Holy Smoke, A Table and Pope Fiction

Holy Smoke, I can't believe it's been over a week since I posted!

Of course, maybe I should use a different expletive since Holy Smoke has quite another meaning these days.

I don't know about you, but the drama surrounding the Vatican, the butler who leaked secrets and then was pardoned, the pope who abdicated and flew away in a helicopter, and all the corruption surrounding the Vatican bank (including murder) has got my imagination on overdrive.  I cannot wait to read this novel or see the Hollywood movie.  Holy Smoke indeed!

Anyway, while the Vatican is trying to get the color of their smoke correct...I mean, the first two spewings didn't look black or white to me...Just a lot of gray.

Don't you think in the 21st century we could figure out the smoke issue?  And if they can't figure out the smoke, I wonder what that portends...

Oh well.  It's a good thing I'm comfortable with gray and I've been working with gray again making a little side table with an open drawer to help in telling the story of Mrs. Rose...



I had started to work on Mrs. Rose herself but found that I needed to order some flesh-colored fabrics for her "body".  There's a lot of components to her that I've never made before so it's all new in sourcing materials and experimenting with techniques.

While that work is underway behind the scenes, I decided to make the little side table that goes into Mrs. Rose's nursing home room.

I used an Exacto blade to cut out the shapes of the table from acid-free mat board (the kind used by framers) and then sewed a felt cover over top of each piece.  I used toothpicks for the legs covered in felt as well, and pressed each of the components with an iron to flatten the nap of the felt.



I then built the table by sewing down all the components, using Tsukineko inks and outline stitches to give some shading and dimension to the little piece of furniture.



I also adding some beading to finish off the frame of the mirror.

Now I really am off to work on the birth of Mrs. Rose...her chair has been waiting for some time.



While I'm creating, I need a new book to read so I couldn't help but get into the papal spirit of things and found this list of Pope Fiction on Goodreads.

I highly recommend Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross.  It's one of my favorite books of all time.  Angels and Demons By Dan Brown was also good but its style was a bit too like his other book, The DaVinci Code.  That being said, most folks loved it.

I've got my sights set on Earthly Powers by Anthony Burgess.  I haven't read that one and the reviews look good.

I bet none of them can hold a candle to what is really going on in Rome.  Truth truly is stranger than fiction.

And Holy Smoke evidently isn't very black and white...it's pretty gray.

Who knew this piece was going to be so trendy?  Just one more benefit to working sooo slowly.

Oh well, Rome wasn't built in a day.

Happy Smoke Watching everyone!