DISCO!

Over the next few days this new mismatched family got to know one another, they laughed, for some this was the first time in ages, for others it was just nice to know they could be themselves in the company of like minded buffoons.

In this time they watched Sven and his team come and go, muttering about Narnia this, Narnia that and how people would go simply mad for what they had discovered. But whilst Sven and the gang thought the gigantosaurus’ where just chilling minding their own business, they were actually squirrelling away tools and scraps of card all in preparation for “pimping” out their new home.

It was late the night before the “grand unveiling” as Sven had called it and the gaggle set to work.

“NO, No, don’t cut it like that!” Snapped Crunch, “let me do it, look my teeth can cut that much better.”

“Fine, you do that then, I will help Charles with the electrics for retro box.” Agreed Fredrick.

“I’ve got the electrics sorted!” Exclaimed Charles.

“And I’ve finishes snapping the card.” Crunch said smugly.

” Now alls we need is Christine to pull it all together!” purred Colin.

Then before their eyes Christine had used her many legs to pull the contraption together. And it was ready! They had built an old school disco light, that used the retro record box to spin. The results where simply hypnotic.

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I can’t see Sven…

By the time the patchwork, giantosaurus, entourage finally managed to make their way back up the rabbit hole network they had gotten to know one another quite well and secretly were quite enjoying the like minded, quirky company. This was probably because they knew that at the surface they could go their separate ways. At least that is what they thought.

As they emerged it quickly became apparent that they were no longer where they started. It was starting to look like Sven may have planned this all along. No longer where they confronted by the leafy green forest they had been transported to, but instead a large white box where the floor was constructed from Fabric and a strange retro box on the floor.

“Sven, O, Sven!” Christine called, at least so she thought, she wasn’t to know that Sven couldn’t understand a word she was saying.

“Christine, I don’t know how to tell you this, but I don’t think he is coming back. I think this is where we are all supposed to be.” exclaimed Fredrick.

“What makes you say that Fred?” questioned the group all at once.

“The doors over there, they say N-A-R-N-I-A, I think this is where we were coming all along.” whispered Fredrick.

The gaggle of creations just stood and stared for a moment, before turning to one another with smiles on their faces. They knew exactly what they wanted to do here…

Mail Art

Mail art is a process via which you assume a new identity and send art through a secret contact list in the Royal Mail postal system. It is through Mail Art that I first began to experiment with textiles and their ability to provide a fun narrative or a childhood enjoyment. I recall when I was younger sitting in on stormy days making making puppets out of my dad’s socks, I realised that these would be relatively easy to send via post and fun to play with. As the correspondences grew and grew throughout the network I began to give the characters I created human qualities. Illness and instructions on how to care for them, allergies, favourite activities etc. I was fast to identify that this process was not just about the enjoyment of what I was producing but the method through which I was achieving it. Learning to use a sewing machine and planning how to create the desired creature became a fun time consuming act and I started to consider scale. What would happen if I made a giant sock rabbit? I hurried around gathering as many white socks as i could and started to form a giant sock rabbit with the added help of a little felt and some chicken wire to help it keep it’s shape and hey presto I had one giant, fully functional sock rabbit!

Whilst producing this giant I also continued to make the small toys too, but I had to figure out how to display all the mail art I had received. I decided to run with the theme of fun but to also consider the history of mail in transit. It soon dawned on me that carrier pigeon’s were my solution. However due to my disliking of the creatures I couldn’t get real ones so instead had to settle for some decoy pigeons rigged up with sound. I feel this added to the surreal experience my work offered as whilst these pigeons had all the features of their feather friends they would never be able to take flight.