Merry Go Round - March

I'm jumping on the Merry Go Round with nine other fellow artists/craftswomen from all around the world - linking arms in friendship. This month's theme is to take a photograph of something and use this as an inspiration to create a piece of work.

This is the photo I took my inspiration from (the view from my window):

These are the Harris Tweed fabrics I chose from the colours of the landscape:

. . . and this is what I made - one of my Harris Tweed beach-balls in lovely Hebridean colours:

The 'beach-balls' are made to my own design, the panels are machine-stitched together, and then hand-finished to ensure that all the panel seams meet equally in the centre - that's the tricky bit! I then stuff them very firmly with polyfil to give them a solid round shape. There's something very satisfying about making them, and they feel great to touch, the tweed is really soft and smooth. I love the contradiction of using this traditional, lofty, fabric to make a fun, quirky object - using 'the traditional' to make something completely unexpected - hehe :)

I've been wanting to make some of my 'beach-balls' in different colour schemes/themes, for some time, so this challenge was the perfect catalyst for me to do this. This one will be called 'Lewis Landscape' (Lewis is the island in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland where I live). I think I will be adding this beach-ball to my new blog-shop later today and hopefully adding some more soon, using different inspirational themes.

I see them more as a soft sculpture, as opposed to a soft-toy, a celebration of Harris Tweed in a soft, tactile shape. The beach-balls are the size of a smallish football.

Please check the responses to the challenge from the other team members below - should make for some great reading :)

Mitsy at ArtMind

Kim at Vilt a la Kim

Sara at Saras Texture Crafts

Fabienne at Easterya Jewellery

Mariana at Florcita

Agathe at Le Bar du Vent

Lily at Lily Pang Art and Design

Wendren at Wren Design

Ruth at Birdland Creations

Please bear in mind that the members will be posting at different times of the day, depending on which world time-zone they are in :)

P.S. I'll be taking a little Easter break for the next couple of weeks, but will possibly be popping in from time to time! My shops will still be open (apart from my 'made-to-order' gift-site)

Cheerio an Drasda :)