life in threads

If Lost, Return Home.

2011-01-01T12:26:00.022Z

After my last post Sian suggested that I tried to make the brain have more texture. I followed one of her ideas and made stuffed tubes which I then knotted and twisted into something that resembled a brain. I also added a section at the back for the cerebellum (the orange section in photo 3). There are six labels which show maps of the places that have been home for me during my life. The piece is called "IF LOST, RETURN HOME" , I would have liked to have included this on the piece somewhere. Originally I was going to have the labels attached with riband that had the words on it but I then decided I wanted the labels to stick up from the brian and so made wire covered cords on the machine instead. Wire threaded into the riband did not look very good.
1. Front view

2. View from above showing the two hemespheres.

3.View from back showing the cerrabellum

4. Side view.

5. And again.

6. Other side.

7. From the back.

8. And from the front again.

9. The labels were embroidered first using hand and machine embroidery. The map was then encolosed in a label made of the same material as the brain. Wire wrapped with threads was used to attach them to the brain.

Harrogate street has a metal thread machined street, couched park wall, wire trees and metal shim houses.

10. Milford has foil areas for the main blocks of houses, hand stitched and couched roads, river and railway line.

11. The roads in Liphook have een painted using metalic paint, individula houses have been stitched by hand.

12. The house in metal shim, the folwerbeds are foil. Flowers and trees are hand stitched.

13. Rows of houses are strips of shim, stitched down with metalic thread using blanket stitch

14. Floor plan of house is foil, details are hand stitched.

Update on Assessment Piece

2010-11-26T14:00:00.016Z

A progress report on my metallic assessment piece (the proposal about it is in an earlier blog). 1. My first attempt at making the brain was to use trapunto quilting to make a fabric which looked like the surface of a brian and then try to shape it. The fabric looked good but it was a nightmare trying to turn it into a brain shape so I abandoned that idea.

2. Next I made some shapes out of tapestry canvas.

3. I then covered the shapes with stuffed tubes(left side) and then covered them with fabric, stitched down in the ditches between the tubes (right side).

4. Finished brian, the two hemespheres sewn together and a little silver fabric paint added to give texture.

5. Some of the maps to go on the labels in various stages of construction. Trials of the label frame, deciding how to stitch on the address and finish the edges. Machine stitched writting here but I decided that hand stitching would be easier.

6. Finished labels attached to "IF LOST RETURN HOME" ribbon. The labels are made from pelmet vialene covered with silk and the address is hand stitched with metalic thread. The maps include shim. foil. metalic paint,wire, machine and hand stitching with metalic threads. At this point I decided that it would look a little like an octopus if I used the ribbon and just had the labels lying around the brain so I changed the design.

7. Chane in design, attaching the labels to the brain with wire cords so that they would stand up from the brain. I feel that the wording"if lost return home " is important to the concept of the piece and so I am going to make a very simple label to go on the front of the brain.

8. Test label showing eyelet and wire cord and below(9) attached to the brain.

Getting going on Module 3

2010-11-02T10:59:00.018Z

Module three has been sat gathering dust for a couple of months and I seem to have little motivation to get going on it. There have been a few abortive attempts at the extremely complicated Elizabethan stitch samples, but that is about it. So I have decided to take myself in hand and get down to it and I find that sorting things out to put on the blog is a helpful exercise.

I am starting with Chapter two as I am not keen on the historical studies and will do it at a later stage. The task was to make some large stitch samples using string and cord that could be used as print blocks.

My first sample is on velvet which ahas worked well and has given a good effect. The others are on brown linen and my favourite is on dyed calico using a Josephine knot as the print block.

Finaly, following a sugestion from Sian, I have strengthened the stitching for some of the outlines of the features on the face that i did at the end of module 2.

Proposal for 2nd assessment piece

2010-09-25T16:50:00.002+01:00

More Faces, and Resolved Samples Chapter 13.

2010-09-01T17:37:00.014+01:00

1. The first photo is the first of my two resolved samples for chapter 13 ( I did 2 because I am not sure that that either quite fits the bill). It is taken from the torn paper portraits as detailed below. I wish that I had used a stronger colour for the couching of the face and also not used white cotton for the machine stitching of the wax marks, but it is only a sample.

2. The strips of fabric machined onto background before the couching. The fabric has become very crinkled because I did not put iti onto pelmet vylene or use a frame, but I think that it looks OK in the final version as it reflects the energy of the source design.
3.

Messing around with the torn paper portrait on the computer
4. Original torn paper design used for the resolved sample.

5,6,7,8,9,10,11. As you can see I quite got into the torn paper portraits!

12. This is my other rsolved sample, going back to the cubist portraits; it uses various types of couching and there is alos a bit of laid work.

13, 14. Design stage for resolved sample number two.

15. Another page from my sketchbook.

Chapter 10 - Stitched Samples from Decorated Papers

2010-08-20T12:51:00.024+01:00

Stitched samples based on the decorated papers done earlier in the module; most are from the papers using patterns from Opus Anglicanum, two are from the printed parers using Indian embroidery motifs.
1. Patched background fabric with layer of hand stitching and layer of machine couching down red wool.

2. Metal shim, attached with machine and hand stitching, gold and copper foil added on top.

3. Layers of shere fabric, cut back to form white pattern, more fabric and stitching added.

4. This is one of the ones based on Indian motifs, hand stitching, button hole stitch on linen.

5. Machine stitching and bronze powder. The sample below is half of the above cut into three and replaced on dark red background following a suggestion from Sian.

6. Foil swirls onto mauve linen, covered with pink shere fabric, machined and then cut back. Couched gold thread and machine made cords (to the left of the sample

(could not manage to do the collage for this one and the next!)

7. Again based on Indian motif, foil, silver paint and machine stitching. The original paper was silver tissue marked with oil sticks and oil pastels which did not photo very well.

Last half of Chapter 9 -metalic surfaces

2010-06-23T16:03:00.013+01:00

I have been avoiding working with foils and shim as I have never used them before and would not really describe myself as a lover of the metalic look, however I realised that I needed to try the techniques out before I could move on to translate my decorated papers into stitch and fabric. So ......

1. First a general mess about with paint, bronze powder, oil sticks and some fabric paint from the kids section in Smiths - the raised S's at the bottom.

2. Bronze powder, applied in various ways. I like the strong metalic mark that this makes.

3. Oil stick rubbed, freehand and stenciled.

4. Sweet papers and bonda web - the pink one is crumpled but hardly shows.

5. Foil over patches of velvet, on its own and a bit of bronze powder printing.

6. Foil over hand stitching.

7. Heated metal shim, machine stitched onto painted fabric.

8. Tomato tube, heated, bent and sanded along folds, stitched onto foils of verious types.

9. Shim, machine stitched; the small square has been scratched and lightly rubbed with paint,bottom piece has been folded and machined with autijmatic stitches.

10. Pewter shim, which was thicker that the others, , painted with acrylic, embossed and stitched with machine.

More Masks

2010-06-02T17:21:00.008+01:00

I have been messing about with masks - here are some of the results, paper collage, potasium permanganate and lemon juice and applique. I then tried printing some shapes and adding the detail.

And came up with this - I got very absorbed in it while stitching, and am pleased with the result although I am not sure that it is very C&G Diploma!

Chapter 12 Head and Face Designs

2010-05-08T17:47:00.010+01:00

I decided to make a start on the design chapter which looks at faces and am really enjoying it. I got rather hooked on african masks, which led me to cubism etc etc. Here are a some pages from my sketch book - I think that there may be many more before I have completed the resolved sample at the end of the chapter.

This is an attempt at a self portrait, I have not got red hair and hopefully am not quite so haggered looking.

Some designs based on the silhouette - the silhouette is from a photo of my mum which was taken of her when a young woman in about 1935. I need to do a few more of these, with the shapes cut up and in 3D.

Making a start on Chapter 9

2010-05-02T16:03:00.004+01:00

The first two samples are using a warm colour and a cool colour with various metalic threads. I think that the cool one has come out looking better.

This is the next exercise, which uses different coloured threads in the bobbin and the same metalic thread in the needle, plus stitching in different directions in order to reflect the light differently. I am disappointed with this, especially as I used such a wide range of colours, as shown below.

I am putting up this sample again as Sian sugested that I changed the commercial tape which I originally used as an adging for something more in keeping with the piece. So here it is again with a hand stitched edge.

Opus Anglicanum study - at last!

2010-04-25T17:23:00.010+01:00

The Clare Chasuble, 1272 - 94, thought to have been commissioned by Margaret de Clare, wife of Edmubd Plantaganet. It is of blue silk satin, worked with silver-guilt, silver thread and coloured silks. It has been cut down from a larger garment.

When working with velvet as the ground fabric the embroiderers of Opus Anglicanum would trace out the design on fine linen and then lay this over the velvet to make it easier to stitch through the pile of the velvet. When the design was finished the exposed parts of the linen were cut away, and in addition to that, if there were any bits of velvet pile showing throught the design, they had to be cut back as well. I thought that I would try to do a sample, but then I thought who am I kidding.

Bibliography

Barbara Snook, English Embroidery , London, Mills and Boon Ltd, 1974

Pamela Warner, Embroidery, A History, London, Batsford, 1991

Rozsika Parker,The Subversive Stitch, London, The Women's Press, 1984

Twisted wire - Chapter 8

2010-04-21T13:34:00.002+01:00

Final shisha sample

2010-04-14T14:44:00.010+01:00

I know this is somewhat OTT, but I had a lovely time stitching it!

This was the fabric that I printed using the relief blocks used earlier in the module, I used bleach which I have not done before but may well do again.

Machine Shi Sha

2010-04-10T13:33:00.003+01:00

I was not looking forward to doing these samples as I prefer hand stitching to the machine, but once I got going I enjoyed doing them and am pleased with the results. I dyed the material to use for these exercises; in photo 2 I have used bleach with the blocks I made for an earlier chapter. I have started to do another set of samples (hand stitched!) using the printed fabric and will post when finished.
1. 2.

Hand stitched Shi sha - chapter 7

2010-04-06T19:37:00.008+01:00

Above is a collection of shiny things that I found on the pavements of Seville last week. They are stitched down using herringbone, button hole and button hole bars, fly, detached chain, shi sha and straight stitch.
Below, foil from cream eggs eaten over the weekend!

Chapter 6 - Decorative Detail from Shi-sha Textiles

2010-03-17T18:23:00.018Z

1. Printing with acrylic paint , ink wash over top 2. Rubbing with oil stick,oil pastel and inks.

3. Printed with acrylic and then painted, gold paint on blue and green one. The colour has been altered by computer on the right hand image. 4. Wax crayon and ink

5. The next three are rubbings made with oil sticks, oil pastels and wax crayons on Lotka paper from Nepal

8. As above but on copy paper with ink added.

10. Oil pastels on silver tissue paper, this looks much more effective in real life that in the photo.

11. As above

12. Textured look created by using the same block with different colours - shame about the flash!

13. Printing using acrylic paint, there is a tiny bit of glitter in there somewhere. It is a bit dull but I enjoyed making the background look like an old plaster wall

15. The blocks that I used for the prints and the rubbings - made from string, cocktail sticks, wire,cardboard, a rubber and thick gesso.

Chapter 5 - Indian Textiles

2010-03-05T10:33:00.013Z

Unfortunately I have had to use books rather than actual pieces of embroidery, however I was given "Embroidery from India and Pakistan" by Sheila Paine for Christmas and the photos show good detail of the stitches.
1. Details drawn using a stick and ink.

2. Wax candle resist with inks and felt pen

3. Resist using masking tape circles, thin acrylic wash and inkmarkings

4. Water colour resist medium, inks and acrylic wash, gold pen.

5. Sgrafitto, oil pastel over ink

6. As above

7. Potassium permanganate dyed paper, printed with lemon juice and acrylic paint which got mixed together and gave an effect which I rather like.

8. As above

9. Messing around with interlace stitch which is used in Kaccha embroidery. Various threads on potassium permanganate dyed linen with lemon juice lines.

10. Stitch sample on Indian fabric using stitches often used in Banjara and Gujarat embroidery - chain, open chain, double chain stitch, closed double chain, herringbone, button hole and couching.

11. Shisha with additional decorative edges

12. Traditional decorative borders

Finished Lamp Shade

2010-02-17T16:36:00.007Z

Here is the lamp shade finished at last. Using the painted sticks for the frame has worked well, although I broke a lot of needles while wrapping thread around them on the sewing machine.

With the light on you can only just make out the inner, darker layer - I would have liked it to have been a bit more pronounced, but the fabric was too fine to hold its colour against the light from the bulb. Close up showing the way that the shapes and lines of stitching create a dense network of shapes.

Different view, which shows more of a contrast between the two layers.

This photo is of the shade in day light without the light switched on.

Slow Progress on my 3D item

2010-02-12T14:45:00.006Z

I am slowly progressing with my light shade; I have made two layers of fabric using the cell like shapes. This is the outer layer.

This is the middle layer. There is an inner layer, but this is just plain material as it is needed to reduce the glare of the light bulb.

I have tried to fix them to a square frame which I made with wire and covered with tape, but it was very bulky and messy and I was not happy with it.

Following communication with Sian I have made a frame from thin wooden flower supports from the garden centre which have been painted white, the ends of thread from the fabric have been glued onto the sticks and the whole thing wrapped with thread using the machine. I am hoping to finish it in the not too distant future and will put up a photo when it is done.

3d item - (photos for Sian)

2010-01-06T17:30:00.016Z

I have been struggling a bit to sort out how I am going to make my 3D item. As I have previously blogged.I am going to make a light or lamp shade but I am not happy with the tests I have done. I have put these photos up in order that I can get some help from Sian but if anyone else has any suggestions please let me know them.

I had two main ideas, one was a lot of indiviudal shapes on strings, a bit like a chandelier, and the other was to have layers of fabric in strips with holes in them!

First are some attempts at the shapes - I have used soluble fabric, I have cut out the shapes and then joined them using machine braid and I have done the whole thing and then cut it out of the backgroupnd material, but I do not like any of them. The problem may be using sheer fabric but if I do not they will just look black!

This is a very rough mock up of one of my other idea, it has three layers, the first would be a solid fabric which would sheild the light bulb, the second layer would be quite wide with large"windows"in it and the outer layer would be narrower with small windows and more decoration. I have done a few test pieces using organdie but do not like them very much, I am not keen on the way all the stitching shows through, also the colours turn to brown, which is OK but not what I had in mind originally.

This is the outer layer,

More trials

This is three thicknesses of cotton organdie, with a light behind and without. I was going to use this as my inner layer on lampshade in the first photo, but I have changed my mind. I do not like the way that each stitch shows up and I think that I am going to use a plainer fabric with some satin stitch squares embroidered on it in a random fashion.

This fabric has a canvas backing and I think that it would be more suitable for the thick outer layer of the shade. Top one is in front of the light and the bottom one is not. Colours are not the ones that I will use for the finished shade, I think I will go with the greens and pinks that I used in the last exercise in module one.

I now realise that the lates thought I had which was based on one of my designs from module 1 is not that far from the mock up shade and so I am going to continue to develop it. I have decided that it will be a square shape rather than round and it may be a table lamp rather than a light shade!.

Messing around with starch paste, metalic paint and a few shisha mirrors.

2010-01-04T17:31:00.016Z

I have enjoyed doing these decorated papers. When I first put the starch paste on the paper I had no idea that the process was going to be so effective; I am very pleased with the results. I used acrylic paint in the paste and the colours have come out quite strong, also the range of colours I used is a bit strange , but again I think that it has worked well. For the metalic effect I used treasure gold, gold ink and gold acrylic paint, and today I bought some metalic fabric paint to use in Chapter 10 where the papers are converted into embroidery.

This one is my favourite, more by chance than design I think that the colours work well together.

The textures on these two are interesting, especially when the photo is blown yup a bit more.

I added some gold pen marks to this one and am looking forward to translating it to fabric and thread.

Below is some messing around with shi sha mirrors, all were applied by the first method that Sian sugested as I could not get the stitching to hold the mirror in place if I used the second.

Chapter 3, module 2 - underside couching +machine samples for chapter 2.

2009-12-05T10:06:00.023Z

The sample above uses twisted thread made from metalic machine thread, the other two are lurex crochet thread

Traditional underside couching sample worked on linen with silk floss - began at the bottom of the photo and had a bit of difficulty finding the exact same hole to go back into but this got easier as I progressed. The stitching is 1.25" X 2.5"

Underside couching on canvas - this was much easier and I enjoyed doing it. I especially liked the effect on wrong side - hence the second sample

From left to right - Lurex thread couched with blue stranded metallic thread, thin metallic ribbon, greed cotton perle and lurex thread, machine thread with lurex.

Below - cotton perle and lurex .

I found the underside machine couching difficult; it was hard to get enough contrast using the size of the stitch alone. As you can see I had more success with the thick cotton thread in the bobbin than with the gold thread.

Top - changing size of zig zag Bottom - changing position of needle

Automatic Pattern

Attempt a chequered pattern, which I feel lacks sufficient contrast

Below -

Automatic stitch patttern

Last one_

Straight stitch with zig-zag.

All the samples are about 4" X 2 or 3"

Chapter 2 Module 2

2009-11-25T14:44:00.007Z

All samples have been worked on a silk fabric which unfortunately does not photo very well; also I am not sure why some of the photos will and some of them will not enlarge.

The first sample is traditional couching of gold thread, using two threads. The threads in the middle sample have been "plunged " at the ends of each row. The circle is padded with felt, but this does not show up very well, perhaps more layers of felt are needed. The border is split stitch using a silk floss, I found this thread hard to use and the result is a bit of a mess! The sample is 3" X 2"

Strips of gold imitation leather and ribbon couched down with gold thread and cotton perle, 3" X 2".

Shapes cut from tomato pure tube, silk floss for couching and satin stitch, 2.5" X 1.5".

Stranded gold thread, couched with cotton perle, 3" X 2".

On the left, machine made cords, on the right, twisted cords, crinkled up by pulling on one strand,2.5" X 1.5".

Traditional layed work, crochet cotton and cotton perle, 1" X 1.25".

Two strands of gold parcel thread couched with metallic stranded thread and laced with metallic crochet cotton, 2" X 2".

Couched wire "purl" made by wrapping around a nail, 2" X 2".

Purl thread sewn in loops, gold fabric paint and silk seeding, 2.5" X 2.5".

Squares of gold fabric couched with cotton perle on printed silk, 3" X 3".

Ideas for 3D Item

2009-10-11T12:00:00.011+01:00

My 3 D item is based on the following ideas from my sketch book - houses stacked on top of eatch other, tumbling down hillsides, and crammed up against each other in towns. I was going to make a sculpture but as I now realise that the item has tobe functional I am going to change it to a lamp or a light shade.

These are some attempts at making boxes which could somehow be joined together in a haphazard pyramid shape. Bottom left are pleated strips of fabric with thin wire sewn along the top and bottom, bottom right are ideas for the cut out shapes that will let the light out.

Some samples of woven paper, fabric and cotton organdi.

the easy part of chapter 12

2009-08-29T19:08:00.014+01:00

1. This is the first background cloth that I made; it has woven strips of dyed fabric with machine and hand stitching on top.

2. I cut the background into my current favourite and, by now, familiar shapes.

3. The shapes threaded together; they could be used for belt, or wall hanging.

4. Or a necklace!

5. Or a mobile.

6. Here are the shapes with the windows replaced in different plavces

7. And here are the bits that were cut out.

8. I then made another background. I used a street map of bristol and transferred it onto fabfic with heat transfer printer paper - I had not used this before and was quite impressed with the result apart from the rather thick layer of plastic. I painted blocks of colour onto the reverse of the fabric to add some subtle colour and machine stitched over most of the roads.

9. I rather liked the other side - so here it is.

10. I cut the background into wave like shapes and
wove them together.

11. The reverse

12. A star or 9 legged spider.

13. A chain or necklace (0r christmas decoration!)

14. A hat, or upside down a bag.

15. Here I tried to pin the shapes together to make a vessel - could have potential.

16. Pattern using both backgrounds

17. A belt with a buckle made from the first background.

I have now got to come yup with a proposal for my 3-d item; I like the backgrounds but none of the attempts at using them for 3 D items grab me. I would like to make a screen using the shapes from the first background, perhaps using both padded and see through shapes but I do not think that this will count as a 3-D item.

I also have to sort out the admin type things for the module
and the studies of contempory textile artists.

Design Exploration using copy images

2009-08-06T16:15:00.018+01:00

Copy of map that I have used elsewhere, with additional crayon markings

Cut and rearranged

Cut and rearranged again, glued to fabric and hand stitched

10.1 Similar process to above, I like the cut copy with lines on and had to stop myself from recreating it with stitches -hence the one below.

10.2

10.3

Photocopy with additional marks, cut and reassembled, black shapes added to create unity.

10.4
Designs using map of Bristol, original copy was flooded with ink and then additional marks made using bleach, paint and crayon. Below, fly stitch added to bring the design together as it reflects the shapes of the rooves (roofs?)

10.6 A couple more designs. I enjoyed this exercise and I like the designs that I came up with; it has given me lots of thoughts about how I can carry the ideas forward. I just need to think 3D item!

Thanks to those of you who gave me tips about placing photos on the blog.

Chapter 8 - Hollow Shapes

2009-07-19T11:43:00.042+01:00

I have used the decidious tree symbol from OS maps as my shape.

I like the three designs in the right bottom corner, there is something of Mary Quant's daisy about them.

Stacking and unstacking using lines taken from repeated shape exercise.

Stacking and unstacking of overlapping blocks, taken from one of my stitch samples.

For the last exercise in this chapter I used the outline from an early map that is in my sketch book. The designs look a bit chinese to me.

I have no idea how I can control the placing of pictures and text on my blog, it takes me forever to get it to even this limited level of order. If anyone has any tips I would be most grateful if you could pass them on to me. Thanks.

Chapter 7 - stitch samples

2009-06-22T18:25:00.000+01:00

I enjoyed doing these samples, it was good to get back to some stitching.

Most of them were worked on the fabric which I had dyed a few weeks ago, the thread is mostly bought.

They are loosely based on field systems, street maps and grids and representations of the sea.

1. Fabric whihc was printed with image of huts in an early map that I looked at in my sketch book -hand stitching

2. Hand stitched

3. I like this sample; it was a complete accident as my machine was playing up and I could not get it to do cable stitch in the way that it was supposed to. However I think that the ragged effect is attractive and so I have included it, but it is unlikely that I would be able to repeat it!

4. Couched wool +button hole stitch

5. Machine zig-zag, some thicker threads in bobin, plus hand stitching.

6. Layers of cretan stitch on fabric dabbed with fabric paints

7. Machine stitch + hand stitches

8. This is my favourite one - to me it has the look of 1950's designers! Machine and hand stitching

9. Machine stitching

10. Machine satin stitch with loop stitches on top.

11.Blocks of machine stitching on horrible man made fabric.

colour study and dying fabric

2009-06-02T19:16:00.000+01:00

This is the map that I have used for my colour study and for dying the fabrics. It is not my usual choice, the one below with the oranges and rusts is much more within my comfort zone. I did the study based on the map of Jeruslem because I really like the map and the simplicity of the images but there are too many colours on it to have made it a practical option. I found that using maps as the basis for the colour scheme was quite hard as on the whole maps have quite a limited colour range. I choose this one because I was attracted to the colours and thought that they were an unusual combination. As I have already mentioned they are not my usual colours and if I am honest the yellow and pale blue are freaking me out a little.

I am having a problem getting my photos onto my blog, when I add text the pictures disappear! so these threads are in the wrong place - they were supposed to be at the end!

These pink fabrics are also in the wrong place but never mind. The first ones I dyed, the three at the left, came out rather too pink, the second lot are better but still quite strong, even after much rinsing.

These are the tests I did for dying. I prefer to use natural fabrics and so chose procion dyes, golden yellow, magenta, turquoise, rose brown and black. I dyed them all using the plastic bag method. I used a range of fabrics which included silk scrim, silk noil, calico, cotton , velvet, organza, muslin.

The yellow fabrics, some have come out too strong but they may come in useful.

Light green fabrics above, dark green/ brownish green fabric below. There is more variation in colour than the photos show, but I did find it hard to obtain a deep olive green. The darkest fabrics are a stiff cotton organsa.

The pinky mauves came out well, there is variety of light and dark shades.

The blues are not the right colour- they are too blue - so I have added a couple of commercial fabrics but in the photo they look rather grey!

These are some bits of fabric that I already had and which fit in well with the colour scheme and add a bit of strength to it.

Yet more texture samples

2009-05-13T18:00:00.000+01:00

Yet more texture samples, the first lot are based on the different ways that the sea is represented in maps. Some of the samples have been recycled from the work I did for the other course that I started.

More Texture

2009-05-02T12:51:00.000+01:00

Textures from the Cornish Fields

Print block made from string, used in sketchbook and above.
I am not sure what has happened here but the string looks as if it goes in instead of out! The same has happened with the cut paper, if anyone knows what I have done and how I can remedy it please let me know.

Muslin coated with PVA, pressed onto string block until dry

Cut paper shapes

Texture -Chapter 3

2009-04-29T19:12:00.000+01:00

Finally I have made a start on the texture samples.

First set of texture samples, all based on 17th Century print showing a map of the moon

Close ups of the three texture samples at the top of the sheet

Tyvek, heated and stitched onto calico

Lotka paper, moulded when wet

Kumon felt and calico stitched together and then heated. I liked the look of the calico side best.

The other two samples shown are photos from my sketch book.

Contour exercise using felt, as done a long time ago in geography lessons.
If I had the patience I could use reverse applique to get similar effect.

Chapter 4

2009-04-23T21:44:00.000+01:00

1. Diagonal linear pattern - oil pastel covered with tissue

1a. Diagonal linear pattern - oil pastel and stitch

2. Diamond - not a great success!

3. Folded shapes -I had to elongate the shape in order for it to be interesting when folded

4. Counterchange

5. Overlapping rectangles - the colours were too bright and so I covered them with tissue, I liked the effect and used it again in no.1 above.

6. Background - Gesso rubbed with oil pastel

7. shape cut from side of page - gesso/acrylic, lotka paper and machine stitching

10. lines of writing

13a. Pleated paper - Watercolour crayons on wax resist paper.

13b. Pleated paper

15. Over-lapping outlines

16. Overlapping outlines with stripes - felt pen

17. Torn stripes - machine stitched

18. Torn paper rectangles, partially stitched outline of shape

pages from sketch book2

2009-04-23T20:09:00.000+01:00

Colour study using photo of fields above

This map shows incidentsof crime in an Australian town - I like the organic look of the coloured plots.

I love this pictorial map of Bristol done by
Millard in 1673.

The strange perspective gives some great shapes to the houses and I intend to play around with it some more.

I have used one of these shapes for the design explorations using solid shape.

pages from sketch book

2009-03-29T20:26:00.000+01:00

Web of roads in local town; drawn, machined on paper and on fabric removed with solder iron

2009-03-16T19:06:00.000Z

Starting Distant Stitch Diploma

I have recently enroled on the C&GDiploma with Distant Stitch. I had done one and a half modules with Opus when I was told that they were no longer going to offer the course. You can imagine how annoyed I was to say the least; not only had I lost money but it felt as if it had been waste of time and effort as well.
However I have decided to start again and have signed up with Sian, and so I will be recording my progress here.

I have started to work on the sketch book for my design research module, the area for my research is maps, charts and plans. I am feeling a bit resistant to putting up any of the pages because I feel that they are a bit simple and amateurish, but I have to start somewhere. So here goes!