Marti - wrapt cloth to honour Japan

After learning of the tragedy in Japan, I found myself reaching for my basket of scrap cloths. That is unusual for me as I am not a person who sews, have never quilted and do not own a sewing machine. The bits that I have created from my eco dyed cloths have been very simply stitched. Nonetheless, there seemed to be an instinctive need to create something from cloth to honor the spirit and resilience of the Japanese in this unbearable time. I've mentioned before that both of my daughters lived and worked in Japan so there is a special bond.

The image of a mighty oak came to my mind and so I reached for my oak wrapt cloth, markings and dirt left on the cloth. Tore it, and decided to muddy it from puddles on the ground from a leftover rain storm. After it dried, I scraped off some of the mud bits then put the cloth into a tea and coffee bath, which of course removed some of the dirt but enough remained in the fibers. Other pieces of the wrapt oak cloth were torn into strips and bundles created with a few bits of bark, twigs and left out in a glass jar in the sun. A few pieces were plunked into the little copper pot with brown onion skins. I wanted to keep the dye colors to earth tones, These pieces are frayed, tattered, naturally fringed, symbolic sadly of the present geography of Japan. The crinkly white piece at the bottom is striated with blues and greens from another of my experiments with the copper pot. I stitched it to the bottom of the cloth to represent the tsunami. The kanji symbol of Hope, Kibou, is written in permanent marker on that cloth scrap. This cloth is outdoors, hanging on my crabapple tree symbolizing hope and prayer to sway in the breezes for the people of Japan and everywhere there is need of connection.
Thank you,Marti