I know that I've mentioned many times that when I was a young girl around the holidays my Mom and Dad would encourage us to create something new. Sometimes they helped us with the holiday projects and sometimes they didn't.
Well, when I was 16, which is 40 years ago now - YIKES!!! Am I That OLD??? - I decided that I wanted to try something I had never done before. Back then exchanging Christmas cards was all the rage and we would receive hundreds of them every year which we would tape to the sides of the door frame so everyone could see them.
One of the cards we received that year was a very colorful one that had a picture of the Madonna on it. I just LOVED all the colors and the simplicity of her face so I decided to create a picture of her out of yarn. I had seen something in one of the magazines that my parents received about creating pictures out of yarn and decided that this might be a wonderful picture to create.
The first thing I did was to draw an outline of the Madonna's picture on a small sheet of paper that I could use as a guide for my larger picture. I drew my outline several times until I was happy with the picture and then indicated on it what colors would go where. Then I decided what size I wanted my picture to be and then cut this size out of a large piece of cardboard. I proceeded to draw the Madonna's face and halo rings on the cardboard per my draft and in pencil so I could erase it if I wasn't happy with it.
After I had the cardboard picture drawn and knew the size of the picture I decided how many skeins of the different colors of yarn I needed and bought all the yarn I figured I would need in an array of very vivid colors. I also bought a TON of Elmer's glue as that was how I was going to glue the yarn to the cardboard.
The yarn was going to be glued to the cardboard several ways. For the large expanse of the face I was going to glue the yarn in a circular motion and for the large areas of the halo I was going to glue the yarn in vertical rows. If you look at the large picture above I think you can see what I mean.
In any event I proceeded to glue the yarn according to my outline. I wasn't exactly sure how this was going to come out, but in the end I was pleased with my result. The colors were stunning and the yarn picture looked like the Madonna. Best of all my Mom and Dad absolutely loved it.
In fact, my Dad loved it so much he decided he was going to frame it. So, he bought a wood frame, some Plexiglas for the front and proceeded to frame my masterpiece. I intended for my Madonna to be hung during the holidays, but my Dad was so happy with it he decided to hang it in his study year round. My Dad loved that picture and it remained with him until he passed away. Then I decided I would honor him by hanging it in my house year round.
My Madonna is still hanging in one of my bedrooms and it is still as vivid as the day I made it. None of the yarn has become unglued which I guess is a testament to how strong Elmer's glue is. Now every time I look at the picture I think of my Dad, our holiday craft projects and a teenager's attempt at a yarn picture.
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