Words and Artwork by katherine sandoz
Photography by Chia Chong
Styling by Libbie Summers, katherine sandoz and Brenda Anderson
Tablecloth: Jillian admired the delicate corn-husks as she sprayed them with water then ironed them flat. After placing them under books for a night, she arranged the husks on the floor and carefully hot-glued each one to the next creating a large half-lace, half-lattice cover for the table she had just freshly painted her favorite color; lilac.
Flatware holders: Jillian’s sewing machine hid behind a curtain in the dining room; this way she could get to it quickly. With the leftover flattened husks, Jillian sewed two together making the shape she wanted. She had chosen a metallic copper colored thread. After trimming the edges, she grabbed her flatware hoping it would fit just inside the little pocket.
Chandelier: Jillian had a penchant for using up anything that wasn’t. The basket of drying corn had haunted her for almost a year when suddenly she knew their purpose. Grabbing her clippers, she ran to the edge of the field and cut several lengths of smilax. Back in the barn, she made several rings of the deer thorn attaching one circle to the next with some baling twine. She rummaged through Jeff’s hardware bins, found some rusting eyelets and screwed one into the top of each ear of corn and tied them around the rings balancing from left to right and top to bottom. The chandelier practically made itself. Jillian rushed by the Muscadine arbor gathering the scalloped green leaves to fill the structure. She looked forward to seeing the natural light filtering through the maize and tan textures of the cobs, the shadows thrown by the grape vine.
