Mobile in Montana

I left Montana in early September. It was a melancholy last few days. Matthew, the housemate for the summer, became more heart broken as my date with the Greyhound grew nearer . To occupy my last tens of hours, to use up craft materials that I didn't want to drag back to Oregon, and to say “Thank you” for an adventurous rent-free summer, I made a couple of repurposed gifts for my hosts.

For the head of household I made a small mobile which I hung up above the kitchen table. She had loved a gourd mobile we had seen in Lower Lake, California earlier in the summer (see previous post, “EcoArts of Lake County”). I had a nice selection of found objects and other trinkets in my craft stash left to utilize.

The structure is composed of willow branches from the yard. These are secured with scraps of leather rope (not vegan). The mobile dangles from the ceiling by an electrical wire. A disassembled rosary (gasp!) allows the bottle caps, aluminum heat sinks, and steel washers to sway in the kitchen breeze.

A small feather found in central Costa Rica is preserved between two pieces of clear glass secured together with aluminum tape.

A heart of wood spins around steel, aluminum, copper, glass, and plastic.

Dainty beads and charms add delicate tips of flare.

For Matthew: a bookshelf collaged with images and figures from a briefly used Geology lab manual. I ran out of images – that is why you can see areas of exposed wood. These bare spaces are on the backside of the shelf.

However, bare spaces don't matter much. I hear that this is now buried under Isaac Asimov science fiction novels. But in cold and (soon to be) snowy Montana, books are a must. And where there are books, there should be shelves.

(Miss you, Montana!)