Sample, Sample, Sample...
Having experimented with
some sketching it is time to get back to doing stuff that will update my
initial work from over a year ago. I
have a little list of techniques with mixed media for creating surface texture and
relief. Most of the techniques will be
painted with white emulsion when finished to highlight the texture. Some samples will be on paper, some will include fabric. For several of the techniques I use a mask or stencil outline of the seed head. One of my favourite books is Colette Wolff’s
The Art of Manipulating Fabric (1996).
There is an enormous variety of techniques demonstrated in this book
that inspire creating texture with fabric.
The two images chosen for
inspiration have been manipulated to highlight the texture of the ribs and the
spaces in-between:
My little list:
- Hot glue (from glue gun) onto baking parchment sheet.
- PVA on card / fabric with crushed egg shells (painted with emulsion).
- PVA with plaster on fabric.
- Folded paper / card / fabric with snipped edges to create curves (glued and painted to base layer).
- Expanding fabric medium on paper / fabric (heated).
- Tyvek heated (concave and convex)- cut to shape and mounted.
- Lutradur melted (try different weights) - cut to shape and mounted.
- Layers of Lutradur & organza cut with soldering iron.
- Layers of Tyvek & organza, stitched and zapped with a heat gun, try 2 + 1; 3 + 2 for variations
- Tyvek stitched to fabric, heated with an iron / heat gun
- Tyvek with scrunched scrim (with bondaweb)
- Layers of card / fabric PVA with layers of holey scrim.
- Cut marks into card / fabric. Layer these up to create surfaces.
- Cut holes into card/ fabric. Stitch edges to create texture.
- Raffia stitched through paper / fabric.
Using Free Machine and
Hand Sewing to create texture:
- Scribble stitch over cords on soluble film.
- Hand gathering, gently pulled to create texture.
- Four-sided gathering (hand and machine) pulled up.
- Stuffed bubbles (two samples showing front and reverse).
- Twisted pin tucks (insert wire and move from side to side when stitching).
- Jute Scrim hand stitched to make holey.
- Hessian drawn threads on horizontal, bound on verticals to created texture.
- Linen scrim (22 count), drawn threads on horizontal, bound on verticals to created texture.
- Linen scrim (22 count), enlarged stitched eyelets, cotton scrim pushed through from behind.
- Handmade cords (sari silk) whip stitched to base fabric.
- Handmade cords layered with scrim, whip stitched to base fabric.
- Rust & Tea dyed fabric, wired with whip stitch.
- Tussah silk manipulated to create holes.
- Layer fabric between two sheets of plastic, stitch, then melt.
Evaluation of techniques completed:
As I was working through my list I realised just how many samples I have done. This blog is going to very long with all the photo and words....
Hot glue (from glue gun) onto baking parchment
sheet.
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| Sample 2: Hot Glue free hand |
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| Sample 1: Hot Glue |
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| Sample 3: Hot Glue - free hand painted |
This technique worked far better than I thought it
would. For the first sample I put an
outline image underneath the baking parchment and ‘drew’ the outline with the
hot glue. My first sample was quite
large, but once I got the hang of the pressure and the movement needed to lay
down the glue trail, I tried a couple of small sample shapes freehand just
using the image as a reference. Feeling
more confident, I had a go at ‘drawing’ large seed head free hand. I was going
to use this one for egg shells, but it cooled down too quickly, so it was the
one that got painted with emulsion. I
think I will use this technique again to create masks or printing blocks for
mono-printing.
PVA on card / fabric with crushed egg shells
(painted with emulsion).
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| Crushed egg shells on PVA painted |
I tried two types of glue, the first was the hot glue
from the glue gun. Although I could get a good outline of the poppy seed head,
the glue cooled down too quickly for the egg shells to adhere very well. The second sample worked better – I dribbled
an outline shape from a bottle of PVA then sprinkled crushed egg shells all
over it. The glue was quite thick so it
had to be left to dry for a whole day before painting. When I first read about this technique I
wasn’t sure how it would work out. I
will have to think some more about how to use this techniques effectively.
1
PVA with plaster on fabric.
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| Stencil for printing |
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| Printing onto fabric |
I made a mix of dry plaster, with a dollop of PVA and a dollop of
emulsion. Then using a stencil
previously cut from strong paper as a mask to ‘print’ onto fabric. It worked OK, but the stencil curled up and
could not be used after a few prints. I
should have ironed the fabric first!
Expanding fabric medium on fabric and paper:
Two types of medium sampled.
Xpandaprint from Art Van Go, and Filigree Fluid by Stewart Gill. My first sample didn’t work as I used a
hairdryer as the heat source. Using the
heat gun produced a far better result.
The filigree fluid bottle has a very fine nozzle so a fine line could be
drawn with it, then heated – this would be good for small fine details of a
raised surface. The xpandprint was applied with the tip of a sponge and
dabbed into place (some books suggest using a mask on a screen print or a
thermofax to get an even distribution).
This created an interesting texture which could be taken further my
introducing painterly effects and stitching for larger areas of coverage. This could be effective if used sparingly.
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| Filigree Fluid on fabric with hairdryer heat |
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| Filigree Fluid on paper with heat gun |
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| Xpandaprint dabbed onto fabric |
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| Selective use of xpandaprint |
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| Selective use of Filigree Fluid |
Tyvek melted (two samples convex and concave bubbles) -
cut to shape and mounted.
A very simple heat
application, I will try this again with some colour added to the Tyvek to see
how that alters the concave and convex bubbles.
Lutradur melted (try different
weights) - cut to shape and mounted.
Layers of Lutradur and organza with random stitching, heat
applied.
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| Lutradur with random stitching |
This has worked quite well;
the two layers have bonded together, and in some places melted all the way
through to create a lacy texture. This worked quite well, resulting in an
interesting texture. I only used hand
stitch, I could try free machine stitching to create deliberate patterns and
use a heat gun to melt through particular areas.
Layers of Lutradur and organza;
herringbone stitching, heat applied.
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| Lutradur & Organza heat from Heat Gun |
This has worked quite well;
the two synthetic layers have bonded together, and in some places melted all
the way through to create a lacy texture. As the synthetic shrank, the threads
have become loose, giving a raised surface.
Layers of Tyvek & organza, stitched and zapped with a
heat gun, try 2 + 1; 3 + 2 for variations.
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| Tyvek and Organza sandwich |
The tyvek-organza-tyvek
sandwich worked better than the version with the extra layers in it. All three layers melted and rolled in on
themselves. The stitching prevented the
bubbles from forming, so when cool, the sample was quite hard. The pattern of stitching was not
evident.
Tyvek stitched to fabric, heated with an iron / heat gun.
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| Tyvek with spiral stitching then heat application |
I hand stitched a spiral
pattern to join the Tyvek and cotton, then applied the heat gun to the
tyvek The Tyvek side is not very
inspiring, but the fabric side has some wonderful soft gathers which I rather
like. I need to experiment more with
free machine patterns onto the layers and used the heat gun in target areas.
Tyvek with scrunched scrim (with bondaweb).
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| Tyvek with scrunched scrim |
I think this is one of my favourite samples, especially with a light source behind it. The scrim has scrumpled beautifully, creating some very interesting texture. Where the Tyvek melted completely it has a web like appearance. A light source behind the fabric reveals the lovely texture.
Scribble stitch over cords on soluble film.
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| Scribble Stitch over cords on soluble film |
Cords with two strands of soft string, pinned in columns
to soluble film, then scribble stitch all over.
When dry the piece tacked to calico backing. In normal light the cords do not show up very
well, but with a strong light source behind, they are very evident.
Photographed with and without mask. (30 minutes
for stitching)
Hand gathering, gently pulled to create texture:
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| Soft gathers behind mask |
After reading Helen Parrott (Parrott, 2013) and Jean
Draper (p114) (Draper, 2013) books I was
interested in the 'making stitch marks' and 'layering fabrics' sections. Parallel lines of small uneven stitches on
two layers of cotton. Gently pulled to
form soft marks. This makes a lovely
raised surface, which could be grouped to be interpreted as the ribs on the
poppy. This would be better with a
softer fabric as it was difficult to manipulate the gathers. I could explore this more as in traditional
kantha Stitching - multiple layers of fabric hand stitched including an outline
shape so there is no need to pull up to make the gathers. (30 minutes for stitching.
Four-sided gathering (hand and machine) pulled up:
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| Four side gathering with mask |
Gathering stiches running horizontally, then
vertically. Pulling the gathers was
easier on the hand stitched piece as there was only one thread (using coton à broder).
With the machined sample, I had to be careful to just pull the top
thread; there was also the risk of the thread breaking if tugging to
firmly. The texture is very interesting, with random
markings. The surface can be further raised
by stuffing some wadding under section to make domes. (30 minutes for stitching)
Stuffed bubbles (two samples showing front and reverse):
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| Stuffed bubbles |
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| Stuffed bubbles from the other side. |
Random sized circles stitched onto fabric with a
gathering stitch (coton à broder).
As each circle
is gathered, Insert a small amount of wadding from the reverse of the fabric
(or the top if the opposite pattern is desired), pull the bubble tight and wrap
the long thread around to close the neck.
(3 hours for stitching and stuffing).
Twisted pin tucks (insert wire and move from
side to side when stitching).
Stitched on recycled silk
Jute Scrim hand stitched to make holey.
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| Jute Scrim, stitched to large holes |
Hessian drawn threads on horizontal, bound on
verticals to created texture.
Linen scrim (22 count), drawn threads on
horizontal, bound on verticals to created texture.
Linen scrim (22 count), enlarged stitched
eyelets, cotton scrim pushed through from behind.
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| Stuffed eyelets |
This is a lovely sample (in my opinion), I enjoy hand stitching
and found this very relaxing to create the holey texture in the linen scrim then
button hole the edges, pushing the cotton scrim through to create the bubbles is
a very simple way t create a raised surface. The problem is, how to store the sample without
the bubbles getting crushed.
Handmade cords (sari silk) whip stitched to base fabric.
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| Sari silk card whip stitch |
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| Whip stitch cord with scrim |
Here I have explored wrapping lengths of Sari silk in
different ways then applying it to a calico base. I used lengths of Sari silk (because I have a
lot of it). It was loosely wrapped with silk bourette yarn - although with
hindsight this was too coarsely done. The machine zigzag stitch flattened the
coil losing some of the texture. Free
machining over the cord had a similar effect I hand stitched with different
weights of threads. All the weights of coton à broder worked
well - my consideration would be to match the weight of thread to the base
fabric, and also consider how long it would take to wrap and stitch each length
to the base fabric. the finer the yarn, the longer it takes to complete a
length. Cotton perle has a lustre which gives a pleasing effect in small
sections. (20 hours!). The variation was to add crumpled scrim to the lower section
of this sample to add texture
Rust & Tea dyed fabric, wired with whip stitch.
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| Whip stitch over florist wire rust dyed |
Influenced by the fabric rusting techniques of Alice Fox,
(Fox,
Natural Processes in Textile Art: From Rust dyeing to found objects, 2015) . In her book, she describes methods of dyeing
fabric with rust and tea. Calico
stitched with fine gauge florist wire,
wrapped with rusty fragments, soaked in strong tea solution for two
days. Whip stitched with coton-a-broder
no 12. Re-sprayed with dilute tea to
allow more rust marks to develop.
Tussah silk manipulated to create holes:
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| Manipulated tussah silk |
I chose the Tussah silk as it already had a lot of
texture in the weave. The warp threads
(vertical) could be eased apart with thumbnails or other blunt instrument such
as a paint brush handle to distress the fabric. The weft threads are very fine
and torn to make holes and raised surfaces in the fabric. This was a very quick technique which might
be useful in a stitched collage.
Photographed through a poppy shaped mask. (30 minutes for stitching).
This has been a very interesting section to complete. Although I have been aware of many of the techniques above, I have now been able to explore their potential within a specific theme. progress at last!
I'm off for a little break with the S&H and DiL - looking forward to good food, good wine and good company. Plus a couple of gallery visits. Pxx
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