Every Woman Has A Story

As I mentioned awhile ago, Jeanette Janson is hosting a breast cancer fundraiser, "Cups For Cancer" and I said I would contribute an altered bra for the project. I actually committed to this project on the day of my last chemotherapy treatment last month. It just seemed fitting, somehow.

The first thing I had to do was find a bra to alter. I picked one up at the local thrift store for all of $6. It was brand new-the tags were still on it!

I painted the entire bra with two coats of gesso, front and back and let it dry for 24 hours, to make sure I was working on a completely dry surface, as it was a padded bra.

While I was waiting for the bra to dry, I tea dyed some old book pages to cover the bra with. I used Kroma matte medium and painted it on the surface of the bra as well as onto the paper to make sure I had good adhesion. Once it dried, I did another layer over the top to make sure everything was sealed. I papered both side of the bra.

I papered everything but the straps in the first round so I would be able to hang the bra to dry in the correct shape.




As you can see, I also removed the elastic part of the strap, as there really was no way to cover it.

I replaced the elastic part of the straps with black safety pins from Papier Valise and added some letter beads to embellish along with tea dyed vintage ribbon I had.

Then I collaged vintage images onto the bra.

I added some text around the images.

On the straps I collaged text from a medical dictionary.

I embellished the center of the bra with a fabric flower, some beaded fringe and vintage lace.

Finally I embellished this metal text with glitter glue and added it to the center of the bra.

Monday night I carefully boxed it up, along with my artist's statement and sent it off to South Carolina. The show of all the bras created for the project is on September 17th and then the charity auction is on the 22nd. I am hoping Jeanette can send me some photos of my bra at the show.

It's been pretty nerve wracking to create something that someone is going to bid on. It's certainly way outside of my comfort zone, but it's for a good cause. My bra is titled "Every Woman Has a Story" and I've dedicated it to someone whose mother has had breast cancer 3 times and is still fighting. Her courage and resiliance inspired me.