A Walk in the Wood

The wood had not been visited often, so walking through it was a journey of discovery. I found the beautifully delicate skeleton holly and sycamore leaves and loved the fragile structure left behind. The snail shells and snake skin evoked loss and growth. A river borders the wood and in the early morning a fine mist hangs as droplets on the webs strung between the trees. The silver quilting threads running up the dress refer to the webs, the blue on the hem to the river.
One morning in January I found the brightest red fungus cups spread about the floor of the wood on moss and dead trees. Some are used on the dress, I am not sure if they will last.
The dress is about the walks in this wood. Feathers, egg shells and dead spiders were collected and quilted into the dress. I have been studying Shaman's clothes at the Pitt Rivers museum in Oxford, the dress seemed to be absorbing this influence, alluding to the notion of witchcraft and maybe to the goddess Arachne who was changed into a spider by Athena.

The shoes belong to the dress. They will not protect but draw the feint trail of a journey through this wood. They were made initially from a pink nylon fabric. Skeleton leaves were stuck on and then the shoes singed with a blow torch. I sewed around the structure that was left, gently embroidering around the edge of the shapes with blanket stitch and then used a running stitch. I used pale blue and some silver threads. It became a contemplative activity. I carried the pair of shoes around with me in a special box and worked on them on trains, in cafes and when I was just sitting.