Dragonfly for Rebecca, spirit of 2011

I was given a hand me down this Christmas from Rebecca, through Graham. A beautiful Victorian bone silk bodice, full of beading and sequins for the purpose of mask making. It was falling apart, and Rebecca wanted it to have a second life. She gave me the whole thing for my work, and all she wanted back was a small piece, reformed into a token, amulet, something to wear, anything....In literal spirit of metamorphosis I made her a dragonfly brooch. Most of the material from pieces of the bodice,stuffed with cotton wool and glass beads for weight, some brass detailing I got from this wonderful little shop i Marais and some antique Czechoslovakian filigree buttons for eyes. It's sort of a Japanese fighter plane, merged with a stuffed animal. It is approx 14 cm long and 12 cm wing span. I gave it to her on the last day of 2011. She was happy.Graham was happy. What a good project to end the year with.I am happy.