Socking Bird Survival Plan - Looking for a mate....?
From 15th April 2012 Hidy will be found roosting at Perth City Farm..........enjoying her new friends and undergoing reconstructive surgery for a prolapsed undercarriage, (following her assault at the Beaufort Street Festival)..........
This is her story thus far -
Hidy the Haughty Highgate Socking Bird relaxing at home before the festival
Taking a stroll down Beaufort Street
Detail of her beautiful colour and texture
Email wendy.herington@iinet.net.au /m 0403776791
Thank you to St Vincent De Paul and the team at Vinnies Retro along with family and friends for donating the socks used in the making of the Socking Bird
HOW TO KNIT A SOCKING BIRD
The Socking Bird community art project was conceived and developed for the Beaufort Street Festival2, Beaks on Beaufort installation. The aim, was to create a large free-standing sculpture using recycled, clean unwanted socks. Yes Socks! Wendy has been experimenting with recycling socks for a number of years, making sock yarn hats and baskets with primary school children and women’s groups, while planning an opportunity to take the idea to a much larger scale with a community art event. This project was designed, co-ordianted and self funded by Wendy.
The Beaufort Street Festival presented the perfect opportunity to complete a large scale installation and develop a process of knitting and crotcheting with the sock yarn using very large, oversized needles and crotchet hooks. The process of recycling socks, to realize this project’s enormous potential, involved a mammoth collaborative task of sorting and colour separating, cutting the socks into rings and joining the rings to make the yarn which would then be knitted or crotched. A dedicated team effort was required for this to succeed. The group consisted of knitters and non-knitters, crotcheters, artists and non-artists, all keen to enjoy the experience, hard work and to be involved in an exciting local project.
The team, known as “Team Wendy”, met for several months on Thursday nights where plans were discussed, discarded and redeveloped. The yarn became the narrative that brought life to “The Socking Bird”
A stylized bird topiary frame inspired the skeletal structure which was re-built and adapted as the wire framework for attaching the new fabric to. Various sized panels were constructed then assembled and stitched together to cover the frame to highlight the spectacular colour, texture and strength of the yarn.
Team Wendy participants: Debra, Jo, Julie, Gail, Chucky, Sally, Jennine, Dotti, Darryl, Jenny, Melina, Anna, Jocey, Casandra, Sarah and Wendy.
E wendy.herington@iinet.net.au M 0403776791 8th November 2011
How to create the ultimate socking bird yarn!
Festival Day is here!
designed and built by Lou with help from Paul and Charly and the construction team
