I love the idea of portals. (Love Esterita's work) we often visit ruined castles, abbeys and churches. I have loads of photos, but I have had this one from a magazine up on my wall for ages, wanting to do something with it.
I used paper solvy to print my sketch and then thread painted over it. It is meant to dissolve easily. But I found it difficult to get rid of it under the dense stitching. When it dries, it dries white again. The work looked pretty good yesterday in time for the deadline! But the white bits bothered me. So, since I had stitched it onto tea-dyed linen, I thought I would use a teabag to put a bit more tea on, hoping to colour the white bits of paper.
Well, that was a mistake, as it turned everything VERY dark, and I lost any definition at all in the distance. So, this afternoon, I have reworked more threads into the background, and brought it back to where I can cope with it! The actual piece is a bit browner than this photo shows, and the whole thing blends better, but the photo does show the depth.
In order to create the depth, I tried using lighter threads in the background and darker in the foreground. Using principles suggested in the link to the essay. I also used stronger definition in the foreground...often using 3 or 4 threads in the needle to get the mixture of colours and strength of line.
thanks for any comments.
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6 comments:
Hi Sandy,
What wonderful detail you got with the stitching! The heavier lines of stiching in the foreground are very effective for the depth element. I would love to see this with some color like some of Esterita Austin's colorful stone pieces...would you consider adding color? Transparent Setacolor fabric paint for the stones with some fabric markers to add some shadowing could work. It's such a lovely piece...it's too bad you ran into the problem with the solvy and the piece came out too dark. It's all a learning experience though...and that's what a series is good for.
Glad you could join us!
Cynthia
Hi Sandy - At first I thought this was a sketch and then enlarged the photo and saw all the stitching. The use of the darker threads in the first archway really worked to give the piece depth. Nice work!
I hope you try some more work with this theme - I see so many possibilities.
Roberta
thanks for the encouragement. I do want to do more of this. I really enjoyed it. I think I might be able to use the paper solvy and do the main stitch lines, tear it off and then work from there. It makes the idea of translating my sketch so much easier.
I did think about colour, in fact, I have pulled out all sorts of bits and pieces to do a sort of paper piecing of it, which I thought I might then thread paint. But,I am not sure I will have the time for it right now. In the actual photo the stones are very dark grey, and the sky is grey as well. the only real colour was the grass and a few autumn trees. That is part of the reason I went with the tea dyed linen...then I chose threads that would work as shades and tints of the colour in the cloth.
however, I like the idea of fabric markers, etc to colour the fabric. is that how esterita's work is done?
Sandy
I love what you have done. Too bad about the tea dying goof at the end.
The only thing that I would suggest is making the bushes in the center a much lighter so they are closer in value to the rest of the background. They are competing too much with the foreground.
I like the idea of adding color. You could emphasize parts of the drawing with a light wash of a transparent color. But it is wonderful just the way it is also.
I think if you tear the solvy out and continue to stitch, you will have lost the stability that the paper provides and the fabric may pucker (or is paper solvy thin like tissue; I've only used the plasticy kind and have imagined that paper solvy is stiffer like a piece of copy paper).
You could try drawing your design in reverse and stitching from the back. Then you wouldn't need to wory if every little crumb of solvy didn't wash out.
Sandy, I believe Esterita uses some paint and markers for highlighting and shadows but mainly her pieces are fused applique using hand dyed and other fabrics.
The way Linda is talking about using the solvy on the back is probably the common use of it...do you have Ellen Anne Eddy's book, Thread Magic? That's how she does it.
Cynthia
I love your "Portals" quilt and feel that you really achieved a sense of depth with the various levels of distance you protrayed. I also like your use of the thread to draw your subject matter. I would like to try some of the tea staining too! Very nice work! Joni Feddersen
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