New Topic, New Sketchbook

Our next challenge for the 84 Contemporary Textiles Group is "Geographical". I've decide to narrow down that huge theme to international trade routes such as The Silk Road. I've been looking to modern day souks for inspiration along with, Islamic architecture, spices, ceramics and other items traded across the world.

The most photogenic spice is the star anise so I bought a packet and got photographing and drawing. I used my sketches to cut a new lino print block.

It's a new project so I'm starting a new sketchbook. I don't usually use spiral books because I don't like the separation the spine makes between the 2 facing pages. However this one was cheap and has fairly decent paper in it. I've given it a fabric cover so it's nice to handle now the plastic is covered up. The main disadvantage is that the A4 size includes the section of paper where the binding pierces through it so if I stick in a loose A4 page it's wider than the book. I've done quite a number of prints on loose paper which I've needed to trim down to make them fit.

Many of these pages are not finished yet but I thought you'd like to take a look at my work in progress.

These pages have pockets so I can store my pictures, photographs and templates.

Any mask or stencil I've cut out gets collaged into the book once I have finished with it. This page has a print on the left and the stencil used to make the print on the right.

Stencils on thick paper make great "window" pages.

Other pages have shapes cut into their boarder.

Tracings over photos are great for simplifying a scene. I've been colour mixing and sponge printing too.

I'm now starting to take my ideas into textiles.

This design came from a tracing of various sketchbook elements. I've pieced the background from some hand dyed fabrics.

I've also been Gelli® mono-printing onto fabric.

This one has been stuffed from behind to give the vase a real roundness.

These are examples of reverse applique and slashing.

Of course I've kept the pieces I cut out to use on something else.

Check back soon to see what I come up with next.

Experiments with Printed Landscapes

I don't have any spectacular photographs for you today. What I do have are snaps taken as I experimented with different designs and thought through ideas.

A couple of my printed landscape strips just happened to get placed near each other on the table. This got me thinking about ways to combine several pieces. First I made some basic mock-ups with plain paper.

Did I want separate "mountain ridges" or to have them woven together? Maybe a combination of the 2?

 

Should I be consistent in the length of the zig-zag?

What if I had more than 2 mountain ranges?

And more than 2 mountain ranges woven together?

I came to the conclusion that everything looked pretty awesome so I got Gelli printing some more mountains so I could think about colours. I worked out that the colour needed to change gradually across the mountain ridge, that way I could show 2 or more zig-zags together without there being an obvious join line. The colour on the reverse needed to be contrasting so the mountains were easily seen.

I laid out the mountain ranges on the table. It didn't seem to matter how I arranged them, they still looked great. Perhaps in a gallery the viewer could rearrange them. I think it would be awesome to have an artwork that could be changed when you got bored of it.

I now have to think about how I will incorporate the cairn image into the landscapes. I'll need to use thick interfacing when these are made in fabric. I think it might get tricky to fold so I also need to do some experiments to see how that goes. Check back soon for progress.

Felt and Collage

Today I've been taking some of my design ideas forward into textiles. I've started this sari silk, needle felted, panel.

The next thing I need to decide is how to apply the cairn.

I've also continued to work on more designs using prints and collage. This is my favourite at the moment and I've already started a larger version.

And of course a few more cairn designs.