I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to create a wreath for Parnell Inc's Good wreath exhibition that is currently happening in Parnell Auckland. Twenty Artists were asked to create a wreath in their own style. Two weeks, 93 zips, a string of fairy lights, some very sore fingers and this is what I came up with....
I should probably point out that I'm a Christmas baby so I have a bit of a passion for all things Christmassy, especially twinkly lights and the colour red. Inspiration came from poinsettia flowers. pacific Lei's, and the greens of our native plants.
Constructing the wreath took a little longer than I thought, as there were a few logistical things that troubled me; finding a base that was strong enough to support the flowers( they can get rather heavy when you have so many), and stitching zips around the fairylights to make the flower stamens. The bow is made from dissembled zips sewn together to make striped ribbon and then wired so it sits beautifully!
The wreath is a little more large scale than my usual brooches and jewellery pieces, which was a challenge in itself, as I tried to keep true to handstitching each and every flower and only using unloved zippers( always hard colour matching zips for more than one flower)!
There are 20 wreaths in the exhibition, so its worth a trip to Parnell to see them up close and in person, if you can't make it to Parnell there are some helpful links below and each wreath is for sale on trademe , with part of the funds raised going to Charity.
Some more info here
http://www.parnell.net.nz/Auction/wreath3.htm
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Art/Other/auction-333071566.htm
