I had deliberately made my map smaller than my piece of canvas, to keep my options open for finishing. I decided I liked the fringey torn edges, so I tore the sides to give me a similar border distance as the bottom of the work. The right side tore neatly, but the left side didn't want to get started. Maybe I hadn't cut enough of a starting point; I cut a little more. Still resisting, so I grabbed both sides of the cut and gave it a really good yank.
It tore quite nicely, but not the whole way across. When I released my whole-fist grips on either side of the tear, I was appalled to see what had happened.
For some reason, the tear, coming down from the top of the piece, took a right-angle left turn halfway across the canvas and extended a good six inches into the map!
The old Kathy would have probably
freaked out, and indeed that's what I started to do. But I am happy to report that within seconds the new mellow Kathy who embraces accidental effects decided this was not a deal-breaker, it just required mending and people could just wonder what that was all about.
Fortunately I told my dear friend and art pal Uta about my mishap and she emailed back, thinking maybe there was a stitch I could use that would reference Odysseus. And then I realized -- DUH! -- how about referencing Penelope, who took out her weaving every night?
So I mended the tear, leaving the long threads in the center intact, using just enough machine stitching to hold the piece together. And here's what it looks like.
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