Tine Demol – Belgium

Eauland

Description

If you look at nature it is obvious that everything is in balance: colours match together, structures complement each other spontaneously, natural light brings things to life or creates a wonderful shadow,… Even changes in seasons don’t disturb the balance, they just bring new colours, new structures, a different kind of natural light,…

This is what “natural equilibrium” means to me.

Nature inspires most of my artwork. However, the moment you try to make something based on nature is when you realise how hard it is to find that ‘equilibrium’ in your work.

That is the challenge.

Last summer I was on holiday in Åland, Finland. I got inspired by the colours of the sea and the lakes and I started to work on this hat.

It became a painting of threads. It was a process of discovering the right combination of colours throughout the hooking and sewing, a search for a good representation of the pattern of the surf and something that could symbolise the wonderful white clouds and the seagulls.

My hat ‘Eauland’ is the result of this search for the right equilibrium.

Materials

• fosshape
• bobbins sewing thread (cotton, silk and polyester)
• crin
• feathers
• silk lining
• comb

Techniques

• molding fosshape around a hatblock
• hooking different colours of sewing thread
• sewing by hand (the hooked threads on the fosshape base)
• sewing additional decoration (crin, threads and feathers)
• add lining and comb