Just in time before North Bend, Washington’s real-life Twin Peaks welcome sign was vandalized, we went up to the town for a little photoshoot.
You can see progress shots of the map on Squid Fishing Fleet’s Instagram, but here some initial shots. Many of our pieces are traced and altered by elimination/addition and color choice. However, I did not have the resources to trace a large-sized map.
On 24″ x 19″ tracing paper, I drafted a grid. Using the open source program GIMP, I added a grid, to scale, on an owl cave image from the Twin Peaks Wiki. From there, I used the grid lines as a guide to draw the image, starting from the center and going out. It was incredibly relaxing. I did it while watching Blue Velvet.
Next, I used the Sublime Stitching Iron-On Transfer Pen to trace the finished drawing before transferring into heat-pressed linen. From there, it’s all stitches!
The owl cave map is a puzzle, and crazy fans love to try to piece it together. I am impressed by Gisela’s detailed post on 25 Years Later, which applies alchemy symbolism to the map imagery in order to crack the code, solve the crime.
One point I found particularly interesting was the idea that the design on the bottom right-hand side isn’t an underground monster a la IT, like what I thought, but potentially a mask one wears to protect themselves from BOB. So, not only does the Owl Cave map provide where and when an event takes place, it may provide the supplies one needs for the event.
I can’t wait to see what happens in this new season! And look out for more David Lynch-inspired embroideries!