I’m looking forward to next weekend as I will be traveling to the PNW Fiber Exposition in Port Angeles, WA. I will be bringing a display of the reef along with information about our upcoming crafting weekend in Port Angeles at the Feiro Marine Life Center on November 19th from 10-4. If you are planning on coming, you can sign up and let me know here.
Recently, I have been working with some materials I found at a local resale shop to create another coral vignette. I was incredibly happy when I stumbled upon this little find
I am really trying to stress corals that have height for the reef now. I am incredibly aware that there is so much dimensional space on a coral reef and the last thing I want is for our reef to look flat. The red curlicues really peaked my interest. I immediately sourced a foam hemisphere and crocheted a cozy to cover it.
I love looking down at the pattern
Since I have many spikes from the curlicues sticking though the hemisphere, I do plan to get some putty or play doh to put on the underside to make everything a little more secure but now I am working on covering the rest with corals.
I really like these little plate corals, made with a crocheted circle and a little crocheted tube underneath which I sewed to the circle and lightly stuffed. Sometimes I make these circular, sometimes I make them more freeform but if you do make them and are planning on putting several together to cover some real estate on your reef, make sure to make them all slightly different heights so you can overlap them. I also think that putting a contrast on the edges helps to highlight their individual parts.
I also crocheted something that could be a sponge or a barrel coral or simply a delightful puff beneath the sea. I had some neon green roving with some metallic glittery thread that I added to give it a bit of a sparkle. The green and blue corals were created a few weeks ago and were looking for the right home. I will continue to cover the sphere until the surface is no longer visible.
I’ve also taken a trip down the video tape rabbit hole and created a jelly fish out of Apollo 13. I lightly wired the inner rim of the jellyfish to give it a little structure and I need to make a few more tentacles. I also have a box of audio cassettes that I need to start playing around with.
Another vignette I am working on is for the staghorn corals that I have created. This piece has hyperbolics from many different reefers (my favorite name for our reef crafters) and I think it is coming along nicely.
When I was at the Eugene Textile Center yesterday for our crafting day, I brought a small selection of bleached corals to go with my wired reef and they looked so nice together. If you are looking for your next idea for what to make for the reef, I would encourage you to consider more bleached corals that have a little height to them.
It is now exactly one year until we will have our reef up at the Lincoln City Cultural Center. It seems both fantastic and frightening. Keep crafting your corals everyone!