CHAPTER 13: STUDY THREE ARTISTS

1.  JENNIE RAYMENT

Jennie has a background in patchwork and quilting. She started experimenting with ways to create texture in patchwork and this led her to try lots of fabric manipulation techniques. She is internationally known for her quick, simple, innovative and original designs with manipulated fabric, particularly basic calico. Interestingly some of her fabric folding techniques have been derived from a study of origami. She is known for her quirky nature and has published seven books on fabric manipulation techniques as well as teaching extensively in person and on TV. The emphasis is on quick and easy ways to achieve intriguing effects. Her work is exhibited internationally in various galleries, shows and exhibitions and can be adapted for many textile applications including quilts, wall hangings, 3D items, clothing and accessories.

I find this work interesting because it shows how some effective textural effects can be achieved by simple folding and stitching of fabrics. However some of it is a little too static for me because it reminds me of patchwork. Nevertheless it is a great source of inspiration and encouragement to experiment. I chose two images by Jennie to illustrate this section. They both show some interesting effects achieved by folding, cutting, pleating and quilting.

Part of "Texture into Sudoku" by Jennie Rayment

"Magnolia Dusk" by Jennie Rayment

References

www.jennierayment.com/

http://www.quiltersguild.org.uk/members/page/jennie-rayment

http://www.burwashquilters.org.uk/workshops-iii/4585874011

2. MICHAEL BRENNAND-WOOD

Michael Brennand-Wood is at the forefront of contemporary textile art. He constructs elaborate, eye-catching wall-hung pieces that are part sculpture, part textile. Michael chose to explore embroidery as an artistic medium as he thought it was the area closest to fine art, seeing stitching as drawing in thread.   He is well known internationally, having exhibited and taught in many different countries, including Australia. He was visiting artist in textiles at Australian National University, Canberra, in 1991 and has visited several times since then, lecturing and exhibiting his work. He was artist in residence for Craft ACT in 2013. Examples of Michael's work can be seen in major public, corporate and private collections worldwide, including the National Gallery of Australia.

Michael's work references historic and traditional embroidery sources, but these are extended into the present day by exploring and developing ways to innovatively and imaginatively integrate textiles with other media. For example the piece below, a section of "Crystallised Movements" created in 2004, combines computerised machine embroidery, acrylic paint, wood, glass and collage to give the final result which is based on floral imagery. Michael's works are colourful, dramatic and rhythmic in feel, often exploring three-dimensional line, structure and pattern. Characteristically, the pieces are intensely detailed with strong optical effects that become apparent at a distance as well as having a tactile quality.

In an artist's statement on the website of the University for the Creative Arts, UK he explains that he constantly revises his ideas at all stages of the evolution of a work. He aims to construct a personal ground, which allows him to integrate the machined units creatively with other 3 dimensional materials. Recent works have also tended to have a kinetic dimension, with elements extending into space. He finds it exciting for artists to put themselves in unfamiliar territory, push things ahead and ask questions. These words strike a chord with me because they are the things that I have been focussing on in my recent embroidery studies - experimentation, allowing the work to evolve and combining different techniques.

 

Section of "Crystallised Movements" 2004

Flower Head- Narcissistic Butterfly, 2005.

References

http://brennand-wood.com/

http://soa.anu.edu.au/visintartists/michael-brennand-wood

http://transitionandinfluence.com/gallery/statement.html

http://www.themaking.org.uk/content/makers/2011/02/michael_brennand_wood.html

3. SVENJA

For the third task in this chapter I have chosen to study a textile artist, known as Svenja, who is based in Brisbane, Australia. Her work is often inspired by nature, in particular the intricate forms of lichen and fungi, and she enjoys the challenge of creating garments that blur the boundaries of art and fashion. She has won several major awards for wearable art and sculptural leather.  Amongst these are first and second prizes in two sections of the prestigious 2013 World of Wearable Art Awards (WOW Awards), an international competition held annually in New Zealand. This was for her work ‘Hakuturi, a group of three garments (shown below). The Hakuturi is a mythical Maori creature that is the guardian of the forest. The front and back tooled leather pieces have been dyed, painted and waxed. They rest on a background of dyed and painted silk organza that has also been used for the ruffles on each piece. I saw this work late last year at the Wearable Art Museum in New Zealand and was fascinated by the use of different materials and the way they had been manipulated to create the work.

Svenja has studied Fashion Design, Drawing and has a BA in Art History. She uses a range of techniques in her constructions, including silk painting, shibori shaping and dyeing, embellishing with free-motion machine embroidery, felting, leatherwork and manipulation of fabrics, plastics and fibreglass. In a recent article she stated: "I look at my work as sculptural pieces that can be worn and enjoyed, by both the wearer and the viewer" and also "The human form provides a great framework for these works which often straddle the realms of fashion and art". In her view "Textiles has it all - complete control of colour, shape, and texture that you can build into a sculpture."

 

Inspiration can come from many unlikely places. For example, the piece above, Fimbria Figura, was inspired by an electron microscope scan of a fallopian tube. Latin for "fringe", the fimbria sits next to the ovary and sweeps the egg into the fallopian tube. The dress is constructed from vibrant pink, purple and red silk organza screen printed with the image and layered over a metallic foil jersey base. The fringe was represented by distorting the dress with fishing line and stitching it into a circular pattern, with shibori-bound lame representing the finger-like cilia.

A few more images of Svenja's work are shown below. The examples in this section illustrate the wide variety of fabric manipulation techniques that can be used to create these impactful designs - ruffling, pleating, gathering, folding, layering and cording. The choice of material is also an important element in the final visual effect. If only I was so skilful and creative!

  

“Isolda” by Svenja

References

http://intocraft.com.au/blog/world-wearable-art/#sthash.bz5sMFRr.dpuf

http://inhalemag.com/wearable-art-awards-2013/

https://frockontheblock.wordpress.com/stall-holders/fashion-accessories/studio-svenja/

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/dress-inspired-by-fallopian-tube-goes-on-display-in-brisbane-20141007-10rk06.html#ixzz3kGYyfS4K

M5 CHAPTER 12: Finish and Edges

After the main part of the stitching was finished, I experimented with a few different finishes for my work.
The completed item will be part of a 30 x 30 exhibition at my local Embroiderer's’ Guild early in 2016. Hence the finished piece has to be 30cm X 30cm. I decided to mount the item, which was roughly 21X21cm, on a background fabric which would frame the piece. This fabric will be stretched over an artist’s canvas for hanging.
Decision 1: The first decision was the choice of background fabric. I tried 4 different options. The first was a darker batik style blue fabric, and the rest were different hand-dyed shibori fabrics in aqua and white. I  decided that the fabrics with white in the background gave a better effect due to the greater contrast they offered, so rejected the darker one (left). The randomly striped fabric in the centre and the patchy one on the right were also rejected because they were a bit too busy and blue. I dyed an additional piece of cotton fabric in a paler colour using a similar pattern to the rejected one on the right. This was prepared by rolling and binding it with string before placing in the dye. I decided that the best effect was achieved with this fabric  because the contrast was better balanced.
Decision 2: Edge finish. I thought about leaving the edges of the embroidered section cut unevenly as in the centre picture in the rejected samples below.However I ended up deciding against this as the blurred  edge  did not give a good contrast with the background.  The smooth  finish on the right, where the rough edges were tucked under, was much cleaner and brought out the  lines  of stitching much more. I thought about adding some stitching to the background fabric but rejected this idea because the pristine background seemed more in keeping with the icy environment and I did not want it to become too busy.
Rejected backgrounds & finishes

   
Selected background and finish
Decision 3: Angle to mount the embroidered panel. I started off thinking that I would mount the embroidered panel to sit squarely against the background, as in the centre and right rejected samples. After trying a few alternatives, I decided that an angled mount gave a more pleasing effect because it helped accentuate the lines of stitching and drew the eye upwards through the piece. However I also  decided to  add interest by allowing the bobbly dyed silk organza to extend past the boundaries of the more intensely stitched areas, as if the ice was spilling out of the iceberg shape.
















FINAL RESOLVED SAMPLE
 The stitching on this piece was similar to the samples worked earlier in the module except:

• On the outer deep blue section I made  the silver stitches larger than the blue ones to add variety
• On the middle pleated section I added some darker blocks of stitching to add contrast, and over stitched some large rough crosses in aqua and silver  threads to provide a link between this section and the outer one.
• The central bubbly section was stitched down with a fine thread that blended with teh background as I decided that it didn't need any extra contrast.

I am pleased with the final result, which combines several types of fabric manipulation with large areas of hand stitching to accentuate the shapes and provide contrast. The background fabric I selected gave a nice contrast to the embellished areas and did not overwhelm them. The one thing that annoys me a little bit is that my technique was not quite good enough to give perfect edges to the stitched area, but I don't think this is a major flaw.

M5: CHAPTER 12 – ADDITIONAL TRIALS

 Following feedback from Sian I experimented a little more with design A before moving on to produce the final piece.
Area 1 (left): At Sian’s suggestion,  I took one of my earlier samples of the pintucked sheer fabric and cut it into pieces. I then rearranged these  onto the backing fabric so that the twin lines changed angle several times. This gave a more  interesting effect for this section of the work.
Area 2 (centre): I added some blocks of stitching to the pleated fabric and removed the running stitches used previously. This added more texture to this area of the work and improved the overall effect. The colour of the chosen threads was kept fairly light so they did not dominate the piece. I experimented with different sized blocks of stitching. The larger ones gave a better effect. When constructing the final item, this area will be applied first, so that the edges from areas 1 and 3 can overlap it a little.
Area 3 (right): As before
The photo below shows the three areas side by side. I now intend to start work on the final resolved sample.

M5, CHAPTER 12: STITCHED TRIAL SAMPLES & RESOLVED SAMPLE

Following on from Chapter 11, I have selected decorated paper samples 16A and 19A to work up further before deciding on my resolved sample. For each of these I first did a full size mock up in paper, then selected sections to  do trials with stitch and fabric manipulation. I chose a square format, 20cm X 20cm, for the final pieces. This was  chosen to fit with the requirements for some exhibition pieces that one of my local embroidery groups in working on for next year as I don’t have time to do other pieces at the moment.

A. TRIALS WITH SAMPLE 16 – ICEBERG

Here is the 20cm X 20 cm mock up, together with the smaller version and the photograph submitted previously.

Trials were done for three separate areas of the design, going from left to right.

The first and second areas are the ridged ice.

Area 1: Initially I experimented with machined pintucks/pleats and applying several silver and aqua yarns and cords onto a sheer fabric using a cording foot . However I decided that none of these was quite right, so then I tried a twin needle to machine pintucks. Again I tried several threads and finally settled on a variegated blue one, as the colour variations gave a more interesting effect and blended better with the fabrics I planned to use for the other sections.

 

After that I tried leaving some of the areas blank, or just with stitching. For this stitching I chose an angled straight stitch. I then tried adding stitching in between the machined rows. I experimented with some stitching in aqua and some in silver. The sample on the right above shows some unstitched areas and stitching with various thicknesses of thread.  I eventually  settled on a variegated blue thread and a pattern where the blue  and silver stitches alternated.

Area 2: For this area I dyed some cotton fabric with a turquoise Procion MX dye . I did this by folding the fabric into concertina pleats then spooning/painting a rough line of dye along the length of the pleat. I was very happy with this effect as it gave an uneven striped appearance with plenty of white patches alternating with the turquoise. 

The dyed fabric was then pleated with a series of closely packed narrow pleats. I decided that this area was best left without a lot of stitching, as I wanted an understated look to contrast with areas 1 and 3, so I left some pleats plain and stitched the rest with a fairly subtle running stitch.

Area 3: I wanted the triangular section at the bottom right to have a strong contrast in colour and texture with area 2. I did some dyeing experiments with silk organza. The one at the left and back was dyed by tying stones into the fabric (ne-maki shibori) and covering some of the tied areas  with plastic so that some of the areas came out completely white and others turquoise with a white squarish ring.

The idea behind this was quite good but the whitish areas seemed to be too large, so I trued again by tying much smaller soya beans  into the fabric, again with some sections wrapped in plastic.

 

This time the dyed fabric had a much more suitable turquoise and white appearance. The organza retained the shape of the tied items, giving it a “bubbly” texture which was related to the eroded area of the iceberg. I then stitched the organza to a backing fabric to retain the manipulated shape. I tried both small white cross stitches and small seed stitches. I think the seed stitches gave the better result.

This final picture in the series shows the three planned sections of the design side by side so that the contrasts in texture achieved with the colour and manipulation of the fabrics, as well as the stitching, are clearly shown.

B. TRIALS WITH SAMPLE 19 – GLACIER

Here is a 20cm X 20 cm mock up of the design, together with the smaller version and the photograph submitted previously.

In this case I decided to simplify the design a little more by discarding the top layer of manipulated paper, which did not seem to suit very well. This left two areas to experiment with.

Area 1 (top and bottom):  For this area I wanted to highlight the “cobblestone” effect in the cracked ice. This picture shows  a stitched sample on the left and a manipulated sample with/without stitching on the right. The sample on the left was worked on some polyester satin I had on hand.  I  made some cardboard templates in two different sizes, stitched the shape using backstitch, then highlighted area of each patch with close straight stitches, similar to satin stitch.

For the sample on the right I chose some blue shibori-dyed fabric  with a roughly striped appearance. The colour was not quite right, as this was before I had done more dyeing with turquoise. However it was OK for the sample. I put a sheer layer over the top to give it a bit of sheen like the ice. I cut some of the cobblestone shapes out of felt using two layers of padding for each shape. These were stitched in place between the striped fabric and a backing using backstitch. Some padded shapes were left plain and others had  highlights added with close straight stitches. To give more texture I added a series of running stitches between the shapes, a bit like kantha work.

Area 2 (middle): For this section I tried to dye a synthetic satin fabric to a turquoise colour. I had used a polyester dye but it did not pick up the colour very well. However the back I was a reasonable hue and had quite a nice texture for stitching so I decided to use it.

The first sample shows some trials with various types of stitches  - mainly cretan and herringbone – in a variety of threads and colours.

I then experimented with randomly pleating the fabric, so it did not have a very formal look. At the bottom of the picture you can see an area left unstitched. Further up are experiments with cretan and herringbone stitch. I decided that the cretan stitches that looked like a honeycomb pattern were probably the most suitable for the resolve d sample.

For the final piece I would use a different set of fabrics for the top and bottom sections. I dyed some cotton fabric with a pale turquoise , after twisting it and wrapping it with string. This gave a pattern reminiscent of the cobblestones. I also liked the idea of adding a whitish semi-transparent sheer over the top to give more of a feel of the ice. The photo below shows the background fabric with and without the sheer , with the centre area stitch sample overlaid to show how the colour combination would work.

CONCLUSION: I think either of the selected designs would work well as a resolved sample. I will probably finish both of them for the exhibition for my embroidery group next year. However to complete this module I will start with Design 16B – Iceberg.

M5, CHAPTER 11: DESIGN FROM LANDSCAPE

1. MAKING DECORATED PAPERS FOR DESIGN WORK
I decided to work with a blue/aqua/white/silver colour palette for this section as the colours were reminiscent of some of the colours seen in icebergs and glaciers.
A: Use of Texture
Flat textures: The following pictures show some papers with flat textures that were made to use later in this section.   The marks were generally intended to echo shapes seen in the ice and glacier photos, e.g. eroded icebergs, pointy and rough ice, a cracked glacier surface.The top two pictures show several samples where shapes were drawn with crayon and then either an ink wash or a layer of paint was added using a monoprint type of technique.

The picture below shows some samples where shapes were stamped (middle) or made by dragging a grouting tool which had been dipped in paint, across the paper.

The final picture in this section shows an experiment in drawing with candle wax. A couple of years ago in Bali I had purchased canting tool for applying wax to fabric to make batik. So I melted some candle wax and then tried to use the tool to apply the wax in thin lines. The result was fair as I did get some lines, but also some blobs of wax. This obviously needs more practice to get a good result. I think it might also have been better to use bees wax but I didn’t have any on hand. After the wax dried I applied a pale blue ink wash to the paper.

Relief textures: The next set of papers were produced with relief textures.
A & B:
This pair was made by crushing kitchen paper towel and gluing it to background cartridge paper. Ink was brushed onto the one on the left and paint rubbed on roughly with a brayer to the one on the right.
C:
The background for Sample C was a  fairly thick crushed brown paper bag. The aqua paint was applied roughly with a brayer, then silver encaustic wax was added to some of the raised sections with a hot iron.
D:
Sample D was made by gluing shredded paper to a background sheet and then roughly applying some paint with a brayer.
E:
To make Sample E, I painted some Vliesofix with splodges of aqua and white paint. I then laid down pieces of a turquoise on white tissue paper and adhered the Vliesofix over the top with a warm dry iron.
F:
Sample F was produced by scattering rice over a sheet spread with glue, then roughly painting over it using a brush.
G:
To make Sample G, I painted a thick layer of Glossy Modge Podge over the paper and then pressed a circular shape from a  kitchen gadget into it to give the indentations. When dry, I then roughly brushed over it with paint. This was only partly successful as I think the Modge Podge was not quite thick enough to hold the shape very well. I have since sourced some other moulding paste to try another time.
H:
For this sample I tried to create some wavy textured lines by trapping string between two layers of tissue paper, glued together. I then applied a layer of paint to the top layer with a brush, and some silver highlights using encaustic wax. I thought the effect was quite good but in hindsight it needed more contrast with the paint, perhaps by applying some darker patches.
2: USE OF SHAPE
In this next series, I chose 6 photographs  as my starting point. For each one  I will show some experiments in cutting the photograph in various ways, followed by some pictures produced with the decorated papers.
Samples 1 to 4 & 14: Iceberg dome
  
In this series I thought cut picture  2 was the most interesting to consider progressing. Three examples with different decorated papers are shown below, as well as one example for sample 1. Sample 2A was quite appealing but I think sample 2C also showed possibilities if the paint/string paper had had more contrast.
 
Picture 14 shows another way of cutting this photo and 2 ways of producing a more abstract design using textured papers. I think these examples are particularly interesting and I plan to develop them further in the work up for the final resolved sample.

Sample 5: End of glacier 1

I tried cutting this photo with jagged lines to try to echo the rough surface of the ice. I also cut out some areas to create interest with negative space. Sample 5A shows how these shapes would translate in a  decorated paper. I think the shapes are interesting but they appealed to me less than some of the other samples, so at this stage I have not progressed this one further.
Samples 6 & 7: End of glacier 2

   
Two ways of cutting the picture are shown in samples 6 & 7. The shapes in 6 appealed more, so I made two samples in decorated papers – one flat and one textured. I think the shapes are interesting but will probably not progress this one at present.
Samples 8 & 9: Brash Ice

Sample 8 - I tried cutting this picture in straight lines of varied widths, like a Fibonnacci sequence, plus a diagonal slash.  I quite liked this effect so also reproduced it in a decorated paper. I think it may have some possibilities for a fabric design, but have decided to leave it for now.
Sample 9 - I did not progress this as the curved cut shapes did not appeal as much.
Samples 10 to 13 & 18: Cracked glacier surface
This photo was very appealing and had yielded some good manipulated fabric samples previously, so I was keen to work with it  further in this section. I tried 5 different ways to cut the photo, then experimented with flat and textured papers for nos. 10, 11 & 18.



On reflection I felt that some of these samples did not capture the essence of the cracked ice, so I went back  and tried a few more (samples 17 to 19). The ones that worked best were nos 17 & 19 (unlabelled)because the cuts followed the patterns in the cracked ice. Sample 17B was an abstract interpretation which I thought looked quite good. Sample 18 was less appealing.


The final one also worked very well and translated nicely into a sample with the decorated papers. I decided to try to develop this one a bit more in the work up for the final resolved sample.

Samples 15 & 16: Section of iceberg

I had liked the contrast between the rippled erosion pattern and the  more irregular ice in one of my iceberg photos, so decided to enlarge this area and experiment with cuts and textures. Photos 15 & 16 represent two slightly different close up views. I preferred  sample 16A in the decorated paper samples. I think this could translate into an interesting resolved piece so will do some fabric samples in the next chapter.
Summary: After trying lots of ways of cutting the photos and interpreting them in decorated papers, I have narrowed the possibilities down to three I would like to carry forward for further experimentation with stitching and manipulated fabric before finalising my resolved sample. These are numbers 14, 16 and 19

CHAPTER 10: STITCH TO TRANSLATE

In this section I experimented with various stitches to translate rubbed marks, confining the stitching to white/cream on black fabric. I chose examples where the pieces used for the rubbing had been produced with a variety of techniques so I could experiment with a range of stitches.
Sample A: Tissue paper rubbing from a paper relief

The first rubbing I chose was number 1 in section 9.7, Chapter 9 – taken from a cluster of gathered and bunched strips of tissue paper. The pattern was a swirly oval shape. I chose a combination of herringbone and fly stitch for this pattern, using threads of different thickness to produce some heavier and lighter areas.
Sample B: Tissue paper rubbing from a machine stitched sample

The second rubbing I chose was produced from  machine stitched sample D, section 9.7, Chapter 9 . This was made from pleated silk organza, with added rows of twin needle pintucks. I tried to reproduce the machined marks using backstitch, stem stitch, running stitch and French knots. I thought the result was quite pleasing and interesting.
Rubbing directly onto fabric
I then produced 3 samples using the other suggested method of stitching over  a rubbing which had been transferred directly onto the fabric. I used a white Shiva Paint Stick to do these rubbings  as Markal Paint Sticks were not available in Sydney.
Sample C: Rubbing onto fabric (1)

The rubbing was taken from sample 3, Chapter 8, where strips of cotton homespun were knotted and couched into  grooves of  gathered chenille. I chose a combination of knotted stitches to translate the marks using  a range of thick and thin threads – French knots, Palestrina knots, coral knots. I selected these stiches because they enabled me to produce some individual lumpy areas as well as “lumpy lines”. I think this was quite successful.
Sample D: Rubbing onto fabric (2)

This rubbing was taken from Sample 4, Chapter 8, produced from  flattened tubes of silk satin which had been pleated irregularly, then stitched to a base of calico. The challenge with this one was to give the impression of the rows of pleats. I did this by using groups of straight stitches worked in blocks of varying sizes at right angles to each other. Again, the selection of threads of different thickness helped to give the impression of some heavy marks and some lighter ones in between the pleats. 
Sample E: Rubbing onto fabric (3)

This sample was produced from a rubbing of Sample 7, Chapter 8, formed from cut and fringed fabric stitched in circles over pipe cleaners covered in homespun cotton. I used a combination of Cretan and fly stitch for this, so I could create dense areas and lighter areas by using thick and thin threads and bunching up or spreading out the stitches. I tried to convey the idea of a series of patches. This sample looked good, but I thought the diagonal lines in the rubbing seemed to get a bit lost with the stitching. I think this may have been because I did not follow the rhythm of the slanting lines as well as I could have as I stitched.