Chapter 11: Design from Landscape

I began this chapter by decorating papers with flat surfaces, referring back to my original research to inform the marks I made. I have decided to work my final piece in shades of brown so my papers reflect this decision.

 

Fig. 11:1 Acrylic paint applied with cardboard and scraped off with dip pen

 Fig. 11:2 Acrylic paint applied with edge of credit card to emulate tree trunks

 Fig. 11:3 Acrylic paint applied with edge of credit card in a grid pattern

 Fig. 11:4 Oil pastel marks with a wash of brown Koh-i-noor dye

Fig. 11:5 Acrylic paint applied with a palette knife

 

Fig. 11:6 Oil pastel

 

Fig. 11:7 Acrylic paint brushed on roughly with a large brush

 

Fig. 11:8 Acrylic paint applied with a sponge

 

Fig. 11:9 Koh-i-noor dye applied with a sponge applicator

 

Fig. 11:10 Ink applied with a dip pen

 

Fig. 11;11 Drawing ink applied with a brush onto wet paper and allowed to run

 

Fig. 11:12 Drawing ink dripped onto wet paper

Referring to my source images again I looked for simple divisions to create shapes.

 

Fig. 11:13

The next stage was to choose some of my papers and cut them out according to the designs I had now made.

 

Fig. 11:14

 

Fig. 11:15

 

Fig. 11:16

 

Fig. 11:17

 

Fig. 11:18

 

Fig. 11:19

Final design 

 

Fig. 11:20

 I have chosen this tree because of its deeply fissured bark and the sinuous curves around the two knots. I feel that the image gives lots of scope for fabric manipulation and textural stitches and I'm really looking forward to working this final piece for this module.

 

Fig. 11:21

I've modified the design slightly to give me more defined areas for using different methods. The green background in the second image above is merely there to clarify the shapes but I'm not planning for it to feature in the finished piece of work.

 

Chapter 10: Stitch to translate

Now it was time to translate some of my rubbings into stitch using mainly one stitch for each sample.

 

Fig. 10:1

 This rubbing was taken from one of my stitched samples where I had couched down a range of metal washers underneath silk fabric in one of the earlier chapters. I used a series of buttonhole wheels and a few web stitches to translate the circular motifs.

 

Fig. 10:2

 I used fly stitch to translate the rubbing taken from one of the stitched samples taken from the bare tree branches.

 

Fig. 10:3

Chain stitches and detached chain in a single strand of thread and strips of chiffon emulate the rubbing in this image.

 

Fig. 10:4

I used open chain to represent this circular motif.

I feel that all the stitched samples are successful in imitating the rubbed marks and can see how some of these could be taken forwards into the final piece for this module.

 

Chapter 9b: Rubbings

We were also asked to take rubbings from our relief surfaces and these are shown below.

 

Fig. 9b:1

 

Fig. 9b:2

 

Fig. 9b:3

 

Fig. 9b:4

 

Fig. 9b:5

 

Fig. 9b:6

 

Fig. 9b:7

 

Fig. 9b:8

 

Fig. 9b:9

 

Fig. 9b:10

 

Fig. 9b:11

 

Fig. 9b:12

Samples 10, 11 and 12 were taken from stitched samples worked in chapter 5.

There were several other rubbings taken but I have selected the most effective ones to show here as some were far less successful.

Chapter 9: Threads and stitchery

This chapter begins with a collection of neutral threads. My threads are all kept wound onto cards and 'filed' in boxes according to colour and type so it was a relatively easy job to gather the white threads from my stash.

Fig. 9:1 Neutral coloured threads

Added to these, though not included in the image, I have silk ribbons, garden string, piping cord, knitting yarn and machine thread.

We were then asked to learn new stitches. I chose to make a series of small samplers using the five headings suggested in the notes.

Fig. 9:2 Flat stitches

Seeding stitch; stem stitch; fishbone stitch; chevron; thorn; herringbone; arrowhead; running stitch and cross stitch

Fig. 9:3 Looped stitches

 Buttonhole stitched in a straight row; a curve and a circle; fly stitch; fly filling; closed and open wave stitch; cretan and open cretan; leaf stitch; feather stitch - normal, single, double and closed.

 

Fig. 9:4 Knotted stitches

 French knots stitched normally and with long tails; bullion knots stitched in a row, a pile, a star, a rose, as seeding and a triangle; coral stitch; zigzag coral; tied coral; diamond stitch and diamond filling; hollie point (much more effective when stitched on a lace pad rather than on cotton fabric!!!); knot stitch and 4-legged knot stitch.

 

Fig. 9:5 Chain stitches

 Chain stitch; detached chain; double chain; feathered chain; heavy chain; open chain; twisted chain and zig-zag chain; wheat ear stitch and detached wheatear; split stitch and braid stitch.

 

Fig. 9:6 Composite stitches

Running stitch whipped and laced; raised stem band; raised chain; raised chevron; interlacing; interlaced Maltese cross (what a puzzle this was to work!!); needleweaving and whipped chain.


Many of these I have used in the past though not frequently and it was a very useful exercise to re-acquaint myself with some of them. Some I had never even heard of before, let alone tried so there was a definite learning curve involved too.

I chose to explore Cretan stitch in more depth as it was a stitch I was unfamiliar with and I found it to be surprisingly versatile. This is an exercise I may return to in future with other stitches just for the fun of exploring what various stitches are able to do.

 

Fig. 9:7

 Cretan stitch worked in a linear pattern; as individual marks; varied sizes and thickness of threads; open and closed; interlocking; loosely worked; dovetailed; beaded and wrapped with different threads.

 

Fig. 9:8

Cretan stitch worked as a spiral; stitched in different directions using different thicknesses of thread; stitched in blocks of different sizes and thread thickness; large open, overlapping stitches; used as a couching stitch over thick threads; stitched in a rough circle and interwoven with ribbon; different numbers of beads on different sections of each stitch and interlocked stitches using different thicknesses of thread and laced with beads.

Chapter 8: Paper relief into fabric relief

For this chapter we were asked to refer to the paper relief surfaces made for Chapter 3 and to translate five of these into different manipulated fabric techniques.

 Fig. 8:1

Tight rolls of linen fabric stitched in an irregular pattern to translate the peeling bark on this tree and the curled paper of the originals.

Fig. 8:2

Pin tucks were stitched at different angles on a polyester cotton fabric. What doesn't show up on the photograph is the irregular raised weave of the fabric which was the reason I chose this particular fabric as it mimicked the tracery of the bare tree branches and the smaller creases in the crumpled tissue paper.

Fig. 8:3

A somewhat more effective - and more literal - translation of the tree branches, this time worked on a fine organza. Channels were stitched on the machine and then threaded through with several thicknesses of a brown woollen yarn.

Fig. 8:4

 Irregularly shaped pieces of thick woollen felt were trapped beneath a piece of thin silk fabric and each piece was closely edged with backstitch to form raised patches.

Fig. 8:5

I formed irregularly shaped 'scales' from a variety of fabrics - thin cotton, silk dupion and cotton poplin. These were then overlapped and stitched in place to imitate the scales on this tree bark. 

Fig. 8:6

Layers of calico strips were stitched down very closely together so they stand up and the edges of the fabric were then lightly frayed to imitate the tree bark and torn strips of paper.

Fig. 8:7

Deep tucks stitched with several rows of machine stitch were then cut across to form notches to echo the papery scales of this tree bark.

 Fig. 8:8

 Lengths of a very chunky brown wool yarn were trapped beneath fine silk and stitched into a pattern which echoes the knots and pattern on this tree, and the deep creases of the paper.

Fig. 8:9

My favourite furrowing again, using a cotton curtain lining fabric which imitates perfectly the deeply grooved bark of this tree.

Samples 8:3; 8:4; 8:8 and 8:9 are particularly successful at imitating both the original photographs of tree bark and the paper interpretations, I think. 8:2 would definitely have been improved with more work - probably with added stitches on top of the tucks and with hindsight, of course, I should have made more scales for sample 8:5 to completely fill the space available.