Surface, Structure, Stitch at City Lit: Week 5

 This week the focus of Surface, Structure, Stitch  at City Lit was on machine covered cords  " A line in space" .  For homework I'd looked  through my copy of  Stitch and Structure    by Jean Draper (  and also Janet Edmonds Three Dimensional Embroidery )   but had misread the instructions  on bringing  an image with strong mood , texture and colour.

  I'd remembered the 'colour' bit   and on a lovely sunny day  had drawn some of my shell collections   -  as  my daily drawings ( love the serendipity of  the combined drawings when backlit)  

  And on a sheet of watercolour paper  divided as we'd done for black and white studies in week 1.  I used neocolour crayons and W&N Watercolour Markers which I've had for ages ( and was reminded why  I still don't like them , back in the drawer they go! )

  I'd cut my thumb badly with a breadknife, tacking pebbles on my trainstitching piece on the way to class  was trickier than you'd expect!

What  we were doing with the images   we had ( or hadn't!)  brought in  was to describe in  words some of the qualities  of our image  then interpret the words in  drawn/collaged  lines . These examples Louise shared were based on a photo of a  cactus with red flowers, 

 These drawn  lines were then  translated into  stitched cords of fabric or thread wrapped string  

  I  did have some photos of shells with me  but  to more accurately  describe their qualities  used some of the  items  available in the class. 

 I was struggling to capture the true colours using the art materials  available so Louise suggested I construct ' moodsticks' ,  covering a stick/piece of card with scraps of fabric and winding threads  around them  from the exciting range of fibres available.  Similar  to  swatches prepared for weaving  but freer , with overlapping threads and colours giving more texture and optical colour mixing. This could get addictive!

 Then  an attempt  to make some machine wrapped cords : laying a string under free embroidery foot with feed dogs down  and using a wide zig zag   stitch and  pulling it  through. My poorly thumb hampered me somewhat as I couldn't hold it taut enough so  didn't have enough control.  

 Still , enough  to see the potential, discussing with Louise how they   could be coiled  or joined  together  to make circles  or stitched into a network .  I spent  the rest of the session gathering  bits to bring home  and try out on my own machine.
Enough  writing for now, time to go and play ! I could be some time...

Surface, Structure, Stitch at City Lit: Week 4

 Week  4  of Surface, Structure, Stitch   was on Kantha and Boro , definately  in my comfort zone !  And with a week away , I'd been making good progress reconnecting with my  #trainstitching  of #wrapmeintheshore   with  the addition of precious fragments  from the City Lit Textile  Studio scrap box 

The notes  that Louise  supplied    recommended reading  of books  by Ahmad, Gillow, Morrell  and Zaman  - I have  them all (!)  plus the catalogue from the Boro exhibition at Somerset house  which  she also showed.  Apart from an example of a kantha stitched sari silk scarf ( of which I too own several), her  own samples  showed how kantha could be used in  reversible 3d forms, either a  spiral stitched bowl or a strip that could be manipulated in different  ways. 

 I had a go first using  circles of felt and  linen furnishing fabrics  -  another time I wouldn't start right in the centre and would add a coin in the bottom between the layers to  produce a base.

The second one   was a small strip of layered creams and blues with crude running stitches, pulled up  into a shell shape. Lots of possibilities.  Louise  suggested I  make  a much larger piece  of layered fabrics and incorporate ' lumps'  of buttons between the layers  to add further distortions and texture 

 I finished the stitching on the way  home on the train  and  spend quite a while manipulating it into different shapes

 Then , deep breath,  I started pulling up some of the stitching, taking photos as I went along 

 I love the potential of inside and outside  being  equally important

  Finally for my' daily drawing' I did a small patched stitched sample  showing the effect of the rippling from pulling up the running stitch. 

Daily Drawing 2020: 30DaySketchbookChallenge Part 1

 Enjoying the daily prompts of #30daysketchbookchallenge,  this is the story so far. 

Day 1: Spots and Dots             Day 2: Bottles   

  

Day 3: Butterflies and moths        Day 4: Toys and games

Day 5: Garden tools        Day 6: Clothes

                           Day 7: Money, Money, Money         Day 8: these are a few of my favourite things

Day 9: Musical Instruments         Day 10: Yellow

Day 11:  Signs and Symbols      Day 12: Twelve 

                   Day 13: Windows          Day 14: Something beginning with F 

A Book of Marks from Daily Drawing

It's 'Drawing Tuesday'  but I'm not  at Museum of London Docklands  but at home still recovering  from a horrible cold and glad I'm not going out  in the wild weather. I've been enjoying the daily prompts for the 30daysketchbook challenge (more in another post)  but  also sewing together a record of my  daily drawing.  

 I've started  another  'dropcloth'  ( A1 sheet of paper) which I place underneath my sketchbook  when I draw. Over the year it accumulates  paint splashes, colour trials, doodles, notes. 

  When on the Dorothy  Caldwell  course in Puglia,  we made small books using our ' dropcloth'  to practice making  signatures and sewing them together, needle weaving with embroidery floss. The paper we had then was half the size ( 32 pages, 18 signatures) . I wasn't sure  how 64  pages, 32 signatures would work   but I'm pleased with the effect even if I did lose count  during stitching in a few places!

A Year of Daily Drawing

My favourite  spreads  from  each month  of a year of daily drawing  starting in January  with the #30daysketchbookchallenge. Plants recorded  from the garden; textile experiments , pieces of cloth and cakes were regular  subjects  and I've used a variety of techniques from drawing with pen; watercolours; collage;  stitch and photos of larger drawings and paintings.  My drawing has definately improved over the year , that's not to say that  everything was a wonderful piece of art , far from it, but each day was a fresh start.  

 I used Seawhite Eco A6  sketchbooks which contain 150g recycled cartridge paper , thick enough to withstand a light watercolour wash. I've  bought 12 more  to do the same next year

The last drawing of 2019 , looking forward to a new year, new decade and a new challenge, startting with the prompts of #30daysketchbook20

Daily Drawing: December

The last  daily drawing sketchbook  of 2019: Washing machine filter  with colour catchers (!) African textiles and jewellry; maps of impossible journeys; pots ; prints; coins: shells; seaweed; journal quilts; Xmas decorations and food; Iron Wharf abstracts .

Back to prompts in January  with #30daysketchbookchallenge, excited but rather daunted after doing my own thing for 11 months.