Collector turned friend Lisa A. made inquiries regarding the possible donation of one of my handmade scarves to the fundraiser she was organizing for her daughter’s school in NY. Since I do donate work to a limited number of organizations each year, and Lisa is so charming, I happily obliged. The theme for their 2013 event was “Red”. Hmm, I knew Lisa loved my sea themed scarves; and the next time I was at the courthouse – performing my duties as a part-time legal interpreter – the muses paid a welcome visit.
Word association is always a good place to start for me; it is also specially helpful for me to have someone in mind when I am designing a new scarf. As my good fortune would have it, that day – in the courtroom where I was working – the presiding Judge (who shall remain nameless) was an exquisitely beautiful and stylish woman… and a fully-formed concept took shape. Now I had three elements to base my work around: the color red, a sea theme and the beautiful judge as my inspiration. Word association first led me to the obvious: Red Tide, Red Sea… no, not for this scarf…. wait… Red Herring- I was in a courtroom, after all.
Red-Herring-Bone! I now had all the elements I needed for my design, the herring fish and the herringbone pattern, as well as red as the predominant color for the scarf.
It remains one of the most fun and delightful scarves I have made.
