Epiploic Cube Part Two

I will  begin this tour of the cube by talking about historical costume detail. The side facing you in the first image has a woven ribbon detail done in a style reflecting the woven detail on a type of button called the 'death's head' button. It is not known how it got this name but it is a visually simple but technically complex woven thread method found on (expensive) buttons around the 18th C.
  The outer sides of the cube although square are formed of groups of squares and rectangles according to the engineering of the folding mechanism This gave me the opportunity to design each themed surface around the folds or openings.One particular side has just two rectangles which seemed far too easy so I added a pocket flap to one half. I now had an inside and an outside or anterior and posterior to play with. Using a shift in colour from grey lilacs to rose reds and greens  illustrated the change. Inside the pocket I placed a mini passementerie trimming such as would have been made to match buttons and silks of the era. In a parallel to surgery (one of many) this has to be removed before you proceed.

  Turn the cube a little and you see a blaze of golden orange.Silk ribbons are threaded through hand embroidered eyelets, tiny pinked edged panels are stitched with French knots and slashed through to reveal golden silk. If this sounds like a fashion article that's because I have recreated the high fashion detail of the 17th C. ,the slashed doublet. The silk ribbons have real silver aguillettes to finish off the ends which then tuck into the eyelets. These move about as you turn the cube giving an uneven weight shift as you feel the ribbons slide and stretch.

 There are nine surfaces to this cube and the other details are;
3. a patched embroidered shift, (tabby)
4. the gussets and reed boning channel stitching of a corset,(shell pink)
5. a quilted petticoat,(merlot)
6. the deaths head pattern on chiffon, (space dyed blackcurrant over magenta orange)
7. the folds on the hip of a 18th C dress, (scarlet)
8. the underarm of a 17th C dress,(liver)
9. a pocket in a 18th C dress. (lavender and sky blue).

 All these details were found in the V&A's 'Historical Fashion in Detail, the 17th and 18th Century, which is one of my favourite books!