Playing with paintshop.

Thought Iwould try to see how some of these designs would look made up into multiples.This was done by playing around after scanning some into computer.I am sure the whizzkids out there could do so much more .I was tempted to try adding colour and effects but that is not in the nature of this module so I will just stick with these . I just thought I wonder if this would work with the Seminole.

Patchwork in own paper.

These were made using my own decorated papers.with the addition, in some, of plain black or white.I have now to see if they can be translated into fabric samples.They are all about 10cm square.

Photos.

Jelly roll fabrics purchased on the internet.

I used black cotton fabric and bleach for these with the addition of a rubber to apply the marks.

I had all but given up on using bleach but found some black handmade paper and used some new bleach.I used baby buds and wooden skewer.

As promised these were the monoprints on fabric and the shapers I used.The fabric is still soft so has not been stiffened by use of the acrylics.

Colour shapers.

Decided to get on with monoprinting some fabrics this afternoon.I have been too lazy to go buy fabric medium so I tried using acrylic paint and squirted in some acrylic medium but it dried way too fast .I reverted to my tried and tested wallpaper paste and paint but had a brainwave,instead of cutting shapes from card , which go soggy, why not try colour shapers instead?They worked a treat and clean up easily.I have a set of four bought for very little in that well known German supermarket and one from the art shop that cost more on its own.I will post pictures later as the fabric was left to dry and will also photo the shapers so's you know what to look out for .I bought the original one to use with masking fluid as it just peels off when dry instead of ruining brushes.Pussycat has just climbed up for a cuddle so I'll sign off now or he'llbe wanting to join in and clamber over the keyboard.

Paperwork.

Found it quite fascinating how the patterns were affected by moving pieces around,those Seminole Indians must have had great brains to come up with this.I'm sure there are lots more variations to be discovered.I found the process quite fiddly to do,so translating into fabric is going to be fun!These just involved diagonal cuts,I didn't explore straight cuts or thinner strips,bet there's a dissertation out there on this somewhere.

I then cut some black and white strips and rather than sticking down I had a play with what I could produce ,and photographed them instead.

Having not done much because of an upset stomach ,Mother's day,gardening and the rugby,I spent a few hours this afternoon cutting up paper.I only used black,white and some commercial patterned ones,using my own papers can wait for another day.

Dyeing diagrams.

These sketchbook pages relate how I prepared the fabrics for dyeing you see in previous post.

Dyeing.

These are my dyed samples.Iused some procion dyes that I have had for 26 years but they are fine.I know that black is problematic and as I didn't have one I decided to try for as close as I could using a brown and a dark blue.The result is pretty good but the photos are not that accurate.I like the idea of not complete blackness anyway,I think it's more interesting.I used elastic bands ,glass nuggets,card tubes from thread and various stitching and folding to acheive these patterns.I will publish how I did it when I do a fair copy of method for my sketchbook records.

I don't know why blogger is leaving great gaps but I can't seem to rectify it without starting again and I ain't about to do that!

Not " bleeping" bleaching.

I have tried without success to get bleach to work on any painted papers, these include black Brusho,ink squirted from a cartridge(anyone tried buying ink in a bottle lately?)walnut ink and brusho mixed.This is frustrating as I know I have done it in the past ,only thing I can think is that the paper is too absorbent,bleach is too old.Anyway I am giving up on that one at the moment as it's wasting paper ,time and patience.

What has been more fulfilling is patterning papers with card and monoprint.I used some black acrylic paint mixed with some wallpapaer paste to retard the drying.The mixture was sponged onto a ceramic tile and printed with cartridge paper.In some final experiment I printed onto nappy liners with cartridge paper behind.The photo is not great but this gives a dual effect if the paper is moved slightly.This could be enhanced with further stitching.

More animal stitching.

These strips show some experiments in using stitch to mimic animal patterns.Left- I used automatic scallop pattern and stitched up and down the strip.Middle- using my F&R just free machined rough zigzags ,going over and over in places to make thicker lines.Right- more free machining on my F&R.

Can you see what they are yet?- to coin a phrase.

Technical hitch.

While doing some free embroidery on Friday my machine decided it had had enough so it has gone to the hospital to be assessed and to have a rest.I have a Frister and Rossman 904 which was state of the art in 1976 when we bought it with our tax rebate for getting married.I consigned it to its box about 5/6 years ago on acquiring my new machine,so I decided to get it out as I need to be able to sew .Guess what? ....... it worked first time .I suppose I always did lavish it with oil and cleaning so I am really pleased .I've bought a free machine foot for it and will be putting it back into service.It takes a weightlifter to haul it about but after thirty odd years it's still going strong.Things were built to last back then.

Animal papers and last blackwork sample.

These animal papers were produced using Black brusho,which isn't very however much powder you mix, and card cut into points,blunt ended.scalloped and used on end.I actually like the way the colour fades in places and is stronger in others,I think it would be less interesting if it was all one tone.

To stitch this sample I started at the thin end with one strand of machine thread and added a new strand every new row until I got to ten strands in the needle and it was getting difficult to thread.It is a very small sample but illustrates the idea of using thickness of thread to increase tone.

And finally today........

I took some strips of fabric and used my machine to try out some stitches to replicate the pattern seen in the turtle.More to come later.

Sketchbook.

Then I found some more and started to play around with different media to recreate the textures and patterns.

Out of sync.

Here are the first animal images I found to use and add words to.

Stitching on a Sunday.

These are my attempts at Whipstitch and Cable stitch.As the machine I am using has a drop-in bobbin I had to play around with the top tension to acheive the desired effect.Some of the samples had black/black others had black/white.

The cable stitch gave me some problems at first as the thread was too thick.In the end I split some perle and used that singly and in twos.I tried some automatic machine stitches .

Redone.

I have had a little play and a think and successfully completed the Blackwork stitchery using spacing to achieve tone.To the accompaniment of the Scotland v Italy game.