Monday 17 November 2014

Chapter 8 Module 3 C&G machine embroidery completed

"One item of embroidery using straight and zigzag stitches. The item is to be developed from the Design and Craft unit ideas, to use free machine and presser foot."

Chapter 8 - Assessment piece

What? 
Possible ideas for stitching.

Box- I am a bit of a box collector and had an idea for a four sided box depicting the seasons using leaf images and flowers

Hanging - I could develop 3D shapes

Bag - I like bags as much as boxes; they are useful but not interesting enough for this piece.
Vessel - Vessel- This interests me as I can use 3D stitching - height depth and texture and lots of opportunities to develop ideas.

Round bowl _ I have made bowls before and whilst I enjoy making them, I'd like to do something different

Fan - This is a nice idea - I could make a continuous image and then segment it for the leaves of the fan. This is an idea that I might pursue in the course

Purse - Too small to include much stitch

Book cover - everyone makes book covers

Shoe - I like the idea of embroidered shoes - they have great potential, old and new, traditional or modern.

I stopped making the list as I felt that it was sufficient but from those ideas chose the three most challenging. 1, the vessel; 2, the box and 3, the shoe

I have submitted my planning sheet in a previous blog but looking back, don't seem to have added these ideas from my small note book.

Chapter 9 - The sampling, threads and colours have been shown in previous progress blogs. The progress of the piece has been slow as I have been very busy, so slightly disjointed and created in small elements.

Chapter 10
There were some pieces to be made to finish the piece. A tree was going to be used as the joining piece between the scapes to form the cylinder. A Thermafax screen of a British deciduous tree was used and acrylic paint onto water-soluble material and hooped when dry. I wasn't sure that the wet of the paint wouldn't dissolve the water-soluble; it didn't. Using some sprung wire, I zigzagged the trunk and branches to create a skeleton of the tree. Then some silk waste was laid on top of the structure and another layer of water-soluble laid on top to hold it down. I then stitched the branches in straight and zigzag free stitches to ensure that everything was trapped and would hold together when the water-soluble was dissolved.

Th piece was washed to dissolve the water-soluble, dried with paper towels and a hair dryer and then the head of the tree 'painted' with Paverpol to create  some support.


The head of the tree.

The tree was then stitched to each side of the main piece with invisible thread and the back join covered with the same silk as had been used for the lining. The head of the tree was caught to each scape at a couple of points the keep it supported but it stands out from the adjoining sides in 3D


The tree joining the two ends of the piece


The side of the tree



The sea with a wave 

The horizontal sea extension is lined with metal to hold shape and the wave was similarly created using three layers of fabric. A dark silk for the internal curve, the same blue as the sea for the external but covered with white organza and a layer of copper mesh sandwiched inside the silks. This was free embroidered and using some water-soluble, some 'white horses' were stitched to the top edge of the wave which was then attached to the sea. The back of the wave is not wave shaped, but the accuracy of the natural elements was not the point, more to create interest and texture/movement.


The stitched title

Having stitched this before I realised that I had misspelt the title. So I looked again at spelling and found more than one for this ancient word. I restitched it on the same silk as previously used and Bondawebbed and stitched over the erroneous title. This was then bordered with a foot down automatic brick stitch which was also used around the piece with invisible thread.

The following pictures take a tour of the finished piece. 


The join



The village


The transition from village to sea


The cliff/sea scape


The transition from Sea/cliff to country scape


The country scape


The tree join from the country scape side

The piece is lined with a complimentary coloured silk throughout.


Photo of me working during module
Evaluation
ITEM
PLANNING
EVALUATION
Design source


I intend to use four British ‘scapes’ to create a four-sided vessel. I will use both imagination and photographic sources for my design
The four was changed to three and instead of four sides will be cylindrical
Design elements


Colour



The colours that I use will not compete with each other but will be subtle and reflect the ‘scapes’ that they portray.
The colours were all relevant to the scape that they depicted. I especially like the contrast of the cliff piece compared to the softer country and village scapes
Line

The line within the sides of the vessel will reflect the components such as cliffs, buildings etc, so thick and thin, filled and voided as required
The line created in each element was relevant to the image being depicted, so perspective in receding fields in the country scape  rock sizes in the sea scape an paths/roads in the village.
Shape and form



The shape will be rectangular and four-sided. Two of the sides will have vertical extensions, one above the main body of the work and one below. The sides will be joined to form a vessel and a base will complete the piece
Cylindrical using three scapes as this would work better, the extensions to elements of the cylinder remain
Texture


The piece will have many textures as I will create buildings, water, fields, rocks, moorland, cliffs, sky, grass, flowers etc., and will create a 3D effect in some of the elements.
The sky was stitched but did not worked well with the sample and therefore removed. The cliffs are very textured to show the clefts and ridges. The free embroidered tree is made from silk waste stitched and wired and supported using Paverpol.
Composition

The piece will have four sides and a base.

On the first side there will be representation of moorland where are small stream rises through the heath. A standing stone will represent the history of the land. The moorland will be created with couched snippets to represent gorse and bracken and heather and may contain a bird perhaps a pheasant.

The second side will depict the essence of the countryside including hills and fields. A stream will run along the bottom of this side through the grass. At the front and in relief, there will be a field mouse, corn and a poppy.

The third side there will represent a townscape including a church with a steeple which will extend outside and above the “box’ or the piece. A pigeon will be mid-air above the steeple. A small river will run under a bridge in this side of the work.

And finally the fourth side, will create the feeling of limestone cliffs with fallen rocks at the base. A rocky beach with waves and ‘white horses’ will extend from the base of the ‘box’ horizontally to reflect the church steeple elevation on the opposite side of the piece. A seagull will fly above the cliff.
The piece is now cylindrical no longer depicting a moorland. The birds and the field mouse were not included as to get them in perspective with the rest of the piece, they would be too small to make an impact.
Quality


The work will have 3D elements and whilst robust in structure will have subtle and gentle elements in the country and village scapes but a strong rugged appearance in the cliffs
The objectives for the quality of the piece were met.
Materials


Base/background




As the piece will be heavily stitched and incorporate many textiles and textures, Pelmet Vilene will be used as the main support but metal will be used certainly to support the church steeple

Fabrics



The lining will be silk in a subtle colour to prevent discordance with the work on the outside. A large variety of fabrics representing the many elements within the piece
Silk, scrim, organza, calico
Threads


Threads will be from a broad collection. Thickness, colour, stitches and type, straight, free, pattern etc. will be appropriate to the element of the work being created
Madeira embroidery thread, metallic for poppies in corn. Complimentary and contrasting colours
Other


Metals will be used in this piece, some heat-treated, some left in their natural state. Sprung wire the thickness of a hair will appear to suspend the birds in flights of fancy!
Metal was used within the fabrics making the sea to enable it to be right angled from the cylinder. A wave was added and also encased copper mesh to create support. The tree had sprung metal encased to support branches and also to support the flag on the tower
Construction


Size

No more than 24’ high (excluding steeple and water) x18’ wide (per side)
The piece is approximately 12” high as the sky was omitted and has a circumference of approximately 24”
Edges

The piece will be joined probably by hand with complimentary stitching
The piece was stitched around the edges using zigzag and a brick stitch and appropriate thread, some invisible
Finishing

As above

Time


This complex piece is likely to take all my spare time so hopefully no more that four or five weeks to complete
The piece took five weeks of spare time to complete. The hours were not itemized but probably around 40 hours
Cost

I am hoping that all the elements will come from my stock of products
Apart from Paverpol, all elements came from stock
Samples




I have enjoyed making this piece. It is good to do something larger and more complicated. I like it very much particularly the cliff scape as it is more abstract, something I am still learning to do. I have always been quite a precise painter and stitched and would like to learn to loosen up. I'm sure that I will during the rest of the course. Good to be halfway through.








Thursday 6 November 2014

Assessed sample progress

I have been making progress on the assessed sample and have completed the three scapes. To complete the cylindrical piece, silk was Bondawebbed to the reverse and between the silk and the stitches piece, a piece of pale blue organza with clouds added and strengthened with Paverpol was sandwiched. I joined the flat piece into a cylinder and pinned it together. I don't like the effect of the sky, so plan to remove that element.

The waves are still to be made for the horizontal sea at the base of the seascape and a couple of free embroidered birds will be flying above the scenes supported with sprung wire. A free embroidered tree will be stitched and attached at the area where the piece is joined together. I intend to try and Thermascreen a tree onto water-soluble. Not sure if it will work but I'll have a go. The tree will have a wired element for support and zigzagged stitching will be used over the wire.

So, the sample as it currently exists is shown below;


The flat piece showing all three scapes


The country scape as part of the cylindrical piece


The village scape as part of the cylindrical piece


The seascape as part of the cylindrical piece


The title stitched at the bottom of the village scape


The town scape

For the church tower, A piece of upholstery fabric was stitched to the Vilene using a contrasting automatic stitch to appear as brickwork. The fabric had a tendency to fray so I used a nylon "invisible" thread and straight-stitched the edges to hold it flat. 

Copper was free zigzag stitched for the tower and windows and the doors free embroidered. The rest of the church structure surrounds was free embroidered using a variety of stitching methods, mainly long straight stitch and granite stitch. Satin stitch was used to create the top of the wall (dark) beside the road and above the river. 

The cottages were sketched with a dark thread and then filled with shades to reflect soft Cotswold stone. Foliage was in granite stitch and the post box in free satin stitch (zigzag) the paths, roads and river were all made with straight stitch using long and small stitching. The post box was added as a method to draw the eye into this element and relieve the overall 'stone' of this element of the piece.


Country scape

The files were made with a mixture of fabric and straight and zigzag stitching as described with a previous draft description. Corn and grasses create a foreground and the poppy and corn at the right were free embroidered on water soluble and attached separately. Little poppies were added for contrast and additional colour in this element.


Seascape

This was the part of the same that I was most concerned about mainly because of the complexity of the subject matter. The sea was made from dark blue silk on top, pale blue silk beneath and a layer of copper mesh to enable the horizontal element to be bent and stay in place. There are still waves to be made and added to the sea to add movement and these will again contain mesh to get a rolling effect. 

I used previously natural dyed fabrics that I had made for some of this element. The slabs of rock are Walnut ink dyed and some small pieces are tea and onion skin dyed. Some lengths os silk sari material were zigzag braided as I wanted to use them to create the feeling of the strata of the amazing cliff face. I used a range of complimentary browns to stitch the braids. A couple of metres of braid were made. To find the high spots in the cliff face, I used foil and created highlights. White and dark brown textile paints were also added to develop the texture of the piece which was then heavily stitched with long and short, straight and zigzag. 

The rocks and stones around the beach were free stitched and enhanced with fabric pens to give them more shape. The beach line is stitched with white, silver and very pale blue granite stitching to depict small wavelets. 

I am thoroughly enjoying making this piece which will be eventually used to contain a flower arrangement. I look forward to using it.