Jungle Headpiece with Red Roots II

Description

Inspired by Medieval padded roll headdresses, this hat is a work of fiber art that can be worn or simply displayed!

The hat's understructure I created by weaving straw into the desired historical hat shape, and then covering it with a textured moleskin fabric. The roll of the hat was formed by sewing a tube of clear vinyl fabric and giving it volume by filling it with fabric "roots" I made of cotton chintz stuffed with poly-fiberfill, and also with human hair woven around the roots. Once the roll-and-straw-and fabric hat form were sewn together, a veil of leaves I individually embroidered (some leaves I also printed a pattern on via wooblock printing) in a multitude of colors covers the hat, and additional long red roots of cotton chintz cascade to the floor. The red roots are dotted with blue hand felted nodules are encased in a spider web-like embroidery.

Many techniques come together to create this wearable art, including wet felting, embroidery, machine and hand sewing, basket weaving, and woodblock printing.

Materials include: crushed polyester voile, woodblock printed leaves, thick clear vinyl "fabric", human hair, freehand machine embroidery, straw for basket woven understructure, moleskin, cotton chintz, felted wool, and poly-fiberfill.

Dimensions: 2ft x 2ft x 5.5ft (.61m x .61m x 1.67m)

If interested, I will convo you about shipping costs & options.

Just some additional info on where my ideas come from:

My artwork merges my interests in Renaissance period clothing and nature-based folklore and myth. Utilizing sewing and other techniques, I explore historical clothing, the personification of nature, feminine archetypes, and the transformational potential inherent in clothing.

I am very interested in the relationship between nature and human culture (manifest here in clothing), and engaging in a dialogue between contemporary and historical ideas of human constructs and the natural world. The idea of beauty is also fascinating to me, and I'm specifically interested in beauty as it relates to historic and folkloric ideas of feminine power.

I love the idea of the Green Man- a personification of nature, covered and spewing out leaves and vines. I'm also inspired by faerie folklore, whereby each plant or flower is given it's own supernatural identity and energy in the form of a faerie, clothed in leaves and blooms and the stolen artifacts of humans.

Using sewing, I merge historical clothing and faerie folklore by using shapes that suggest both plant-like and human body elements, but yet adhering to silhouettes of historical garments. Using forms in Medieval and Renaissance clothing, I recreate them using a more organic, plant-like design. The dagged edges of a veil become like a forest of colorful, overgrown leaves, cascading from a hat. The suggestion of human body, or organ-like elements can also communicate a plant's searching roots, choking vines, pollen, or even parasitic elements.

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Please contact me if you are interested in purchasing- I will have to calculate the shipping for you! Thank-you!
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All images © Betsie Withey

Added on Nov 25, 2009