wolf, it most definitely is a very special kind of art exhibition, so the handle is entirely appropriate.

I have looked through the catalogs of the last three years' shows and found only one piece that was principally made of leather. Lots of pictures with leather, sure. I did find some toys like this, a basswood paddle for example, maybe others.

Thanks for the suggestion that I make clear that the leaves, too, are made of leather. I think I'll have to take some more photographs. I don't know if the pictures in the catalogs are the ones used for submission to the judges. For objects, they seem to have been very deliberately posed, and all on some kind of background. I saw some where the background was white and so over exposed that it just vanished, like the piece is floating in air. I don't think that suits for this one. It has texture and that means shadows.

I'm pretty happy with it. They **do** look like roses, don't they? :D

Heh... the mundies (?!) will view it on her desk at her office. Safely secured (that's a real lock) in a discrete plain brown (leather) wrapper. What they don't know, etc etc.

The sting is all in the swing I do believe. A lot of power can make anything hurt when it hits. :blush:

I like this idea very much ...


... followed by this one.

What about a backdrop that would emphasize the pain/pleasure, soft/hard, fragile/strong aspects of the piece? Maybe a polished piece of chrome with lace laid across it and this arranged on top? Or a granite podium sitting on a piece of black velvet and the creation slowly unfolded across it? If the show consists of only photographs of the item, maybe some artistic spotlighting, or blurring?

I dunno, can't look at the show link from work, so no idea how these things are usually displayed.

In any case, I really like your work! Much nicer than the plain old bullwhip and crop I have.

I was thinking about the frightfully clever on many levels name of this piece the other day. It's brilliant!

Thanks limey! It's gratifying to find someone who finds me as dazzlingly clever as I do!

Here's my construction journal. It's the director's cut, meaning little was actually cut. Not true, fewer than half the pictures I took are included in this DIY story. Here we go.

I made a template of the petals so I could trace out some fairly regular petals over and over again, so I'd have fairly regular flowers.
Attachment 37716


Twelve of them were done in red leather. This shot only shows some of the tracings. I'd made the first few flowers freehand. They turned out on the small side, so I made these petals a lot bigger.Attachment 37717


The extra relief at the intersection of the petals in this detail shot allows the bottom of the flower to be more compact. There will be a stack of these petals for each flower.
Attachment 37718


The thirteenth rose is a black one.
Attachment 37719

I didn't read the text - are those what drives you motorboat?

Motorboat, motorboat.

Snip snip snip!

Attachment 37720


Stack stack stack!

Attachment 37721


Roses have sepals too! (insert groan here).

Attachment 37722


Bend it over...

Attachment 37723

Snip a hole for the stem.

Attachment 37724


I cut all of these freehand. They are highly variable across the bouquet.

Attachment 37725


It looks like a frog. Ribbitt!

Attachment 37726


I did the same with the leaves as I did with the petals. I cut the first ones freehand to get a feel for how I wanted them to look and adjusted accordingly for the bulk of the flowers.

Attachment 37727

I calculated about seven leaves per stem.

Attachment 37732


Sometimes the cutting got a little creative, but since most of the thread connecting the leaves would be woven inside the stems, this didn't seem important.

Attachment 37733


Here's how I lined up all the leaves for each of the remaining flowers to be made.

Attachment 37734


Remember that scene from American Beauty where a cloud of red rose petals rained down on the girl... that's a LOT of rose petals. So is this. Whew.

Attachment 37735

Stack stack stack.

Attachment 37736


Petal towers with sepal steeples.

Attachment 37737


This is a bundle of stems. I made the first one with just brown, then switched to green and brown. A big improvement. Two laces, each 1/8" wide (square actually, 1/8" wide by 1/8" thick) and six feet long for each stem.

Attachment 37738


Now, let's make a rose. Start by crossing one green and one brown lace at the center.

Attachment 37739

Now I add the petals.

Attachment 37740


And more petals.

Attachment 37741


Now add the sepals. Since the sepals surround the stem, I have to thread the stem strands onto it.

Attachment 37742


Slide it up and up.

Attachment 37743

Now it's at the base of the blossom.

Attachment 37744


Pull the stem strands tight.

Attachment 37745


And fold up the petals tightly.

Attachment 37746


Now, let's make the actual rose bud / blossom. Take the smallest, innermost petal and roll it tightly, as tightly as you can.

Attachment 37747

Fold up another petal and wrap it tightly around the previous petal(s).

Attachment 37748


Repeat this process for petal after petal. It is important to move the point at which the petal starts to wrap to a different spot each time so you get a staggered arrangement of the petals.

Attachment 37749


As you approach the outermost few petals, you'll see they don't wrap around the whole blossom, as they don't on a real rose. They kind of cup the inner part of the flower. To keep the petal clinging tightly to the inner petals, I use a bit of superglue. Mind your ears.

Attachment 37750


Eventually this is what the completed rose looks like.

Attachment 37751