AliaK's blog

prep for assignment 2 / part 2: building a visual vocabulary
these notes are mostly to list which materials & techniques will be used in the exercises, so I know what to prepare for
project 3: colour
materials

A Creative Approach — Project 2 Developing your marks — Stage 5 — Stitches which create texture

In this exercise I had to work stitches in different directions, initially using the same type of thread, and then introducing other weight threads. I used a single colour thread (or as close as possible) for each sample. Some threads are shiny and thin whilst others are thicker, multi-threaded and matte. when you mix them together you can see the difference in texture each creates, as well as different textures caused by the different amount of light the threads reflect.

I began with satin stitch in red shades, using different stitch lengths and shiny and matte thread. The rows of satin stitch sit nicely next to each other. Some of the threads look softer and others look rougher.

My favourite sample is the thin white triangle peaks. The stitches are fairly close together, thinner at the bottom of the upside down V and there's a thicker gap at the top. I stitched different number of rows along the rows. I think this makes a nice pattern and it's something I could use in a project. I'd tried he triangle peaks in thicker orange yarn too but I don't think it's as effective — it seems to soften the edges, whereas the thinner white thread is more precise so the lines are more defined and crisper to my eyes.

A Creative Approach — Project 2 Developing your marks — Stage 4 — Preparing to create textures

In this exercise I had to look through some of my previous work and think about them in terms of textiles and creating textures. I looked at some of my sketches, but one stood out the most is the Agapanthus root from stage 3, exercise 2 — it's the ugliest topic and drawing but I think it does show a lot of texture. It's both rough and shiny, lumpy and distorted, it has hard and soft parts, and chaotic stringy parts.

Here's the drawing and original photo:

I've been looking through the craftivist collective website and some of their projects. they do many fibre / textiles / craft based activism (craftivism) projects to raise issues to people in the community. they also write about slow activism and the importance of personal reflection when making - I love this idea and it's something people can do from home without having to be too vocal (verbally) with their ideas - work on projects to highlight issues they think are important. so I purchased one of their mini protest banner kits and it arrived from the UK yesterday. tonight I embroidered a message and sewed the aida onto the fabric. it was the first time I've embroidered letters so the first couple of lines are a bit wonky (especially the "D"), and I found it easier to write in all caps so I'm probably shouting the message, but I was getting the hang of it towards the end (though I ran out of space on the last line - need to plan it out next time)

I’ve been looking through the craftivist collective website and some of their projects. they do many fibre / textiles / craft based activism (craftivism) projects to raise issues to people in the community. they also write about slow activism and the importance of personal reflection when making – I love this idea and it’s something people can do from home without having to be too vocal (verbally) with their ideas – work on projects to highlight issues they think are important. so I purchased one of their mini protest banner kits and it arrived from the UK yesterday. tonight I embroidered a message and sewed the aida onto the fabric. it was the first time I’ve embroidered letters so the first couple of lines are a bit wonky (especially the “D”), and I found it easier to write in all caps so I’m probably shouting the message, but I was getting the hang of it towards the end (though I ran out of space on the last line – need to plan it out next time)

A Creative Approach — Project 2 Developing your marks — Stage 3 — A Sample

For this exercise I chose one of my ink drawings which is mostly line based. I hand stitched in running stitch and stem stitch — in different directions and with a mixture of threads, some shiny, some matte, some thick, some sewing machine rayon so very thin. A couple of the diagonal sections turned out quite textural and layered. They have multiple threads and layers so are quite raised on the surface of the fabric. These probably would suit the following exercises. The stitches are all line based stitches though, so it shows how they can be used to create both line and texture.

Here's the ink drawing which was used for inspiration. The top two diagonal / horizontal sections are a bit different — I was enjoying seeing the different light on the threads poke through as I stitched, so this is a bit of interpretation rather than accurate portrayal of the original picture.

I can't get the sewing machine to do freestyle machine embroidery. it seems to sew in the wrong direction - ie sew up the excess thread from the threaded needle and then the thread comes out of the needle. :( I've tried holding the threads but still no luck. I've tried with a foot on (I think it's actually a clear buttonhole foot), the foot off, tightening & loosening the screw on the bobbin holder to adjust bobbin tension and the feed dogs down. when I put the feed dogs up again it sews normally (well, as normal as it usually does - see the stitching in this first photo, with white thread plus red bobbin thread). I tried pulling the fabric tauter on the hoop and trying a thicker fabric. I haven't tried using fusible interfacing on the fabric yet though, so maybe the fabric is too thin? basically it doesn't seem to pick up the bobbin thread at all either.

feed dogs down & feed dogs up

tonight I've been reading the following articles online

A Creative Approach — Project 2 Developing your marks — Stage 2 — Exploring marks and lines through stitch techniques

For this exercise, I started with machine embroidery. I dropped the feed dogs and put the fabric into the hoop, but I had to remove the footer each time I had to start sewing. The first stitch I tried, the machine just sewed on the same spot — almost like satin stitch. I found it really hard to move the fabric around. So I ended up taking the fabric out of the embroidery hoop, lifting the feed dogs again and sewing normally. This time I used red thread so it's easier to see the stitches (the first exercise was off-white on cream calico so is harder to see the stitches clearly). I didn't have any other machine threads of different weight to try the hand wound bobbin.

I made some parallel lines, moving closer together until they made a solid area (albeit small solid area!)
and I tried some circles, though they're a bit wonky. I also tried some "squaretooth" stitches as I liked the shape of these. I must have a tension issue as there's a bit of puckering of the fabric where the stitches have pulled the fabric around the stitches. I did try different stitch lengths. When I did the test swatches I found that tension=3 was the best setting, so I kept this the same for all the stitchings

Front side of the fabric:

A Creative Approach — Project 2 Developing your marks — Stage 1 — Preparation

The first stage of this exercise was to sort my fabric stash into bags. I chose to separate them by colour. There are a couple of crossovers with the greens/browns.

A Creative Approach — Project 1 Marking marks — Stage 4 — Working from your sketchbooks — review

Review questions

A Creative Approach — Project 1 Marking marks — Stage 3 — Exercise 2 — Using marks to create surface textures

This exercise involved recreating the textured surfaces of objects.

This first page has a drawing trying to replicate the texture of patio tiles, and another showing the branches and remaining leaves of a tree that had lost its leaves during winter — as viewed from the patio whilst looking across the garden. I painted the watercolour wash over the ink drawing in the evening, and thought I was using a brownish grey colour but when I checked in the light of day the next day, I'd actually used a purple colour. Oops. So the colours are not 100% accurate but hopefully the feel of the texture shows through:

A Creative Approach — Project 1 Marking marks — Stage 3 — Exercise 1 — Using marks to create surface textures

This exercise involved using marks to create surface textures — working from visual sources.

For these exercises I used pages from a magazine - "belle" magazine, june/july 2013

This first one is trying to replicate the textured rug, using graphite and charcoal pencils:

tonight I was reading through class notes again and just realised I have more to do for assignment one than I thought. I'd totally missed a whole section - project 2. I was thinking project 1 = assignment 1 :(

in other news, I came across this article / project tonight which I thought might fit with my theme of code/encryption (perhaps not glitch). Anti-loneliness augmented quilt comforts children in hospital. from Joshua Barnes' site:

"As a means to combat symptoms of loneliness experienced by children staying long periods of time in hospital, the Augmented Quilt opens up an additional line of communication between the child and their loved ones. Each animal illustration on the quilt can be linked to a friend or family member, who can in turn leave digital messages for the child to read using a smart device. This highly personal form of communication is more meaningful to the child than anything a facebook message alone is capable of. Simultaneously the intimate tactile nature of the quilt also serves as a physical source of comfort which, when combined with the personal messages, provides a greater sense of security to the child in what is a potentially distressing time."

tonight I watched videos on Zandra Rhodes' tutorial page on her website. the first video about Sketchbooks was great. I liked how she speaks on photographs vs drawing in sketchbooks: "to me, i never get to know something unless I've drawn it & suffered it"
there's also some great videos on screenprinting and making the prints for some of her fabrics. it's interesting that she uses layout paper for her sketchbooks too - I might have to try that for the pens

[embed]https://vimeo.com/58172850[/embed]

Tutorial 1 Zandra Rhodes: Using sketchbooks from UCA Learning Technologists on Vimeo.also I started reading through "Indigo - The Colour that Changed the World" by Catherine Legrand, after finding it at Potts Point bookstore yesterday. I've almost bought this book a few times online, but hadn't quite pressed submit on the order. it's a visual feast - interesting to learn more about indigo following the shibori class I did a few weeks ago.

and, a non-art-textiles related article to read is, "In Conversation with Adam Curtis, Part I" by (one of my favourite curators) Hans Ulrich Obrist - they do speak about art in the article