1. Selecting the accessoryAfter considering various types of accessories, I decided to make a bracelet. This could have taken various forms - a coil, a series of flat decorated panels joined by a cord or elastic, or a cuff (a curved band which wraps around the arm).
I decided to make a cuff because it reminded me of a partial spiral in form and it provided a reasonable sized surface to design and embellish. I found a cheap cuff bracelet in a shop which had a nice wavy shape rather than just straight sides and so I decided to try to use this shape for my accessory (left in first photo).
2. Bracelet constructionI have considered three techniques for making the bracelet.
Technique 1: Adhering the decorated textile shape to a preformed metallic base with glue. I investigated whether I could purchase blank metallic shapes for this. They were not readily available in Australia and I did not want to wait for some from overseas. Also, I was not able to find any blanks in the wavy shape I wanted to use. I could have covered the commercial bracelet I had purchased, but it was fairly heavy. I kept this as a fall back option if I could not find anything else that was suitable.
Technique 2: This involved using pelmet Vilene to stiffen the cuff and then sewing artists' wire around the edge to help the bracelet hold its shape. It worked to some degree but the wire was a bit flimsy and deformed easily, so I discarded this approach (centre sample in above photo).
Technique 3: I found an internet site which suggested using a shaped piece of aluminium cut from a soft drink can as a stiffening for cuff bracelets (www.ehow.com/how_5925197_use-aluminum-cans-bracelet-blank). I tried this a piece of soft drink can, sandwiched between two layers of pelmet Vilene, but this was still a bit light and bent fairly easily, so I hunted around for some thicker cans which could still be cut fairly easily but were a bit more rigid. Eventually I settled on a tin used for a brand of canned tomatoes.
Method and OH & S comments: It is important to take care when cutting and shaping an aluminium can. Wear safety glasses/goggles to protect the eyes as small metal pieces can fly off. Wear thick rubber gloves to protect the hands while cutting the tin as the edges may be sharp. Carefully cut the tin with kitchen scissors into a shape a bit larger than required, then use some smaller scissors to cut the rough shape into the final shape you require. Carefully smooth the edges with sandpaper so they are no longer sharp and dangerous. Also use the sandpaper to roughen the flat surface of the metal, then glue a shaped piece of pelmet Vilene to either side of the metal, using PVA glue. Wrap the 'sandwich" around a bottle or other cylindrical object about the diameter of your forearm and hold in place for several hours with masking tape or a wide rubber band, to form the final curved bracelet shape. This can then be covered with your embellished fabric.
Technique 3 was the most successful (sample on right above), apart from purchasing commercial metal blanks. I decided to proceed with this for my piece.
3. Design of Concept 1
I cut a cardboard template with a hole in the shape of the cuff laid flat. I then looked at various samples I have made during the module and laid the template over them. Some of the ones considered as concepts and then discarded, are shown above. I decided to work up a design based on sample 9 (right), which is a root spiral. Forms of it often appear in nature (e.g. ammonite fossil - see Chapter 1, nautilus shell). I chose this because I thought the segments were suited to the shape of the cuff and would allow me to achieve an interesting balance between colour, shape and texture in the piece.
I drew out the selected segment of the design and incorporated some modifications. These included:
- merging some of the segments in the outer circle so that they were larger and less fussy to embellish;
- adding some more lines to complete the inner circle as this seemed to give a better focal point to create something interesting in the centre of the bracelet.
The next photo shows the chosen segment and the simplified line drawing based on it.
Base fabric: I had recently attended a workshop with Isobel Hall and become interested in some of her techniques for creating interesting surfaces from paper (Reference: Isobel Hall and Maggie Grey, Mixed media: new studio techniques, d4daisy books Ltd, 2010)). I decided to experiment with painted woven paper baby wipes as the base fabric for the bracelet surface because they give a surface which is fairly strong but flexible enough to stitch through. One limitation is their size, making them unsuitable for large areas - but in this situation a single wipe was large enough to make one full size bracelet.
Concept 1 (below) was made with one wipe which had paint applied and then some spiral marks in a blue crayon (these tended to blend in a bit after the fixing). After that I painted on a layer of a sealer called "Impasto Medium" (Matisse) which stiffens the fabric. Another option which was also satisfactory was Modge-Podge (Plaid brand). Gold encaustic wax was smudged onto half of the wrinkled surface, so I could decide whether this was worth doing in future or not. I have also included a picture of some other painted samples which I have prepared, which will be considered for the final piece.
Embellishment: The photo of concept 1 (below)shows several variations that I trialled for embellishing the bracelet surface. First I tacked the design outline from a tissue paper drawing, then added machine stitching to the painted base fabric, experimenting with different metallic and non-metallic threads in purple and gold in different segments of the design. I used a vermicelli pattern as it was small enough for the little segments and not too intrusive. This was important because I wanted to add beads as the main highlight on top of the stitching. I thought the pattern worked well and will probably use a combination of two colours in the final piece.
After the machine stitching I tested two ways of outlining the segments. The first was by couching a purple-blue gimp and the second by couching a gold thread. The gold thread was more effective, but it tended to buckle a little, so in the final piece I will need to use a slightly thicker thread and place the couching stitches closer together.
Finally, I experimented with some beading options for the stitched surface. I decided that the central part of the spiral should be treated as the focal point and found an effective combination of aqua glass droplets with gold bugle beads. The segments which radiate out need less intrusive beading, but also something to link them to the central feature. I tried a few alternatives, and thought that all had possibilities. Using the aqua beads/gold bugle beads at the end of the two large segments that leading to the edges of the bracelet gave some continuity but would not be suitable for the entire piece, so two of the smaller fillings could be used in the other segments to provide balance and contrast.
Edges: This sample shows some variants that could be used as edgings for the bracelet. One was a plain gold cord, the second was a gold cord wrapped with a contrasting thread and the third was small beads added in clusters or singly to the cord. My preference at present is the wrapped gold thread with single beads spaced along it, however a final decision will be taken when the piece is nearing completion.
4. Design of Concept 2: I was not entirely happy with the way Concept 1 looked on the arm, so I decided to experiment with another approach. I realised that the wavy shape made the design more challenging because the centre of the shape was not a true mid-point or focal point for the bracelet and it needed to be divided into thirds which harmonised. Therefore I explored a design which would have 3 embroidered spirals along the length of the bracelet with stronger beading in the centre third and related but less dominant beading leading out to the edges. This came from the 3 spirals in a row on the shibori-dyed fabric in the top picture.
The base fabric used for this sample was a monoprinted baby wipe as before and machine stitching in random spirals was added to give some texture to the background, before adding the hand stitching on top. I think this approach has possibilities, especially the consideration of the design in 3 sections. However I would need to work up the embroidery further for a final sample and perhaps explore using the dyed fabric or a monoprinted fabric with 3 spirals along its length.
5. Final design for accessoryAlthough I think both designs have possibilities and could result in attractive final pieces, I have decided to revisit concept 1 because I think it is a bit more impactful. However, I will also incorporate some things learnt from concept 2. I plan to enlarge the central feature of the spiral so it roughly occupies the centre third of the design. I will also simplify the "spoke" segments in the outer ring so the design is not too busy and use a heavier weight gold outline for the segments, with the couching stitches placed closer together, so that it will add emphasis and the lines will not distort. I may add some hand stitching if I think it will add to the final impact.
Authentication: Here is a picture showing me working on the selection of beads for concept 1 and also trying concept 2 on my arm before it was embroidered.
