I can’t get the sewing machine to do freestyle machine embroidery. it seems to sew in the wrong direction – ie sew up the excess thread from the threaded needle and then the thread comes out of the needle. 🙁 I’ve tried holding the threads but still no luck. I’ve tried with a foot on (I think it’s actually a clear buttonhole foot), the foot off, tightening & loosening the screw on the bobbin holder to adjust bobbin tension and the feed dogs down. when I put the feed dogs up again it sews normally (well, as normal as it usually does – see the stitching in this first photo, with white thread plus red bobbin thread). I tried pulling the fabric tauter on the hoop and trying a thicker fabric. I haven’t tried using fusible interfacing on the fabric yet though, so maybe the fabric is too thin? basically it doesn’t seem to pick up the bobbin thread at all either.
feed dogs down & feed dogs up
I tried watching some videos and following their instructions but I’m still not having any luck. I’ve had some problems with it when doing straight stitching too – so possibly it’s the machine’s problem – it skips stitches irregularly when stitching normally (I quite like this in some cases though – it has a nice glitch). but maybe this means it’s not suitable for freestyle machine stitching?
am tempted to try find a bernina 1008 sewing machine – the books I read by Sue Stone mentions she uses one and I like her work and stitches. in technique & stitch vocabulary she says she has two! one for normal stitching and one for machine embroidery. I also like the darning stitch she uses over the top of her layered stitches, she makes it look like hand woven stitches
tonight I was reading through class notes again and just realised I have more to do for assignment one than I thought. I’d totally missed a whole section – project 2. I was thinking project 1 = assignment 1 🙁
“As a means to combat symptoms of loneliness experienced by children staying long periods of time in hospital, the Augmented Quilt opens up an additional line of communication between the child and their loved ones. Each animal illustration on the quilt can be linked to a friend or family member, who can in turn leave digital messages for the child to read using a smart device. This highly personal form of communication is more meaningful to the child than anything a facebook message alone is capable of. Simultaneously the intimate tactile nature of the quilt also serves as a physical source of comfort which, when combined with the personal messages, provides a greater sense of security to the child in what is a potentially distressing time.”
this sounds like a great idea – he’s using the Aurasma’s Augmented Reality (AR) system. the child / person can point their phone camera over the quilt square – ie the fiducial marker – and a message from their family would be shown. I will check into Aurasma – I’ve used Layar, GE AR, and ARToolKit a few years ago when I was playing with augmented reality to see how it worked. I imagine the technology has advanced more now than when I last used it. once I had knitted a black fiducial marker, but I ended up using it to line my bike basket.
tonight I watched videos on Zandra Rhodes’ tutorial page on her website. the first video about Sketchbooks was great. I liked how she speaks on photographs vs drawing in sketchbooks: “to me, i never get to know something unless I’ve drawn it & suffered it”
there’s also some great videos on screenprinting and making the prints for some of her fabrics. it’s interesting that she uses layout paper for her sketchbooks too – I might have to try that for the pens
Tutorial 1 Zandra Rhodes: Using sketchbooks from UCA Learning Technologists on Vimeo.also I started reading through “Indigo – The Colour that Changed the World” by Catherine Legrand, after finding it at Potts Point bookstore yesterday. I’ve almost bought this book a few times online, but hadn’t quite pressed submit on the order. it’s a visual feast – interesting to learn more about indigo following the shibori class I did a few weeks ago.
and, a non-art-textiles related article to read is, “In Conversation with Adam Curtis, Part I” by (one of my favourite curators) Hans Ulrich Obrist – they do speak about art in the article
today I went to the Art Gallery of NSW and saw “The Sydney Moderns” exhibition. I loved the “colour music” works of Roy de Maistre – I think these would translate well to textiles. like weaving sounds and colour. he did a lot of work based on synaesthesia. I was at the gallery with my sister and 10 month old niece, who was very excited – singing and dancing in the gallery – so we walked quickly through the exhibition so as not to disturb others viewing the works. I hope to go back and see it again and spend some more time looking at the paintings. De Maistre also did some paintings based on the colour wheel.
from Roy de Maistre’s wikipedia page: “He developed an interest in “colour-music”, the relationship of colour harmony to musical harmony. With his ordered, analytical mind, he applied the theory of music to painting. He worked with Adrian Verbrugghen, and then Roland Wakelin to devise a “colour-music” theory. In 1919 he held a joint exhibition with Roland Wakelin titled Colour in Art to expound his theories. In this, at the time controversial. art exhibition the musician-turned-painter had chosen colours to harmonise like the notes in music. This “colour-music” exhibition became part of Australia’s art-folklore as “pictures you could whistle”. Influenced by earlier exponents of “colour-music” theory in Europe and America, this exhibition has since been identified as the earliest experiment in pure abstractionism in Australia. His colour charts, showing musical notes corresponding to different hues, are now owned by the Art Gallery of New South Wales, with “colour music” gaining a permanent place in Australian art history.”
reading ahead, I think some of his works might be useful for inspiration for some of the forthcoming assignments. I could try make a painting inspired by his colour wheel & paintings also, as well as some textiles based on the paintings and studies.
also reading about Anne Dangar and Grace Crowley and their geometric works
I’ve been reading and browsing through the book, “Drawn to stitch – Line, drawing and mark-making in textile art” by Gwen Hedley. she has some great examples and suggestions for mark-making, which I hope to try. the first part of the book talks about how to describe lines and mark-making. adding the info here so I remember to use it when describing some of my explorations – so far I’ve only uploaded the pictures, not written much about them.
from pages 9-11. “Drawn to stitch – Line, drawing and mark-making in textile art” by Gwen Hedley Line
think about characteristics and qualities of lines
are the lines:
– straight, curved, varied?
– geometric or contoured?
– man-made or organic?
– continuous or broken?
– jagged or even?
– dotted, dashed or both?
– thick, thin or varied?
– raised or recessed?
surface colour
are the colours:
– pure or blended?
– muted or grey and dusty?
– bright or subdued?
– solid or broken?
– are the edges soft or hard?
– are there layers of colour? if so, what is the colour order?
textural qualities
is the surface texture:
– smooth or rough?
– varied?
– shiny or dull and matte?
– flat or knobbly?
– complete or eroded?
– rigid, gritty, or sleek?
– opaque, transparent or translucent?
I’ve been thinking about what to use for my theme/s – am not sure if they’ll fit yet, but here’s my initial ideas:
1. encryption/code/glitch – I’ve read about women who’ve (over the centuries) added codes to their fabric to send messages to others – encrypted messages in textiles. it fits in with my work too (encrypted digital tv signals/video/audio). and glitch maybe due to something Jack spoke about (how he likes glitch in video but I try to remove it/prevent it at work – so a balance between work & home) & another class I did & the music equipment/making anomolies that turn out to be something beautiful/special/unplanned – the glitches in the code, the mistakes. I’ve made some (very rough) video art using glitch over the years, so thought it might fit in
2. sound art/experimental music (maybe dance music culture, hip hop too) – not really sure how I’ll fit this in yet, but it’s another thing I write on, so trying to think of a way to fit it in – it might end up just being a separate project & I use the things in #1. maybe the music part of it – I think a lot of experimental music/sound art could be converted to embroidery – the lines & patterns & feel of the music into colours and lines.
3. geometric patterns – I’ve been reading a bit about the geometrics movement in the UK. would like to do more research / practice on this. and seeing the patterns in nature to find the natural geometrics – maybe some biomimicry of textiles?
just rough thoughts atm
update: 18/08/2013: I’ve been thinking more about what I could use for themes, and these come to mind also:
4. women and craft and activism – I think these are all related, though not always tied together, but often when there’s one, there’s the others.
5. wearable art and wearable technologies – these tie in to those above, but I’ve been wanting to explore some of these ideas too. I found some flexible solar panels which perhaps could be of use. I have an electronics background though am a bit rusty these days, so it might be time to brush up on these things.
explorations in textiles, mark making, drawing, sketchbooks, art school & uni art work
