One of the things that intrigues me about working in wax is it’s ability to preserve things. Flowers are pressed between pages of waxed paper, bronze sculpture is sealed with wax to prevent tarnishing and fruit is covered in a wax coating to keep it appearing fresh a little bit longer. In his treatise, “On the Soul”, Aristotle likened memory to making impressions in a wax tablet. This makes encaustic the ideal medium for my work examining my family history.

Working on the quilt for my grandmother Halice my head has been full of summers at camp in Stetson. We had a large garden on a patch of land at my grandmother’s. We’d stop in to tend it and visit with Halice on the way to and from camp. Some of my fondest memories of childhood are of the family camp in Stetson.

Going through the Grange book to pick out the pages to use for the quilt I found my self drawn to the photos of the people in their regalia (love the sashes!) posing at the various ceremonies. I of course used the two that my grandmother was in but I soon realized that the others were all comforting and familiar (even the names are familiar). Growing up I always thought the Grange was a bit hokey (being a big city kid from Veazie and all) but flipping through the book and reading bits and pieces as I go I find myself developing a greater understanding of the purpose and the meaning of the Grange in rural Maine.

Here is how Halice’s quilt is looking sewn together:

School Girl’s Puzzle sewn together

I love how the black zigzaq thread brings out the pattern.

And just for the fun of it here’s what the back of a patch looks:

School Girl’s Puzzle Back

The total quilt will be three patches across by three down, a typical crib quilt size. I’m planning to add a border of the batik block pattern print. Here is wooden batik block that I use to make the print:

Batik Block with Batik Print

I got the block at a little shop in Istanbul. While I was there I remember thinking how much Halice would love to be there to soak up the history. I got a number of batik blocks at the shop.  They are usually used to make batik print fabric but can also be used to make encaustic monoprints. Basically the block is placed in a pool of heated encaustic paint then stamped on a piece of printing paper.

I’ll be taking next Friday off since well, it’s Christmas.  May you all enjoy the best that the season has to offer.