Istanbul aka Turkish Delight

This fibre art piece all started because of my trip to Istanbul. Before leaving I knew that I was going to look for some Turkish treasures to bring home for my collection but what I found went much deeper. The shop keepers stories along with Apple Tea was their way in to open your wallet. These are crafted sellers and marvelous story tellers that put my Scottish roots to shame. I enjoyed every minute of that trip & only wish that I could have seen more.

One of the shop keepers sold me beads that were made from camel teeth. I was in that store for quite some time because all I was thinking of was what I would do with them once I got home. That shop keeper sold me many beads and actually talked himself out of selling some of them. In the end we had to split the amount of camel teeth so that he could craft prayer beads...which are very popular in Istanbul.

This shows some of the detail around the camel. The Evil Eye is also very popular in Turkey. It's actually called a Nazar, which is an eye shaped amulet. As many already know, it was created to protect against the Evil Eye. It's believed to contain certain magical properties which would provide good luck or offer protection from evil or harm. I now have a Nazar in my studio window to bring me good luck & I've included them in  this piece.

 Istanbul is also know as The City of Cats. 

Cats are absolutely everywhere and they're very well looked after by everyone. They believe cats are better than rats. 

I would sit happily for hours people watching with a cat on my lap.

The spider in the cave is representative of a story told to me by a local carpet & kilm seller. As the story is told...there were men from Mecca that were out to harm the prophet Muhammad. So Muhammad took shelter in the cave of Thawr. While inside the cave a spider spun a web across the entrance. When the men from Mecca arrived at the cave they believed no one had entered because the spiders web had not been broken. Many traditional carpets have the cave as the main subject. My cave is made with an art cloth technique shown previously in earlier blog posts.

This picture shows my representation of a Sultan Turban Pin that was shown in one of the museums. My actual pictures didn't come out as it was behind glass & I couldn't get a good angle. So I just made my own.

This is just a detail picture of one of the a poppies.

This piece took me a very long time from beginning to end and I'm very glad that's done. Now it's time to clean the studio and hopefully my next project will give me a bead break...but who knows.

Beading...beading...BEADING

Here's more eye candy from my Turkish piece. I've been beading most nights and quite a few hours on the weekends & I'm only getting close to half way.

I have deadlines on other projects and I'm having trouble getting to them. Once the beading begins there is a mountain of beads & threads on my work surface. Having to clear everything away in order to get my mind set on something else is very difficult for me. This is all I think about in the studio...at least for the time being.

The Beading Continues

Here's another progress shot of the beading process. The dangley bits took me quite a lot of time as I've never done them before. I wonder if there's a faster way that I could have found on Google.

 

Extreme Beading

My Turkish camel piece is still being worked on. As you can see the beading has begun.  This piece has been in stages for nine months now. I had a full Saturday in my studio when I had set everything up to start quilting it. Well...you know what they say to best laid plans...it didn't work out very well. I've elaborated below if you're interested.

This project just didn't want to be machined. I did something that I never do. I stitched & ripped out all day long. Every time I started I would end up ripping it out. This was my whole day in the studio. Then I just decided that this piece just didn't want to be machine quilted. So now it's all up to hand embroidery & beading. Oh my goodness it'll be many more months before it's completed.

I asked my husband to source out an audio book for me so that I could be in my studio quietly so as to not disturb my son. This is also something that never happens. I love music in the studio...something that I don't think about...just work through. The next Saturday in the studio was very rewarding. I can't sit or stand for great lengths so I break it up and do many things during the day. I was very happy with the beading and Sunday morning I thought that I would quietly slip back to the studio for another day of audio & hand work. To my surprise, my audio book was complete within minutes. I actually burned through 10 hours of audio on Saturday without having any clue as to the amount of time spent. I was literally shocked. I have never counted time in the studio so I was completely clueless. The next shock...was how little seems to be done. I still have over 3/4 of the project to go through. The picture doesn't show the whole of the beaded area...just a taster.