This golden pin depicts a dancing drummer, arms outstretched and palms ready to strike a conga drum. The drummer’s hat and clothing shimmer with rhinestones. Panels of onyx form the drum’s cylindrical body, while a deep red gemstone composes the drummer’s round face.
This partially finished tablecloth reprises housekeeping activities from a coordinating days-of the-week towel set. Ironing and baking appear in colorful cross stitch, while stamped imprints hint at other tasks to be embroidered, including laundry, sewing, grocery shopping, and cleaning. Notably, Sunday’s “rest” design is absent. The scenes create six place settings along top and bottom rectangula
This decorative oval basket is mounted to a wooden base. The body is woven in a plain weave with reeds, wood splints, and double plied twisted seagrass cord. The seagrass cord creates a stripe down each side. The handle, which is attached to the basket with an adhesive and artificial sinew, is a thick brown twig that juts out beyond the basket’s body. Two short matching twigs cradle the bottom of
Glass and metal beads adorn the rim of this decorative, spherical gourd crafted by Ira Blount, a DC-based artist and craftsman. The pattern of the beads echoes the etched design below, with both featuring triangular shapes intersected by a line. The triangular motif highlights the different textures and media while unifying the object’s multiple elements. Though many different cultures have used p
This Dresden mesh purse hails from the early twentieth century, when the invention of mesh-making machines dramatically increased daily link production. Enamel coats the purse’s fine ring metal mesh, giving an impressionistic watercolor appearance in hues of yellow, pink, green, and blue. The color scheme continues on metal fringes that hang below the German-made bag. The bag’s gold-tone metal han
This Dresden mesh purse hails from the early twentieth century, when the invention of mesh-making machines dramatically increased daily link production. Recalling an impressionistic watercolor, enamel coats the purse’s fine ring metal mesh in hues of deep pink, green, and blue on a lighter pink background. Scallops serrate the bottom of the German-made bag. The purse’s golden metal hand chain hang
This quilt offers a variation on a traditional Dresden Star pattern repeated four times in block quadrants. The fabric for all four stars features the same floral print with green and metallic gold leaves and pink, yellow, and violet flowers on a dark blue background. Each star is created from twelve identical sections of the fabric print, carefully cut out and arranged in a circle. This results i
This quilt is composed of twelve blocks arranged on a three by four grid with sashing and cornerstones. Each block has a Dutchman’s Puzzle pattern made of solid dark blue, solid off-white, and a calico print cloth. The piecing is hand-quilted just inside of every half-square triangle seam with blue or black thread on the blue fabric and white thread on the off-white fabric. The sashing is quilted
This natural-colored egg basket uses a combination of wood splints and round reeds to create a plain weave. The basket is remarkable in the consistency of the weave, though the thicknesses of the splints vary. Artist Ira Blount put his initials and the number “06” on the bottom, indicating the year that he created the basket. A God’s Eye design attaches the wood handle to the body.