M4 CHAPTER 5: DRAWN THREAD WORK

1. Colouring Fabric

I applied pink and green dyes to a range of woven fabrics that I thought might be suitable for withdrawing threads. I chose some fabrics that were finely woven and others that were much coarser, so that I could experiment with different effects. The dye was applied in  patches or bands with a flat paint brush about 3-4 cm wide. The wet fabric was left overnight under plastic film to maximise uptake of the dye. A lighter result was obtained when there was a moderate amount of synthetic fibre in the fabric. I experimented with a few different greens and a bright pink. The yellow-green/pink combination  gave the more vibrant result. The other green was more dull and muted, but this could also be useful, depending on the design of the embroidery piece and the effect required.

2. First Exercise – Grid Patterns

In this exercise I investigated the effects that could be obtained by withdrawing threads in various combinations from the different types of fabric. The more tightly woven fabrics tended to give a more formal look, whereas the impression was more random with the loosely woven scrim, especially if large bands of thread were withdrawn. The look also changed depending on whether withdrawing overlapping threads in two directions results in large or small holes and also whether there were variations in the distance between the rows of withdrawn threads or a regular pattern.

3. Second Exercise – Displacing Weave Threads

This  photo shows some effects that were obtained when the threads were displaced from their original position but not completely withdrawn. This gave the surface a more complex effect as the original bands of colour were broken up. However there needs to be a reasonable amount of contrast between the two colours to have strong impact. In these samples this was not so effective, especially Sample 1 where single threads were withdrawn across the surface and the impact was quite subtle. In  Sample 2 I tried to withdraw the threads to give an arrowhead pattern which was more interesting (yellow green arrows on the pink background).

A better result can be seen in Sample 7 below where clumps of threads had a stronger impact.

Looping Threads

 

This photo shows the interesting textured effects that can be obtained by drawing the threads into the body of the fabric rather than the sides and leaving them as loops on the surface. Sample 3 shows single loops in rows across the fabric and Sample 4 on the right shows loops clustered together, which I rather liked. The size of the loops can also be varied to add to the effect.

Reweaving Withdrawn Threads

This shows three samples produced by reweaving the withdrawn threads back into the fabric. I was quite pleased with all of these.

In Sample 5, bands of threads of different thickness were woven back into the horizontal grid and the ends tied to secure them. The position of the knots was varied to add to the design and make it look less formal.

In Sample 6, I withdrew threads in both directions then rewove them in  different patterns. This piece opened up some interesting possibilities  for combining different weaving techniques to obtain the overall result. On each side I wove the threads back in a random manner and left the ends dangling  to give a roughly darned effect. In the centre I used three different techniques. The “honeycomb” effect was achieved by circular weaving across  pairs of thread bars, the “cable” effect in the middle was obtained by wrapping the two vertical bars in two different directions, and the fine bars were wrapped anticlockwise from bottom to top then clockwise from top to bottom, to give the plaited effect.

Sample 7 shows some effects that can be obtained with dyed cheese cloth by combining threads pulled partway across the fabric in both directions to displace the colour, and other clumps of threads being fully with drawn and then rewoven.  Some of these clumps were deliberately pulled a bit tighter to give a wavy surface, and ends left hanging to add to the texture. The impact of the intermingling of the two colours was also more apparent than in Sample 1. Overall I liked the finished result.

M4 CHAPTER 4: PAPER MAKING

This chapter starts with basic paper making and then describes some experiments  to explore various techniques for adding interest to the paper surface.

The basic technique followed that described in the course notes. In addition I used the following reference book as a source of ideas and additional instructions: “Paper Making” by Marion Elliot, Henry Holt & Co, Inc, 1994.

I made a series of wire frames by removing canvas from cheap frames bought at a $2 shop and then stapling wire over the top. These worked OK for the purposes of these trials. If I was going to do a lot of paper making I would probably explore some other purpose-built options for the frames.

1. First Attempts

This photo shows some of my early efforts. After making each pulp I added some coloured ink or dye to tint the paper. This was taken up differentially by the various types of paper used for the pulp. The inks tended to give more delicate colours. It took about 3 attempts to start to produce reasonable paper. My first paper (pale green) was very thin and tore easily, probably because I had the pulp too thin and watery. However it could be interesting to use for some applications. The second lot (pale pink) was much thicker and stiffer because I deliberately made the pulp thicker and lumpier. I got some nice colour effects by using torn up brown paper as part of the pulp.  The stiffness of this paper will limit its usefulness for later work. The third attempt (mauve) gave the best overall result as the paper was of medium thickness and moderately flexible.

2. Embedding

This photo shows some papers with added items embedded into them This was done by casting the pulp onto the frame, then sprinkling the items over and pressing them into the surface. Some of the things I tried were (1) Slithers of paper and ribbon (2)Threads and petals (3) Strands of wool tops  (4) Strands of silk tops. Note that the wool and silk tops these were white but took up the ink more strongly. As I really liked the texture gained by using the wool or silk strands, I decided to try making some silk paper as well (see section 7).

3. Fringing and Laminating

The two examples here show the interesting surface effects that can be obtained by (5) burying longer threads in the pulp and then pulling them out completely or partially when the paper is dry  (6) burying some scraps of a lacy fabric into the pulp, then partly scraping away the paper when it is dry. These both have possibilities for future work,for example by using the threads to deliberately write letters or words or using the lace scraps to make various shapes.

4. Letters

This shows some ways of combining shapes or letters with paper making. (7) Negative shape - the letter shape can be removed by placing a wire cut out under the pulp and then lifting it up while the pulp is damp (8). This works best of the letter is a continuous line and does not have holes like the letter R. The pulp spread on the removed cut out can be dried in situ to give a positive letter shape.  The word Rose has been spelled out by casting pulp onto pieces of wire cut into the shapes of the letters (9). This gave the clearest results and was the easiest to do.

5. Embossing

I experimented with a few ways of making an imprint in the surface of the paper.  Unfortunately none of the results photographed particularly well, but I think they give the idea. The trick seemed to be to use an object which was heavy enough to make a  strong indentation in the paper but not so heavy that it went all the way through and tore. Example 10 shows the effect of pressing the letter R cut from some fairly heavy plastic sheet into the cast pulp. I thought this was reasonably successful.  I also tried getting some lacy patterns imprinted onto the paper  by pressing  small pieces of guipure lace or a lacy fabric onto the wet surface and removing the shapes when the paper was almost dry (11, 12). These were also reasonably successful, but the lace needs to be of a medium to heavy weight to make a good imprint.  I also tried a couple of times to incorporate a watermark into the paper by attaching a wire shape to the surface of the frame and then casting the pulp over the top so that some of the paper was thinner than the rest. None of these attempts was very satisfactory, even though I tried to thin down the paper pulp for a second attempt(13). There is definitely an art to getting good results with this technique.

6. Experiments with Two Colours

Although the colours I ended up with here were not exactly as intended (the brown was meant to be pinker), they are adequate for illustrating the point that some interesting effects can be achieved by combining different coloured pulps in the one sheet of paper. The first sheet (14) shows the two colours applied in random blocks. The others (15 & 16) show two stylised attempts at lettering made by placing the coloured pulps in different shapes. I found that the easiest way to apply the different colours was with a slotted spoon or soup ladle.

7. Silk Paper

I tried making silk paper as well, because I really like its streaky textured appearance. It is delicate yet strong at the same time. I based my method on the one described in the book “Handmade Silk Paper” by Kath Russon, Search Press, 1999. However instead of using wallpaper paste to adhere the fibres, I used  Jo Sogna’s Textile Medium diluted about 50/50 with water, which was recommended to me by a friend. I also did not dye the silk tops before use, but rather, I dissolved some Brusho ink powder in the aqueous textile medium. The silk fibres took up the ink very rapidly and strongly, as shown in the photo below. I am keen to find some uses for silk paper in my work.