Gallimaufry

Urchfont Manor

2012-01-26T21:30:00.001Z

Regular readers will know that for the last few years I have been going to the Distant Stitch summer school at Urchfont Manor near Devizes in Wiltshire and how wonderful it is there, a I am sure many have also been there themselves. The manor is an adult education centre run by Wiltshire County Council offering day and residential courses, but its future is now under threat. My tutor, Sian has explained the position on her blog post here – please take a minute to read it and then contact Wiltshire County Council to support the rescue plan.

Module 5 Chapter 2

2012-01-19T20:54:00.001Z

Creating lace effects by removing the background and by joining small shapes. I have grouped the samples here by inspiration rather than the order of making, (with a 2p coin for scale) and I decided to stay mainly working with white. The photographs are ones I gathered as part of module 1 work and have referred to before, some converted to black and white to emphasis the patterns of lines.

Photo 1

Clockwise from top left – the photograph is the old Sevalco plant in Severnside

trails from hot glue gun forming a grid, coloured with gold and black acrylic paint.
stitching on dissolvable background using built-in stitches (some layered on top of each other) combining the grid with arcs taken from the bell movements in photo 3. To be honest, the arcs have lost their curves. they could have done with more anchoring.
Grid stitched on zeelon (a new one to me, a non-woven material from the makers of lutradur etc but much thinner and softer, it drapes like fabric) with some filled in areas, cut out with a stencil cutter.

Photo 2

From left

trails from a hot glue gun join up spare clock hands (left over from making Cogitation).
snippets of thread were trapped between layers of zeelon, then shapes outlined by machine, cut out and rejoined with machine stitching.

lines of machine stitching using built in patterns on soluble paper – a few areas filled in with patterns of stitching.

Photo 3

left – machine stitching on soluble paper
right – three layers stitched separately on solusheet dissolvable using different thicknesses of thread and layers of built-in patterns on top of each other.

Photo 4

Patterns taken directly from the needlace design drawn in chapter 1 – clockwise from top left

heavy free machining on vanishing muslin. This should have burnt off with an iron (and has before) but proved very stubborn this time. the scorch marks are where I was a bit heavy handed with the heat gun.
same again on zeelon cut out with a stencil cutter – much lighter stitching supported by the outer border.
glue gun trails.

Photo 5

Three samples that don’t really fit with the others

left - joining scraps of paper with machine stitching across the gaps. The scraps are from the setting up instructions for a computer. I have just thought that I ought to have made more of the content – eg turning it into a flowchart, making a line to follow – so I will have another look at this one.
right – trailing glue onto greaseproof paper leaves a definite right and wrong side as the back is flat, so to get around this I tried drawing with the hot glue gun into a dish of cold water. It solidifies as soon as it hits the water and makes more delicate, rounded lines. However, it tends to swirl and rotate so I couldn’t control it enough to make a planned pattern, but I like the random creations.

Lost in Lace– Gas Hall, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery

2012-01-07T19:03:00.001Z

I spent the day visiting this way back in November – so another very late blog post. It is a marvellous bit of luck that this exhibition is on (it runs until 19th February) just as I am starting module 5 which is all about lace and transparency . One of the features I really appreciated about this exhibition is that each artist has supplied a small handling sample with a brief note on materials, and the accompanying book includes exchanges of emails between the curator and the artists, which gives a real insight into the technical challenges of mounting the exhibition. Here are a few of my personal highlights, but there is much more – I have included links to images on the artists’ pages.

Piper Shepard Lacing Space – a remarkable piece of work hanging from floor to ceiling between pillars, inspired by a piece of point de gaze lace in BMAG’s collection. the holes have been hand cut from the cloth. The edges have been shaped around the pillars so that if it is shown elsewhere, they will appear as negative spaces. I was awed by the sheer amount of work as well as the beauty of this piece.

Liz Nilsson The Latticed Eye of Memory – a group of rectangular panels cut with a regular grid of circular holes hanging in layers, appearing to float. The grids and shadows line up in different patterns as you walk around; the central layer is more colourful and can only be partially glimpsed.

Suzumi Noda Juxtaposition – constructed from jacquard punch cards, lacquered and knitted together. these cards were used to control looms to weave cloth in a given pattern, and as such were the forerunners of computer programs. It all comes down to ones and zeroes, holes and solid areas, on and off. Standing next to this piece, I had the odd feeling that it was trying to tell me something and I wanted to be able to read the code. This is another piece that casts interesting shadows, this time across the floor as the daylight changes.

Tamar Frank A thin line between space and matter. A deceptively simple concept, a 3d mathematical drawing in threads which is stunning on a large scale (do you remember drawings curves in school maths lessons by joining grid points with straight lines like this?

it is the same idea). You walk into a small room lit from below by coloured LEDs then as the light fades, the phospherescent threads glow and the effect is disconcerting, like falling into a tunnel.

Visiting the exhibition prompted me to look up other ways in which lace is being more generally used in design, contrasting the softness and delicacy of lace with hard materials . Dutch design house Demakersvan make lace industrial fencing and Cal Lane cuts into, among other things, steel beams. Architects are also making use of lace-like facings such as the recent John Lewis shop in Leicester and the new central library in Birmingham (under construction).

Module 5 Chapter 1–Researching Stitched Laces

2012-01-07T13:42:00.001Z

When I said that this would be my next post, I meant in the next day or so – still what’s six weeks between friends? I have gathered images and notes onto four A3 sheets – the photos are not clear enough to read the notes (despite several attempts) so I have cut and pasted them underneath.

Sheet 1 - Punto In Aria

Reticella
Made in buttonhole stitch supported by a grid of threads left after cutting squares out of the linen ground (about 1/4 to 1/2 “ apart). You can see the grid in photo 2 giving a tiled effect. This developed into punto in aria in two ways 1) by replacing the cutwork grid with threads laid on parchment, which frees the lace from the grid structure and 2) by using raised work. This example of Venetian gros point has padded borders made by laying down thick threads and working buttonhole stitch over them – this type of lace has a right and a wrong side.
Captions for photos clockwise from top right
1) Venetian needle lace, 17^th century, linen thread. Probably a border for eg a tablecloth. Note the edges are different – the footside is bobbin lace.
2) Italian early 17^th century, cutwork and needlelace across the spaces of the linen ground. This type of work was used especially for collars and cuffs, so this may be part of a collar.
3) Venetian gros point.
4) Italian early 17^th century, linen thread, border for fine furnishing.

Sheet 2 – Needlelace Designs by Federico Vinciolo 1587

A selection of designs from the 16th century (see references for full details) and my drawings of some of the details.

Sheet 3 – Stitches for Needlelace

The most common stitch in needlelaces is detached buttonhole with a straight return. Loops are made in one direction and the thread returns in a straight line underneath to become the support for the next row. It makes no difference to the final result if the loops are worked left to right or right to left, or if the motif is worked from the top or the bottom. The stitches may be left with gaps or worked tight together.
For a firmer texture, a knotted stitch is used – this is seen on lace from the 17th and 18th century. The return can be straight or whipped, in which case it twists over each loop.

Captions clockwise from top right -
Needlelace in tudor fashions. Portraits of Elizabeth I and Lady Mary Sidney show how collars and cuffs were worn.
Worked sample of variations of buttonhole stitch supported on black felt and to the left, diagrams of these same stitches.

Sheet 4 – Lace effect from punched or stamped patterns.

Decorating fabrics using these techniques is considerably quicker than making bobbin or needle lace and so relatively cheaper.
Captions from left to right -
1) Detail of silk waistcoat stamped and embroidered, English 1785-1790. Compare the pattern with this pricking of a traditional Bucks point bobbin lace design.
Holes made by stamping, probably using a wheel to get the repeats. The fabric would be starched before stamping so that the holes keep their shape. The stamp pushes aside the threads without breaking them.
2) A large scale, contemporary use of punching by Piper Shepard for Lost in Lace at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. Based on a piece of point de gaze lace in the BMAG collection.
3) Top right - Detail of yellow silk gown, English 1760s. This shows pinking – making decorative holes with a metal punch. To do this, the folded fabric would be put on a block of lead and the punch struck with a hammer to make a pattern of holes. Below - My sample of pinking using a hole punch on folded calico, trying different size punches - hard on the hands.

References
Historical Fashion in Detail 17^th and 18^th Centuries, Avril Hart and Susan North.
A Dictionary of Lace, Pat Earnshaw, Shire Publications 1984.
Bobbin and Needlelace Identification and Care, Pat Earnshaw, Batsford 1983.
Lace pricking taken from Bucks Point Pattern Pack, Pamela Nottingham, Batsford.
Lost in Lace Transparent Boundaries, Lesley Millar , BMAG 2011.
A Walk Through the Beginnings of Lace, copyright Robin L Berry 2004, www.bayrose.org/AandS/handouts/reticella_ rev.pdf
French National Library – I Singolari E Nuovi Disegni Di Federico Vinciolo, 1909 Italian facsimile of 1606 editions of pattern books first published in Paris 1587, available at belovedlinens.net/Patternsbooks.html
Chats on Old Lace and Needlework, Emily Lowes, London 1908 – Project Gutenberg ebook 2008, www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/26120.
Portrait of Elizabeth I from the National Portrait Gallery, London

Images of punto in aria from Victoria and Albert Museum, www.vam.ac.uk

Irish Dance Dress (Functional 3D Item) - Background Research

2011-11-23T16:29:00.001Z

I agreed with Sian at summer school that I would make my elder daughter a dress for her Irish dancing as my functional 3d item. That seems an awfully long time ago! Since then, I have been concentrating on making one for her sister using commercial embroidery designs as a kind of trial run (you can see it here on StitchDance) and doing lots of reading and looking at dresses both on the web and in real life. In a moment I will be showing photos of my notebook, but I thought it would be useful to start with some notes and a glossary.

Glossary

Feis (plural feiseanna) pronounced “fesh” – lit. festival, an Irish dancing competition.

Class dress – a distinctive costume associated with a particular school. In An Comdhail competitions that we attend, dancers competing in age groups under 9 and below, and beginners of any age are not allowed to wear solo dresses, so they will either wear a class costume or a plain skirt and top. Class dresses are also used for team dances (figures).

Solo dress – competitions mostly focus on solo dancing - although dancers usually perform three at a time they are each doing their own steps - and dancers aspire to wear a solo dress designed and made for them (but most will buy second-hand). Every dress is unique; although there are distinct styles and colours that go in and out of fashion, a particular design will not be repeated exactly. Solo dresses are more elaborate then class dresses. NB although referred to as dresses, costumes may be made with a separate bodice and skirt.

An Coimisiun le Rinci Gaelacha (CLRG) and Comdhail Na Muinteoiri le Rinci gaelacha (An Comdhail) – two major governing bodies for Irish dancing.

The history of the development of the dancing schools and the costumes in the first half of the twentieth century is closely bound up with politics and Irish nationalism. For anyone interested in finding out more background, I would recommend The Story of Irish Dance by Helen Brennan, pub Brandon 1999, and Irish Dancing Costume by Martha Robb, pub Country House. I found it very helpful to see how the styles have evolved and the invention of ‘traditional’ dress.

Permitted Costume Styles

CLRG published updated rules on costumes in September 2010 – you can access the complete list here but the key points are

Necklines must be high enough to cover the collarbone.
Sleeves to start at the shoulder and end at the cuff.
Skirts no shorter than mid-thigh.
Costumes must have a full front, back and sides (i.e. no cutaway or transparent panels and skirts must have a full backing).

In essence, the basic shape is a long-sleeved, short skirted dress with a dropped waist and back zip.

These pages show second-hand dresses offered for sale at a feis – a good way of seeing a mixture of styles. On the left-hand page, the dark blue dress is in what is referred to as traditional style – large areas of satin-stitch knotwork on a plain dark background, and a stiffened box pleat skirt. These often had white crochet collars. The other three are more up-to-date and you can see how at times there is no reference to traditional motifs. On the right hand page, there are two dresses with ra-ra skirts which are very popular (apart from looks, they are considerably lighter than the stiffened styles). The dress with the violet bodice, which was made in 2011, has a puffball, plisse skirt and also shows the move towards building up decoration by repeating small knotwork motifs (this also gives you an idea of prices).

The back of the dress is also important. These styles have developed from the traditional shawl pinned over one shoulder. A few years ago, there was a fashion for dresses in the classic stiff-skirted shape but made entirely in glittery fabrics using applique rather than embroidery, and these have a stiff ‘kite’ on the back as a reference to the shawls. Most new dresses I see now have either a sash across the back or a shaped shawl (attached with Velcro), although some have a large bow at the dropped waist. There is also a trend to attach the shawl further down from the shoulder and to continue the embroidery around the back of the dress. All the photos in these two pages have been collected onto a board on Pinterest which anyone can see here (and this also credits the sources). A quick trawl on ebay will also come up with many dresses for sale.

A collection of images from dressmakers websites recording some of the various current skirt styles. The older-style stiff skirts have brightly coloured contrasting linings which show as the skirt moves and the girls wear matching lycra or satin ‘kick-knicks’ underneath. Irish dancing is popular in the USA and fashions cross the Atlantic as competitors meet at international competitions – a good site for US fashion updates is http://feisonista.com/

Armed with all this background information – the next step is to start thinking about the design. But first I want to sort out my notes on lace for the beginning of module 5, so that will be my next post.

Module 4 Artist Study

2011-09-27T15:42:00.000+01:00

I am continuing to collect notes and images of interesting artists. For this exercise, I thought it would be interesting to compare two textile artists who have used a similar process and starting point, and whose work relates to my theme of industrial landscape. Both Michelle Loughlin and Clare Lane take photographs of urban decay, print them on fabric and add stitch, but their motivations and the resulting work are very different.

The photographs in this post show the notes in my sketchbook; images of each artist's work can be seen at the links given under references.

Michelle Loughlin

MichelleLoughlin is an American textile artist who made a series of work using hand stitching on photographs in2007/2008. Urban Weavings is acollection that celebrates the urban landscape in her home city New Jersey City, NJ, using photos ofsites that are interesting historically or important to the community. These could bedemolished or abandoned buildings, or buildings being redeveloped all of which Michelle recorded before they changed as the area became gentrified. Her motivation was personal, a reaction to feeling helpless in the face of rapid redevelopment of the place she lives in and knows well.

These aresmall works, less than 20cm square, and mounted very simply. The photograph is printed onto cross-stitchfabric and then stitched freely, with bright threads addingcolour, texture and life. Rather than simply recording the scene, she responds to it and uses thestitches to complete the picture, to make it more beautiful and vital. She has said of the building that inspiredher piece 410 Bergen Lafayette that she 'would drive by and think how can Imake that prettier?' Her stitches have a boldness and simplicity to them, as if doodling with crayons, highlighting selected areas; a stitched intervention into the street scene.

References

Home SweetHome, Embroidery Jan/Feb 2009

http://www.artslant.com/global/artists/show/25395-michelle-loughlin

Clare Lane

I first heardof Clare Lane when I visited her solo exhibition at the Stroud textile Festivalin 2008, and I was immediately taken byher hyper-realistic images of urban andindustrial sites in decay ; I was struck too by the emptiness, the absence ofpeople.

The stretched canvaseson show were large, over a metre each way, displayedunframed, and showed photographs that had been digitally manipulated,simplifying the colours into chunky blocks. These had then been stitched in some areas with matching threads,creating a change of texture and depth.

Claredescribes what she does as 'unashamedly process driven', starting with walkingthe streets and taking hundreds of photographs. The next stage is to work with the imagesin Photoshop. She may use a single imageor create a montage, cutting elements from several photographs to create hercomposition. She may also add layers ofscanned images, for example drawings, painted backgrounds, paper cut-outs,text, and apply a variety of filters. The key part of the process is digitally overpainting the whole picture,concentrating on colour and shape and working at such a high level of detailthat she may spend hours on a tiny part of the image, looking at it as anabstract arrangement of colour and shape. Because of the size of thefinished canvases, she cannot see the final effect until it has been printed on fabric. Then comes the stitching, using an Irish machine to fill in solidblocks of colour on parts of the image, which relieves the flatness of thedigital print. This is so subtle that onfirst glance you may not realise it is there, and it is not always apparent inphotographs of her work.

Clare Lanecame from a background in architecture and surveying before studying for atextile degree, and her inspiration comes from urban dereliction, ourcontemporary ruins, which are rarely looked upon as kindly as those that arehundreds of years old, yet they hold the same stories. She describes how she isinterested in the 'visual cacophony' of the urban landscape, the way thatbuildings are surrounded by all sorts of other things that are there without anoverall design - rubbish, street signs, road markings.

References

UrbanFabrication,Clare Lane, Design-It issue76 (Computer Textile Design Group),2011.

Toil andRubble, Jo Hall, Embroidery July/August 2008.

StroudwaterInternational Textile Festival Catalogue 2008.

www.urban-fabric.co.uk Clare Lane'swebsite.

Finishing off Module 4

2011-09-21T14:55:00.001+01:00

Just the artist's study left to do (which I am working on) so to finish off the module, here are my additional notes on health and safety when feltmaking.

Wet Felting

Ensure a safe working area by mopping up any water from the floor immediately.
Be aware of your hands becoming sensitive to prolonged exposure to soap/detergents and choose products with care.
Felting is a physical activity - be careful when rolling the felt to avoid strains to your back and wrists from repetitive movements and take regular breaks.

Needlefelting

The needles are very sharp, take additional care to keep your fingers clear from the points.
Store hand felting needles with the barbs covered (eg with a small piece of foam) to avoid cutting your hands.
Use the guard on the machine and ensure it is adjusted correctly each time.
Stop the machine as soon as you feel any unusual resistance and clear out the lint regularly.
As with any machining, watch your posture and take regular stretch breaks.

Finishing Chapter 11 Resolved Samples

2011-09-21T14:42:00.001+01:00

I decided to concentrate on three of the samples from my previous post and leave aside the yellow one. Firstly, photo 9 shows the 3d double-sided sample, inspired by the paper sample from chapter 9 shown in photos 10 and 11. I had intended to copy the paper version by bending the shapes in the same way, but this didn't work well in felt ( I think it is too thick and soft - the design calls for something crisper).

Photo 9

Photo 10


Photo 11

Then the last two needle-felted samples after stitching. I have had trouble photographing these as the colours are so delicate - there is more contrast in real life. Photo 12 - the shapes have been heavily hand-stitched so they seem to grow out of the background.


Photo 12

Photo 13 - the slips have been secured in place with a scattering of detached chain stitches and more stitching has been added to the background.


Photo 13

Module 4 Chapters 10 and 11 - Work in progress

2011-08-26T14:07:00.000+01:00

The end of this module is in sight at last - I have been beavering away at it over the last few weeks in between dressmaking and kides coming and going, so I got a bit behind with writing it up (and that is why the sketchbook entries suddenly stopped). I am hoping that typing up a blog post will sort it all out in my head! These two chapters are all about feltmaking, leading to resolved samples using felt as a background to stitch. I decided to base my colour scheme and resolved samples on this colour study from module 1, which was developed from a picture of a vintage car radiator taken in Bristol Industrial Museum. I thought that the rather out of focus photo related well to the softness of felt and I could use some pieces of the fabrics I had already dyed together with wool tops bought in similar colours.

Pages from module 1 work

Dyed scraps

First up are some trial pieces of wet felting that can be cut up and played with further.


Photo 1

Photo 1
These are quite thick pieces - the blue is very chunky, double sided with sandy yellow on the back, the purple is thinner and uses 3 or 4 colours mixed together. The sand/gold is one colour with a sprinkling of silk waste felted in, which doesn't show as much as I thought it would. I also made a piece of thick double-sided felt in the green/pink combination from chapter 9 to explore those shapes further, but didn't get a photo before I cut it up.

Photo 2

Photo 2
Top left is just plain blue, bottom left has fragments of scrim and silk embedded in the top layer. The sand coloured sample has been deliberately felted less to keep it softer and more flexible, and I embedded lots of metal shavings that a friend had given me, to keep the theme of machinery and add a contrast texture. Top right - I cut strips from the green/pink piece and felted them into the background. The strips were thicker so they give bumps on both sides of this sample, which I like but the colour contrast has been lost.

Photo 3

Photo 3
A friend suggested I try making nuno felt and very kindly lent me a pair of carders so I could mix the wool colours more effectively and draw out thinner layers. The top sample used a piece of my dyed scrim as the base which shows through as pinker patches, but I was a bit heavy handed with the wool and the felt is still quite stiff. For the bottom sample, I used far less wool over white scrim (a different combination of colours on each side) and left it almost bare in places so that it pulled and crinkled as the wool shrank. This piece is much more delicate; lovely and soft to handle.

Photo 4

Photo 4
The first resolved sample which uses the two pieces from photo 3. I cut strips from the thinner piece of nuno felt and applied them as flaps to the background using an embellisher (needlefelting machine) letting them pleat slightly. I arranged them to echo the fluted shapes in the photo of the car radiator and then added lots of cut up pieces of the same felt. I added knotted and couched threads and some little woven wheels. I really like this sample, but it seems to have turned into an underwater scene when I wasn't looking.


Photo 5

Photo 5
This is the double sided thick piece of felt cut up into shapes from chapter 9 designs. I have stitched on both sides and intend to combine them into a 3d sample.

Photo 6

Photo 6
Another work in progress - a second version of the radiator shapes, using the piece of felt that has metal turnings embedded. I used the embellisher to pleat the background and stitched in the smaller pieces. Not quite sure how this will work out, but I am thinking of adding some larger metal scraps - some of them are like coiled beads.

Photo 7

Photo 8

Photo 9

Photos 7,8 and 9
I had had enough of soap and water for the time being so moved on to needle felting with the embellisher. I made a background using a piece of commercial pre-felt as a base and adding a layer of wool. I then chopped up dyed scrim into very small pieces and felted them on top, mixing and changing colours as I went. Working heavily with the machine broke the scraps down almost into individual threads and fixed them in place, giving a soft and light piece of felt with a really interesting surface. I cut the background in two and then carefully cut shapes from one piece and added them to the other, again using designs from earlier work. I filled the holes by inlaying some of my plain blue felt. Giving me two more half-finished samples to work on. I need to look again at the one in photo 7 as the edges of the cut out shapes show the pre-felt, so this needs sorting out.

Sketchbook day 10 and 11

2011-08-01T11:14:00.001+01:00

Colour study based on this group of apples, reel of thread and wisteria leaves. On the left, colour built up in layers of pastels and koh i nor paints. On the right, soluble pencils and scraps of dyed fabrics.

Sketchbook Day 9 Still no zebra.

2011-07-27T15:21:00.001+01:00

Today is all about stripes. I folded a piece of of blue and white fabric and tried to draw just the pattern, seeing how the stripes behaved over the folds. The first two sketches with soluble pencils were bit smudgy so I tried again with the wide end of a promarker and drew more boldly. To find out about the exercises I'm doing go to Sian's blog.

Exhibition - Gordano Textile Artists

2011-07-26T22:02:00.000+01:00

A quick plug for our exhibition coming soon - it is my first time with this well-established group so please come along if you are in the area.

Gordano Textile Artists at the Toll House Gallery, Clevedon Pier, North Somerset.
2nd to 30th August, 10am to 5pm Mon-Fri, 10am to 6pm Sat and Sun.
Meet the artists each weekend 11am to 3pm - I will be there on Sat 6th August and Sat 27th August.

Sketchbook Day 8

2011-07-26T14:22:00.001+01:00

Drawing without drawing - suggesting the object by drawing just the surface pattern. Kind of like the stripes without the zebra. I didn't have a zebra handy so I used a shell instead. My first attempt with a serrated edge and paint didn't work so I tried again with the side of a piece of charcoal.

Sketchbook day 7

2011-07-25T15:02:00.001+01:00

Back to the cut up apple,which is developing some lovely crinkly edges. Today the challenge is to work larger and quickly using thick and thin lines - I used a piece of charcoal on its side for the edges and shadow.

Sketchbook day 6

2011-07-24T13:23:00.001+01:00

I'm feeling much better now so thanks to everyone for your good wishes. As this exercise is all about shadows I have gone back to a banana. This one has definite ridges and very little variation in colour so it made it easier to concentrate.

I got a bit lost with the first drawing and couldn't see what was banana and what was shadow, so for the second one I outlined in black pen.

Sketchbook Day 5

2011-07-22T10:15:00.001+01:00

An apple a day...seems appropriate while I work my way through a large box of tissues. The background is letter headings from old doctor's letters, crumpled and tea stained, which fits in with the cut apple turning brown and shrivelled. I used a medium black pen for the crinkly top edge and a finer one for the body to try and show the difference.

Sketchbook Day 3

2011-07-21T22:17:00.000+01:00

I'm feeling sorry for myself with a horrible snuffly cold, which is my excuse for slipping behind. This is from yesterday - I tried drawing a cut apple on the pages prepared with tissue paper, which turned out to be more difficult than I thought going over the bumpy bits.

Sketchbook Project Days 1 and 2

2011-07-18T15:09:00.001+01:00

I'm following along the sketchbook project Sian has set on her blog Stitch Loop (but a couple of days behind) so here is the first pair of pages with some fruit and slices of potato. I have a couple of pages prepared now with scrumpled tissue paper and tea ready for the next drawing.

Trying again with Chapter 9 videos

2011-07-18T15:09:00.000+01:00

Still can't do anything with the last post to sort out the videos so here they are again via YouTube.

Module 4 chapter 9 Section C

2011-07-16T17:27:00.004+01:00

Umm - these videos were supposed to be much further down the post but somehow they have ended up here as well. I have no idea why and now I can neither delete nor move them, which rather spoils my layout, but I can't face doing the whole post again. I just hope they work - please let me know if they don't.

Exercise 1 - using a simple shape to make a series of 3d shapes. I started with a set of squares torn from watercolour paper and folded them in sequence. Photo 1 shows the way they were folded, photo 2 is one way of arranging them and photo 3 is the final choice with the pieces tied together - I omitted the last one as it didn't seem to fit in.

Photo 1

Photo 2

Photo 3

Exercise 2 Graded positive and negative shapes. Photo 4 shows the cut shapes, which I repeated many times.

Photo 4

Photo 5 - the chunky shape curved by gentle rubbing and speared on a dowel in a spiral.

Photo 5

Photo 6 - another view with stronger shadows.

Photo 6

Photo 7 - the skinny shape spiralling on a dowel - I took it outside to get stronger shadows which adds an extra layer. Photo 8 is included so you can see from a different angle how is spirals round along 3 or 4 inches of the doweland how the short and long ends create patterns.

photo 7

Photo 8

When I was trying to photograph this one from above, it wouldn't keep still until I stuck it in the ground. However, as you know I love to have things moving and watching kinetic sculptures*, so I took a short video to see the effect - this could be fun with colour effects or with some kind of background that is glimpsed as it turns (back on animations and cogs again).

Exercise 3 Using colour and 3d shapes. For this exercise, I returned to the petal shape and used two photocopies of painted papers stuck together. Photo 9 shows the shape simply slotted together.

Photo 9

Photo 10 a more interesting arrangement - it puts me in mind of dancers practising at the barre.

Photo 10

Again, a short video to show how it looks from different angles and the effect of the colours moving around.

*you can see some here and here.

Module 4 chapter 9 section B Ex 2

2011-07-16T16:38:00.002+01:00

Using the same shape and colours as before in this chapter but with water soluble crayons to explore the negative space. Just changing the medium gives a very different effect even though the designs are similar to the earlier exercises.

Photo 1 from left to right - running the crayons off the edge of parts of the stencil then moving and repeating, leaving a series of incomplete shapes; colouring around the stencils then washing with water to blend the colours and let them spread into the spaces; as before but washing with the stencil in place so the edges are softened but the white space retained.


Photo 1

Photo 2

Photo 2 - left and also photo 3 -replacing cut shapes slightly offset. Photo 2 right, I placed the coloured cut shapes on the background and used a wet brush to sweep colour over the edge, then moved the shape and repeated.

Photo 3

Of these, my favourites are the two that just use outlines (left in photo 1 and right in photo 2). I like the delicacy of them both, contrasting with the strong shapes and colours in exercise 1, and the first in particular would translate easily to stitch.

Summer School 2011

2011-07-16T16:38:00.001+01:00

I' m having one of my periodic catch up days so this will be the first of several posts - hopefully in the right order!

Going back to Urchfont Manor, it is as if we have never been away, it is such a wonderful few days. This year we split into two groups, some working with Jan Evans and I was with Mary Sleigh, learning about textiles from Africa. Mary shared her knowledge of the materials, the stitches and the people who make them and then we each spent time closely studying an item chosen from her collection. This led on to stitching samples using aspects of the style but making it relevant to us as individuals.

A strong feature of the cloth I looked at were the hems turned to the right side and the piece was made from joined squares of raffia so I reflected this in the samples and used the stitches Mary had shown us for joining and hemming. I also incorporated the idea of using what is to hand - in this case the random items that live in my sewing box - so you can see a hook and eye as decoration and cut up fragments of bobbin lace (samples I made years ago) and paper.

Sections for the final strip before assembling

The final strip on the left and small samples on the right.

Module 4 Chapter 9 Section A Exercise 3 again

2011-06-23T23:26:00.003+01:00

Something odd has been happening with these photos so I have re-posted them in the hope that this time they will enlarge for a closer look.

Module 4 Chapter 9 Section B

2011-06-23T23:16:00.000+01:00

Exercise 1
The shape I chose to use is taken from the petals of the flower photos used earlier in this module - I cut out templates in graduated sizes. Image 1 - looking at just the shape by arranging the templates.

Image 11

Arranging cut out shapes on contrasting backgrounds - images 12 and 13, both A5 size. Image 12 has turned into a bird, image 13 could do with more contrast to show the shapes more clearly.

Image 12

Image 13

Combining cut outs with negative shapes on different backgrounds - images 14 and 15.

Image 14

Image 15

Image 15 also show some arrangements on copies of the tonal paper.

Module 4 Chapter 9 Section A - part 2

2011-06-23T22:54:00.000+01:00

I was going to put this section all in one post but last night I was having trouble uploading and arranging photos so I have split it up. So carrying on from the last post -

These are the two arrangments on backgrounds that I decided to keep. Image 6 slightly art deco/skyscraper shapes against swirling colour and image 7 which is a much brighter green than it looks here.


Image 6

Image 7

Exercise 3

Image 8

Using the green in the centre I gradually added white at one end and black at the other, then cut a couple of thin strips from the edges and played with rearranging them and adding scraps from the earlier exercises (I have left this photo full size so you can enlarge by clicking on it).

Image 9

Just reversing the strip (bottom left corner) was too harsh so I experimented with using parts and moving them part way along. I found the dark end was too dominant and heavy, and the arrangements that work best are ones where it is lightened, especially when some of the scraps of violet shapes are included. Image 10 is my favourite, it has drama with the upward movement and colours but a satisfying symmetry. I could see this as a very large, lightweight hanging.

Image 10

Module 4 chapter 9 Section A - part 1

2011-06-22T22:49:00.026+01:00


Image 1

Section A Exercise 1
For these exercises, I worked with two colours of acrylic paint - quincridone violet and pthalo green. Image 1 shows the range of colours from mixing the two and image 2 is a combination of photos showing various ways I tried of combining colours.

Image 2

Image 3 below shows the final choices pinned on a board.


Image 3

I particularly like the stormy blue/greens in this colour scheme, although they haven't photographed well, and the calmness of the composition top left in image 3. I think the pair in the centre of the top row of image 3 could be the start point for a hanging (it isn't very clear but the top and bottom sections are different colours) and I like the "cityscape" on the bottom left. I cheated a bit with these last two and added some silver lines to give them a bit more definition.
Exercise 2

I used the same paints to make some backgrounds on A4 sheets, using sponges to mix the colours freely on the paper in contrast to the rectilinear blocks of colour from exercise 1. I played with lots of combinations of the torn papers on backgrounds, shown in image 4, and then selected two to keep.

Image 4

Fabric Samples

2011-06-03T22:05:00.000+01:00

Quick update - I now have samples of the fabric designs I uploaded to Spoonflower. The massed flower heads have come out a little more orange than I anticipated and looking closely, I can see where the repeat could do with finetuning but is is rather fun.

Module 4 Chapter 8

2011-05-16T22:47:00.000+01:00

For this chapter, I have made a few samples of slips created from digital images. I decided to use two methods - printing onto printer-ready fabrics and using Ario transfer paper.
I started with one of my flower drawings from an earlier chapter and tried combining lots of copies, coming up with the image in photo 1.

Photo 1

I printed this onto cotton - it came out in lovely clear colours but didn't seem to lend itself to being cut up for slips. I liked it so much as a piece of fabric that I reworked the image into a pattern repeat, uploaded it to Spoonflower for printing and ordered a sample. It will be a couple of weeks before it arrives but I am hoping it will be a cheerful summer print.

Photo 2

Photo 2 Here I used single copies of the flower printed onto silk which gives much more faded colours. I found that the act of cutting them out gave a hard edge that I thought spoilt the drawing so I tried to overcome this. On the left, I have free machined over the slip colouring in the flower and going over the edge. On the right, I used an embellisher to attach and distress the flowers. The background for both samples are some embellisher samples from my collection. I chose these to suggest flowers on a trellis or stake, continuing the theme from some of the chapter 5 samples.

Photo 3 For the next two samples, I used as backgrounds some monoprints I made last summer (featured in this blog post). 2p coin in the corner for scale.


Photo 3

Some of the flower head images from earlier work printed onto transfer paper and ironed onto scraps of printed fabric which were then stitched onto a printed silk background - I thought the pattern reminiscent of a winding path and trellis. I added a few painted details to the flowers after transferring.

Photo 4

Photo 4

For this one, I thought it would be fun to combine the 'flowers on a trellis' theme with my course theme of 'machinery and industrial landscape.' I printed small copies of one of my pylon photos from module 1 and transferred them onto more monoprinted scraps. The stitching they are trapped in is layers of a digitised version of the same photo - something I had played with a while ago but not used. Photo 5 is a close up to show the stitching more clearly.

Photo 5

Photo 6 Back to flowers - this time using unaltered photos. The flower head is double-sided - on the outside rose petals and inside the unidentified flower I used in chapter 3. I transferred the images onto some stiff fabric that can be manipulated when wet and retains it shape, then bonded them together and moulded the shape over a fingertip. Underneath is the same image transferred onto a drinks can - it came out indistinctly but I liked the grungy effect enough to keep it. I mounted the two pieces onto some mulberry bark and a dressmaking remnant backed with pelmet vilene, and stitched them down with french knots.

Photo 6

Photo 7 is a sideways on shot to show the outside of the flower.

Finishing Chapter 6

2011-05-03T20:49:00.000+01:00

Finally, the rest of chapter 6, samples mounted on paper with a 2p coin for scale.

Top left - 3d slip cut from drinks cans that have been heated and coloured, stitched down with french knots. Top right - fine metal mesh free machined between 2 layers of fabric and manipulated into shape. Bottom left - these samples show distortion using heat and seemed to naturally fall into a posy. All six shapes were cut from the same piece of silk using the template on the right, so you can see how much they have changed shape. The 'petals' are silk backed with painted Tyvek (from a used envelope), free machined and zapped with a heat gun. The 'leaves' are silk backed with TextureMagic and stitched in curved lines then heated with a steam iron to shrink. While the Tyvek bubbles and curls, the TextureMagic shrinks but stays flat, causing the top layer to wrinkle. The close up below shows this a bit more clearly.

Module 4 Chapters 4 to 6 Part 2

2011-03-11T23:05:00.000Z

For the next stage, I made two pieces of fabric from which to cut slips. These are both made from layers of assorted sheers backed on felt. I free-machined in looping petal shapes to reflect the shapes printed on my decorated papers from the previous chapter (images 13 and 14 in the Dec 5th post), and used the same two colour schemes.

The next two pictures show how I applied the slips cut from these surfaces to new backgrounds and also added some of the earlier ones. 10p coins are included to give the scale.


Photo 1

Photo 1

The background is a piece of dyed silk backed with felt stitiched with a digitised knotwork motif designed as a sample in module 2. I repeated the motif many times, letting it overlap and changing colours randomly, giving an overall trellis effect to complement the flowers. The slips have been attached as follows (numbers on the photo)

Added another layer of sorbello stitches which carry on into the background.
Placed the slip on the background and repeated the knotwork motif over and around it.
These are two slips made on the embellisher using little snippets of thread on felt to reflect the softness of the pastels (image 12 in the Dec 5th post). These are dangling freely from loops of thread.
A couched thread makes a more definite edge.
Rows of herringbone stitches encroaching on the slip.

Photo 2

Photo 2

Background is dyed silk backed with felt and painted with Markal sticks, again using shapes from strapwork studies in module 2. In this case, the angles contrast with the rounded slips.

Slip attached by couching another colour around the outline of the flower head.
Slits cut in the silk and the slips attached at one end to the felt underneath.
Attached using beads at the centre.
Handstitched lines added to the design and carried over into the background.
Held down by two large pearl-headed pins (like a butterfly).
Not sure the photo shows this very well - I have used a stiff thread to attach groups of beads to points around the edge. The thread stands up in loops above the slip to echo the petal shapes stitched on it

Whoops!

2011-02-19T21:10:00.002Z

Bit of an error in the last post - I am at the exhibition on Saturday, not Sunday - 10 to 12 if you still want the cuppa!

Embroiderers' Guild Exhibition

2011-02-17T21:27:00.000Z

Embroidery Exhibition 25^th – 27^th February 2011, Stoke Lodge Adult Education Centre, Shirehampton Road, Bristol, BS9 1BN

I have entered Glimpsing the Storm and some of my collages for this exhibition which should be well worth a visit - there is always a wide variety of work from branch members. As it is our 30th anniversary (which is the pearl one), the branch is holding a competition for members on the theme of 30 something. We were given a few pearls and a piece of silk, and had to make a piece no larger than 30 x 30cm which used them. I racked my brains for ages trying to think of something - 30 stitches, 30 colours, 30 days hath September, 30 pieces of silver... While I was on a biblical theme I decided to look up psalm 30 and found this lovely line "weeping may tarry for the night , but joy comes with the morning". So here is my entry, a bright orange, joyful sunrise.

The background is painted silk with kantha style stitching to suggest the heat haze and text printed directly onto silk. The sun is lots of handstitiching piled up on soluble fabric, it is all sorbello stitch.

I am on tea duty on the Sunday morning, so if you are in the area pop in and say hello, and I'll make you an extra nice cuppa.

Module 4 Chapters 4 to 6 Part 1

2011-01-27T16:53:00.001Z

For chapter 4, here is my worksheet of ideas for making slips based on the decorated papers and flower shape from chapter 3. I realised afterwards that as I have written in pencil, it is very hard to read, so below I have clarified the notes starting from the top and working clockwise around the paper flowers:

Build up colour using optical mixing. Try some of the trellis stitches or battlement couching.
Experiment with digitising - surface patterns (add hand stitch), colour changes,light stitching repeated and offset, try woolly thread and brushing afterwards.
Bold handstitches - threads or string loosely strung over solid edge (wire?)
Soft fluffy stitching - velvet stitch, victorian tufting, tailor tack on machine.
Carrier bags - collect colours; fuse and cut with soldering iron.
Layers of sheers plus soldering iron - solid colour layers or scraps; stitch on each layer to give colour changes.
Lace effects - lutradur or felt burnt through, solubles.
Metal backed with pelmet vilene, paint and stitch.
Couched thread on fabric, cut from fabric made from scattered threads on soluble, satin stitch lines.
Transfer image from decorated papers to fabric - TAP, other methods, direct printing - stitch on top.
Solubles - create slip from stitch alone machine or lots of handstitch.

Notes by the drawings:

imitate the rose petal effect - could be lines of stitch
raised padded areas
layers of light fabric secured in centre so edges flap freely
scrumpled fabric (or paper) built up in layers.

Thoughts on textures

momigami
scrumple paper on pelmet vilene and cut out
shrinking thread
shrinking fabric

Thoughts on edges

turned
burnt
frayed
hanging threads
continue stitch into background
corded
satin stitch
stitch around and nibble into slip.

Here are the sample slips so far, the 10p coin in the picture gives scale and the slips are described by number underneath. Click on the photo to enlarge.

Bayeux stitch on cotton
Digitised stitch - drawn directly into the software
As 2 using fast pen strokes
Digitised stitch - open filling repeated three times in different colours and slightly offset.
Digitised stitch - solid filling with contrasting top layer
Digitised stitch - solid spiralling filling (will do something else with this)
As 4 making each layer smaller than the last
Threads captured in layers of soluble fabric, digitised openwork pattern.
As 8 but just stitching outline which was then whipped by hand.
As 8 but just stitching outline then filling with layers of sorbello stitch.

As Christmas intervened, I packed away the sewing machine but I jumped ahead and tried one of the exercises from chapter 6.

This is made from layers of crystal organza and chiffon in honey, gold, pink and blue (the photo looks a bit washed out). I used a stencil cutter to cut out the flower shapes. At the bottom, one has been left attached by one edge, cut into layers and folded back. The flowers were then distressed with a heat gun. The fabrics reacted by shrinking different amounts, sticking together and curling up. I really like these, they look and feel like dried up petals. I have mounted the fabric with the negative shapes onto a piece from the 'failed samples' pile which has similar blue/green colours and some stitching of a pylon drawing. I thought this would stop the pastel colours from being too pretty and add to the grungy worn-out look. I have flipped over the petals and attached them with just one or two stitches as if they had been blown by the wind (around a desolate industrial site perhaps).

Module 4 Chapter 3 - Part 2

2010-12-05T12:19:00.000Z

More playing with flower images in Paint Shop Pro, looking at patterns, because I enjoy it -

1. Using the kaleidoscope effect on flower head - 10 petals, all other settings 0 and edge mode set at repeat.


Image 1

2. Kaleidoscope effect with different settings - horizontal offset 100%, vertical offset -63%, angle 152, scale -4, 7 petals, radial suction 39.

Image 2

3. Kaleidoscope effect again applied to the saturated image of flower head 3 (see last post) with settings - 6 petals, angle 274, scale -31, edge mode set at wrap.


Image 3

4. Pattern effect - horizontal offset 68%, vertical offset 62%, rotation 90, 3 columns and 3 rows.

Image 4

5. Flower head 1 and feedback effect. I used the randomiser which came up with these settings - opacity 85%, horizontal 28, intensity 95, vertical -93, elliptical. I like the build up of overlapping petals in this one and the repeated shapes - could be the start of an idea for a 3d piece? I see it as a long trailing cloak, perhaps a stage costume. It could either be very stiff and heavy with the layers standing apart (think Sydney Opera House) for a haughty queen or soft and light for a gentle character. Not so keen on the colour (too bland) so I would reintroduce the gold/yellow shades.


Image 5

6. Image 5 repeated, flipped, layered. Seems to have turned into bird's wings.


Image 6

I mentioned before that I had done a little bit of drawing over the summer - image 7 shows the sketches. On the right are a rose in fine black pen and red marker pen; bottom right corner a gladioli (gladiolus?) in soluble pencils; left side using soluble pencils to explore shapes and colours from my flower photos; top left drawing the shapes from image 5.

Image 7

The next few photos are different drawings from the photos. I have included a 2p coin (1") for scale as they are different sizes.


Image 8

Image 8 is soft pastels, image 9 is Markal sticks. I like the energy in this one, although it looks more like a dahlia than the original flower.


Image 9

Image 10 - soft pastels on black paper.


Image 10

Next come the decorated papers, these are all A3 sheets. First is just stripes of colours.


Image 11

Next I cut out card templates of the flower head and used it to rub off soft pastels (left) and Markal sticks (right). I washed the right hand one with ink but didn't like the colour, so I added pastels on top to tone it down. You can see the templates on top of the papers.


Image 12

Next, I made a string block in the shape of the petals and used it for two more papers. Image 13 is a rubbing with Markal sticks.

Image 13

Image 14 is the block pressed into a layer of gesso and coloured with soft pastels and also shows the block.


Image 14

And finally, I couldn't resist trying this - a pylon photo repainted with image 14, more fun than grey.


Image 15

Module 4 Chapter 3 - part 1

2010-11-19T21:04:00.000Z

Following on from my last post - at Sian's suggestion, I have added a postscript to the virtual sketchbook for Glimpsing the Storm explaining how I used a telescopic pole to make it freestanding - you never know when it may be useful.

For chapter 3, I am exploring ideas that could be turned into 'slips' for embroidery, based on flowers. I did sort of start doing this in the summer and sketched a couple of flowers but now we are in November, I have turned to my photo collections for inspiration. I found I had rather a lot of close-ups of flowers, so I chose three to work with; two are from a visit to the National Botanical Gardens of Wales (I don't know what the flowers are - can anyone enlighten me?) and the third is a rose from our garden.

Source photo 1

Source Photo 2

Source photo 3

Then I played in Paint Shop Pro - the first step was to isolate 3 of the flowers by using lassoo selection and pasting as a new image, which has a transparent background.

Flower head 1

Flower head 2


Flower head 3

Then I created the following images

1. Flower head 1 changed to greyscale and applied black pencil effect. Suggests a padded or quilted piece.


Image 1

2. Flower head 1 with rough leather texture effect

Image 2

3. Image 2 layered on top of a copy of flower head 1 with the opacity of the top layer reduced to 44%. I used the eraser to rub away parts of the centre of the top layer to reveal the colours beneath and applied the rough leather texture again.


Image 3

4.Flower head 3 with the details softened by the smudge brush.

Image 4

5. Flower head 3 with the hue brush applied


Image 5

6.Flower head 3 with saturation brush

Image 6

7. Three copies of flower head 1 layered up slightly misaligned and opacity reduced between layers to 50%. I tidied up the image by using the eraser and the clone brush to remove the extra stalks and fill the gap with nearby colours, and then ran the soften brush around the edge. This image is less harsh than the original photo and suggests silk shading or layers of sheers. Or the softness could be translated into felt.

Image7

8. I wanted to try using the shape of flower head one as a template so I used it as a mask layer on source photo 3. I had an idea of it being crammed full of petals or flowers - this trial doesn't look right so I may come back to it, I may be able to play with the scale.

Image 8

9. I printed out copies of all these images to make up sketchbook pages and when I was cutting them out, I put one on a background and took a photo. The background is a used piece of TAP (I had been experimenting with transferring an image onto a collage of fabric scraps but the printer ran out of coloured ink and produced a peculiar colour. I went ahead anyway to see how the fabrics took the transfer and it left behind a lovely grungy texured image on the paper).

Image 9

10. I scanned in the sheet of TAP, put image 7 on top and cropped to a square.

Image 10

11. I pulled out an image from my module 1 study of pylons which was a scan of a paper rubbing and used it as a background. On top, I used flower head 3 which I had manipulated as for image 7.

Image 11

Website Update

2010-11-10T14:27:00.000Z

One last photo for the assessment piece - I have put all the stitch samples together onto one long strip for storage. As before, I have gathered up all the notes and photos from this log into a 'sketchbook' on my website, which you can find at http://www.janeoleary.name/ - follow the link for Glimpsing the Storm.

Module 4 Chapter 2

2010-11-09T15:22:00.001Z

For this chapter, I have been working tiny samples based on stitches and styles from Elizabethan and Russian embroidery studied for chapter one. I have worked in the style of a spot sampler on red silk.

The black and white image below gives the key for the samples. I have just realised that I forgot to include a size reference in the photo, but sample 5, the tudor rose, is 4.5cm across.

1. Motif from an 18th century Russian towel edge - chain stitch in metallic thread with small sequins.
2 Flower from Russian peasant embroidery - chain stitch and satin stitch.
3. Stem in raised stem band.
4. As 1 but reworked a little larger in black stranded cotton.
5 Tudor rose design taken from an Elizabethan hanging - worked in cross stitch and French knots on waste canvas, outlined with back stitch.
6. Silk shading on linen backed with calico, cut out and sewn onto background with edges turned under.
7. Ceylon stitch over a wired shape - stitched on calico, cut off and attached to background by one edge.
8. Satin stitch over petal cut from craft vilene.
9. Detached buttonhole worked on calico and cut off, then applied to the background over a black felt petal.
10. Blackwork pattern taken from a 17th century sampler and stitched on linen, petal edged in stem stitch. applied to background with edges turned under.
11. Flower centre filled with speckling.
12.Leaf copied from Elizabethan hanging - layers of satin stitch in cotton perle over two layers of felt padding. Edge, stalk and central vein in couched gold jap, other details in stranded cotton.

I am also including here a picture of a cushion I finished earlier this year following a workshop with Fay Maxwell as it shows another interpretation of flowersand more stitches, this time based on crewel work. The flowers are cut freehand from thick felt and the stitches worked in tapestry wools and perle threads. The background is silk supported by cotton and it has been backed with wadding and another layer of cotton, and quilted in the style of a kantha which makes the petals stand out. I added further padding to a few of the petals by cutting into the backing to raise them up further before the quilting was done.

Inspiring Photography

2010-09-24T13:49:00.000+01:00

Soon, I will get some coursework done, I promise. Meanwhile, I was at a wedding last weekend, and was introduced to a fellow guest who turned out to be a French photographer who takes the most wonderful pictures of rusty surfaces and broken bits of machinery. How lucky is that? So we had a bit of a chat (sort of - I can't speak French) about colour and texture and swopped blog addresses. Go and take a look for some inspiration at http://kadier.canalblog.com/.

Exhibition Pictures

2010-08-11T21:58:00.001+01:00

So, at last here it is in situ under the church tower. I decided to call it 'Glimpsing the Storm' to make the connection with St Nicholas as patron saint of sailors. I rather like the way it has no visible support from the front as the pole is hidden.

You can also see 'Cogitation' on a low stand and other pieces hanging on boards - you may remember some of these from earlier posts. And the good news is that one of the collages has sold.

Exhibition Details

2010-08-01T13:10:00.001+01:00

Exhibition Mon August 9th to Sat August 14th

St Nicholas church, Westgate Street, Gloucester, GL1 2PG

I will be showing my hanging and some other pieces, there is also a quilt exhibition called 'Quilted Jewels' and engravings by Sarah van Niekerk. The church is very near the cathedral and will be open 10:30am to 4:00pm each day and admission is free, however it is being used for a lecture on Monday 9th at 1.30pm and a concert on Weds 11th at 2.00pm. This exhibition is part of Three Choirs Plus running alongside the Three Choirs Festival so there will be lots going on in Gloucester all week - well worth a day trip if you are in the area. See http://www.3choirs.org for more info

Still no pics of the finished item - somehow whenever it is not raining (or threatening to rain) it is really windy so I can't get the hanging to keep still. I will try and get some good shots in situ. Meanwhile, back to double and triple-checking everything is ready.

Distant Stitch Summer School

2010-07-15T22:17:00.001+01:00

I can't believe it is over a week since the Summer School at Urchfont, I have been hard at it since I came back sorting out all my bits. I have been very good this time and spent an afternoon at home making up my sketchbook with notes and samples. Ruth Issett was an excellent tutor and worked us very hard, and it was wonderful to meet up with old friends and some I only knew online. As an icebreaker, we had a mystery ATC swop - here's the one I made from a photo of the London Eye with a little floral graffiti added.

We had a group discussion about the etiquette of photographing other people's work and how much it is fair to write about workshops on our blogs, so the pictures only show my own samples of printed fabrics. To see more, try following the links on the right as some of my fellow students have published their own pictures.

From these bits and pieces, I made up this design

I have also (definitely this time) finished the hanging after taking some advice from Sian, and sorted out a way to hang it so that it is freestanding and the pole doesn't show - looks a bit like an Indian rope trick. Plan A was to take some pics in the garden to show you, 'cos it's a bit big in the house, but after weeks of fine weather the wind and the rain have set in, so we will have to wait. It may take some time...

A Hanging - but is it finished?

2010-06-24T18:54:00.000+01:00

I've spent the last week attacking the hanging with pin tucks. I laid it on the floor to see how it was going and took a photo.


Photo 1

Then I put it on the table to start sewing - it was scrumpled up to keep it from hanging over the edge and I realised it looked much better like that, so I played with it on the floor and decided I prefer the way it looks - see below.


Photo 2

OK not really like a crack but nice and stormy. Does it still count as a hanging if I display it on the floor? It is a lot shorter like this - about 1.5m. Not sure if it is finished so I am going to put it aside for now - I will be seeing Sian at summer school and get her advice.

A quick plug for anyone who doesn't already know - the Urchfont Manor open day is on Sunday 4th July and there will be exhibitions of work from the various textile courses there, including Distant Stitch students as well as traders. I will be there all day so come and say hello. The manor is set in its own grounds in the village of Urchfont near Devizes, Wiltshire and is a lovely place for a day out especially if the sun is shining.

Following a Theme

2010-06-14T21:18:00.000+01:00

I have just been sorting out pictures from a half-term trip to Sussex and realised these ones from Pevensey Castle kind of fit in with what I have been doing.

Thoughts on Colour

2010-06-10T10:33:00.000+01:00

I had been thinking for a while that there was not enough difference in the tones of the colours on the hanging, so yesterday I used Markal sticks to lighten the large pale patch and touch up other areas and then carried on stitching. The pictures below show in greyscale the untouched fabric and its current state - not a huge difference but a bit more contrast. It also shows how the shadows from the tucks are adding darker areas - for now, I am leaving the lighter part untouched.


Untouched fabric

After painting and some tucks.

Brief for Site Specific Hanging

2010-06-08T15:10:00.092+01:00

The Brief

To produce a hanging for an exhibition at St Nicholas Church, Gloucester as part of the Three Choirs Festival in August 2010.

The Site

St Nicholas is a church located in the centre of Gloucester, a short walk from the cathedral, and dates back to the 12^th century. It is no longer used for services but remains consecrated and is open to the public in spring and summer, frequently hosting art exhibitions. The church is noted for its pronounced lean which can be clearly seen when you stand in the nave – the pillars on the north side lean outwards as does the archway. During the week-long festival, there will be an exhibition of quilts in the centre nave and other artwork under the tower, along the north wall and on pews - this is where the hanging will be. The church will also be used for a number of music workshops and concerts.

Special Considerations

As this is an historic building, there can be no alteration or damage to the fabric of the church i.e. it is not possible to attach hooks or nails to the walls, although anything already there can be used. However, the curator is happy to tie items around the pillars, throw lines over beams or existing cables or hang very large artworks from the tower. In addition, there is a hinged pair of six foot hanging screens available and items can be placed on the floor under the tower, propped against walls and placed on pews.

The building is consecrated so although artwork need not be religious, it must not be offensive or disrespectful of the Christian faith.

St Nicholas Church from Westgate street.

Floor Plan

South window

West Window

My proposal is to place the hanging under the west window - the distance from the windowsill to the floor is 3m - so that it can be seen from the nave. As I mentioned before, I am hoping it will resemble a crack showing the storm/chaos outside. The next picture has been reproduced with permission from stnicholaschurchuk.webs.com/ and I have superimposed an image of the hanging to show how it might look. When I met the curator, we discussed draping it from the windowsill and tying to a hook that is already there but as an alternative if this doesn't look right, I have a telescopic pole which will support it without showing (the kind you see at festivals with banners or windsocks on).

Mock-up of hanging in situ.

Following on from my earlier posts, I have decided to pursue the idea of using tucks to emphasise the design. As it would be difficult to back the hanging after it has been distorted, I tried another sample with a dark backing to see that the effect with two layers is still what I want. It does make the tucks appear softer, so in the sample shown below I tried slashing them to add some drama. You can also see in the lighter section that I experimented with kantha stitching but felt it was too organised

Sample showing slashed tucks on left.

The last picture shows how I have started adding tucks to the bottom half of the hanging - even with only a few in, you can see how it is starting to change shape. When I have done some more, I will decide whether to slash some or all and possibly add more colour behind to show through in places.

Photos from Stroud

2010-05-28T22:29:00.000+01:00

Last week, I spent a day in Stroud touring various venues at the Textile Festival. As well as looking at the exhibits, I fell in love with this restored clock which stands in a window at the Museum in the Park.

Thinking Aloud - Ideas for Hanging Part 2

2010-05-21T14:58:00.000+01:00

Photo 1

My alternative idea for the hanging involves manipulating the long length of fabric. Sian suggested looking at gathering or pin tucks so photo 1 shows two trials of gathering with deliberately uneven rows of stitching pulled up tightly. The top one is an offcut with the stitches running vertically, the bottom is one end of a 'spare' full length with stitches running horizontally. I like the effect but it has two problems - 1) drastically reduces the size and 2) could be any randomly dyed fabric.

Photo 2

Before leaving the samples, I rubbed Markel sticks over the second one (top in photo 2) and then undid it (photo 3).

.Photo 3

Phot 4 shows how it looks when the fabric has flattened out - you can just see streaks of paint.

Photo 4

This didn't look very impressive but it gave me an idea to try random pintucks as I liked the scrunched up effect before the gathers dropped out. Photo 5 shows a sample on the same piece of fabric. I tried to use the pintucks to emphasise the curves in the design. I realise I forgot to show the scale in this photo, but the fabric is 34cm wide before stitching and the photo shows about 60cm of the length. The colours have slipped in this picture, in reality it is more of a green/blue. Photo 6 shows more of the length with the stitched part at the top. I think this is my favourite as it keeps the design but makes it more dramatic. Although it will change the shape, it should be possible to retain the general proportion. I think the shaped edges will make it look more like a crack in the wall (or floor), contrasting the serenity of a church with the storms and chaos outside.


Photo 5

Photo 6

Thinking Aloud - Ideas for Hanging Part 1

2010-05-18T14:45:00.000+01:00


Photo 1

Back in February, I showed pictures of stitching on a small sample of my design that had been printed by Spoonflower. I was excited by this so I went ahead and ordered a full length, knowing it would take about 2 weeks to arrive. Because the design is narrow, it was repeated across the width of the fabric and I choose to mirror it so I have the original, a mirror image and about 2/3 of the width of another copy as it didn't quite fit 3 times. As the image is not an exact multiple of 1 yard, I also have a partial repeat of the top. Photo 1 shows the design at full size laid out on the floor. Meanwhile I had got some feedback from Sian who suggested I try to incorporate more texture and take advantage of the dimensional possibilities.

I spent some time (actually rather a lot) in total inaction because I liked the length of fabric just as it was, and I had to convince myself it would be okay to change it. I finally screwed up my courage and started cutting up the copies, reminding myself that nothing would be wasted as I can always use more patchwork cushions and the sofa is blue, so that's fine. I know I should probably play in paper and do drawings but it isn't the same.

As I was feeling stuck, I tried two different ideas simultaneously to see where they would take me. This post follows one and the next post will follow the other (just as soon as I retrieve my camera from being used for a school project by number 2 daughter). I have also revisited the planned site with the fabric and measured up and taken photos, so I can produce a room plan and show how it would look.

So - photo 2 mirror image cut into strips.

Photo 2

Photos 3 to 6 strips laid on top of original in different arrangements.

Photo 3

Photo 4

Photo 5

Photo 6

Photo 7 - strips sewn together

Photo 7

Photo 8 - here I cut up the excess fabric into smaller rectangles and laid them on the main design, matching the colours and adding a couple of pieces of bronze painted fabric (see earlier post about adding bronze to represent astronomical instruments). For scale, there is a 10p coin in the bottom right corner (1" diameter). This and the following photos are 'sketches' which could be continued up to full size.

Photo 8

Photo 9 - similar to 8 but on a plain background.

Photo 9

Photo 10 - This time I arranged the bits in colour order from dark at the bottom to light at the top, completely breaking up the image, but I think keeping the sense of movement in the fragments. Could be seen as reaching up to the light. I would need to reintroduce the purple/lavender shades as this bit is just blues shading to charcoal.

Photo 10

Photo 11 - I finger-pleated some of the pieces in different directions to make the surface more interesting.

Photo 11

Text for Module 4 Chapter 1

2010-05-12T13:11:00.003+01:00

It looks like the word files have disappeared into the ether leaving only rough drafts behind them so here are photographs of the pages in my folder with my notes on flowers in Elizabethan and Russian embroidery.

Module 4, Chapter 1

2010-05-10T15:34:00.002+01:00

Well, it has been an unintentionally long absence from blogging. Somehow in the last few months our household has managed to kill one computer and upset another so much it had to go back to the manufacturers, leaving us fighting over machines all claiming priority for our various homeworks. So I have ended up moving pictures and notes hither and thither to and from backup drives and jumping from one machine to another. I think we are finally straight now so I will try and get up to date.

Module 4 is themed on flowers, starting with a historical study of flowers in Elizabethan embroidery. Photo 1 shows a sheet of collected images.

Photo 1

For my foreign embroidery study, I have chosen to look at flowers in Russian embroidery and how they have been represented over 300 years - photos 2 to 4 show the study sheets for this. I was going to cut and paste the typed notes that go with these but cannot find the files at the moment so I will come back to this - I may have to photograph the printed copies from my folder.

Photo 2

Photo 3

More Sampling

2010-02-24T14:31:00.006Z

Photo 1 is a clearer picture of the stitch sample. Most was done with the fabric stretched on a frame; I did a little in the top left corner without a frame to see the difference.

Photo 1

I had one of those mornings when nothing looks right - feeling doubtful about the design I tried some more variations, see photo 2.

From left to right -a) the circle segments I did a few days ago b) similar but with fewer lines c) trying close parallel lines (like the markings on an astrolabe) d) change of tack - would it look better with long straight lines as a contrast to the swirling background? e and f) variations of d.

Photo 2

Finally, I used the offcut of printed fabric to try adding extra colour with Markal sticks in places in case the printed fabric looks a bit flat over a large area. I also used bronze powder in fabric medium to paint the line, which could be enhanced with couching or stitching to imitate the markings around the edge of a mariner's astrolabe ( see this image from Wikipedia). I have laid the offcut over the stitched sample lining up the print to show the difference.

Photo 3

Sampling for hanging

2010-02-22T21:41:00.006Z

Carrying on from the last post, I am finally catching up with myself. In between the first day's playing and posting to my blog last week, I decided to explore getting the whole image digitally printed onto one length of fabric by a commercial printer. When I looked into how to do this I was slightly hampered by not having Photoshop which is what is generally used, so I decided to try using Spoonflower. They print short runs and can work from a JPEG, and although the choice of fabrics is limited, their site is very easy to use and there is plenty of community support, with advice on colour matching. Easy for a novice to try!

I had scanned the image at 600dpi so when I enlarged it to full size, it reduced to 150dpi which is what Spoonflower uses. This is quite a low resolution but as there is no really fine detail in the image, it shouldn't matter. As it is, the file is huge so my computer finds it hard work to handle. I uploaded the file and ordered a fat quarter printed on quilting weight cotton as a sample. As the pattern is 3m long, this is just a small piece from the bottom, but at full width (37cm). Photo 1 shows how I have started stitching into the sample, following the swirls. The colour in this picture is fairly close to life.

Photo 1

I spent some time stitching over the weekend - mostly while hanging around at daughters' dance classes on Saturday -and today started thinking about how to make the curved lines in the earlier sketches that represent navigational instruments. Photos 2 and 3 show the sample with various metallic ribbons and wires laid across it to see the effect. I think it will need to be something very bold and with a reflective surface or the hanging will blend into nothing against grey stone walls.

Photo 2

Above - left to right - Copper wired ribbon, gold/orange wired ribbon, lurex ribbon
Below - left to right - Fine tubular knitted wire, narrow gold cord (could be braided?), heavier knitted wire.

Photo 3

None of these are right but from the point of view of showing boldly, the lurex is closest (but ugly) followed by the heavier tubular wire (too narrow and wrong colour). Really, I would prefer a brass or copper colour rather than gold, and I need to see how to vary the effect. In the sketch, the circular segments are solid at the bottom and become lighter towards the top, as does the background.

Now to practical details. I am stitching the sample (which tries out various threads and stitches so is quite random at the moment) on the printed cotton backed with cream cotton. I have a small offcut, so I think I will try with a different backing - perhaps black felt - as a) the stitching is quite heavy and b) white shows through the needle holes. The printed cotton is quite unforgiving of unpicking as it leaves a trail of white holes behind, so I think a dark fabric behind will help. After stitching, the hanging will be backed with a plain toning fabric and the edges turned in. To prevent sagging, I will machine through the layers unobtrusively, eg by going around the edges of the curved lines, and may need to weight the bottom edge. It will hang from a rod at the top either through a hanging sleeve or tabs - I think this will be decided when I have seen the whole thing and depends on what kind of rod. Old brass would be in keeping with the theme. I forgot to mention before that as the image is so narrow, if a length of fabric is printed, it will be repeated across the width, so I will have plenty left over for making mistakes - sorry, more samples.

Ideas for a Hanging

2010-02-18T20:03:00.008Z

I have started working on module 4 chapter 1 (study sheets on flowers in Elizabethan and Russian embroidery) but have been diverted into working on a site-specific hanging after being invited to exhibit some work in Gloucester in August. I wrote about this over on Quodlibet but have now decided to make it as one of the assessment pieces for the diploma.

I actually meant to write this blog entry last Thursday while the first thoughts were all fresh, but somehow ran out of time and then carried on working with some ideas. So before I get too carried away (and forget what I was going to say) it is time to get my head together and put it all in writing - I find posting to this blog helps to sort things out for me when the brain is buzzing.

So, I started with two thoughts which I brainstormed 1) I like the idea of a long narrow hanging based on the designs I posted about here and 2) the church (which is no longer in use for services) is dedicated to St Nicholas and I would like to reflect this in some way.

Because of the height of the space available, I want to make something on a large scale. I looked back at the prints I had played with before and found that the one I liked had sides in a ratio of 1:7.6. If the hanging is to be a simple rectangle, it is important that the proportions look 'right' while keeping the long narrow look I am after, so I checked a table of silver means to find the nearest one, which turned out to be 1:8.1231. If I scale this up, I can make a hanging that is 3m long and 37cm wide - large enough to make a statement without becoming unmanageable. To get a feel for working at this scale, I cut a roll of cheap lining paper to size and just scribbled on it with some Markal sticks, making big marks - picture 1.

Picture 1

Going back to the original design, with its swirls of colour on a dark background it looked a little like a night sky so this could tie in with St Nicholas being the patron saint of sailors and giving protection from storms. I played with enlarging and cropping the image again and chose a section that did not have any of the gold lines but had some particularly interesting swirls that suggested chaos and storm clouds. Picture 2 shows the image in the correct proportion.

Picture 2

Next step is to consider ways of getting this image onto fabric - these are the ideas I noted down as possibilities

dyed fabric base - could be joined pieces; stitch together and then dye to get colour variations
use Markal sticks on midnight blue background, add detail with stitch
digital print for background
add texture with gesso or crumpled tissue
use padded or raised areas
discharge colour to get swirls
add line sketches of nautical/navigation images - layered
is it to be opaque or translucent?

And here are some paper samples printed to scale to play with

Picture 3, left to right - the print untouched, shaped at bottom (don't like this), drawings of sextants and astrolabes.

Picture 3

Picture 4 left to right - astrolabe drawn on print. I thought this was a bit too literal so tried just circle segments to suggest the instruments. On the right I have printed a small part of the background larger and gone over it with Markal sticks. I would like to illustrate or represent the idea of the chaos of a storm being calmed or overcome.

Picture 4.

Picture 5 - another rough sketch on a small piece printed full size.

Picture 5

Picture 6 - I took two of the papers from picture 4 and stuck them up outside so I could see them from a distance - the larger one is not quite at full width.

Picture 6

End of Module 3 Admin

2010-01-27T14:24:00.003Z

Just to show I have done it, a photo of my notes on health and safety relating to module 3.

On a more interesting note, I saw a fascinating article in the Sunday Times about sculptural photography by Szymon Roginski and Kasia Korzeniecka - you can see the same photographs here. They have taken pictures then printed lots of copies and made them into objects that are arranged into a new image and re-photographed. I really like the way they repeat the move from 3d to 2d and back again. I thought this might be an interesting idea for anyone thinking about their 3d item?

Website Update

2010-01-25T16:14:00.002Z

Finally sorted out adding the notes on Cogitation to my website. The reason it took so long was that I got a bit carried away and gave the site a makeover. The notes are now in a virtual sketchbook that you can read by turning the pages, which I think is rather fun. I have also given the name 'Resolution' to the assessment piece previously known as 'that thing with the animation' which makes life simpler. Take a look at www.janeoleary.name.

A Quick Note

2010-01-17T12:59:00.002Z

For anyone on module 3 of the diploma with Distant Stitch and struggling with the Elizabethan stitches (I certainly did) - have a look at the videos here for a demonstration.

I have just uploaded another time-lapse film of Cogitation here with the extra red marks - it is now mounted on our wall and running happily. Still intending to collate my notes and put it all on the website.

Module 3 Chapter 12 and Tidying Chapters 7 and 8

2010-01-12T14:51:00.011Z

Photos 1,2 and 3 Sheets of collected images of artists who use construction (I did these some time ago but I don't think I documented them) for chapter 12.

Photos 5,6,7,8,9 Sketchbook pages to show the short artist study on Laura Thomas.

Photos 10, 11 Going back to chapter 7, to show samples mounted. On the sheet in photo 10, the sample on the top right has been changed since it was last photographed.

Photo 11, below, shows the tiny piece of wire weaving combined with another sample. This could be the resolved sample as both pieces were based on ideas from the research project.

Photos 12,13,14 I have sewn the edge samples from chapter 8 into a cotton cover to make a sample book for future reference. Photo 12 shows the outside with some words stitched on to describe the contents.

Photo 13, folded over to show the pleated spine. The samples are grouped and stitched into the pleats. To decorate it, I repeated the beaded edge idea.

Photo 14 shows the pages inside.

Module 3 Chapter 9 Continued

2009-12-10T11:19:00.019Z

This next batch of work is all about enlarging and taking sections of the drawings to come up with new designs. When I looked again at the drawings, they reminded me of some images from my module 1 sketchbooks, the first is a newspaper advertisment and the second one of my photographs of electricity pylons. (I always think these coils make them look as if they are wearing dangly earrings) so I have included them for reference.

Above - the couched gold threads could represent the lines of pipes, and the drawn lines in gold pen (on the A4 sheet in previous post) could be sets of wires. Below - similar spirals.

Third Stage and Fourth Stages - Take A Long Thin Portion

First I took slices from a photograph of the 2 drawings and original image at different sizes.

Then I took a close up of a small portion and printed an enlargement (by printing on A4 sheets and taping them together). This is roughly 25 by 30 inches - to show the scale there is a 10p coin (1 inch) on the bottom left corner.

I then cut this into strips and played with different combinations.

I like this second one - possibly enlarge to make a set of hangings?

Or this could be a single very long hanging - floor to ceiling.

I also thought about vessel shapes. After a bit of folding, looking and muttering, I decided that because the design is busy, it would need a simple, clean shape. I taped 3 of the sections into a triangular arrangement - if I were making this, I would probably make the body in the black and blues/mauves and have the gold lines represented by something wrapped around the vessel (eg wire, stiff cords).

Stage 5 Take An Extremely Small Portion
For this I took some even more close-up photos of the A4 drawing.

I chose the second one and enlarged and printed it as before, this time on 9 sheets of A4. At this magnification, it shows some lovely scrunchy textures from the pastel marks and the pen lines look like thick, glittering cords.

Here it is with the original so you see just how much bigger it is. I didn't think to mark it when I took the picture, but the spirals in the enlargement are the tiny ones immediately to the left of the small portion stuck onto the a4 design.

And finally, I cut it into squares and rearranged them to make 4 linked designs.

Module 3 Chapter 9 - First stages.

2009-12-03T21:56:00.004Z

For this design exercise, I chose to use a fragment taken from a photo of one of my module 2 metal thread samples (above left, it is the top sample in the sketchbook). The sample is very small so the photo already enlarges it. Above right shows my first try at continuing the design onto A4 paper and below is the second. Both used oil pastels and the second used gold pen.

I used the second design to take it to the next stage, changing to Markel sticks to make larger marks and reflect the texture of the original stitching. The blues/purples on black relate back to the colour scheme used in my research project in module 1. The photo below shows the fragment placed on the A4 sheet which is on top of the larger design.

Cogs - it's hard to let go

2009-11-27T15:57:00.003Z

I know I have finished my cogs piece but I keep finding interesting things that relate to what I was doing. I have been admiring David Roy's kinetic sculptures for some time and in his blog this week, he hightlighted some videos of mechanical sculptures on YouTube. And guess what - full of cogs. I particularly like this one

Last part of Module 3 Chapter 8

2009-11-25T15:35:00.002Z

Here are my ideas for ways to interpret the edge designs for my chosen fabric.

1) Above, a simple edge - the fabric has been pleated and beads sewn into the folds.
2) Below (on its own and with the design) - a more fanciful edge. This uses the idea from an earlier sample of pod shapes stitched on felt, cut out (as one piece) and applied to the edge. I stitched a couple more pods directly onto the fabric. However, the machine stitching did not stand out against the bold colours, so I added the pink cord (French knitting). Underneath are more loops of French knitted cord picking up the turquoise from the fabric - I used a little knitting mill so the cord is very quick to make by the metre.

Pulling Together Module 3 Chapter 8

2009-11-19T10:38:00.013Z

I am continuing experimenting with edges for this chapter, working up to making an edge based on the designs in my last post. Once that is done, only one more chapter for module 3 - hoorah! I have downloaded the next module which is themed on flowers - a bit of a change of style for me. It will be fun to see how to tie it in with my personal machinery/industrial landscape theme; I have been reading about yarnbombing which suggests one way and I am sure there are others.

There follows a list of all the samples so far. The sizes vary, so I have put a 10p coin in the photos for scale.

Picture 1
is a repeat from an earlier post to keep all the images together. From the top there is
a) edge cut at 45 degrees and frayed on left, threads withdrawn on right with running stitch added.
b) horizontal threads withdrawn part way up the fabric, machining over vertical threads into bars, fabric folded and twisted to leave machined bars at the edge.
c) bottom edge frayed for about 2 inches then folded to the back and the frayed ends pulled through and stitched down in bunches.
d) bottom edge frayed as before and threads withdrawn further up. Folded back and machine stitched to make a hem with the area of withdrawn threads at the edge and the loose frayed ends hanging behind. A strip of dyed scrim is slotted through the loops.

Picture 2
a) Stitched peapod shapes inspired by the chosen fabric. There are two layers, the top one has been cut away at the edge and inside the pod shape while the bottom one is faced and stuffed.
b)The edge has been cut into triangles and zigzagged; 2 rows of triangles cut from stitched fabric have been applied above. (The triangles refer back to the research project in module 1).

Picture 3
More triangles from stitched fabric, this time connected by lines of straight stitching to spill over the edge.

Picture 4
3 small samples of edges created by joining two pieces of fabric with a water soluble material and stitching. These were then folded over to make a stitched edge. From left
a) yarn trapped in the stitching to hang down - this is not quite right as I should have worked from the right side of the fabric to stitch the yarn in. If you enlarge the picture, you will see that the hem is on the outside.
b) straight stitched lines
c)tried to make pod shapes.

Picture 5

Two samples using sheer fabric
a) distressed by running under an embellisher and slashing to give a frayed edge that continues up into the fabric.
b) 3 layers cut and joined using a stencil cutter in repeated cog shapes.

Next is batch of flounces - I got into these so there are quite a few. I found a useful resource was a book called Decorative Dressmaking by Sue Thompson which has a chapter on using flounces . I have shown them with the paper patterns to show how they work.

Picture 6
A straighforward circle gives an even flounce along the edge.

Picture 7

The same size circle but with the cut out part offset and cut apart at the narrowest point so the flounce is larger at the centre.

Picture 8
As 7 but this time cut at the widest point.

Picture 9

As 6 but cut apart at an angle which gives a slight taper and curved ends.

Picture 10

Changing the shape of the curve - I think this is more elegant than the circle.

Picture 11

Another trial shape - not as successful on a straight edge because the centre is boring, but might work better on a shaped edge.

Picture 12
Changing the edge of the flounce using a circular saw shape.

Picture 13
This one doesn't have a pattern as it is a cut out spiral - didn't really work on this scale, I think it would need to be much shorter and fatter.

Picture 14

Last two flounces. I like the sculptural possibilities of using stiffer materials - I can see how they would work vertically, for example on a vessel, holding the waved effect. These two are made from left over scraps from samples made for Cogitation, and both use a circle pattern as in picture 7. From the top
a) lightweight lutradur, painted and stitched, is attached to pelmet vilene. This holds the curves really well without flopping and looks quite delicate with light shining through. It could be put into seams or lots of layers could be added up with the curves lining up. And of course some of it it could be burned back.
b) loose threads on partly dissolved soluble (as we did at summer school) - this is a bit crunchy to the touch and doesn't have the elegance of earlier samples. However, it can be pinched and folded into shape when dry and does hold its shape well.

Picture 15

A late addition to the water soluble edges. This one has a satin stitch edge with the shapes echoed below by lines of free machining and above by Markel sticks brushed off a stencil.

Picture 16

Starting to think about interpreting the paper designs, these final two samples are based on the peapod shapes. From left
a) shapes stitched on soluble material and onto the fabric - I wanted to have some as outlines and some solid, but the outlines did not have enough stitching to hold together when I dissolved the water soluble material.
b) same idea but this time stitched on polyester felt which was cut away with a stencil cutter. The felt was applied to the fabric, some more stitching added and then the background was cut away to give a shaped edge.

Module 3 Chapter 8 Continued

2009-10-31T18:52:00.006Z

I have revisited the edges I did back in June - above, the first one has been pleated and stitched in place and the others cut out to give a more definite edge.

Below, some new samples. Top left is a cut up photocopy of the fabric. The other two use stamping with foam to continue the pod shapes.

I am hoping to update my website soon with the final notes on Cogitation.

Cogitation - Finished

2009-10-08T21:45:00.004+01:00

I think.

I have left it running so I can see if anything doesn't look right. Over the last week, I have added lots of random straight stitching to the top cogs to add more texture and couched down some wire to create the missing focal point. When I am sure, I will make another film and put some notes on my website - meanwhile, I am planning my trip to Alexandra Palace for the Knitting & Stitching show on Saturday.

More Work on 'Cogitation'

2009-09-23T12:16:00.005+01:00

I give in - it started out as a pun but it has stuck in my head as the name for this piece so I am making it official.

I have added some more colour to the background shapes and linked them by stitching across water soluble fabric. Dissolving the fabric in situ left enough adhesive to keep it all stuck to the metal and I brushed some of the colour off the cogs into the spaces. (Click on the pictures to make them larger). The overall size is a little over A3.

The next picture shows how the clock movements have been fitted to the back and I have also added battens top and bottom so it can either stand on a table or be wall-mounted (still dithering). I put felt onto the battens to stop it from scratching my table while I work on it.

In my last post I mentioned I had tried placing lutradur shapes as the moving parts to replace the original idea. I made a second set of cogs, this time with the lutradur backed by craft vilene as they need to be more solid. I used the same paints and stitching and heated the pieces to break up the top layer and make it look a bit like metal wearing and flaking. My idea is that this is a very old piece of machinery that is just slowly running until it finally dies, achieving nothing; the cogs still working have worn through less than the ones that have stopped, but bits have broken off over time.

On a more cheerful note, this is the paper left behind after spraying the shapes - definitely keeping this for future use.

The short video further down this post shows how the pieces move using the minute hands of the clocks - I used time-lapse photography to take pictures over the course of just over an hour to show a complete cycle greatly speeded up; in real life you need to look twice to see that they are moving at all. (If this sounds very high-tech here's how I set it up

- note the children's videos and coffee table, a vital part of any photographic studio.) The reason for the flickering is that the daylight kept coming and going.

Looking at this, I can see that there is no focal point yet - I like the way that three of the cogs converge and separate so I am thinking I could make that meeting point the focus - nothing has been permanently fixed in place, except the clock movements, so I can make adjustments to the cog positions and how they rotate by changing where they are attached. The moving pieces need more definition so the next step may be to add handstitching for texture.

Progress on Cogs

2009-09-12T23:17:00.005+01:00

Coming back to this after the summer break and taking a fresh look. At summer school, we discussed ideas for backgrounds and also whether it needs to be wall-mounted or could stand on a table top. In particular, how to bring in stitching as an integral part. I messed around with threads and soluble fabrics but nothing seemed right so I tried using lutradur.

I machined lots of overlapping lines in gold thread on a piece of lutradur 70 coloured it, zapped with a heat gun then added more layers of paint before cutting out cog shapes. The picture above shows the front and back of these shapes so you can see the colour difference. I decided I liked this effect so I tried adding the mock-ups of the moving shapes...

... and didn't like it at all. Maybe a different arrangement?

Maybe not. It is all a bit too solid compared to the background. In a last effort before packing up for the day, I grabbed some of the cog-shaped off-cuts of treated lutradur and put them on as the moving parts - they looked pretty good but I forgot to take a picture. So I am going to colour and stitch some more cogs and break them into pieces, so that the top layer becomes fragments, and will see how that looks. I have pretty much decided that I will make this piece to stand on a table and be seen from above, and have attached battens to the back for it to rest on. It could be adapted for wall-hanging but it is rather heavy.

Cleaning the upstairs rooms may have to wait a few more days while I get this sorted.

Summer School

2009-07-12T12:05:00.004+01:00

Finally sorted out the pictures from Urchfont. As usual, my head is spinning from all the ideas. We had a two day workshop with Janet Edmonds working in 3d and a morning with Sian using solubles. I spent a lot of time experimenting with samples so I have ideas I can use later but no finished piece to show you. Here are some fancy close-up shots of the paper design based on -guess what - cogs.

Off to Summer School

2009-07-03T19:36:00.002+01:00

I don't seem to have made much progress on the module in the last few weeks, but my excuse is the sun is shining and we have to take advantage while we can - who knows how long the glorious weather will last. I have got as far as fitting the clock movements to the sheet of copper, but am being hopelessly indecisive about what to do next.

Never mind, I am all packed and ready for the Distant Stitch summer school at Urchfont Manor College starting on Sunday evening - two 1/2 days and evenings focusing on textiles hurrah! - and expect to come back fully enthused. I am going to get there about lunchtime on Suday to have a look around the Open Day and exhibition which I can recommend as a day out to anyone in the area. The college is in an old manor house set in its own grounds in a pretty village near Devizes, Wiltshire, and is a lovely place to visit on a summer's day. The Open Day is from 10am to 3pm.

If anyone is going and wants to meet up, drop me an email.

More Module 3 Chapter 8

2009-06-14T18:22:00.003+01:00

Experimenting with various way of edging fabric, starting with a batch using fraying. From the top we have

1) edge cut at 45 degrees and frayed on left, threads withdrawn on right with running stitch added.

2) horizontal threads withdrawn part way up the fabric, machining over vertical threads into bars, fabric folded and twisted to leave machined bars at the edge.

3) bottom edge frayed for about 2 inches then folded to the back and the frayed ends pulled through and stitched down in bunches.

4) bottom edge frayed as before and threads withdrawn further up. Folded back and machine stitched to make a hem with the area of withdrawn threads at the edge and the loose frayed ends hanging behind. A strip of dyed scrim is slotted through the loops.

Edges for Cog Design

2009-06-05T19:18:00.004+01:00

Another good afternoon for getting work done today. I decided to pick up the design work for the assessment piece again now I have moved on a bit in module 3 - I am trying to balance the two. The cardboard model I made here has been sitting on the sideboard all this time and each time I walk past I have been thinking about how to make the cogs. Today I sat down with various bits and the kitchen scales and decided that the best option will be to replicate the card versions in pelmet vilene with paint and metallic stitching. I had hoped to use metal shim but found the various pieces were either too floppy or too heavy to work properly (now you understand about the scales). I retrieved the copper sheet from the garden where it has been quietly sitting getting distressed (and we all know how that feels) and took a photo of the card cogs in place.

I set myelf the task of coming up with a series of ideas for the edges of the metal and also to think about the background in case I do not want to use the ideas from my earlier post. I figured the easiest way to do this was to print out lots of copies of the photo, stick them in my sketchbook and doodle away. I came up with the 6 possibilities below before running out of time. This project is the first time I have put my notes directly into a bound book and I think it is doing me good as I can't just bin or hide the ones I don't like, and it is much harder to tear out pages.

Now to sleep on them over the weekend.

Module 3, Chapter 8

2009-06-04T22:21:00.003+01:00

Investigating edges - for this exercise, I have taken strips from this fabric and come up with some alternative edge designs, based on what is on the strip.

1) Felt tip and pastels. I enjoyed drawing this but then realised I had created a new repeating pattern rather than an edge.

2) Coloured pencils
3) Brusho ink and koh-i-noor dyes.

4) Felt tips and pastels. Not sure if these are pea-pods or teeth.

Module 3 Chapter 7 - Weave

2009-05-24T17:14:00.008+01:00

For this chapter, I am exploring the contruction of weave through using paper straws and small samples in fabric, thread and anything else that fits my theme. I am continuing to use the same colour scheme and some of the braids from chapter 5. (In case you are wondering what happened to chapter 6, it is a choice between using knit or weave). I had done some of this work during module 1 before the course was rewritten, but never finished it, so I have been adding to it this week. First, here are the paper experiments I had already done.

From Gallimaufry

Two old samples, one in strips of fabrics and the second trying water soluble paper on metal strips and wire. I need to have another go with the paper as this is not very good.

Next is a larger sample which incorporates some of the braids from chapter 5 with coloured and textured metal and strips of fabric and yarn in the colour scheme from the research work in module 1. Most of these are ones I dyed as part of that module. I have tried to reflect the machinery/industrial landscape theme by weaving in triangular sections that relate to the work on pylons and by including metal.

My next sample (to the left of the picture) used wire for the warp as I wanted to fold it in the same way that I folded paper for the pylon designs shown on this project page. By coincidence, the speaker at our Embroiderers' Guild meeting last week was a weaver called Lau ra Thomas who has (amongst other wonderful things) made some pieces using very fine wire and silk, which she has then folded and pleated. This inspired me to have another go using a much finer wire and yarns and weaving it tightly. This gave me much cleaner, sharper folds but as it is time-consuming, the sample is tiny - about 2 inches square after folding and I could only fold it side-to-side (the paper is A4 sheets pleated in several directions).

Finally, I tried a bit of circular weaving by warping around all four sides of a square frame, a technique featured in Workshop on the Web some time ago, to make a cog-like shape.

Last Bit of Chapter 5

2009-05-13T21:47:00.002+01:00

Finally finished playing with these braids, rearranging and layering them to make an acceptable presentation. I wasn't happy with the backgrounds I had done so I tried again and came up with this by stencilling using folded strips of freezer paper and Markel sticks on a previously dyed piece of cotton.

And then added the braids...

From left to right we have
1) Scraps of dyed scrim decorated with built-in machine patterns using soluble fabric as a base, stitched onto a braid made by wrapping a long thin wire frame made from a coat hanger with lots of yarns and strips of fabric (actually more like a fringe because I had to cut it off - looks quite cute as a bracelet, perhaps I should make some more).

2) Free machining on felt to make spiky cog shapes cut out with soldering iron, threaded through with a short piece of free machining on soluble and longer strip of built-in pattern stitched onto fabric and paper.

3)Free machining on felt triangles (relate to pylon shapes from earlier work) threaded through with another piece of braid from 1).

4) Free machining on felt circles threaded with short piece of braid from 2) and longer piece made with threads/yarns laid out on soluble fabric and secured with built-in patterns.

5) 2 wide braids made by combining lots of thinner ones using all the techniques above. The orange piece also has a sheer fabric decorated with French knitting made with a very fine metallic thread that is very loose and loopy held down with a machined pattern, and the blue has a twisted centre strip of fabric-wrapped wireform.

Finally, I cut up the two wide braids and rearranged them to create a new textile piece.

And while I had the paints out, I decorated the cover of my knotwork/braids sketchbook using the same stencil and Markel sticks over acrylic paint. Here it is drying before varnishing.

Module 3 Chapter 4 and Chapter 5 Continued

2009-05-07T22:28:00.005+01:00

Chapter 4 is making backgrounds by using paper braids as stencils to decorate fabric for backgounds - above are two I made but not looking very interesting at the moment so I will probably add to them. I have carried on making braids for chapter 5 by machining soluble fabric, wrapping wireform, and stitching down groups of threads and am starting to weave and join them to make wider braids and new textiles.

Finally, I have carried on thinking about the cogs piece and been playing with having bits move. I have made a mock-up to try various arrangements of cogs running on the minute hands of the clock movements. As they are mounted off-centre, I needed to check that they would not crash into each other. I didn't fancy staring at it for an hour while they completed a revolution, so I set it running and used a webcam to make this little time lapse film - it is only 13 seconds long and not good quality, but you get the idea of how it might look.

Spring Cleaning

2009-04-13T19:15:00.003+01:00

We have had a couple of lovely bright days over Easter which has inspired me to start decamping to my summer workspace -

a table in the store room over the garage. This is how it looks after cleaning up - imagine how bad it was before. The midday sun is just about high enough now to shine in the windows and give a bit of warmth (and dry out the damp) so I can leave my stuff there instead of moving boxes and sewing machines around the kitchen and hallway as I have been doing over the winter. It also gave me a chance to sort out all my bits of loose coursework and see where I am. Now just waiting for school holidays to finish so I can sit down to some work for a few hours. (It occurs to me that I seem to say that rather a lot - I do love spending time with my family really!)

X&*!**&

2009-03-22T21:34:00.002Z

Grrrr... Tried to post twice - the first time, the photos disappeared and then the whole thing crashed. I will get back on tomorrow and sort out the last post.

Later - yippee, fixed it!

Module 3, Chapter 5

2009-03-22T20:28:00.004Z

Thank you Margaret and Helen for your comments on the cogs. I am looking forward to developing this idea, and Sian suggested making the whole thing in metal and wire for my 'piece using metallic techniques'. Foolishly, I agreed to work overtime until Easter (and the extra cash is already spoken for - sigh) so time is a bit limited - lots of little bits but no nice free days to really get stuck in. I have ordered some clock movements to play with - as often happens, it costs as much to buy 1 in a shop as it does to get 5 online so I will have plenty. If this doesn't pan out it is clocks all round for Christmas!

Meanwhile, here are some pictures of machine braids for chapter 5 - I will come back to chapter 4, which is stencilling, but I am in sewing mode at the moment (see my post on Quodlibet).

The first picture is, from top, combining built-in patterns on felt, then on strips of fabric and paper. The colour scheme is from a colour study back in module 1, using up bits of dyed fabric samples. Below, a selection of built-in patterns overlapping, stitched on soluble fabric. Finally, I digitised one of my knotwork drawings and made this sample by stitching it out several times - to add to the sketchbook.

More Ideas With Cogs

2009-03-11T15:45:00.007Z

I hadn't realised how long it has been since my last post, so here is an extra long one to make up. I am still keeping busy with machined braids but have no photos at the moment, so those will have to wait for another post. Today I have been revisiting my cogs ideas after seeing Sian's comments on the proposed wallhanging. My problem here is that it is quite similar to the last piece - i.e. black and grey on white background, layers showing through - and for the course I need to show that I can do other things. Which means I can either adapt it or pull another design from the sketchbook to work on. I have grown quite fond of the hanging, so I think I will put it aside as a future project (you know -something to do in the odd 5 minutes of free time) and have a rethink.

You might remember the sketchbook pages from this post using the same small cog image repeated to fill an A4 sheet with added lines in gold pen. I didn't mention it at the time, but in amongst the pencilled scribbles in the book were some thoughts on making moving pieces, perhaps by using clock movements, so I got into 'cutting and sticking' mode to see how this might look.
So - how about using the print as a background and having cog shapes moving on top? I attached some paper ones with brass fasteners to look at the shapes as they turn. Ignore the colour for the moment, this is a rough sketch. If the pivot is offset from the centre, it is more interesting (see below) and at various times the cogs would overlap, so I would need to figure out how to mount them to allow free movement. I toyed with the idea of making them 'real' cogs that move each other once the first one has started, but I felt that the engineering would overtake the piece, by which I mean that the requirements of accuracy of shape and robustness of materials would limit how I could make the cogs. This is meant to be textiles after all.

Next question - what would it be made of and mounted on and how big? Obviously this would need to be a solid panel and the background should be strong enough to take the clock movements. The size is also going to depend on what the movements can cope with. A couple of months ago my husband came home with this sheet of copper, rescued from the skip at work (you can see I have got him well trained). It is about 31cm by 48cm (a bit longer and thinner than A3) and nicely distressed with lots of scratches and a bit of verdigris. Could make a background?

To get an idea of how it could look, I printed the design onto a clear temporary sticker and laid it over the copper sheet.Okay but a bit busy. I could transfer the image to the background using dry rub decals (I have some to try) but would have to do it in pieces as I can only print A4. So I might as well change it around a bit. For the last picture, I cut up the image and then put on the textured (card, gesso, paint) cogs made back in November to see how they would look. They need scaling up for the larger size and I haven't planned how to interpret into textiles. Lots more work needed before the design is complete, but I think we have a contender for the assessment piece.

PS do you find that as soon as you write something, a better idea comes along? I was just about to hit the publish button when a thought popped into my head. How about making it all look a bit more distressed/older by hanging something like cobwebs (threads? distressed scrim?) around and about the cogs, maybe distress the metal some more as well. Also needs some kind of edge treatment, possibly frame with pieces of copper shim (emboss/stitch).

Module 3 Chapter 3 and a Wallhanging

2009-02-12T14:19:00.004Z

For chapter 3, I have been playing with paper to make braids in different ways. Above, folded strips of paper make patterns seen in old manuscripts. Next, shaped cut strips interlaced.

Finally, ways of linking cut out hollow shapes. The shapes have been chosen to reflect my theme of machinery.

I have also revisited the cogs design (see here and here for earlier thoughts). My earlier post showed a sketchbook page with a black and white design repeated three times and linked by gold lines and I decided to develop this into a hanging. Using a (borrowed) projector, I enlarged the image onto a wall and traced the lines onto paper. I split it into 3 layers and traced each one separately. I thought it would be interesting to get the shades of grey by having three layers on top of each other so I made a paper mock-up in black and white tissue. This is sized about 90x30cm. The picture was taken over a glass door so light came through the layers.

I then carried on to try out some different sheer fabrics to see if I could get the same effect by layering them. You can see the effect on the right of the picture below - there are the same number of layers in each strip but the fabrics are different weights.

And a few samples with machine stitching - first heavy stitching,
and then lighter scribbles, which I prefer as the light comes through more. These samples use shades of black and grey thread rather than just black, and I also tried the layers in different orders.
The idea is to make 3 identical panels, each with three layers, and add gold lines (not decided how as yet) to give the impression of another giant cog in front. The panels would hang staggered as in the sketchbook page. I have sent off all this work for Sian's comments before going any further - could be a lot of work.

New Look

2009-01-27T13:52:00.003Z

I have been having a bit of a sorting out week, picking up those odd jobs that should have been done long ago. Today's job was to revamp and update my website so I have changed my blogs to match. The banner image is one of my pylon designs with a bit of a swirl (you can see the original on an earlier post here) - I thought it was time I looked a bit more arty!

The main change to the website is that I have added links to my lists of useful websites - I picked out the ones related to art/textiles including suppliers, museums, historical information so I hope fellow students find them a useful reference. Click here to go to the links page.

Module 3, Chapter 2 - Plaited Braids

2009-01-18T15:50:00.004Z

This week I have been making samples of different braids in thick cord to understand how they work.

4 Strand braids - from left - Bedfordshire lace 2 pair plait; mirror image (left over 1, right under 1 over 1); 2 colour braid (right over 1, left over 2).

Simple 2 loop braid (loops pass through each other); macrame semi knot; macrame whole knot.

From left - 3 variations of 7 strand twill; 8 strand plait using 3 outer strands on each side as a single strand; 8 strand square braid - over 5 back under 2.

Useful references - The Manual of Braiding - Naomi Speiser, The Renaissance Tailor, Phalia's String Page.