Distant Stitch Diploma, Module 2 - Course Summary

 

Timings for Module 2
Date 2020	Activity or Chapter	Approximate Time Spent (hours)
25 Feb - 14 Apr	Chapter 1	26
3 Mar - 9 Apr	Chapter 2	26.5
30 Mar - 9 Apr	Chapter 3	17
	Blog	9
24 Apr - 28 Apr	Chapter 4	12
28 Apr - 12 May	Chapter 5	15
11 May	Blog	3
12 May - 26 May	Chapter 6	22
26 May	Blog	1.5
26 May - 1 June	Chapter 7	23
4 - 8 Jun	Blog	5.5
10 June - 11 June	Chapter 8	4.5
22 June - 29 June	Chapter 9	12.5
30 June - 21 July	Chapter 10	29.5
22 July	Blog	3
23 July -11 Aug	Chapter 10	25
19 Aug - 12 Oct	Chapter 12	26
12 Oct - 23 Oct	Chapter 13	14
23 Oct	Blog	3
20 Oct - 27 Oct	Chapter 14	6
26 Oct	Chapter 15	3
26 Oct	Course Summary	3
27 Oct	Blog	3
	TOTAL	293

Materials Cost Sheet Module 2
Item	Supplier	Cost of Items (£)	Amount Used (£)	Estimated Cost (£)
Sketchbook	Winsor	5	-	5
Printer paper and printer ink	Sainsbury and Hewlett Packard	-	-	4
A3 Mountboard	Daler Rowney	1.8	6	10.8
Tracing paper	Crawford and Black	2	-	0.6
Glue - tacky, stick and bondaweb	-	4	-	1
Dyes, paints, pens and Brusho ink	Procion, acrylic and Brusho	-	-	3
Gold threads	Golden Hinde	12	-	3
Shisha etc	Sarah Homfray	14		8
Fabrics and papers	Various	-	-	5
Baking parchment	Sainsbury	2.75	-	1
Items from stash	Various	-		4
			TOTAL	45.4

Health and Safety

Item	Usage	Storage
Dyes, inks, paints	Wear overalls and waterproof gloves, work in well ventilated environment. Wear mask to protect against inhalation.	In cupboard on top shelf, away from children and pets.
Bondaweb	Protect surfaces with baking paper.	Rolled, in stand.
Glues	Work in well ventilated environment.	In cupboard, away from children and pets.
Sewing Machine	Use with care.	Clean regularly and cover when not in use.
Camera	Use with care.	Clean regularly and cover when not in use.
Scissors, pins, guillotine	Use with care.	Store away from children and pets.
Iron	Use with care.	Store away from children and pets.
Work in progress		Cover and store away from children and pets
Finished work		Mount and cover and store as appropriate.

Evaluation of Completed Work

Choice of Research Theme: Working on metallics took me through Opus Anglicanum to Indian Embroidery, both of which I have enjoyed studying immensely. There were many interesting books on the suggested reading list, full of inspiring pictures and information. I want to carry on learning more about Indian embroidery when I work on PAP 2.

Use of Sketchbook to glean visual information: In particular, my sketches of an Indian tunic helped me to understand the complexity of Indian embroidery. It spurred me on to make a small sample. It was far more difficult than I thought it would be but a very helpful exercise in making me appreciate the tremendous skills involved in the work. Using the sketchbook also opened my eyes to the many variations of stitch in the embroidery.

Your designs: I enjoyed experimenting with the modern shi-sha designs and am looking forward to developing more designs when I start PAP 2. This module took me into a new and exciting world of metallics which I know I will come back to again and again.

Proposed Design Ideas: I plan to make a lantern, incorporating shi-sha, metallic stitching, free machine embroidery on water soluble fabric, as well as a coral reef theme! I will start working on the design in more detail when I have started the final work on PAP 1.

Distant Stitch Diploma, Module 2, Chapter 14 - Developing Design Ideas

 I am interested in learning more about Indian embroidery, including shi-sha so I have decided to base PAP 2 on an Indian lantern. At the moment the shape is fairly classic, but this will change as I develop my ideas. I feel it is more important to work out the basic structure first. I plan to design an underwater grotto theme.

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Side panel dimensions.

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Dome dimensions.

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Placement of dome on top of lantern.

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Sample dome made from pelmet vilene, it worked!

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Ideas to help with design.

I have a lot of work to do on the design elements of this project. As there will be a battery powered light inside the lantern, I will make the dome and the windows using machine embroidery on soluble fabric, so that as much light can be emitted as possible. I hope that the main structure can be made from pelmet vilene, but if necessary I will make a supporting frame which will be positioned on the inside. I plan to paint the inside metallic white, with lots of mirrors to reflect the light.

Distant Stitch Diploma, Module 2, Chapter 15 - Study of Artists

Maggie Grey

I chose Maggie Grey as a textile artist to study because she works with metallics and water soluble fabrics. I also enjoy experimenting with these techniques.

Maggie is currently the editor of Workshop on the Web, an internet-based magazine, and was previously editor of Embroidery magazine. She has travelled extensively, teaching in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, the USA and Canada. She has exhibited widely including Wessex Textiles and travelling exhibitions with the Knitting & Stitching Show.

She often uses computer software to create and enhance designs and was a founder member of the Computer Textile Design Group, having been its vice chairman as well as leading its education sub-committee. One of Maggie’s techniques is to stitch heavily on water soluble fabric, creating exquisite designs using metallic threads, incorporating objects such as beads, pipe cleaners and melted embossing powders to create necklaces, bracelets, purses or motifs to stitch onto bags. She works in layers, building and combining colours and shimmer which produce her wonderful designs.

In 2009, Maggie was invited to send a piece of work to South Carolina for an exhibition curated by Susan Lenz, entitled ‘Cyber Fyber’.  The exhibition was all about the web and was shown online as a gallery tour in addition to the main exhibition. Maggie’s piece, shown above called ’Binary Humanity’ is about the real people who use their eyes to look at the screen and their fingers to type. Cast paper hands and faces show this on a background of metal and painted plastic. Around the edge are comments from Maggie’s blog by people, describing what the internet means to them.

Maggie has produced numerous books describing her work, which are very easy to read and understand. She is an inspirational speaker and I was lucky enough to hear her speak a few years ago. 

Rachael Howard

Rachael Howard was one of the Royal College Of Arts first six embroidery postgraduates in 1992. Since then she has become well known for devising new ways of combining screen-printed drawings with appliquéd fabrics and machine embroidery.

Rachael’s illustrative style is simple, capturing the essence of the moment with spontaneity.  Her sketches are full of vitality and expression, often humorous and it is easy to identify with the mood of the drawing through the use of a few careful outlines. Her images portray everyday stories and events through image, stitch and text in wonderfully executed embroideries.

She creates sketches and screen and digital prints to which she applies appliqué to fill in her designs, using both hand and machine stitching.  She reuses fabrics from fabric shops, jumble sales and charity shops, including well-worn clothing and prefers tightly woven material as it cuts easily for appliqué.

	Fish and Chips shows a couple on the beach, enjoying their fish and chips. Rachael has teamed the lady’s bright shirt with a pair of checked trousers, whilst the man’s outfit is more run-of-the-mill.  The digitally printed backdrop depicts the rocky landscape of the beach.

Rachael has been involved in many public art commissions and is a member of the  62 Group of Textile Artists.

Distant Stitch Diploma, Module 2, Chapter 13 - Resolved Sample

 This is the section of Page 162 that I am going to focus on for my resolved sample.

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I played around with the picture in Photoshop Elements to see how the software would treat the drawing. This is 'Watercolour'. The colours have changed from a red/orange base to a blue/green base. I'm not sure how this happened but I really like it. It has helped me to see the lines and variations of colour in the drawing.

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I traced out the main features to guide me with my stitching. The 'noses' across the middle came as quite a surprise!

Sticking with the blue/green colours, I painted bondaweb in colours to match the layout of drawing. I ironed the torn pieces onto black felt, mounted on pelmet vilene.

Page 172

I decided to use underside couching and running stitch to map out the background. This helped to define the general shapes.

Page 173

After this, I free-machine stitched with metallic threads across the background (M3/38 L2.5) to blend the hand stitching into the  background. I saw how effective this had been when I was working on chapter 10 and really liked the results. I zigzagged to add texture around the eyes and lips. I added additional stitching at the top right and bottom left of the sample to partially show eyes and lips.

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I added cords, couched on wires to make purls and added them above the eyes and diagonally across the middle to indicate noses. I finished by shaping the edges with facial features - eyes, noses and lips.

The white cords are shaped on wires.

All the machine embroidery was stitching using metallic threads, including on the cords. As I finishing touch, I added silver foil diagonally across the design to match the direction of the stitching.

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Close up. 

Presentation Board 1

Presentation Board 2

Distant Stitch Diploma, Module 2, Chapter 12 - Head and Face Designs

I have included Picasso, Modigliano, Gabo, Andy Warhol and Walter Langley in my study.

Picasso experimented with and excelled in many mediums, from painting and drawing to sculpting and collaging. In addition to different art forms and materials, Picasso also worked in a spectacular array of styles, including Cubism, a style of art which aims to show all of the possible viewpoints of a person or an object all at once.

During his lifetime, Andy Warhol painted commissioned portraits from Polaroids or photographs, but he was also well known for appropriating images of iconic faces from newspapers publicity stills, and other media. These images were then turned into large-scale silkscreen prints on canvas. 

Modiglian is known for portraits and nudes in a modern style characterized by a surreal elongation of faces, necks, and figures that were not received well during his lifetime, but later became much sought-after. 

Walter Langley was one of the first to settle in the Newlyn artists' colony Newlyn School.  Initially he benefited little from its growing fame, partly because of his working-class origins and partly because until 1892 he painted largely in watercolour rather than the more prestigious medium of oils. His early training in lithography gives his paintings a detail and texture that show his technical skills.

Naum Gabo was a Constructivist painter and sculptor who believed that art should directly reflect the modern industrial world. For some, Constructivism, which evolved in Russia in 1917, involved creating objects, not to express beauty but to demonstrate how materials, such as wood, glass and metal behaved, which would lead to the design of functional items for mass production. For others it was a new modern style which expressed the dynamism of modern life.

I have always liked how Andy Warhol uses colour to surprise the onlooker, provoking the viewer to accept new ideas. I find Picasso confusing but as I started to 'tear' my own face to pieces was rather pleased and surprised by his influence on me! I have made a few sketches, trying to find out how these famous artists achieved their own styles.

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I went to St Ives Tate Gallery in September and saw some of the Gabo drawings and sculptures on display.

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I love Walter Langley's paintings of Cornish life. He is a true master at capturing the mood and feelings of the local fishing community. They are not modern in style but still have a place when studying faces.

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The silhouette of a 'willing' member of the family!

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The outline rearranged again and again on coloured backgrounds.

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Playing around with the back of the silhouette, more shapes emerge.

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Face to face and still more shapes.

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This one reminds me of stained glass windows or perhaps Indian temple architecture.

Page 156

Distorting the silhouette's features.

Page 157

I used the 'face' of the silhouette to break up the sketch.

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Fractured pieces.

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Self portraits during lockdown, help!! I used a candle to draw myself, then coloured in with oil pastels. Next I washed over the faces with Brusho ink.

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Combining the various sketches was far more enjoyable than I thought it would be. This is the 'portrait' that I will base my resolved sample on. My face seems to be all over the place.

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I found this exercise very interesting. I thought it would be quite hard to come up with ideas when working with paper but it was fun to do and made me laugh.