Texture With Stitch

I decided to work with stitching a small piece of silk for Orinui Shibori. The transformation of the texture on this is amazing - a little bouncy, 3 D and alive! Almost a shame to pull those ties...The stitched side has interesting texture, too. It is now tightly bound into such a small bit that I made sure I placed it in my studio last night instead of leaving it on the coffee table in case someone might mistake it for a kleenex and toss it. I am excited to dye it because yesterday I got more colours of the Colorhue dye.

I also continue to stitch this cloth:

And I completed this - a moment of wonder in the early morning when it was snowing at the cove which you may recognize, as it's based on a photo I took and previously posted on this blog. Other then the rectangular outline, I didn't draw any of it with a marker but used my eye and the machine, as I wanted to keep it fresh and alive - and I wasn't going for an exact rendering:

This will be in the exhibition and sale at the Victoria College of Art beginning this Friday night and continuing in the afternoon on Saturday and Sunday. Our class has covered alot of ground and there will be much to see, as well as all the work done by the other classes in various mediums.

Drawing and Learning

After trying the cutting back technique, I wanted to explore it with natural fibres I had dyed and stamped to create a pleasurable feel and texture. I sense a joining here, of learning from the two classes I've been taking - it's not woven, but it does have multiple layers. Machine stitched, but I could add some handstitch or do another one that way. It has raw edges and I've added to the texture with patches on top or folded cut flaps back and stitched them down. In the Mark Making With Machine class we were each given the same image to trace with free motion machine stitch on the same ground fabric with black thread. What I really liked about this exercise was seeing how unique each class mate's flower was afterwards, in spite of the identical parameters. I've been in a painting class before where everyone has painted using the same image to copy from , and they all turned out differently, but this was even more revelatory, because we traced the same image!

Then we partnered up and drew each other's portrait with our machines as we looked at each other - very fun and it sparked a variety of ideas for me.

What next?

Textures Found and Made

Weaving a Base

I've woven silk strips - some of it my natural dyed silk - as well as a textured cotton and a batik together as part of the learning I'm doing in the online class Cloth to Cloth. And I spent most of the day at the Victoria Quilt Guild Show, working a shift there and finishing seeing all the fine work. I notice that I am most drawn to hand quilting and texture.

Texturizing

Earlier today I tried some new beading stitches - making a bead 'flower' by using bugle beads radiating out like the spokes on a wheel, with seed beads on either end. For the center, I used 3 seed beads with each stitch, pulling them tightly so they created one piled on top of the other two. I had planned to use a cabochon or very large glass bead for a focal point, but decided that I preferred a scrap flower cut from already beaded and sequined lace. I was blown away by how long it took to do a very small amount of beading in terms of surface coverage and I wanted my piece to have alot more texture from stitch, so I embroidered with various colours in a variety of ways. I feel so desirous of creating fantastic dense and interesting stitch - yet the reality is that I'm a beginner and I'm experimenting rather blindly. It's starting to look like something now and I'm comforting myself by noticing the build up of texture and interest in small areas, with a plan to check each square inch to see if I'm satisfied with it as I keep working on it. I am trusting that I will like the result well enough, even if I cannot yet achieve my visions. We all start somewhere...

A Stitch In Time

I was on Saltspring Island yesterday for an anniversary day trip and I dropped into 'Stitches' - an amazing store selling all kinds of fibre art related materials. I'm sure I spent 2 hours in there and I could have spent more! I had a few supplies to pick up in preparation for the on-line course that I will be taking soon - and I also got some books. I took photos throughout the day and was drawn to the marvelous texture of this rock at a new beach we discovered, as well as that of the sagging, abandoned structure. Perhaps I will represent these in fabric one day. I have chosen a pinkish metallic yarn for the spiral couching I want to use on my quilt-in-progress. Also, I have been thinking about pattern on cloth since creating the discharged heart card, how shapes can be printed in rows, randomly, like brick-work, mirror-imaged, etc. I'm intrigued to explore representing behavioural patterns with visual patterning. There are so many idea threads I'd like to follow...

New art quilt in the works

Here's a peek at what I began today - I'm feeling such joy to be working with fibre again. I love that feeling when I know I'm on a roll - ideas are flowing and I'm just following along. I've taken some cloth I've dye painted and added silk roving, wools, angelina, chiffon, machine quilting and free form embroidery stitch. I want to create layers and texture and I have a sense that this way of combining methods and materials is really 'me'. I have some shibori dyed linen and other hand dyes of mine that I'm thinking I might add to the mix. And my Pfaff performed perfectly today - nice free motion quilting without a single problem - what a nice break that was!