Finished zodiac hanging.

Its not actually cock-eyed, it’s just that we don’t have a hanging rod for it yet, so Gareth had to lay in on the floor to photograph it, thus creating a slightly skewed perspective.

Ed very kindly translated the Latin for me. ( your cards are in an envelope, ed, I just haven’t had chance to get to the post office yet.)

the top says ” Sodema of the philosophers deviate, [and] thus mark the twelve signs. Born out of the pious, spiritless anvil.”

and the bottom, “These are the signs of the bodies of things and men. Signs [that] namely appear only if the heavens [send] them.”

I did simplify the inscription around the edge of the wheel, reducing it simply to the names of signs. Mainly this was because I couldn’t make most of them out well enough to transcribe them, although I think they may have referred to the parts of the body controlled by the signs, since one of the only words I could make out was ” oculus”

For those unfamiliar with this project, it’s what I call my handbag project – the thing I carry around in my bag and work on in the odd spare moment. You can see progress pics by clicking “zodiac” in the tag cloud in the side bar.

its done on Manx tweed from the Laxey mills. It’s all naturally dyed, with the exception of the red and blue background cloths. And it’s all split stitch.

finished size is roughly three foot by four.

whilst I was assembling this Gareth wandered in and had one of his little rants about how he doesn’t understand why I’d rather have other peoples art on my walls instead of my own. Apart from the fact that branston loves to tear cloth hangings from walls, Gareth can’t understand how artistically constipated it would make me feel, that I need to look outside my own little box for inspiration.

Brainwave of the day – once I’ve finished the Lutrell fantasy how cool would it look as a fabric print?!? Am now feeling highly motivated to finish it so I can play…

 

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~ by opusanglicanum on March 2, 2016.