2019 HATalk Competition Entry

Sheila Mothes

Sheila Mothes – United Kingdom

SEAHORSE

Description

Inspiration for my design comes from our heightened awareness of our threatened planet. Redressing and maintaining symbiotic equilibrium in nature is key to survival. As marine biologist Helen Scales reminds us ‘we rely on the seas not only to feed our dinner plates but also to feed our imagination’. There is both beauty and hope in the harmony to be found in the natural order on land and in the ocean. The little seahorse, mystical, ancient sea dragon, immortalized in decorative arts has captured human imagination for centuries. Protected only by her boney plates – a disincentive for many feeders – and her magical gift of camouflage her survival is threatened by commercial fishing, Asian medicine, polluted seas and aquarium avarice. For me she demonstrates the urgent need for mankind to address this imbalance. She drifts balletically in her threatened ocean habitat among seagrasses, her prehensile tail anchored to precious coral, serenely maintaining her upright balance. Faithful to her mate, she astounds us with the serenity of the courting ritual and their synchronized mating dance, each element of the dance a demonstration of symmetry, harmony, equilibrium, as they circle and glide. The species further demonstrates gender equality in the reproductive roles they adopt where in a wonderful display of role reversal the female deposits her eggs into her partner’s brood pouch for gestation and birthing. I hope to represent the natural habitat of (endangered) corals, pearls, sea grasses and of course the seahorse herself – her female beauty, the transparence of her sinuous body, her apparent fragility albeit one equipped with powerful eyes that look forwards and backwards at the same time and a prehensile tail that keeps her ‘grounded’ as she sustains herself feeding from the ocean bed. Might this ancient little seahorse also be a metaphor for hope?

Materials

  • buckram
  • dupion silk ( cobalt colour and coral colour for lining)
  • stiffener
  • pleated crin
  • .3 mm gold wire
  • invisible sewing thread
  • feathers: nageoire, goose, burnt coque, burnt pheasant tail, marabou, biot, ostrich
  • sequins
  • beads: seed, cylinder, bugle, rounded, faceted, pearl, glass
  • x2 steel beads

Techniques

  • I blocked an 18 cm beanie block with two layers of stiffened buckram
  • I covered the dried blocked form with cobalt dupion silk, first the crown then the brim, bias-cut
  • I lined the form with coral coloured dupion silk
  • Using pleated crin I shaped the seahorse form
  • I handstitched to the desired shape
  • Using wire and beads I created and inserted a decorative support for the fanned body effect
  • I hand-dyed the tips of the nageoire and biot feathers
  • I curled the biots and nageoires
  • I hand sewed all beads, sequins and feathers to the seahorse and prepared hat
  • I attached a hat elastic
  • Finally I sewed the seahorse to the hat

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