I have now decided on my final design, consisting of 3 hexagonal canvases. The lowest one is the darkest in colour, painted voile, backed with grey felt, to show the deterioration of the coral over the years. The next one, positioned to the right is much lighter as the coral bleaches and disintegrates. The top one shows the renewal of soft colours as the coral slowly regenerates.
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| 1 |
The colour change from grey to white backing felt need to be adjusted on the second canvas but I'll do this when I add the surface stitches.
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| 2 - Canvas 1 |
The hexagons are laid randomly on top of one another to resemble a rocky surface. Any hard edges will be softened when surface stitch is applied. The surface undulates slightly as there are a couple of padded shapes beneath the hexagons on this canvas and on canvas 3.
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| 3 - Canvas 2 |
This canvas will show the disintegration of the coral. The hexagon shapes will be stitched and cut to look more skeletonal.
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| 4 - Canvas 3 |
The colours are softer to show the regeneration of the coral reef.
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| 5 |
Stitched samples for surface stitch.
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| 6 |
Coloured scrim as a potential covering as created in Module 5.
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| 7 |
Coloured scrim embellished, showing the under side.
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| 8 |
Tiny suffolk puffs, to look like coral.
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| 9 |
Coral polyps, created by steaming (Caroline Bartlett) with the tops removed! Experimenting with seed stitching. The stitches are too small and the thread too pale to have any impact.
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| 10 |
Stretching 2D to the limit - Tyvek pipes and coloured glue with larger stitching. (Love it!)
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| 11 - Background samples |
I plan to stitch the hexagons and then create a separate background on which to mount them. I looked at using voile or faux silk. After many experiments I have decided to wait until I have finished at least one of the canvases before I make any more decisions.
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| 12 - More background samples |
11 and 12 show some of the samples, using stitch, gutta, uneven backings, salt etc. I will probably use voile and mount the hexagons over it, but I don't feel I can make this decision yet.
