Finished!

If you have been following my journey with the School of Stitched Textiles Master Practitioner course you will know I was on Module 3.  In my last post about the course, I said I would tell you about my design brief and how I got on making the piece.

I submitted two suggestions both of which were approved.  I chose to do the dress first.

I sort of mocked up the dress on the tailor's dummy and drew a version as well.

The intention was to make a costume for a child to wear at the Venice Carnivale, inspired by memories of Venice.

And here it is:

the front

the back

I shall probably make the other design, which was for a decorative cone, when life calms down a bit.

Thanks for joining me today.
Bernice

Sample book

Part of my Master Practitioner module is to make samples and to display them in a cohesive way.   I used an A2 sheet of watercolour paper and randomly printed acrylic paint through my gondola prow thermofax screen.  I printed on both sides of the paper.

Then I tore the paper into three equal strips.  I fold two of the strips into thirds.  I folded the cover with a narrow spine to be able to sew the other pages into it.

When I had completed the samples and stuck them into the book I folded the cover with a deep fold echoing the spine so that when it was pulled to the front it holds the book closed.

I made 12 samples. I stuck the samples onto the pages and wrote what I had done for each one.

For two of the paper lamination samples I cut holes in the page so that the sample can be seen from both sides.

I submitted all the photos of my sketchbook and the samples to the tutor and have received very positive feedback.

In my next post I'll tell you about the design brief I submitted with all this work and how I am getting on with developing the finished piece.

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice

Further pages in my workbook

I last shared with you the pages of workbook that related to containers and to patterns using a gondola prow shape.

I continued with this pattern, printing out the patterns I had already composed on the computer.  I cut these up and made various paper samples.  The first one is weaving the paper.

Then I tried cutting up several photos in the same way and then mixing up the pieces.

I made collages with torn strips of the photos.

The next task was to find 4 ways to transfer designs to fabric using two‘low tech’ methods and two 'high tech methods'.

For the high tech methods I first chose to print the patterns onto cotton fabric through my inkjet printer.

For the second method I had a thermofax screen made of the gondola prow design and printed randomly with it using acrylic paint.

The first low tech method I used was to make a lino print.  I cut a negative and positive 'tile' in the lino.

The second method was to use compressed sponge to make a 'stamp' of the shape.

I started working on samples for the next task.  I had been on a Leah Higgins' workshop and used breakdown printing in my Venetian colours.  I cut up some of the fabric to make the samples and used the set patterns on my machine to add texture.

I also tried out paper lamination.  I did a workshop with Christine Chester several years ago but have never done anything with it.

I moved onto painting Lutradur and distressing it with the heat gun.

I hand stitched and/or machine stitched on the samples and put them all into a hand-made book.   I'll show you the results in my next post.

Thank you for joining me today.
Bernice

Module 3: Containers

In my previous post I told you about the memories I have of Venice.   I had made the wire version of the gondola prow.

Next I cut out different sizes of the prow shape in card and taped them to a piece of wire so it could stand up.  I took this photo of it lying down on some lino.

I used an online app to make the background transparent.

On the computer I put the image onto different backgrounds.   The first is a page from the Concertina Sketchbook I did.   The window shape in the background is a bit distracting.

This background is part of a photo I took in Toledo.

I played with the transparent image making patterns.

There is still some work to do with this part of the module but I was also looking at the next part of the course which is about containers.  The final piece for this module is to make a container to hold my Venice memories in.  I might not be able to keep memories in what I make but it will definitely be something in 3D.

I looked through the IKEA online catalogue and downloaded images that caught my eye.  Not all of them are rectangular or square boxes!

When I was doing my original City & Guilds Creative Embroidery course I made this box book from scratch and made 3 small books to go in it.

While I was on holiday in Ireland I saw this cone on a traffic island.  It reminded me of an ice cream cone.  And of course that led to the song 'Just one Cornetto' and on to 'O sole mio' which is associated with gondoliers singing.  I'm not sure why Venetians sing a song from Naples but maybe it's a tourist thing.

I did an internet search for other cone sculptures and art.

I researched the song.

I am going to make some paper cones and see whether I can make a container from a variety of sizes of cone.  I'll let you know how I get on.

Thanks for joining me today.
Bernice