Solar designs so far

I started this solar design cloth in a big hurry without much of a plan, except to have four circular shapes depicting the solstices and equinoxes. Now I’m at a stage where I really need to make some decisions about the design. I really want to bring this cloth to a point where I can use it as a sort of ceremony on these solar occasions. Because the sun is one thing that is still reliable on this planet. It is too far away to be impacted by human activity. So far.

My earlier designs were a little whacky with the black and white. I felt the jangling busy-ness of the shapes in the center. Too eye-catching. I loved the border treatment with the black and white one-inch squares around the edge, topped by a colorful row of two-inch squares collected from various dyers.

So I carried on making the border treatment. It was fun. I really enjoyed it.

When I finished the border segments and laid them out on the background, I left the center a big blank. I hesitated with the size and placement of the circles. I really didn’t like what they did to the cloth visually. I also had gaps between the four border sections. What to do there? And I realized if I use the piece as a tablecloth, the borders will be almost invisible as they hang down toward our laps. Not ideal.

I tried a few things. I rearranged the border segments to be a more central part of the design. Then the circles were subordinated to the chaos of the central cross. I liked this for awhile, but then admitted to myself that it was way too busy in the center. I did like idea of hanging motifs off the edges and might still find a way to work that in.

And where I’m at now. I simply reduced the size of the background to eliminate the gaps and join the borders. This makes the cloth just the right width to sit on the tabletop with no overhang! Seems meant to be. I can just sew the four border sections together as is. I will work on the circular motif in the center to modulate it somehow. It will be a nice focal point for a platter or a flower arrangement.