Distant Stitch Diploma, Module 6, Chapter 11 - Final Assessment Piece (PAP 4)

 I have been recording my progress on my final presentation piece (PAP 4) throughout this module. 

My family has been going on holiday to the same place (on the French Mediterranean coast) for more than 35 years. When my children were young they could climb on the rocky groynes that stretched into the sea. For good or bad, health and safety intervened and signs went up, prohibiting anyone from walking on the rocks. I  felt that  this was a sad day. My final piece is an embroidery, large enough to cover the sign, (60cm x 60cm) permitting  everyone to clamber over the rocks and to generally have fun. The real sign reads  - Accès interdit sur l'enrochement - Access prohibited on the  rocks. My embroidery reads - Accès  permis sur l'enrochement - Access permitted on the rocks. I printed my text onto the faux silk before it was glued to the tyvek. Some of the writing is obscured in the finished piece, but it is possible to read my message if you look closely enough!

I created the rocky background surface by glueing tyvek to faux silk and heating it so that it crinkled. I skimmed the ridges with silver and brown paintstiks. To create the idea of walking, I hand-stitched, using a mix of quilling and underside couching, to represent footprints (or are they fish?).  There is a rocky outcrop as the focal point with strands of flowing seaweed to represent the movement of the sea, or is this another fish?

I deliberately chose to work in brown, orange and deep red as an experiment to take me way outside my comfort zone of blue, turquoise and orange. I found this quite a challenge and have mixed feeling about the finished result. I experimented extensively trying to find the right stitching for the seaweed as I wanted it to look light and delicate rather than heavy and solid. Eventually I made a feathery leaf with trailing fronds, which I  think is just right.

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The offending sign!

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Almost the final design.  I moved the angle of the pairs of feet, or are they fish?! I also spotted a  mistake in the printed text, which I corrected later. 

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Final design.

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This photo looks as though the shapes are set into the rocks but this is caused by the light and shadow on the photo.  The toes/tail are loosely stitched in satin stitch to suggest movement.

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109 -  112 are some of my experiments to create the seaweed. I ironed vilene interfacing onto organza in 112 and cut it out with a soldering iron but the seaweed was too pale, so I painted the vilene with dark reds and oranges which was far more successful. I made the cords in two dark tones, see below and 116.

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The  finished embroidery. This photo was taken in a well lit room. The orange and red colours show strongly.

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This photo was taken in natural light and the colours are more subdued. 

The rocky outcrop and seaweed (or is it another fish)  help to bring the piece together. They are made from closely pleated strips of fabric, with a very narrow ZZ stitch on the edge. This makes the fabric splay out and form a crinkled edge. See below.

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PAP 4 in situ. A  beautiful sunny day in southern France. Nobody has read my sign yet!

The embroidery will be mounted on a black canvas board, measuring 80 x 80 cms.

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Completed.

PAP 4 SUMMARY - BEACH NOTICE

Fabric	£5
Felt	£0.50
Tyvek	£4.00
Paints	£5.00
Ribbon Tape	£8.00
Soluble fabric	£5.00
Iron-on vilene	£1.00
Madeira thread	£7.00
Embroidery thread	£8.00
TOTAL	£43.50
Time Taken:
August 2023	Design stage started
June 2024	Final designs completed
December 2023	Samples and embroidery started
October 2024	Beach Notice completed
Time spent on Design	58 hours
Time spent on Samples/Embroidery	182 hours