos of the Eden Project.
Under A Topaz Sky 
And a wonderful reminder of a day with friends!
Its a wonderful tribute. I am always drawn to the color combination of rust and shades of turquoise.
I love the turquoise with the rust. I haven’t been to the Eden Project yet but it is on my wish list.
I’ve been thinking of your book and the lovely memories you’re creating with it this week–I’m heading out for vacation (no idea where yet, or if we’ll just stay local). No plan, no book, but I think I’ll gather a palette of threads and a sketchbook and perhaps something lovely will happen. Thanks for the inspiration!
you are building a fantastic memory of your holiday with this precious book….rusty washers included!! That’s a sign of a truly creative person, turning old bits of metal into something gorgeous….it’s easy to enhance a pristine piece of cloth, not so an old washer.