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September 22, 2004

Glue is Marvelous

So I said I would say more about this portfolio project, and now I am putting out, as it were. The assignment was to make a container, at least 11" x 11", to hold and display the work we do this quarter. This container should say something about us, personally.

I was thinking along the lines of a binder, then I thought maybe a box would be nice, but it all came together when I thought of something Noel said to me on Friday when I showed him the tool holder I had worked on instead of painting the Front Bedroom: "You like to make things, don't you?" And I do. Making things was why I wanted to study architecture; making software was not as satisfying, and there was always the peril of one's hard work being wiped out with no trace.

So I decided to make an elaborate multi-layer portfolio, and in the end I decided to make it from printed cotton because seeing printed cotton always makes me think of my mom, who also likes to make things.

I chose four fabrics to keep it simple (but I ended up buying many more because I could not make up my mind). One looks like a wooden floor (the house), another is gold with bees on it (because I like bees and they are a symbol of female power), then there's a dark raspberry that's just mottled (no special symbolism in that), and finally a wasabi green with sushi and chopsticks printed on it (which reminds me of eating sushi with Noel and my favourite story about him overeating and not being able to lie down, and how I was laughing so hard).

There's more to the fabrics, though. The ones visible when the portfolio is closed are drab and brown, though nice enough. They make it look very ordinary:

But then you open it up and the raspberry is visible and it is clear that there is more here than is immediately visible. I feel like that says a lot about me.

As you peel back the layers, the sushi is revealed.

Keep in mind that when this thing is done, it will have papers covering most of the sushi.

These pictures are a bit out of date. I finished assembling the main part of the thing, and now I have to to some embroidery on the corners and sew on the large tortoiseshell button and a ribbon to hold the thing closed. But I'm proud of myself for having finished the major work.

You may wonder how I managed to sew this whole thing so fast, or how I knew to bring my sewing machine. Well, I did not sew it. I used this tape that basically glues the fabric together, which you set with an iron (the first time I ever used the stuff was on my Space Bee costume). So the miracles of modern chemistry came to my rescue. It's neat stuff, but I would never use it for something that I wanted to last 10 years. It's one thing if my portfolio disintegrates in less than a decade; it would be much worse for a quilt to do so.

Since I overbought on the fabric front, I may use some of the other fabrics to make little folders for projects that fit inside the portfolio.

Posted by ayse on 09/22/04 at 10:46 PM