Chapter 12: Final resolve complete

Wow! I can't quite believe it but I do think that I'm finished with this starry module.
Following on from my initial thoughts detailed in my last blog post I thought of several methods for depicting growth and disintegration in my final resolved sample.

Growth:

• Padding the shape would make the piece more prominent
• Textural stitches could represent lichen growth  

Disintegration:

• Hand or machine stitching beyond the outlines of the shape
• Synthetic fabric melted with a soldering iron or heat gun 
• Voile on top of the shape to 'knock back' the colours to represent fading
• Machine stitch through paper to leave fragments on the surface and holes
• Use open weave fabrics or silk dupion which fray easily
• Chenille technique
• Cutwork 

Fig. 1: Decisions, decisions

I did toy with using my dancing stars or even starfish but finally decided to go with the eight pointed star which is so reminiscent of the Moroccan tiles which have featured in my thinking throughout this module. I opted for simply placing four of the stars within an 8" square and also to make a feature of the negative cross shapes in between the stars, as evidenced in the tile images way back in the early part of my research.

At this point I found I had so many ideas running around in my head that I was struggling to decide on anything and days were passing without any action whatsoever. Then ... whilst waiting for a bus one day in town I spotted the tiles shown in the bottom right hand corner of Fig. 1. These had been painted several times over the years and layers of paint were now peeling and lichen had begun to grow. Their colour also shouted at me as some of the layers were blue and orange! A serendipitous find which brought my scattered thoughts together.

Fig. 2: Design 'on point'

I decided to put the design 'on point' with the top star remaining intact; the left hand star growing with lichen, the one on the right disintegrating with cutwork and the bottom star would have both growth (french knot slips) and disintegration (cutwork).

I layered calico as a backing fabric, a layer of thin cotton batting and a coral coloured silk dupion as my background fabric and drew out my design on the back of the calico then tacked around the lines through all three layers of fabric. My stars were made from three layers of silk fabric bonded together and backed with a soft iron-on interfacing to give a slightly raised appearance to my 'tiles' when they were appliqued in place. 

I sprayed lightweight calico with Brusho shimmer sprays in turquoise and burnt sienna to replicate the lichen and rust, which I used to make small slips embroidered with french knots to represent the lichen. The slips were appliqued in place, with the turned under edges giving them a little more body so they stand proud of the background tile. More french knots were stitched around and between the slips to give a more integrated effect.

The cutwork holes were cut through all three 'tile' fabrics so the coral background fabric shows through and buttonholed around to define the edges. I finished the piece by stitching an outline around each of the tiles and the negative spaces on the edges to define the cross shapes and to give a very lightly quilted effect to the whole piece.

Fig. 3: Final resolved sample.

Evaluation:

On the whole I am very pleased with the finished effect and believe that the techniques that I used were suitable for the purpose, adequately represent both growth and disintegration, and have resulted in an attractive piece of work. If I were to repeat the design I might make the design on the tiles more intricate and stitch the layers together in some way rather than merely bond them. I am happy that I stayed with my enthusiasm for the Moroccan tile designs though I may return to the theme at some point in the future and make something with my dancing stars or my starfish - a border design with starfish 'holding hands' maybe?