Module 1 Chapter 7 additions

Following Siân's comments and as I was not at all satisfied with the rather bland samples I had produced previously, I decided to do a couple more which would hopefully be a bit more exciting. In sample 6, I again used automatic stitches on the machine as the background in various shades of blue and grey. I superimposed onto this an arched window made by machine stitching the shape onto Thermogaze, a stabiliser which is removed by the application of heat. As the gauze was disintegrating, I realised that I actually liked the ragged, distressed look around the stitching so did what I could to preserve some of this.

However, when it was applied to the background and further stitched, I still found the piece very bland.

As is frequently the way, I put it aside for a few days and inspiration came to me - in the form of John Piper no less! I recently rediscovered his work and it was then obvious that my piece lacked drama. What it needed was contrast, so I carefully painted the now rather fragile Thermogaze with black ink. It is still by no means a masterpiece but I do think that even a little black has improved it considerably and given it something of a Piper-esque quality.

This whole exercise made me realise, however, that I simply am not inspired by the grey, wishy-washy side of my colour palette so I got back to some more dyeing, especially in the indigo/dark navy range of colours. I find these strong colours so much more exciting.

I then made another sample using some of my newly dyed fabric and threads. The design is based on the frieze around the carving shown on page 15. The stitching is simple, just layers of chain band and French knots, overlaid in various colours, but I find the stronger colour palette and greater contrast much more exciting and inspiring.

I have also been experimenting with discharging, one of my favourite methods for decorating fabric. Initially I experimented with using thickened household bleach on paper covered with varying shades of Quink ink. The diamond shaped stamp is made from foam stuck onto foam board. The window stamp is in fact an impression of my long-serving lino plate, made using the foam which is heated and them pressed into the item. I was especially pleased at the quality of the print given that it was "second hand". Also, using this method enabled me to keep my precious lino stamp away from bleach.

I then used the same method on pieces of fabric dyed with Procion MX dyes:

The result on the dark blue Procion dyed fabric was disappointing, however, as the colour bleached to a pink, which is not at all what I was hoping for.

I then tried the same process on some black discharge cotton, firstly using the thickened household bleach and subsequently using Jacquard discharge paste.  

This picture shows the result of using the household bleach, whereas the picture below shows the result of using the discharge paste.

I love the slightly eerie quality of these prints and am sure that I will find a use for this effect in a future piece of work.