Project 1 Folding and crumpling

Exercise 5 Basic crumpling technique

Whenever I travel to another country I try to buy a newspaper, – this one from the Middle East felt soft and right for crumpling. The script gives lots of interest and accentuates the folds and crinkles. The paper did however tear as it became very crumpled, but I think that added to the interest of the resulting samples.

Having tried lots of techniques and taken many photographs I drew one of the images with my left hand, concentrating on the lines and edges.

Next I used a lightweight decorative paper and tried more techniques. This paper didn’t tear – maybe I was more careful! The ribs are clearly defined and could be further emphasised with careful stitching. I drew one of the samples with my left hand using a continuous line.

Stitched ridges

Next I used red tissue paper, crumpled to a lovely soft material which was easy to emboss over paint pots, and scrunched into pleasing shapes. Some were almost flowerlike, and these reminded me of Georgia O’Keefe’s paintings.

I used acrylics with a cardboard tool to create two images and also made a stylised watercolour painting. I feel the acrylic paintings work better for the subject as they have more movement and texture in them.

Two images were edited to black and white and then manipulated in ‘Waterlogue’ app.

This has been an interesting exercise with exciting results. Paper becomes soft like fabric when crumpled, but still holds its shape. It creates organic shapes and is very tactile. The other thing I like is that no two samples will ever be the same. These techniques transform a simple piece of paper into fascinating forms which could be developed further with stitch.

Project 1 Folding and crumpling

Exercise 4 Incremental and twisted pleats

1. Incremental pleats – I made samples using different papers and shapes, sometimes measuring and marking the folds and sometimes folding ‘by eye’. Some were folded using the Fibonacci sequence and I can see that this would be further emphasised by using a longer piece of material to create more folds. Some were folded at angles, creating a different effect. Photographing the samples from different angles produced many different outcomes, and using black paper as a background emphasised the shapes. The torn edges of the watercolour paper samples give a lovely textured edging, contrasting with the sharp folds.

Folding the metal sheet I had was not easy as it is a little thick, but it holds its shape well and catches the light beautifully when photographed.

2. Twisted pleats – made using a variety of papers and fabric, with machine stitch, hand stitch, paper clips and folding used to secure the twists in place. Thinner papers and fabrics are easier to manipulate, and the length of the initial fold influences the number of twists.

This exercise has shown that really interesting shapes can be achieved with just a few folds. I particularly like the samples made with watercolour paper where the texture of the torn edges contrasts with the sharp folds, and the patterns and colours on the paper are changed by the shadows and manipulation of the placement of the folds.

Project 5 Puncturing and stitching

Exercise 2 Stitching

1. Using a needle, hole punches and a bradawl to make holes in cartridge paper, I created a range of lines and spaces to stitch. The larger circles offered lots of ideas for combinations of threading and stitch.

2. I used the leaf from the puncturing exercise and stitched into the holes with a variety of materials. I liked the look of the string as it is another natural material. As the leaf had become brittle – being a few days old, some of the punctured holes split when sewn.

3. Stitching on clear plastic is interesting as the stitching material can be seen through to the back of the plastic as well as on the front. I cut strips of the same plastic to stitch with and found that stretching these strips created intriguing shapes as seen below. Ribbon, thick string, paper, and fine yarn all create different effects.

Painting with my left hand and lino cut printing, based on the plastic sample.

4. Wrapping paper folded and then punctured with a hole punch/bradawl. I found that threading with cocktail sticks kept the folded shape, and stitching emphasised the folds.

5. Shrink plastic sewn and then shrunk. I think that this idea could have possibilities but it is difficult to puncture without tearing the material. I used a hole punch but this only reaches so far into the material – a punch with a longer reach would be needed to explore this further.

6. Air dry clay was punctured while still wet and then stitched when dry. I love this – it has the feel and look of an old textile due to the texture of the clay. Creating holes in the clay creates bumps and dips to be incorporated into the design.

I used a variety of stitches including ‘Kantha’ patterns. The sample was photographed on a white and a black background. It may be interesting to texture the surface of the clay with fabrics before it dries next time.

Sample images manipulated in ‘Waterlogue’ app.

Pen drawing and simple prints

The paper and clay samples are my favourites from this exercise and I see the clay sample as leading on from the paper experiment. Maybe I need to try ‘paper clay’ – I will investigate.

When stitching the dried clay I was worried about breaking it but this is also a worry with paper which can easily tear. The limited colour palette on these samples works well, and I think I could experiment with a more muted or natural colour palette to give a vintage/ancient textile look with my stitches. Also creating a texture on the surface of the clay would add to the mood of the piece.

Project 5 Puncturing and stitching

Exercise 1 Puncturing

Samples made using a range of tools with copy paper, paper napkin and handmade paper. Samples are different depending on which side the tool is pushed through from, and pressure affects the size, shape and ‘jaggedness’ of the hole.

Pen drawing capturing the shadows created by the holes as seen from the reverse side.

Punching through metal requires more effort – for this sample I used a hole punch and a bradawl. The action of puncturing bends the metal creating shadows.

Puncturing plastic causes the material to stretch and create a very tactile surface – it reminds me of ice in the sample I chose to draw. I took photos from various angles to capture the surface. Because the material is transparent the pattern can be seen more clearly with a contrasting colour underneath or with plenty of light at an angle to pick up the texture.

This drawing was done with my left hand.

Puncturing corrugated card again photographed from different angles.

The fibrous texture of this leaf created interesting marks – holes made too close together caused the leaf to split but this too made random patterns. The tiny fibres sticking out are a contrast in colour and texture to the leaf surface, and the organic lines in the leaf contrast nicely with the man made holes.

Collage made with magazine papers and poppy seeds.

Close up photos of the leaf sample were manipulated with ‘Waterlogue’ app. I then made print blocks to play around with the patterns.

This exercise has produced some exciting and surprising results with lots of starting points for design and inspiration for stitch. I am finding left handed drawing frees me up and creates more pleasing results with pens and pencils. My drawings and prints are starting to capture the feeling of the samples without being an exact copy.

Project 4 Scratching and embossing

Exercise 1 Embossing

Embossing on paper is much easier with a piece of felt underneath. Anything softer would cause the paper to tear and on a hard surface it does not work! These marks are very tactile and create shadows on the paper.

Having made embossed marks into copy paper with a metal embossing tool, I drew the shapes – trying to echo the shadows, and made a print block. I guess the action of pressing into the foam is embossing so that is another material! The resulting prints were interesting and to add another dimension I impressed a plastic shape into the foam which worked well.

Another piece of foam with embossing made by pressing over a plastic shape made geometric prints.

Pressing copy paper over a metal coil needed a fair bit of pressure: wet paper created more intense marks, and wet hand made paper created a deep impression.

Using a plastic shape again I used paper and a metal sheet to compare results. The metal sheet result was easier to achieve with less pressure and is more interesting to observe as it catches light in many colours.

I manipulated the image of the metal sample in the ‘Waterlogue’ app and then did a watercolour painting to look at the colours and shadows..

Embossing paper on beads and a wooden stamp produced less than exciting results! I also tried plastic and cardboard but this didn’t inspire me either. I guess that is what sampling is about.

I haven’t been excited by this technique. I have found it hard to create interesting results with many of the samples.

Project 3 Heating and fusing

Exercise 3 Using hot water

1. Fine white polyester satin with different buttons tied in – this worked really well and the fabric retained its shape after being boiled for 30 minutes.

2. Next I used two tone red and black organza tied with cotton without inserts. Again this worked brilliantly and the colours of the organza are highlighted in the resulting sample. The springiness of this sample is reminiscent of the organza lingerie produced by Julie Waibel (www.julewaibel.com) who uses steam pleating to create her shapes.

Using crayons and watercolour I tried to capture some of the shapes and movement in this sample – I wasn’t particularly inspired by the result so I cut shapes and arranged them in a collage. The piece of paper from which I cut the shapes would make a good stencil or mask for monoprinting.

3. Folded polyester fabric produced strong pleats and folds.

4. Folded polyester fabric held with a clamp.

5. Polyester satin stitched as shown and gathered. This produced a really textured sample and it would be interesting to try different stitch patterns. Next time I will mark dots on the fabric to make the stitching easier!

6. I tried using the pattern on this piece of polycotton and tied buttons where the dots were, but the fabric had too much natural fibre and did not hold the shape very well, – I need to find some patterned polyester to try this again as a pattern would definitely affect the end result if the shape held.

7. Hand made, wet felted prefelt with buttons tied in. This worked really well but I needed to hand felt the piece, as boiling on its own was not enough . This is an interesting organic sample which could be further embellished with stitch. I think next time I would just hand felt with hot water and soap to obtain a better result.