Translation: from sketch to wire to fabric

I chose to use dried bread seed poppy heads from my allotment for this project because they are beautifully sculptural and have an instantly recognizable shape. I grew them myself, used some of their seeds for baking and shared the rest out among a local seed saving circle that I am a part of, so I feel intimately connected to these objects.

  

I found translating my line drawings into a wire form surprisingly uncomplicated and satisfying. This is testament to how my passion project, The Forest Folk, has evolved my 3D making. Historically, I have struggled with this kind of work but from the off I had a strong instinct for how to build this form in a methodical way that achieved what I wanted aesthetically but was also robust and stable. This was a really empowering experience and I feel galvanized to approach 3D making more from now on.

    

I like how the wire frame looked naked, and I like it covered with paper and tape; both feel pleasing to me and each embody a kind of unique "poppy-ness". The skeleton quality of the wire frame, the way it loops, flows and curves softly, feels inherently organic and natural. This is interesting being as it's made from metal, and so in that way is contradictory.

I spent a long while carefully shaping the paper and tape skin to really define the ridges and joins of the sections and this attention to detail was worthwhile as it has created the illusion of an animate botanical thing. It was quite an absorbing meditative process, which I enjoyed.

   

Translating this form into fabric felt like a playful adventure and I am happy with the result. Again, I was pleasantly surprised by how naturally I was able to problem solve the task. My instinct to stitch the piece with seams facing outwards feels correct as it has added to the ridges of the seed head shape. Even though it's a floppy version, it has still retained some notion of being a poppy. A floppy poppy.