SKETCH BOOK
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| Page 41 |
The background fabric is the dyed and monoprinted cotton from page 32. I started by sewing swirls using whipstitch, with a variegated thread in the bobbin and top thread. I then stitched my dyed synthetic filament thread into four large spirals, using cable stitch. Next I stitched two zigzag spirals within the cable stitch, using two threads (orange and turquoise) as the upper thread. I altered the size of the zigzag, so that it was narrow in the centre of the spiral and wider at the edge. It is mounted on black felt, which I think sets it off well.
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| Page 42 |
I forgot to scan the background fabric when doing Chapter 3. It started out as a section from page 36. I then monoprinted it using a piece of crocheted lace to remove parts of the orange and turquoise acrylic paint. I used a paintbrush to make a swirl down the centre of the gelliplate before taking a print. I really liked the background print so decided not to put too much stitching on it. I have tried to create a swirling ribbon, looking at the front and back. I wrapped six strands of variegated embroidery thread with two strands of the same thread and then hand-couched the thread into spirals on the 'front' of the ribbon. On the 'reverse' of the ribbon I free machine stitched spirals with variegated machine thread. I sewed stem stitch on the edge of the ribbon, using a strand of dark orange and dark turquoise for the 'front' of the ribbon and a strand of light orange and light turquoise for the 'back' of the ribbon.
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| Page 43 |
I was very disappointed with this monoprint (page 39). I couldn't decide what to do with it as it was so garish and I nearly abandoned it. After several false starts I decided to see how many spiral shapes I could get into it. I started on the outside with whip stitch and then switched to free-machine embroidery. I could see I had two spirals to work with so I chose light orange colours on the outer spiral gradually changing to darker threads as it approached the centre. For the inner spiral I started with dark turquoise at the outer edge and changed to lighter threads as it approached the centre. I used a range of threads including plain and variegated ones.
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| Page 44 |
I made this monoprint by adding orange and turquoise acrylic paint to the gelliplate and then making swirls with my finger, (page 38). I decided to keep the stitching simple as there were so many swirls. I used variations of straight stitch and blanket stitch. I learnt some new stitches - crossed blanket stitch, loop stitch and arrow stitch. I think that you definitely get a feeling of movement is the stitching. I used lighter coloured threads for the swirls in the background and brighter colours in the foreground. In addition the background threads generally consist of fewer strands than those in the foreground. I also mixed orange and turquoise threads together.
