Exploding or Explosion Books

I have been intending to make this video for months and finally this week I got round to doing it.  I had promised my grandson that I would make the video for him.

I hadn't realised when I started the recording that the zoom lens jumped forward a little bit so the video was rather close up. As a consequence some of the visuals were up in the air and off camera.   I have left some of the close up footage and re-recorded the bits that had disappeared.   There's a bit of a funny jump in the middle!

There are also subtitles which are worth putting on even if you think you don't need them, as sometimes the written explanation is better than my actual words!

I forgot to say in the video that if you make a book with more than three squares, every time you add a square the peak or valley needs to alternate.  In the video the squares are peak, valley, peak - so the next one would be valley.

I hope you will give these books a try.

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice

More fabric collages

Last week we were back at Littleheath Barn for the next session of Textile Explorations.  Liske suggested some ideas for experimenting.  One of which was to use water soluble fabric.

They have yet to be cut down to 10cm square.  And I'm not sure what backing fabric I'm going to use.

A second suggestion was making two contrasting squares and cutting them exactly the same to mix and match the pattern.

The bottom two have had foil added.  The one on the left had glue applied through a Thermofax screen and the one on the right had little strips of bondaweb ironed on.

I tried the four samples done with water soluble fabric on different colour backgrounds

Which colour would you have chosen?   This is my choice

 And here are the other four cut to size.

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

More Master Practitioner Module 2

Last time I showed you the samples I made.

I made this zigzag book based on a class by Kasia Avery in the Wanderlust classes.  The different papers were glued together.

And after gesso, paint, stencilling and stitching it looked like this.

I took this with me when I went to Leah Higgins' studio to do the breakdown printing course.  Whilst the rust brown and petrol green gave me darker colours than my painted version, it gave me a palette to work on for the final piece.

The final pages of my workbook show the zigzag book on the left and the folded photos of the samples with the information about each sample on the right.

 The photos of the samples opened out.

For the final piece of this module, I am thinking of making a wall hanging consisting of 3 panels, each of maximum size 15cms by 1.65m. The panels will be attached to wooden industrial textile bobbins.

I will use this for an exhibition with Traverse. The theme for the exhibition is Senses. A walk along the canal is a sensory experience – sights, sounds, smells.

This photo shows a mock up using photos of the breakdown printed fabric. These photos were taken before the fabrics were washed out. The final fabrics are paler than this.

With the samples I have tried out various techniques using nuno felting – using a photo printed on silk, handmade silk paper with a photo transferred to it, batik on tissue, fabric piecing using Bondaweb, printing with acrylic paint on fabric, photographs of collages printed on silk and on cotton, fabric and paper collage, and breakdown printing.

The final design will hopefully consist of rectangles and squares of the breakdown printed cotton with added rectangles of nuno felting, collaged photos printed on cotton, batik on tissue and other elements from the sample.  I will layer these onto lawn or scrim with a cotton backing and stitch through the layers.

I'll let you know how I get on!

Thanks for joining me today.
Bernice

Master Practitioner Module 2

My last course update was about recording a walk in black and white.   Originally I was going to continue with the black and white theme into the samples and the final piece.  However I eventually decided I would use colour after all.  I started with some black and white samples and then moved into colour.

Printing was another theme through this work.  Home made stamps printed onto fabric, using my inkjet printer to print photos onto fabric and breakdown printing.

The samples are 10 x 15cms. They are mounted on a folded recycled cloth backed map.

Each rectangle holds a sample that includes a background I have made or dyed with some stitching to try out different patterns. Each of the 12 samples was originally 15 x 20cms which were cut in half to fit the map folds and different stitch patterns were used on each.

The closed map with printed fabric cover.

Cotton poplin, acrylic paint stamped using small square of Perspex. The sample was made on the reverse of the fabric as that had a more interesting pattern. The piece on the right has hexagons cut out and bondawebbed on. The painted side of the fabric was used for the hexagons. The paint made the fabric very stiff and difficult to stitch through.

Cotton poplin background with .one layer of cotton poplin backing. Hexagons cut from stamped fabrics using fabric paints. Straight stitch, running stitch

Hand made silk paper with a B&W photograph transferred with Bondaweb and rubbed off. Images are not clear unless you hold the paper up to the light.  Running stitch. Still trying out the pattern on the left. Random stitching on the right.

A paper collage photographed and printed on to silk using an inkjet printer. Cotton poplin backing with heavy sew-in interfacing between.Straight stitch on left in various areas of the print. Running stitch along the lines of the collage

Photograph printed onto silk using an inkjet printer. Nuno felted. Cotton poplin backing. Running stitch

Hand made silk paper with a colour photograph transferred with Bondaweb and rubbed off. Images are not clear unless you hold the paper up to the light. Straight stitch on the left to outline bridge and straight stitch to add ‘grasses’. Random running stitch on the right.

Coloured paper collage, photographed and printed onto cotton poplin, using an inkjet printer. Layered with heavy sew-in interfacing and cotton poplin backing. Straight stitch on the left to add ‘grasses’ and running stitch on the right.

Batik on tissue. Tissue paper collage. Waxed, bleached and coloured. Straight stitches to add texture

Printed and bought fabric and paper collage. Glued together with cold water paste. Machine stitching and hand stitching.

Small rectangles of breakdown printed fabric bondawebbed to cotton poplin. Layered with heavy sew-in interfacing and cotton poplin backing. Running stitch on the left. Machine stitched on the right.

Breakdown printed fabric with cotton poplin backing. On the left, one thickness of twine. On the right, two pieces together.

Pieces of breakdown printed fabric machined together. Then layered on felt and cotton poplin backing.  On the left, seams not showing and machine stitched quilting. On the right, original seams showing, machine quilted.

All of the samples together.

Next time I'll tell you about the final piece I'm planning to make from all this sketchbook work and sample making.

Thanks for joining me today.
Bernice

Further work in my workbook

My last update showed the art work I had been doing in relation to the poem 'The Road Less Travelled' and the music 'Summertime'.

I moved on to looking at the possibility of making fragments.   I saw instructions for a folding book on Facebook and thought it would be great for displaying samples.   I tried making it in card with squares of the gelli prints I had made for this project but not stuck in my workbook.

I made it again with collages made from the gelli prints. 

 And the page in my workbook

I moved on to dyeing fabrics.

And then started experimenting with different techniques.   I had been to a workshop with Clare Bullock to learn Nuno Felting.

The instructions with this course include:

• Try at least 5 materials you’ve never used before
• Try at least 5 techniques which you either haven’t used before or are now pushing to a different level

Nuno felting was quite new to me.  I had done a workshop with Lynda Monk but decided I would try some of the ideas in her book Beautiful Bonded Surfaces.  I tried out Tyvek with wool tops, scrim, bubblewrap and came up with varying results.

I also tried working with an Embellisher (squares on the right) but really didn't enjoy it.

I also tried a couple of machining techniques.   First I tried a water soluble fabric sandwich with Aquabond on the bottom, a layer of wool tops and a thinner layer of water soluble fabric on top.  I machined one with a grid and the other with free machining.

The other technique involved layers of sheers machined onto a felt backing.

I moved on to displaying the samples.  I took a photo f the samples and printed the photo out.  As I tried different stitches on the sample I scribbled what I had done.

I put in my submission to my tutor.  Each sample was photographed and annotated.

Stitched samples

I also had to submit a design brief for my final piece.  I had decided that I would make a larger version of the fold up book using Lutradur rather than card for the base structure.

I received the feedback from the tutor.  She suggested that I made an odd number of squares.

I had tried dyeing the Lutradur with the same dyes that I had dyed the fabrics but it just didn't work so in the end I painted it with acrylic paint.

Having decided I would make the piece larger I tried out various versions of the squares and triangles.

And eventually decided on this arrangement.

I am now working on the final piece and I will show it to you in a future post.

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice