Although it was a long and difficult birth, the second texture piece (T2) is - finally - done! My what if "button" sure got a major workout trying this, that, and the other idea. It was good. I learned a lot. By Friday night, I'd worked through MANY options, some of which I'll show you in a minute, and had more or less decided to go with fused fabric.
However, I was not in the correct mood on the weekend to work on the piece and it seemed prudent to pause until I was. Sometimes, we need to push ahead with creativity as part of resolving a question or of a healing process and sometimes, we need to stop right now before we completely screw it up because we are so far and beyond being in the right frame of mind. That's where I was at. Wise girl that I am, I chose to wait and instead of a mess, I enjoyed success on Monday.
One of the happy flukes of over-dyeing the yucky green was this fabulous match with a piece of Shibori that I made while at my friend Vicki's a few years ago. I've been wondering what to do with the piece and this additional fabric will make for more possibilities. I've folded them together on the fabric shelf for later.
When we bought our house, the previous owner - unfortunately - left a LOT of things in the basement. Apparently, she had no-one to cart them away so she left them for us to deal with. NOT FUN. Mixed up in the piles were a whole bunch of scrabble letters and no board so I put them in a jar for possible embellishment. I've used some on the top of a box and for this project, I thought painting some green might work as well as painting some Fo-Shape squares blue. Howard drilled holes in them so I could sew them on like a button. I spent a lot of time painting squares and shaping Fo-Shape and then changed my mind.
At first I chose the purple above for the focal point and then I decided it might be too close in value to the green so I auditioned a variety of purples. The two below are quite close in color and yet one screams HELLO I AM THE FOCAL POINT and one say hey, over here, aren't I interesting. Naturally, I chose the second one. I prefer to be interesting as opposed to screaming. Of course...
... that was only after abandoning the scrabble squares via a detour through fabric painting. The painted colors were great but without the textile additive, the fabric was too stiff and would have showed every puncture hole. Punctured is not pretty.
Below is the focal point stitched in place. You can see that the scrabble squares or painted fabric options have now been replaced with fused and stitched metallic, olive green, squares. I'm pleased with how these look. They add interest to the large green squares with both a smooth and shiny texture without demanding more attention than I want them to have. The dark grey thread used to stitch them in place helps to blend the metallic squares into the background squares. I love the appearance of different depths that is created. It's subtle but there.
These blue squares are the tension point. If you could see the whole piece (in January) your eye would travel back and forth between the larger purple square and these smaller, dark blue ones. Very fun.
While T2 was blocking - and as is my normal habit - I cleaned up the studio (and in this case also the laundry room) and got ready to start on the next piece. This morning, T2 is trimmed and ready to be bound. Last week, I said I wouldn't bind the texture pieces but this one concluded differently than I had anticipated and now needs a binding. If one of the set is going to be bound then it would be better if they all were so all nine pieces will now have a dark binding. It'll take a bit of figuring out for the last piece but that's fine.
This batik is the start of T3. It has a lot of energy and visual texture and - most importantly - contains similar colors and richness to the other two pieces to allow for a nice flow through between the set. I'd like to bring in more of the rusts from T1 if possible. We'll see how the piece develops. Right now, I'm piecing what I have to get a big enough background piece and then layering and stitching it. Here's the flow through from two to three.
This morning is Arts & Crafts Club and then later this afternoon Kyle and I are going shopping for school supplies. He doesn't need much. I know this from cleaning his room last week. A couple binders, some plain paper, two pairs of jeans, some running shoes, and perhaps a jean jacket. LOVE those. Fun that they're back in style.
Talk soon - Myrna
Grateful - eight out of nine pieces are complete and I have a good idea of what I'm doing next - YES YES!
However, I was not in the correct mood on the weekend to work on the piece and it seemed prudent to pause until I was. Sometimes, we need to push ahead with creativity as part of resolving a question or of a healing process and sometimes, we need to stop right now before we completely screw it up because we are so far and beyond being in the right frame of mind. That's where I was at. Wise girl that I am, I chose to wait and instead of a mess, I enjoyed success on Monday.
One of the happy flukes of over-dyeing the yucky green was this fabulous match with a piece of Shibori that I made while at my friend Vicki's a few years ago. I've been wondering what to do with the piece and this additional fabric will make for more possibilities. I've folded them together on the fabric shelf for later.
When we bought our house, the previous owner - unfortunately - left a LOT of things in the basement. Apparently, she had no-one to cart them away so she left them for us to deal with. NOT FUN. Mixed up in the piles were a whole bunch of scrabble letters and no board so I put them in a jar for possible embellishment. I've used some on the top of a box and for this project, I thought painting some green might work as well as painting some Fo-Shape squares blue. Howard drilled holes in them so I could sew them on like a button. I spent a lot of time painting squares and shaping Fo-Shape and then changed my mind.
At first I chose the purple above for the focal point and then I decided it might be too close in value to the green so I auditioned a variety of purples. The two below are quite close in color and yet one screams HELLO I AM THE FOCAL POINT and one say hey, over here, aren't I interesting. Naturally, I chose the second one. I prefer to be interesting as opposed to screaming. Of course...
... that was only after abandoning the scrabble squares via a detour through fabric painting. The painted colors were great but without the textile additive, the fabric was too stiff and would have showed every puncture hole. Punctured is not pretty.
Below is the focal point stitched in place. You can see that the scrabble squares or painted fabric options have now been replaced with fused and stitched metallic, olive green, squares. I'm pleased with how these look. They add interest to the large green squares with both a smooth and shiny texture without demanding more attention than I want them to have. The dark grey thread used to stitch them in place helps to blend the metallic squares into the background squares. I love the appearance of different depths that is created. It's subtle but there.
These blue squares are the tension point. If you could see the whole piece (in January) your eye would travel back and forth between the larger purple square and these smaller, dark blue ones. Very fun.
While T2 was blocking - and as is my normal habit - I cleaned up the studio (and in this case also the laundry room) and got ready to start on the next piece. This morning, T2 is trimmed and ready to be bound. Last week, I said I wouldn't bind the texture pieces but this one concluded differently than I had anticipated and now needs a binding. If one of the set is going to be bound then it would be better if they all were so all nine pieces will now have a dark binding. It'll take a bit of figuring out for the last piece but that's fine.
This batik is the start of T3. It has a lot of energy and visual texture and - most importantly - contains similar colors and richness to the other two pieces to allow for a nice flow through between the set. I'd like to bring in more of the rusts from T1 if possible. We'll see how the piece develops. Right now, I'm piecing what I have to get a big enough background piece and then layering and stitching it. Here's the flow through from two to three.
This morning is Arts & Crafts Club and then later this afternoon Kyle and I are going shopping for school supplies. He doesn't need much. I know this from cleaning his room last week. A couple binders, some plain paper, two pairs of jeans, some running shoes, and perhaps a jean jacket. LOVE those. Fun that they're back in style.
Talk soon - Myrna
Grateful - eight out of nine pieces are complete and I have a good idea of what I'm doing next - YES YES!
It is so fun to watch your creative expressions in fabric art take place. I think I am enjoy the process as much as you do.
ReplyDeleteToday is such a strange day. I feel torn into multiple pieces. Beyond that I cannot even begin to tell you what is floating through my mind. There are the "I want that" and the "I cannot afford this" and the "And how am I going to do the other thing" and I am driving myself crazy.
I feel like I am in the middle of a Patsy Cline record and about to tear my hair out.
Having gotten that out of my system...have a great day playing in your creative area.
Karen W. in S.W. Ohio
Looks exciting Myrna, I can't wait until January. If I win lotto, I'll come and see the exhibit in person. I really enjoy you sharing your thoughts and processes.
ReplyDeleteRegards
Lyn in Australia