Category: Collision: the work begins

Posted in a collusion of ideas, Collision: the work begins, Crafting Art, journal: lessons to learn, Not so ordinaries, UnknOwn Sister

Bear with me please

Posted on by arlee

Still been a hell of a year and 8 months, but i promise i am getting my ass in gear finally. After this amount of time and all the sadness and anger, i “caved” finally signed myself up for counselling, not talking to a friend counselling but the real deal with a therapist. Probably should have done 40 or more years ago. Whatever. I’m in.  Part of this is a combination of fear, anger and grief and part a dread of dementia. (Which i DO NOT have, but worry about anyways. I have made it clear to those who care that if that happens, i will not stick around to live through it. My decision.)

Anyways, i promised back in July to give teasers of fabrics for what i’m doing. It begins:

Above, from top: all cottons, Vermeer print layer 1, Gold striped pale coral underlayer, terra cotta jacquard pants.

Below: raspberry linen and Boho style gridded rayon–one top combined, one pants or skirt combined.

 

Below, Crushed grapes print Ankhara cotton with loud striped Ankhara cotton, pinny and pants!

Below, Glacier themed 20s flapper frock with ramie, stencilling and cracked ice lace.

Below, floofy top of some sort, full and fluffy, cottons, lime green linen (which will be coupled with apple green waffle cotton) for pants.

Below, combining plaids in colour, scale and feel for fun and funky tops, cottons.

A small collection below of cotton co-ordinates that can be mixed and mixed (HA, thought i was going to say mixed and matched, didncha?)

And there will be a line/collection/series of more feminine patterned items as well: lilies of the valley, roses, tulips, irises, wild flowers in cottons, rayon, cotton rayon blends and silk.

And laces and embroidered tulles and eyelet synthetics, rayons and cottons, because of all the fabrics i bought, my inner FouFou self took over and indulged herself in all the fripperies she could get her greedy little hoofies on!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I actually did one of my first social media “stories” for FB and IG but alas, the visual part got pretty much covered with the “caption” and even i wasn’t impressed with myself. Have to try that again, and may post it here as well  if i can remember how.

And a retirement of sorts after 15 years: i sold all of my natural dyes and assorted accoutrements that went with (pots, tools, gloves, etc etc etc) because i decided that if it had been sitting for almost 3 years in my studio and not being used, it would be better to get to someone who would love it. I have plans still to sell my dye books and HALF of my white dyeables. I’ve kept my Procion as i have plans for it. I will also at some point have the remainders of my naturally dyed fabrics for sale, economical small packs to tempt and tease. I originally had planned to do all this art wear WITH naturals but soon realized care of them and the bitching that would ensue (because no one listens to/reads the instructions) made it a foolish proposition. I’m not in this to fight anybody or try to solve problems caused by casual ignorance.

Part of posting all this is that i agreed to the therapist suggestion of setting achievable goals for myself. The above planned garments won’t all happen with a week or even a month, mostly because i have 11tybajillion other ideas as well. If i set myself on the track though, that’s my first step, and yeah Me. My BIG goal is to make enough coin to go to Europe next year, or maybe South America with my son. It’s also time to travel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Onward and upward. WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

Posted in Collision: the work begins, in progress, journal: lessons to learn, Natural Dyes, Naturally dyed threads

blobbing along

Posted on by arlee

Whew, Mothers Day WEEK is over. If you’re in the plants and floral industry, it ain’t just one day that ya bust yer ass for!

I managed to finish, except for turning the edges, the second piece (#5).

The leaf really rises above the surface, due to the tension of the stitch, so i’m going to pad it out more to keep that dimension.

Now i’m onto another, the #7, though not the 7th piece i’ve worked on. 🙂

I used a copper modifier again, as this is to be “similar” to #5, and added a few circles this time. They are barely readable in the photo above, but will be worked with/around and more evident when the stitching is done.

The “plan”:

#1 was done first.

The piecing of the diamonds is sometimes frustrating as i get them sewn backwards, sideways and upside down, and have to take them apart or start all over! The stitching is mindless/”mindful”, something i can easily do during tubage, slow moments or waiting for laundry to dry, ha. All the other pieces are very small, so i might NOT piece diamonds for them, or i may go full tilt and make tinier diamonds…….

The “biggest”, most intense part of the project is actually the Crone, the most important component of all, and then the final stitching of spirals over the blobs, and on the background. She is smaller than figures i’ve worked this way before, and i’m hoping the delicacy won’t be an issue. So technically, i’m further along than i thought.

Next time i do a piece like this, all the diamond blobs will be pieced first, so i can switch amongst them to keep the flow going, rather than cut one, piece one, stitch one…………

Posted in Collision: the work begins, embrilting, in progress, Natural Dyes, Naturally dyed threads

Crone progress

Posted on by arlee

Still working on this, albeit very very slowly! Obviously the redder piece is going to need a bigger turn under (or trim) than i thought.

The “loosely based on a eucalyptus” leaf didn’t sing to  me, until i added the copper mix beads:

Today should enable finishing the few remaining areas in the diamonds.

The rest of the week will see little studio or stitch corner work done: it’s Mother’s Day week at the ffffFlower Mines, and already i’m tired!

Posted in Collision: the work begins, embrilting, in progress, Naturally dyed threads

part 2, of many

Posted on by arlee

Not going to show you the aborted and horrifying first attempt for the euc leaf on the second section 🙂 I decided to keep that part simple instead and embroider on the section itself.

Just as well, because the text would be problematic to do over the edges of an applied piece. I’m not necessarily for taking the easy way out, but i think i made the right choice here. I’m also not sure i need to add the text at all. Or maybe i add it elsewhere on the piece as a whole. Or at the very least, part of it could become the name of the piece!

I did learn two new stitches though!

The walnut thread is the Pekinese stitch, something i’d love to do as a massed line/shape, and with my anchor stitches smaller. The paler colours (osage and sandalwood) are a woven cross stitch. That second one should be done with a heavier thread to show the effect, but i’m also convinced that it’s just easier to do it as a small weaving if you want more “legs” than the basic stitch has, rather than the awkwardness of trying to go through the same holes and lay threads flat enough to give the shape to it! The basic tute is on Sharon B’s Pintangle, though i went from my stitch bible, Jacqueline Enthoven’s “The Stitches of Creative Embroidery”. You can’t see the extra legs i did though because the silk thread is so fine. Nice lustre, but no definition!

The Pekinese stitch is good for the leaf, though in its new incarnation. Textural, and with the walnut thread and judicious use of paler earth tones, a good almost bas-relief translation of the original sketch. I’ll blend in the lighter threads so they are not so “liney” :), and finish filling in the diamonds as well. The whole when attached to the backing, won’t be as pointy either!

 

 

 

Posted in Collision: the work begins, embrilting, in progress, journal: lessons to learn, Natural Dyes, Poetry: text and textiles

Note to Self: check notes to self

Posted on by arlee

It might not be set in stone, but there is/was/is a plan for this piece.

I looked through my “stitchionaries” (photo detail files of work previously done), my stitch bibles, online at new stitches, scribbled and sketched and thought, drooled on my thread choices and pondered and pondered. How am i going to treat this section, without it being too dense, but also to “fit” with the first section done?

DUH. What’s the piece that prompted this?

Obviously, it’s not going to be squared off like this quick cut and paste 🙂

I think the leaf needs to be a separate piece applied on top of this section, and the embroidery done over and around it.

Posted in Collision: the work begins, embrilting, in progress, mordants and modifiers, Natural Dyes

building parts

Posted on by arlee

Above, the first section completed. You can see the big difference on that worked section that the iron post modification made on the clear red of the original madder. (Post mod was done before stitching with quebracho rojo, cochineal and madder on silk and cotton threads.)

While i want the next section i’m working on to be a truer red, i want some nuance as well to riff the threads off. I tried post mods of soda ash, titanium oxolate and copper.

The soda ash dulled the red, the TO made it slightly orangey, and the copper, while darker and similar to the iron used before, is more what i wanted.

Though the lines are “obvious”, the threads chosen will soften the harder edges. Three shades of madder on cotton, silk and cotton, and a sandalwood on cotton should start me nicely.

I do have yet to decide which stitches i will use. I don’t want it as tightly massed as the finished section, but not really “open” and loose either.

Back to my Stitchionary for perusal and tests.

Posted in Collision: the work begins, embrilting, in progress, Natural Dyes, Naturally dyed threads

don’t set it in stone

Posted on by arlee

I’m not sure who snuck into my studio the day i pieced this section and made it a different shape than “the plan”.  Doesn’t matter though, a plan is just a piece of paper, the work is what counts.

As i worked this, i also wondered if i had made myself extra work by piecing it first: does it matter that it’s many sections? Could i have done it as one piece which would have necessitated more marking, so maybe the same or more work to begin with anyways? From a distance, the diamonds don’t register as separate chunks. Would i feel as gratified if i had used one larger piece, that might have been closer to the original shape?

Does it make any difference in the end? If i had left the diamond shapes obvious around the edges, as i did this piece, maybe. Something to consider for future work. Should square pegs be forced into round holes? Reminds me of some ecoprint work that is COVERED in embroidery–well, now you can’t see the ecoprint, so wtf was the point of using it? Work with something, not against or despite it.

I could do this again, with smaller pieces and see if the rougher edges work. Mock up first, before i commit.

PS My quebracho rojo threads ran out, so i also used madder post modified with iron, dark cochineal, and a qr overdyed on bad lichen ( 🙂 )