Unusual presents
28 Nov 2011 6 Comments
in Uncategorized Tags: embroidery silk, tortoise shell
On a visit to ESP’s parents yesterday I received two unusual presents.
June and Ray used to have an antiques stall in Covent Garden, and spent their time visiting auctions, fairs and car boot sales picking up items to sell on to dealers as well as retail customers. They’re retired now, but their house is filled with interesting and unusual bits and pieces.
And old habits die hard – now that most professional auctions now have online bidding, Ray can sit at the computer and put in a bid at the press of a button, without having to drive miles!
Anyway, on learning about my turtle project, they presented me with a complete tortoise shell that they just happened to have lying round the house! It’s pretty much intact and will let me study the texture, shape and form much more closely.
They also gave me a handmade roll full of embroidery floss, which they picked up at another sale. It includes many colours I don’t have, as well as lots of needles.
Many thanks to both for both!
Abstract turtle prints
24 Nov 2011 7 Comments
in print Tags: embroidery, flock, foil, screen printing, turtles
I haven’t written much about screen printing recently, mostly because my progress remains painfully slow. This is partly down to problems with equipment and space, but also due to silly mistakes that I’ve made – of which more later.
To cut a long story short, I abandoned my first turtle design after printing just one colour. It wasn’t really working for me, and given the time it takes to make each screen, I didn’t want to waste time on something that didn’t inspire me.
So it was back to the drawing board (literally) to come up with some new artwork. This time I decided to go more abstract, based on the pattern of a Testudo radiata shell.
I made a couple of different separations, so I have a couple of different first layers:
I also experimented with foiling the first version, which is a bit overwhelming:
And I also printed the first version onto transparent polyester in a couple of different colours, which creates an interesting effect when overlaid on the cotton print:
This week I was supposed to print the second colour on top. But a problem with the exposure machine ruined one screen, and when exposing the other I managed to place the artwork the wrong way round, so it didn’t line up with the first layer. Aaaargh!
Our tutor, Mark, said I shouldn’t waste the screen, so I used it to experiment with foil and flock.
The foil one turned out quite well, but the flock was less successful because the fabric was synthetic, so the flock stuck to the binder on the first layer as well as the glue on the second. But I learnt that if this happens it can be brushed off with a dry toothbrush. I also learnt that it is much more difficult to line up the screen properly, even without ink or glue, if the fabric is dark rather than light!
Hopefully next week I will finally get round to printing a second colour on top. In the meantime, I tried adding a second colour with embroidery, using a bit of wadding to add extra texture and evoke a turtle form (not very easy to see in this photo).
The Power of Making
20 Nov 2011 1 Comment
in exhibitions Tags: Crafts Council, V&A
This exhibition, a collaboration between the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Crafts Council, presents an eclectic range of objects, including various textiles, made by both amateurs and professionals.
Some use traditional techniques in unexpected ways, like Shauna Richardson’s crochetdermy bear, or Christien Meindertsma‘s knitted Aran rugs, requiring custom-made needles nearly 2 metres long:
I was particularly struck by a machine-embroidered snowflake made by Ellis Developments in polyester suture thread. This delicate structure is actually a surgical implant – it provides multiple attachment points for replacing lost tissue:
Other exhibits feature unusual materials. For example, Sabrina Gschwandtner made a quilt from 16mm film stock, sewn together with polyamide thread:
On a similar theme, Alyce Santoro produced a dress woven from audio tape and polyester thread. Apparently, if you drag the magnetic head from a tape player (remember those?) along the fabric, it emits a garbled, underwater-type sound.
And then there was Elisa Strozyk‘s fascinating wooden textile, made by applying tessellated triangles of maple wood to Elaston polymer:
Finally, there were some innovative materials, like Manel Torres’ spray-on fabric, Fabrican:
And I’ve written about Suzanne Lee before – she uses bacteria to “grow” material, which she then makes into garments or other items. One of her tote bags was on display.
There were lots of non-textile items, of course, including 3D printers and sugar sculpture. But my favourite was a Santoku kitchen knife, which is made by folding and forging 101 layers of different steel, producing a stunning wave pattern on the blade.
The manufacturing technique is based on that used for making samurai swords, which you can also see in the Japan section of the V&A. In one particularly fine example, the pattern is in the shape of a dragon. Quite amazing.
The Power of Making runs at the V&A until 2 January 2012, and admission is free – definitely worth a look.
Manly scarves
17 Nov 2011 4 Comments
in felt Tags: muslin, nuno felt, scarf
My best customer (thank you Magdalen!) suggested the other day that I make some scarves suitable for men. What – you mean men don’t like wearing delicate nuno-felted net scarves? ;-)
So yesterday I made a sample scarf of nuno felt on muslin. It’s based on the idea inspired by Audley Harrison’s shirt – and you can’t get more manly than that!
Snowflakes and vanishing gold
16 Nov 2011 5 Comments
in paper, print Tags: bonding, gold, joss paper, paper, snowflakes
Last Sunday was part 2 of the course on bonding paper and cloth. Having learnt the basic technique, it was time to start experimenting.
The idea of a contrast between transparency and opacity made me think of ice and snow, which is sometimes transparent and sometimes opaque. So I photocopied some images of ice and snow crystals and spent a happy afternoon creating paper snowflakes (I felt as if I was six years old again!). Most of the snowflakes I tore rather than cut, because I wanted the outlines to be slightly fuzzy rather than sharp.
However, I was a bit disappointed with the result (below).
First, I think the snowflake templates moved slightly when I put the screen down – maybe this is one of the occupational hazards of printing with an open screen. Also, I tried to graduate the colour of the background from light to dark, but I think it would look better if the background was a consistent hue. Finally, the snowflakes that were cut rather than torn look better, because the process of removing excess paper leaves a slightly fuzzy edge anyway.
So I did another one with a background of more uniform hue, which I think looks better. There are fewer snowflakes because I ran out (of templates and time!) – but I can see the direction I want to develop this, maybe with some overprinting with opaque white ink and touches of silver foiling.
Bonded paper and fabric before removing paper
After removing paper
Just time, then, for another experiment with some joss paper, or ghost money, that I bought from a Chinese supermarket.
The paper is very thin, so I hoped it would disintegrate in the same way as newspaper. I also wanted to see what happened to the metallic gold squares during the process.
The result wasn’t quite what I expected. I laid out the paper face up, with the gold touching the fabric, but once the paper is bonded, it’s quite difficult to see the gold through the fabric (it’s more obvious close up if you shine a direct light on it). However, the metallic shine is much more obvious on the reverse.
Below, you can see the front and back of a small experimental sample as well as a larger piece using the joss paper.
Joss paper sample - front
Joss paper sample - back
Joss paper hanging
Close-up of front
Close-up of back
Hopefully I won’t now be struck down by malevolent Chinese spirits who feel insulted by my using the paper in this way!
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