...

7" long x 3" tall

detail

detail of end

this is bigger, about 16" from top to bottom

I have been playing around with cheesecloth, wool and ways to stiffen fabric. After many different tests (mod podge, rabbit skin glue, wheat paste, gloss and matte medium, bees wax, all sorts of glue) that resulted in a toxic stench in my studio it occurred to me that i could use the heat bonding fabric interfacing applied over the circular wool embroidery hoop piece. I disassembled the previous wool and gauze piece and reassembled it with the interfacing. When heat gunned -voila! - exactly what i wanted! the gauze stiffened/ As a bonus surprise it also shrunk got a funny texture in some places, which i like it because of the texture and spontaneity it adds to the pieces. after setting the entire thing and applying multiple layers in some places and tearing in other places. i enjoyed unraveling the structure  of the gauze, which look like cilia. conversely, i also like the grid that is formed by the threads of the intact fabric.   as i hung them up they reminded me of my tumor series. not sure where they are going and how much i like that. i am going to make some more also some larger ones and see where they take me, and experimenting with the amount of stuffing they have.
For my next paper i have started looking deeper into fabric art and soft sculpture, as i have finally realized that i can not keep fiber and fabric out of  my work no matter how hard i try. I have been looking at the work of Annette Messager, christopher langton, ernesto neto, tim hawkinson and many, many, (many) others. I also have sketched some plans for a larger chamber that i might make. and ooh yes i am still cutting circles whenever i need a nice break from life! i just started the green color series. only blue and violet left!