The answer to the Second Question is revealed under the first layer amid a rainbow selection of paper doll people: The right person is the one you are with.
The Swing Top used to be called the Circle Top because the structure is a dot or a circle if you lay it out flat and stand back and squint (‘30 feet and squint’ is the Motto my husband taught me because almost everything looks great from that perspective. Try it!)
Ultimately, the top is a sculpture to be worn and, when in that intended iteration, it swings. Ergo: Swing Top.
The story of the Three Questions is also a circle. A King’s quest for the answers to his questions reveals he always knew them. He needed to leave his kingdom in order to circle back with the realized truth:
When is the right time?
Who is the right person?
What is the right action to take?
Leo Tolstoy first published ‘The Three Questions” in 1885 as part of a collection of short stories titled “What Men Live By, and other Tales”. The story takes the form of a parable, and it concerns a king who wants to find the answers to what he considers the three most important questions in life.
Unable to find resolution within his kingdom, he embarks on a journey to find the answers from a wise man in the mountains. On his journey he overcomes 3 trials. The wise man reveals to him that the actions he took in response to each trial provides the answer to his three questions.
I asked my Mother’s sister, Aunt Pat, to write out the Three Questions and their answers. She kindly obliged. I made silk screens of them , hiding the answer under the first layer of the Swing Top, paying homage to the trial as a veil to the answer. The King knew the answer to his questions before he left on his journey but he needed the wise man to lift the veil in order for him to see them.
My daughter in law’s brother in law, Edison, created the graphic.
Paper doll cut outs are linked under a blue jay lace (another intersecting chain) sky signaling inclusion and connectedness of all things. Look no farther than beside you (or within you) to find the ‘right’ person dancing under the same sky.
I paint a large painting of ‘bluejay’ dye and when it dries I screen on clear lace. This lace will resist the ‘bluejay’ dye in the printing process, revealing a smidge of ‘bluejay’ smudge from the under layer.
I screen the paper dolls in a rainbow of dyes on another piece of paper.
I screen the answer to the Second Question on the final piece of paper.
Now I make the sandwich. I don’t want any of the layers of colour to blend in the printing process so I insert blank paper cut outs to block migration.
I lay the garment on its back onto the ‘blue jay’ paper. Under the top veil portion I lay the paper dolls and answer onto the second layer. I fold the ‘bluejay’ paper on top, pin everything in place, heat press and unwrap.
Washes like a rag, machine dry or hang, no ironing needed but will handle high heat and steam. Made from polyester curtain sheer bolt ends.
Styled by You
