wip wed. & 12x12x4 peek

Here are some things I'm playing with for my 12x12x4 April piece. I have the basic design down so I can't show that but these are a few of the fabrics that are in the piece. I started out with this challenge wanting to keep to the Asian theme but frankly I got bogged down by the whole "shoes & handbags" category. I kept coming back to the seasonal virtues of Asian design and because right now is the season of cherry blossoms and Hina Matsuri or girls day, these issues kept popping up in my head instead. Hina Matsuri is the festival derived from very ancient times in Japan where families would make paper dolls and, when burned, the dolls would symbolically take all bad fortune and illness with them up in smoke. I will explain more about this ancient custom when I show my piece. I decided to make something representing women preparing for these festivals. One of the popular ways they use is to have hair decorations appropriate to the time of year and drawing attention to the neck when the head is turned. The neck of a woman is particularly sensual to men in Japan. They devise wonderful hair ornaments of both fake and real flowers and tiny jewels attached to combs that are worn to celebrate the beauty of both woman and season. Here are 2 pictures of wonderful Hina Matsuri doll smade by a master artisan. One is just a doll in general the other is a doll representing the Emperor. I would give a lot to own one of these beauties. Maybe someday. They are very expensive so for now I just enjoy the pics. These stand about a foot high or so. The last is a shot of an antique display used by wealthy families. They would have these settings made up and over the years they became more and more elaborate. This one is really fancy and very large. Several feet high. Unfortunately these pics are not clickable.

Well, I should get back to work. It's another lovely day here so the weather is distracting me-I must focus.