Meet Portia and Jeffrey

The Maritime Explorium. Close-up of museum entrance Portia & Jeffrey.
Photos made courtesy of Tracy Feldman.

Textile designer Tracy Feldman designed a yarn bomb for the Maritime Explorium children’s museum incorporating the museum’s bright logo colors, a nautical theme and a 4’ crochet seahorse named Portia and a 4’ octopus named Jeffrey. These crochet sea creatures were named in honor of the village of Port Jefferson, NY where they are located.

Portia The Seahorse.
Photo made courtesy of Tracy Feldman

10 ladies crocheted the design from March to early June 2016. The crocheters include Tracy and her mother Lorraine who worked on Portia the seahorse, another mother and daughter team (Jean and Kelly Bodami) who crocheted Jeffrey the octopus and other expert crocheters.

Playing around with mini crochet octopi at The Maritime Explorium.
Photo made courtesy of Tracy Feldman.

The Portia and Jeffrey Yarn Bomb is made with over 10,000 yards of Bonnie Braid yarn. 6mm yarn was used on the columns. Portia uses 6mm orange, turquoise, sapphire and white yarn, and she is made with triple crochet and single crochet stitches. Jeffrey was made using 4mm orange yarn, his suctions cups are magic circles made with 2mm white yarn. It took the crocheters approximately 500 hours total to create and install the design. 

The Maritime Explorium.
Photo made courtesy of Tracy Feldman

For the large white portions of the columns, 2 skeins of yarn were crocheted together to made yards of white chain stitches that create a nautical rope design element that works well on the tapered columns. The crocheters started with a size P or Q hook and quickly opted to use their fingers to crochet the white chain so it would twist less and lay flatter on the columns. 

Volunteers crochet columns.
Photo made courtesy of Tracy Feldman

Finished Column at The Maritime Explorium.
Photo made courtesy of Tracy Feldman

Happy visitor at The Maritime Explorium!
Photo made courtesy of Tracy Feldman

The royal, turquoise and orange color blocked pieces were made with single crochet stitches. Half double crochet stitches were used for the sunshine yellow stripes and thin white stripes between the colors. Simple stitch work maximizes the bold burst of colors visitors will see from any direction when walking in the village.

Portia the Seahorse at The Maritime Explorium.
Photo made courtesy of Tracy Feldman

 
No hardware or special supplies were needed to secure the exhibit to the columns, only Bonnie Braid yarn was used for the yarn bomb. The pieces were crocheted, fitted and sewn very tightly to work with the column’s carvings and architecture, and prevent sagging. Portia is lightly stuffed with pieces of plastic bags to fill her out a bit.  

Jeffrey the Octopus at The Maritime Explorium.
Photo made courtesy of Tracy Feldman

Jeffrey the Octopus at The Maritime Explorium.
Photo made courtesy of Tracy Feldman

  

Jeffrey is stuffed with plastic bags filled with cut up pool noodles that were wrapped in orange plastic table cloths so orange and not the stuffing would not show through the stitches as he was molded into shape.

The Maritime Explorium Coral Reef Window Display.
Photo made courtesy of Tracy Feldman.

 
In addition to the building’s crochet pieces, this yarn bomb has 2 brightly colored covers accenting the flowers in the larger square planter boxes. The box covers are made with 6mm yarn and are half double crochet.

The Maritime Explorium.
Photos made courtesy of Tracy Feldman.

The Portia and Jeffrey Yarn Bombed was created for the June 4, 2016 Maker Faire the museum hosted and will run through summer 2016 or longer.  The Maritime Explorium is located near the ferry terminal at 101 E. Broadway, Port Jefferson, NY, (631) 331-3277 www.maritimeexplorium.org.

Maker Fare Helpers.
Photo made courtesy of Tracy Feldman

Visit P & J Yarn Bombers Facebook page for additional info and photos.  The yarn bombers are Celeste Anton, Debra Zodda, Dorothy Cardi, Jean Bodami, Karen Korshak, Kelly Bodami, Linda Lazuta, Lorraine Sweeney, Maureen Spanos and Tracy Feldman.