Chapter 10: Resolved samples

But first a rest of chapter 9, woven paper designs.

 

After feeling very much at a dead end when posting my last entry I decided - with the help of Sians feedback - to have another go at paper weaving without even looking at the photo. And it worked. I realize now that I had been looking backwards to the starting point of the whole creative journey when I should have looked at what I had in hand and where it pointed to.

In the second of these two final paper weavings I aimed at more irregularity, variety and a sense of movement. My first choice, the image on page  56,  still appeals to me (and I intend to do a sample based on it later on outside of this project), but for the resolved samples I chose this section:

I like the colours and the open spaces and the torn edges of the paper.

 

Chapter 10: Resolved samples

 

a) using stitchery

Preparations: I took dark blue hessian as stitching ground. It provides a grid but is more bumpy and irregular than canvas, also softer. Recently I got aquainted with needle felting. I enjoy it very much as a means of drawing on cloth.

The delicate lines between the stones had interested me when I worked on the shape studies. They kept coming back to me. So I tried to include them into the resolved sample by using needle felting.

 

That’s me stitching away. My friend Eva took the photographs.

Under the table you see my “yellow” drawer. It is a part of an old library catalogue case that stores my embroidery threads.

My finished sample. I concentrated on building up coloured and textured areas. I thought that additional features like working on several layers of fabric, transparency etc. would cram in too much.

	Work in progress: The first layer has been stitched in bulky threads: wool, cotton and tubular knitting yarn. I have begun to add the second layer. The stitches are mostly variations of cross stitches, plus chain stitch, cretan stitch, darning and the preparation for raised chain stitch on the left.
	More layers are worked in Danish flower thread, embroidery cotton, sewing thread, sometimes with several threads in the needle, altering texture and colour. When stitching I noticed I used the thread more like a pencil making a mark and all but forgot about a definite stitch. For the white felted lines I used wool fibres picked loose from a handspun knitting yarn. On the left is a view of the back side.

A few details of the finished piece. Size: 8,8 x 7,2 inches Cost: 3,25 € for hessian Time for stitching: about 10 hours

The sample fulfils my expectations for colours and texture,  I like the distribution of warm and cool colours, light and dark.  The materials work well, and I am glad I decided to use hessian as the fabric to work on as it allowed me more freedom in stitching than canvas. I might have used a wider range of threads, including material like plastic, raffia etc, and might also have varied the size of the stitches more to get more contrasting textures. But still I like the finished piece.

Next time I would attach several pieces of hessian to a loosely woven background fabric with more open spaces between them and try to express the ragged edges with stitching.

 

b) resolved sample, taken from the same area of the woven paper design, using any skill I might already have

Design source: I like the open space. So I chose a part of my  design for the second sample, with the window as a more prominent feature and placed it at a different angle. I hope this is still in keeping with the assignment.

The choice of a method was more difficult. I have done a lot of knitting, so I did this little piece for fun, aiming for a less than perfect look.

 

A look at both sides. The knit side conveys a sense of movement with the linear texture of the stitches, it looks as if they are whirling around the window – which turned out to be smaller than I had wanted it to be. The purl side suggests a more gritty texture. Size: 7,2 x 6,4 inches, stretched on kebap sticks.

Machine stitching has always appealed to me, but I have little experience. Still I decided to have a go and did a few trials in preparation.

 

I darned and stitched five strips of different fabrics with simple machine stitches: curtain fabric and net (both on water soluble fabric to make stitching easier), hessian and canvas.

	I was pleased with the stitched strips. But when it came to putting them together I did not want to repeat the arrangement of the paper weaving and began to move them about. I ended up with this  geometric arrangement. I put the strips on a piece of painted canvas and added lines in running stitch.
	The finished sample has a background of heavy watercolour paper painted with black acrylic. I painted the unstitched canvas with acrylic, gel medium and pastel and added a few stitched lines in grey.
	Size of the whole piece: 15,2 x 12,8 inches Cost: none Time for stitching, colouring etc: about 8 hours

 

A few details:

Left: stitched lines on the canvas and across the painted canvas (dark grey). Below left: the window. I cut away the canvas behind it. Below: I painted the curtain fabric with silk dye (should be fixed with steam), but did not fix it. When I washed out the water soluble fabric the whole stitchery was dyed! First I wanted to make a new piece, but I came to like it and only added a little stitching and darning.

A photograph of the whole piece – it could only be scanned in two parts.

The sample turned out quite differently from what I had planned – although I must admit that I did not plan very much beyond the paper weaving and the idea of machine stitching. The element of surprise was very exciting. Yet I think that ideas I found interesting in the design are expressed in the sample. There is a sense of stability in the densely stitched pieces and the geometric arrangement, but the lines make for a sense of movement from on edge to the other and across the window. I like the loose threads across the window and around the stitched pieces.

I could not say what I would do differently next time, but the sample itself and the work I put into it suggest further exploration. For instance add pieces of coloured fabric to the initial darning or instead of it, explore my “accident” with the silk dye – I am sure there is a lot more.

 

Looking back to chapter 7: the extra texture sample mounted on a piece of fine wire mesh. And the sample in sunlight and shadow.

 

 

Finally: my sketchbook. 70 pages full  of surprising ideas – if someone had told me in advance “You will make this” I would not have thought it possible. A wonderful product of the great experience this module has been for me. Thanks a lot, Sian!

Chapters 8 & 9 Colour stitchery and design exercise

 

Colour stitchery

 

I started with the stitches suggested in the module and tried different approaches. Rice stitch is really very versatile and fun to stitch. I also enjoyed to break up the regular canvas grid with raised chain stitch (found in Jan Beaney’s book “The Art of the Needle”).

 

The possibilities seem to be endless. I feel I just scratched the surface.

 

Desigh Exercise

1. Colouring papers

I mostly used oil pastels and wax crayons in various colours to make marks and washed the papers with inks and watercolour.  Some of my original rubbings were also put to use.

Following a technique described by Gwen Hedley in her wonderful book “Drawn to Stitch” I coloured sheets with light pastel and a layer of wax crayons/oil pastels. Another sheet was put over it and rubbed very firmly with a ballpoint pen. The wax crayon/oil pastel layer is lifted off by the pressure and forms interesting marks, and you end up with something like a positive/negative image. I also put a colour wash on these sheets.

The washes were made with a brush, a sponge, a sponge roller and in one instance with tea leaves and ground wet coffee rubbed on the paper.

 

Some of my coloured papers. Bottom right is one of the sheets treated with the lifting-off technique mentioned above. I had not pressed firmly enough.

 

2. Colour weaving

 

This has been the most difficult task for me until now. I spent two afternoons working at  interpretations of my piece of wall and saved a few in my sketchbook.

 

 

Weaving seemed extremely difficult, as the stones are all different from each other. What I did was more cheating than weaving, in fact it is more of a collage.

 

	Of all the trials I made these are the ones I like most – after leaving them lying around for a little while.
	Page 56: This one is very simple, but it makes me think of a couple of  ways to interpret it in textiles. Perhaps a simple design that triggers my imagination is the best choice?

 

Perhaps I am too stuck with the photograph.

 

I played with leftover pieces to get away from a “literal” interpretation.

Page 60: A geometric design with cut strips. My idea was to weave the stones  rather than the wall. The scan has lost some of the textural interest of the papers.

For comparison: my wall again.

 

At this moment my decision would be to start working on the simple design of page 56. I still like it most, although the geometric design (page 60) also appeals to me. But I am really uncertain and would appreciate advice. I seem to be going in circles here.

Chapter 7: Stitchery from the rubbings

A sample is to be made using threads in one colour in a variety of different thickness and textures.
Two of my images appealed to me equally to work with.
For the purpose of this sample – to work with a range of threads and stitches and build up a variety of texture – I thought the rubbing on page 31 offered a better source.
I made a copy of a section of the rubbing and transferred the main areas on a piece of painted canvas, the same I had used for my previous samples, 16 holes per inch. I laid the canvas on the copy and painted the areas of texture with chinese white. As a lot of canvas shows through the stitches that was not the best idea, so I changed most of the areas to a blue hue later.


During my work on the sample I found I needed a sort of “map” for the different areas to look on and decide what to do as I went along. I had roughly divided the area into three categories of density: the flat areas which appear mainly dark on the copy, the areas with some texture and those with really high relief, mainly the distinct white shapes in the lower half. My “map”, the image above right, is a tracing done in three colours for these different areas. Together with the copy it provided me with a good reference.
For the areas of high texture I prepared a piece of potato net. I inserted the piece and cut away the canvas. The threads are the same I used in my former  samples.
In between I often thought of making scans of the progress, but I always put it off – and now the sample is finished, although I keep thinking I could still add a stitch here or there. But I rather think I should stop now.

The size of the sample is 9x7 inches. I think now I might have kept it smaller, although it was great fun to stitch as long as I remembered to allow myself a little freedom in the interpretation of the surface. It reminds me more of a seashore or an old map than of a stone, but I like it very much all the same. I think the different textures offer an interesting surface.
Here a few detail scans:

	I blocked in the areas with no texture in tent stitch in different directions or in darning with thin threads to let the canvas shine through. I partly worked on this ground and built it up towards the areas with some texture.
	These I worked in more raised stitches and thicker threads. I tried to echo the direction of the markings with the stitches. This was done without much planning apart from the general idea which areas belonged to which degree of texture. The really high areas, spots only, were worked in wool, plastic strips and thick cotton/viscose  knitting yarn. I partly used stitches in thinner yarns to connect the  high spots to their surroundings.

A sample “on the side” based on the tracing on page 21 (see above).

Here I have placed a sandwich of canvas and potato net over a copy of the tracing. I also painted the white areas on the fabric with chinese white. Size of the sample: 6 x 6 inches

I stitched the white areas on the fabric sandwich with thin threads in cotton and linen in different shades and thickness. Where the white background shines through I have already cut the canvas away to leave the potato net in place.

I had not yet made up my mind how to continue, so I had put the sample aside and worked on the main project of the chapter.
Finally here is an example of my working diary. I write a lot, in fact ideas and solutions often come up when I write down what I have done, what I think and what is happening around me. But it is so much I want to keep it apart from my sketchbook. I keep it in my Distant Stitch A4 folder together with the Taster Module, Sians feedback and the student’s handbook. By now I have written 24 A4 pages like this one.