Next stages...

Blog post for Friday, Feb 4

As of right now I am kind of feeling all over the place again. I really like what I have created so far, but I have made enough to start sorting out the message I am trying to portray through the nests. I think I have a few different ideas floating around and I would like to find a way to unify them into one concrete concept. I do like the idea of refining my current pieces, such as the pins and pillow stuffing one.

Over the weekend I started a large nest out of sheets, pillows, fabric stiffener, and chicken wire (5 hours). The piece is in process still and is requiring many more sheet than I had anticipated, but I think this will only add to the idea I am going for. I want the pillows, sheets, stuffing (from inside the chair I used as the base) to be mangled around and tron through by the chicken wire. Yet, I still want to be able to sit in the piece... so I am struggling with just how uncomfortable I want to make it. Do I want the outer layers to appear soft with the inner resting area to be destroyed by the chicken wire? Or do I want to have the whole look stressed, but keep the inside less stressed so I can lay inside an feel some comfort. I am thinking to myself and seeing both happen because I feel both ways about home at times. I may just have to let this one play out on its own while I create.

I also bought materials to start some more medium sized ones. I bought a large glass mirror that I want to shatter it to create a protective outter layer of the nest and use some soft material inside. I was almost thinking the weight gain power as paste again. I want to use the mirror because for a while during my illness, the mirror was very deceitful to me, and me not having known this, relied on it to reassure myself I looked the same way I always had. Once my perception of myself as still normal sized was shattered, the weight gain came into my life as a source of life, sustaining myself, and a comfort on the way to recovery.
I've also considered using my old clothing in this nest, the pieces I don't fit into anymore, however, I still want to keep thinking things over.


At this point now, I think I really need to sit down though and think about the materials I am using. Like I said, I want to find a way to unify or have consistence with the nests, making them a whole. I don't know if this will be through context, materials, scale, etc., but I am at the point where it is a good time to figure this out.