Many years ago, I had a studio at the Arts & Industry Building in Florence, Mass. There were over 70 artist studios and small businesses tucked into this old brush factory. One of my neighbors on the fourth floor was a fellow who restored violin bows. Violinists from around the country sent him their broken bows and he fixed them. As part of the repair process, he had to cut off the horsehair left on each bow. And lucky me was the recipient of wonderful boxes of discarded horsehair!
As you can imagine, this was a treasure trove for an artist and I found ways to incorporate the horsehair into some of my pieces. At the time, my work was quite small and I wasn’t able to use it in great amounts. But I always imagined that some day I would have a creative brainstorm and find a way to use the horsehair.