Virginia A. Spiegel

Remember my humbling experience with making an art bra?  That bra and seven others were on display at the Relay for Life cancer fundraiser for which my sister is chair this past weekend.  Viewers could vote for their favorite art bra.  All the bras used the theme of  ”Celebrating Women.”  The winner was made by an eleven year-old girl and collected over $200 in donations for the ACS.

This bra was entered by Team Visor captained by Emily Ziemer.  It was created by Noelle Maki Rollins, a very talented artist.  The bras weren’t for sale, but Noelle agreed to part with her artwork for a donation to the ACS.  The title of the artwork is We’re All Pink and features portraits of Sheryl Crow and Carly Simon.  I couldn’t resist this artwork after reading the artist’s statement:

Cheryl Crow and Carly Simon are both breast cancer survivors.  Like the music they create to touch the souls of those listening, we all share an ability to touch others.  Some of our greatest gifts are being able to connect, to share and gain strength from each other.  With one another we have the ability to create a pure, tangible, contagious energy.  We all hold a common bond; we’re all connected.  Just like the symbloci ribbon we all stand behind; inside we’re all heart and all pink.

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Niece Jenny, me, Chairperson and Sister Nancy, Mom  (Sharing our energy to stay up 30 hours and raise funds to beat cancer)

The Relay was a huge success with your generous donations to the Tote Tuesday fundraiser for my Fiberart For A Cause adding significantly to the success.  Thank you for your wonderful support.  My family “Relays” in honor of my Dad, Bob Spiegel, a sixteen-year survivor of colon cancer.

When I volunteered to make a sample art bra for a display celebrating women organized by my sister for a local hospital, I thought I would whip one out in a day or two.  My theme was the contrast between our nuturing part and the part of us that has to be tough as nails.

I now have a new found respect for anyone who works with any form of art related to the body. Remember my start on the soft side?

That was fun as I had the cat hair already felted with thread, it was easy to sew on with pink embroidery floss and it fit the theme perfectly.

Onward to the “hard as steel side.”  What was I thinking?  I cut embossing metal, punched holes in it and sewed it down.  It started pretty well, but as the bra curved more and more, it looked less and less like I wanted.  Rip all that off.  Now the cup was all torn up, so I laid down a coat of gold paint.

Here’s tip #1:  Don’t be clever and think a black bra will mean than any part that aren’t quite covered will recede into the distance.  That may be true, but mainly it means you can’t paint your bra very easily.

So I thought awhile and dug out my junk jewelry collection. Tried sewing miscellaneous earrings, pins, etc. down.  Too heavy. Time to call out the gel medium.  That REALLY works to secure anything. While I had the gel out, I covered the inside of the cups and the backs of the side panels with little squares of hand-dyed fabrics.  This covered all the hand-stitching on the soft side and the battlefield marks on the steel side.  Good deal.

Here’s what I had at that point.

Tip #2:  Well, duh.  Cover the sides and straps before doing the cups.

On the “steel” side panel, I tried the embossing metal again, but this time with a wash of black paint over it.  Still bad.  Rip that off.  OK, I can do fabric.  But, by this time, sewing anything on the sewing machine was virtually impossible.  But that didn’t stop me from trying.

Oh, that’s right, there is metal in an underwire bra and the straps have metal clips. Total broken needles  - I’m too embarrassed to say.  But I did manage to sew both side panels and one strap.  The “soft” strap is braided and wrapped chenille yarn.

I wish I could do this art bra again and save myself a ton of time, but I’m going to just say that it made me a stronger woman.