A TECHNIQUE DRIVEN Blog dedicated to mastery of surface design techniques. First we dye, overdye, paint, stitch, resist, tie, fold, silk screen, stamp, thermofax, batik, bejewel, stretch, shrink, sprinkle, Smooch, fuse, slice, dice, AND then we set it on fire using a variety of heat tools.

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

My Experiment with Extreme Texture


 I finally got some time this week to play with Judith’s techniques for Extreme Texture.  I confess I didn’t have any idea of what I would do other than try the different methods she described.
First off, I auditioned several pieces of fabric I had in my stash.  I finally settled on this one:

















This was a good size, and it had some interesting patterns… kind of reminds me of being under water.
Next, I did some of the puffs:
 













After creating several of them, I could see where scrunching was going to make the piece even more interesting:















I scrunched, then pressed the piece.  Then I cut the batting and pinned the fabric to hold the scrunches in place.  Next was the stitching:



















I used white thread, which doesn’t show up as well as I would like, but I have some ideas about what to do later to enhance the stitching.  From the very first puff I stitched around, I envisioned dancing jellyfish or sea anemones, so the working title is “Dance of the Jellyfish”!  I’ll see if my finished piece looks like what I have in mind.
Once I finished stitching around the puffs, I set to thinking about how I wanted to use cord.  My vision is to have seaweed floating somewhere in the composition.  I dug through my stash and found some cheesecloth and cotton cord, and tried dyeing them.  However, I think I got a little impatient and rinsed them too soon.  The cord came out very pale, and the cheesecloth came out more blue than green.  So I switched gears:  dark green netting and undyed cord that I zigzagged in place:
 
 Here’s the cord – I zigzagged twice – once to anchor the cord, the next time to cover more thoroughly with a closer stitch.  
 


















Next, I ripped some pieces of the netting, pressed them into clumps, and hand stitched to anchor them onto the piece around the ‘stem’ created by the cord:

I have lots more I need to do to this piece before I’ll call it ‘done’, but I wanted to share what I have completed so far.  More to come!

5 comments:

  1. I love the fabric and everything you have done so far. I have to tell you the tufts of scrim remind me of he way sphagnum moss grows here in Maine. I really like the tufts. Can't wait to see what you do next...

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  2. It is so interesting to see what fabrics everyone chooses. I really like the variety of colors in yours. I'm anxious to see how you continue with this piece.

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  3. Love the colors and the netting. I'm beginning to think stopping might be the hardest part!

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