Heat a thin layer of fluid from below and it sorts itself into cells.

Warm fluid rises through the center of each cell, cools, and sinks again at the edges. This is Rayleigh-Bénard convection, and the same process shapes clouds. Seen from above, sheets of low cloud break into a field of repeating cells, each one distinct and held in place by the ones around it.

Cloud Quilt turns that structure into fabric. Each cell is stitched and stuffed by hand, so it has soft volume, and the painted ground shows through between the cells. There are two versions. In one, blue gouache sits like open sky between the clouds. In the other, the muslin is left natural and the threads stay loose where the stitching ends.

It’s a study toward something wearable: a test of how a field of quilted cells holds its shape, softness and movement before it becomes a garment.

Cloud Quilt
24 × 24 in
Gouache on muslin, embroidery thread, wood dowel
Hand-sewn in back stitch and blanket stitch

Open to commissions.