Project 2 Stage 1 Introduction

I find Itten's statement about unknowledge intriguing.   I think I have some degree of unknowledge; that is to say I sometimes get it wrong.  With a bit of knowledge the success rate should improve.  It will be interesting to re-read this in a month or two and see if I still think this way.

I've been vaguely aware of the colour wheel but never looked at it closely so making a colour wheel was an interesting thing to try. First I used pencil crayons then blended them with water.  After using water colour later on I realised that I would have got a better job with them rather than crayons.

Chevreul's colour wheel

My colour wheel

My colour wheel looked very simplistic once I had read about about Chevreul (1786-1889) and his exploration of colour theory.  I think his representation of the wheel in 72 sections (Hodge, 2004) is so elegant.  Chevreul was a chemist at the Gobelins tapestry works and he was asked to investigate why certain colours looked dull in some tapestries. He found that  the colour perceived depended on the colours surrounding the one that looked dull. He described how colours relate to perception and the emotions of the observer (Hodge, 2004).  In 1839 he published The Law of Simultaneous Contrast of Colours.  The Impressionists used the findings of Chevreul to create a new way of enhancing painting effects.  This change in style was helped along by developments in the new chemical pigments available and the ease with which paints could be transported in the new metal tubes.  They were able to paints outdoors much more easily than previously.

The way the eye can be deceived was used by the Impressionists who used paint in such a way that this illusion was harnessed (by placing hues next to each other) to allow the eye to mix colours.  This is a technique known as optical colour mixing.

I used my crayons to mix complementary colours and was surprised by what I got.  The task made colour theory explained in the manual very clear.  I then tried water colour paints to see if there was any difference in the results. I achieved a much better blend of colour that was recognisably from the same source but different because of the tone used.

Water colour paints

Pencil crayons

Red and green

Water colour paints

Pencil crayons

Violet and yellow

Pencil crayons

Water colour paints

 Orange and blue

 Playtime

The whole

Vibrant

Much softer

                

I used this playtime to see what happened when I scribbled with a whole range of colours in this arbitrary way.  Some inadvertently mixed and there are places where the colour then drifted further and mixed more. Overall the effect is vibrant and pleasant to look at but there are changes in character within the whole.  The red gives a real zing but as the brush becomes less loaded things calm down and become much softer.

With what I have just learnt I can see harmonious and complementary colours  at work.  I've searched for "after image" but can't find it.  Is this because of the lack of grey I wonder?

Susie Hodge, How to Paint like the Impressionists, Collins, 2004. p 20, 21

Assignment one

In a few short weeks I've come a very long way.  I've tackled all sorts of tasks and enjoyed them all.  Towards the end of mark making I was very ready to move on to stitch but I can see with the benefit of hindsight that the mark making practice is going to be the crux of what I will do whenever I stitch.  My most recent work was very dependent on what I had learnt in Project 1.

I found it surprising that my least favourite medium in Project 1 (oil pastels) was the one where I think I produced my best work.

This is a real lesson in prejudging where my skills might lie!    Another big lesson is that there is no right way - if it works it's fine.

Some of my learning is of the "life" variety. I've always been of the opinion that work shouldn't be put off until tomorrow.  In this Section of the course I've found that an attitude of "manana" often solves a dilemma or changes initial thinking.   For me there’s a freedom in this way of working.

I feel I as if I have permission to be spontaneous and experiment not caring (a great deal) if things don’t work out.  I’ve enjoyed this so much.  That said, not everything works well that way.  My Sample in Project 2 Stage 3 was not considered sufficiently and I was most dissatisfied with it.  I’m going to have to find a happy medium that I feel sure will involve good planning and an ability to make changes if necessary.

The idea that everything is inspired by something sounds obvious but to me it needed pointing out.   It has amazed me that my drawing can be cropped and re-interpreted   to become something different.

I have read some of the set books but don’t feel at the moment that I have used what I have read.  I suppose the ideas have filtered in somewhere but I haven’t done much by way of formal research therefore my reading remains unacknowledged. My sketching as I go about my daily business isn't working well - in fact I'm not doing much at all.  I can really see the value of it but somehow cannot seem to integrate it into my work.

During the first few weeks of the course it so happened that I visited lots of exhibitions and I found I was viewing them quite differently to previously.   However, I find it very difficult to be critical about artists whose skills are far ahead of mine. With mark making in mind even a trip to M&S is not the same as it once was.

I know I have to look at the assessment criteria and comment on how I think I'm performing.  I'm more concerned about this than anything else I've done as I really don't know where to start.

I was very excited about starting the course and I’ve not been disappointed.  I’m looking forward to the next part and hope I find the same sort of satisfaction.

  

Assignment one Reflection

Demonstration of Technical and Visual Skills

I've tried a whole new range of materials and had surprising results
Mark making developed slowly but I am beginning to use the learning in my stitching
My hand stitching is where I feel most secure
Machine work needs practice
Visual awareness, design and compositional skills are all areas where I need experience and guidance

Quality of Outcome

I have sometimes not used the best material to interpret
I have used what I've learnt whilst integrating prior knowledge
Presentation is important to me and I have tried to be organised about it
I am learning to make creative judgements and experiment with materials to get the best result
I have ideas that don't always work but experience will help
I'm proud of some of my work

Demonstration of Creativity

I can look at an image and imagine it in another medium such as stitch
I am prepared to experiment and am getting used to not getting it right first time
I like the idea of being inventive but am sometimes disappointed with the outcome
My personal voice is quiet right now but as time goes on I'm sure I'll find it

Context

I have reflected and learnt a lot over these few weeks
I haven't yet used the reading I've done
I think my workbook and my log will be a valuable resource in the coming months.
I am feeling less exposed in my blog and it is therefore becoming more comfortable
My sketchbook is not being used properly

Project 2 Stage 6 Making yarns

I spent some time making unusual combinations of materials to create new yarns.  I had tried making "rope" out of wool before but plastics were new to me and I was surprised at the effects.

This first effort was with some cheap multi coloured acrylic yarn I had left from knitting a jumper for one of my grandchildren.  The effects were surprising.

In each example the strands were all single yarn twisted tightly together then allowed to twist on their own. The thicker "rope" is ten lengths of wool, the second thickest is four and the thin one is just two lengths.  Because of the variation in the colour of the wool the result was unpredictable so each rope looks completely different.  I quite like that but if it were to be used in a piece careful selection of the wool would be needed.

The next four are all plastic.  The top one is a red and a green net that had contained oranges (the hard sort of plastic).  It gives a very interesting, spiky texture.  The yellow one below was a soft net that lemons were wrapped in.  This was far more stretchy and gave a result a bit like yellow bindatwine.

These two examples are from carrier bags.  The pink and blue were treated in the same way as the orange nets but the effect was predictably quite different.  The twist was harder to accomplish and there was no blending of the separate strands.  The yellow below is a carrier bag handle which was quite rigid plastic.  I plaited this and left it fairly loose.  I got an open effect a bit like a firm chain stitch.

These are differing thickness strands of wool cut from a badly washed jumper.  It was too small and too felted to be worn again.  Although the thinner strands are not very stable they could be stitched into other fabric.

However, I decided to plait three together and immediately got something stronger.  This would probably need to be couched on as it is quite thick.

This is felting wool and the top piece shows I plaited three different colours. I chose different colours so that I could see what happened to the plaiting. I did  three lengths of plaiting then plaited the three plaits together.  I felted the result.  The end product was very firm and whilst it had felted the colours remained separate.  It has a lovely cosy feel about it and reminds me of a warm dressing gown. 

This could be used for an edging but would be much more versatile if it was self coloured.  It would be interesting to see what two plaited strands twisted together and felted would do.

I love silk tops and have used the same plaiting and twisting techniques here as previously.  Both of these examples started with three quite thin pices of silk but the results are very different.  The plaiting is quite rigid whilst the twisting is much more flexible and tactile.

This has been a really enjoyable task and has made me think much more widely about the materials I can use. In the future when I want a particular texture I will certainly look further than my purchased threads into my other materials and be prepared to experiment.  I was amazed for instance at the stretchiness of the orange nets and the way the twisted into something quite unrecognisable.

I can see that if enough of the developed yarn was available it could be knitted, crocheted or French knitted  well.

Project 2 Stage 6 Review

Review of Project 2

Although I’ve stitched since I was small I realise now that it was just a mechanical way of using thread. The work I’ve done in this project has introduced me to stitch as way to show both emotion and texture.  In the exercises I’ve sometimes known exactly which stitches I wanted to use and why and by and large these have been the most successful.   I find I am thinking about the mark the stitch makes and in the most recent work the texture as well.  I find that I’m starting to consider materials other than thread and yarn to get the feelings I want.

I feel that I don’t have enough resource material; my sketchbook is not brimming over. However, I have chosen to re-interpret work that I enjoyed doing and has been the most successful (I think).   The Sample was not my finest hour.  My particular choice of sketchbook material was OK but I now think there were better parts of it available to me from the point of view stitch.  For what I thought were very good reasons I chose to omit parts that epitomised what I was trying to show and emphasise others.  I worked on intuition but next time I would certainly make a drawing to see what the changes would mean before I launched into it on fabric.  I chose my first background unwisely as well thinking that “pale” meant anything neutral.  Not so.  My sample is recognisably inspired by my drawing but only some of the areas work (like the fly stitch) as I’d hoped.  As a standalone task I don’t think the embroidery hangs together well; there’s no connection between the elements.  I considered each part separately when I thought about the stitches to use instead of thinking about the work as a whole.  If I was to do this piece again there would be much more thinking and planning involved. This was the most disappointing piece I’ve done; not at all fulfilling my aspirations.  I probably learnt more from it than any other piece I’ve worked on. 

I used what I had learnt for the sample at the end of Stage 6 and I feel much happier about it.  I spent a long time planning and selecting my materials and it certainly made a difference both to my enjoyment and the result.

I really enjoyed working the sampler of textural stitches because I was within my comfort zone.  I’m more comfortable stitching than anything else I’ve done.  This inevitably makes me like it. 

Looking further than my thread box for stitching material was a task I really enjoyed and it opened my eyes to lots of possibilities.  I would like to do more of this particularly from the recycling point of view.  I'm pleased I've found a use for orange nets at last!

Although it isn’t part of this course the gold work I did was interesting but not something I would want to pursue in a big way.  It gives me another technique draw on and great admiration for those people who stitch that way all the time.

The materials I took on holiday with me were just right and I thoroughly enjoyed sitting in the sun with no particular end in mind, no other calls on my time and just stitching away.  I used the time to revise stitches and begin to experiment with thread thickness and stitch size.  I recognised the versatility of fly stitch and the amazing reverse of back stitch.

I found myself quite confused over the requirements for Stage 4 and never resolved the dilemma to my satisfaction.  Was I required to collect samples of materials or work up 6 embroideries?  I ended up doing a mixture of both.  I am trying to understand this confusion in terms of “leaving instructions vague encourages creativity”.

In the event I was generally pleased with what I produced for Stage 4 and found I was incorporating my recent learning into my work.  The black, hard piece taken from a drawing is a case in point.  I really considered the marks and texture in terms of choice of materials and stitches to the extent that I revised my thinking about my drawing.  I think it would be interesting to try this on the machine; not to replicate it but to think about it afresh.

I’ve enjoyed working from drawings and been surprised and sometimes disappointed at the results.  Time is an issue so I’ve not done much work from any other source except for the stitch samples which I loved doing.

Sometimes I have unwittingly blended the Stages into each other.  For example when I looked at Stage 6 I had already worked some of the suggested stitches elsewhere.

I’ve not done enough machine embroidery but I keep having a go in the hope that I’ll get better.  I’d like to be competent enough for it to be part of my repertoire without severe embarrassment.  I’d also like to have experimented with changing fabrics by painting or dyeing them.  I expect as the course goes on I’ll get the chance. 

I’m not confident about changing the backgrounds I’m working on.  I think this is because my source material is usually on pale paper and that is where I stay when it comes to choosing the material for embroidery.  I need to experiment a bit more.

My sketchbook is something I need to try much harder to incorporate into my lifestyle because it is obviously a major starting point for embroidery work.  When I get my first feedback maybe it will help with setting priorities.

Project 2 Stage 6 Using yarns to create textures

My next stitching work requires me to look at all my materials and select colours that best match my drawing.  The work I have chosen to interpret is taken from a collage that I haven't used in any other piece.    It was done when I was experimenting with combinations of papers, paints and bleach and I got some surprising and very textural results.  I have narrowed my choice down to two possible areas.  

This is mulberry paper with a great swathe of bleach through the centre.  The tissue at the bottom has yellow water colour on it.  This reminds me of sunny skies and mountains and the colour changes are subtle and lovely.  I like the sharp contrast of the yellow in the corner.

This part is tissue paper with felt tip pen, mulberry paper with bleach and a fine tissue with bits of fibre trapped between the layers.  I like the fragile feel about this area and it offers lots of texture to work in another medium.  Although the colours are not autumnal it evokes a fallen leaves idea that I think would work in stitch.

This is the area I have chosen but I am a bit concerned about the lack of contrast - or is this what makes it appear fragile?  Who knows?  One thing I do know is that I won't make any significant changes to this after what happened to my Sample earlier.

I planned this work much more carefully than for the Sample.  I selected, tested then deselected materials because they didn't do what I wanted them to do.  I used linen scrim for the background because it reminded me of the texture of the paper and I coloured it with Markal Stik.  In most areas this is now covered but you can still see the blue and I like the effect with self coloured stitching. 
I had some mauve material just the right colour (a bit like J-cloth) but I chose thick wool instead because it gave more texture. I did running stitch but didn't pull the thread right through and allowed it to twist.  It gave a lovely bobbly texture that represented the blobs on the paper.  

I used Markal Stiks as a background as much
to remind me where I was going as anything else.

I introduced some contrast in the form of bits of bright colour and tried to make wispy threads with some jute.

The trapped bits of fibre are of various shapes, colours and textures so I used stitches of various shapes, colours and textures as well.












I feel happier with this than the Sample.  When I was working it I felt less restricted somehow and allowed myself flights of fancy like the sari silk.  It is recognisably something to do with the collage but also quite different.  It feels much busierthan the original.  The piece loses its circular feel in the top right and I hadn't realised this until it was mounted.  I have been encourage to use material other than the obvious and am keen to try things out.

Project 2 Stage 2 Machine embroidery practice

I've done just a little machine embroidery in the past but nothing serious.  This is the first time I've used a hoop and to begin with I found it tricky - somehow I kept tilting it towards me and I seemed to have very  little control. Having spent years dressmaking it took me some time to get used to the free movement of the fabric and the idea that it's all down to me.  However I persisted and this was the result.

I can see that the marks I made could represent mood and feeling.  The jerky marks look quite dramatic whilst the rounder ones are much calmer.  There's a difference in texture as well.  The more often the stitch goes over a given space the denser the colour and the more intense the texture becomes.

I have bought an additional bobbin case so that I can alter the tension screw without messing up my regular bobbin.  I've had a go at changing the bobbin tension and all I can say is there's a way to go.  I probably need a bit of practical help from someone with experience.  Either that or lots and lots of practice in order to learn from my many mistakes.

I have a long way to go with this but I can see the possibilities opened up are enormous once I've gained some confidence.

I'm pretty reluctant just to aimlessly practice machine embroidery.  I'd far rather do something I find pleasurable and maybe try something new. I've bought some Markal Paint Stiks and decided to try them out.

I selected some hessian and placed pieces of masking tape at random.  I then went over the edge with the Paint Stiks.  There was no great issue about the colour because I only have 3; blue, brown and purple.  I waited the obligatory 48 hours, set the colour and selected cottons. I chose 3 shades of blue, brown and purple.

All I wanted to do was experiment with the stitches and hope to gain a bit of confidence.  I'm still at the stage of finding it tricky to manoeuvre the fabric myself.

I started with just straight lines in two shades of purple.  I had intended to do all three shades but I liked the textural way the hessian showed through.

Next I tried a rotational movement in the two lighter shades of purple and this wasn't so successful.  I don't think there was enough contrast between the colours. However, the texture was entirely different to the first example and didn't make any particular use of the hessian.

I started this with a blue grid (not very accurately) then decided to infill the shapes.  It was time consuming but gave a completely different effect.

This was a straight stitching but a sort of cross hatch effect that I quite like.  I started with darker blue and over laid it with a paler one.

Here I wanted to do a sinuous, variegated line and I groaned when my my machine started clunking.  Undaunted and knowing that what is a disaster in dressmaking is not so in embroidery I carried on and   got what I had wanted (sort of)...

...but when I turned my work over it looked so much better.  This is what I had been striving for on previous practice sessions!  The trouble is I've no idea how to replicate it.

...so I turned over and worked from the back with blue and brown thread for the next section.  It's a pity it's not as attractive as the back of the previous one though.

By this time I was starting to get a bit twitchy about what was wrong with my machine so on this one

I tried to make a chevron design so I could complete the work and get to sorting things out.  Frustrating.

The completed practice piece

I like the way the Markal Stiks perform.  I can see they can be blended (wearing light rubber gloves).  It seems a good way to apply colour to a specific area and be able to see what the finished result will be.  I suppose the flip side of that is that you get no amazing surprises.

I'm getting more control of the stitches as I become more experienced  but at the moment the results are far short of my aspirations!

Project 2 Stage 5

Stitches which create texture

On these samples of stitches for texture I've used satin stitch, blanket stitch, Cretan stitch, couching and a trellis to display seeding, and French knots.  Within each stitch I've varied size, thread and general shape of the stitch.  The remit suggested that I should gradually introduce various colours but I have some themed, hand dyed silk that once I'd started with I just couldn't stop.

Satin stitch.

I used an unstranded variegated silk thread with a very high lustre.  I stitched in blocks.

The way the thread catches the light is remarkable.  A slight tilt one way or the other and the whole thing changes character.  I think I've seen it all and then I find see something new.

Long and short running stitches

This is a sort of big seeding and it gave a very jerky,  abstract effect.  I used stranded silk;  everything from six down to one strand. and it became more interesting to further I went.  Although the effect of the light is very evident it is not as pronounced as in the satin stitch.  Maybe this is because the stitches are further apart and  angle is so varied.

Blanket stitch

I used the same thread that I used for the satin stitch but doubled it.  This made it quite difficult to work with because it twisted. The overall effect was similar to the satin stitch from the point of view of the way the light altered  the way it looked.  The circular way I arranged the stitches made me see that blanket stitch can be used to frame shapes and needn't just be boring and linear.  I felt the centre needed filling so I put some seeding and some French knots in.

Cretan stitch

I'd never tried this before so my first stitches were done in thick silk which started to look a bit ragged as I neared the end of the thread.  As I went on I reduced the size of the stitch and the thickness of the thread. Towards the end I closed the stitches up really tightly and I saw how the stitch had a central rib that hadn't showed up before.  I hadn't realised how much the texture could be manipulated simply by changing size.

Herringbone stitch

Once again I began with stranded silk that I reduced in thickness as I progressed.  I decided to taper the stitch to see what happened and found it hard to keep the stitches regular.  That said I was quite pleased with what happened  so reversed it on the next row and I feel the combination works well.  The next row returned to large stitches but with a single strand.  I then went back and filled in the spaces and this once again changed the character of the stitch.

Herringbone can be presented in lots of different ways offers various textures depending on how it's used.

Couching

I loved this yarn but it was too bobbly to go through the fabric so I couched it on.  I spread it out at the end so the single texture can be seen easily.

Romanian trellis with seeding and French knots

This was just a bit of fun but I was pleased with the result.  I'm sure it will crop up again somewhere in my work.

The ribbon I added because I'm trying to get over my aversion to yellow.  I think it works well here and I'm relieved.

Project 2 Stage 4 Preparing to create textures

1.

This is an oil pastel I did of an apple.  I like it because it has depth and roundness but now I need to look at it in a different way but one that will preserve those qualities.

The surface is smooth and shiny with an indentation of dark roughness where the stalk is fixed.  The colours are semi blended with identifiable lines to indicate the shape. The colour is layered and I can find red, yellow, orange, brown and a highlight of white in the fruit.

I think the apple demands some stitching that radiates into the central core of rough brown.  My experiments with stitches have taught me that I might achieve roundness with the thickest thread at the outside of the apple with diminishing size and thickness as I approach the centre.  Stranded silks could be used for this as they give a good colour range and can be subtly blended like the oil pastels.

My colour bags seem full but there's a strange absence of just the right things!  

I have selected light, shiny fabrics (the yellow is more intense than it appears in the photo).  I'm not entirely sure how I would use them but it may be that the apple shape could be cut and the pieces appliqued together.   The stitches would then be worked. For the rough indentation  for around the stalk might be the rough Jacob wool could be stitched tightly in and a thin leather stalk (not shown) would finish it off.

The stitching would have to be quite dense in order to achieve the smooth silkiness of the apple.

Bearing in mind my doubtful decision about background fabric in my Stage 3 sample I realise I have failed to consider it in this context.  I think maybe a rough natural hessian might be a good contrast with all the sleek and shiny stuff going on.

2.

This piece is from a mark making exercise where I used bottle tops to print with.  I used emulsion paint with a silk finish and got a lovely bumpy texture with not all of the surfaces printing fully.  The background colour is a lilac and the large splodges are a mushroom colour.  The pink circles are printed with a milk bottle top.  The colours are subdued.

All the lines are broken and the whole thing is very curvy and soft.

My colour palette here is very limited but there is scope for using things other than stitches. These are my choices.  The lilac is a little too vivid and I tried putting it on white cotton to tone it down but it didn't have much effect.  The mushroom colour is towelling that I thought could be given a broken look with some paler French knots worked loosely.  Best of all might be some loopy machine stitching but right now that is more than I can manage.  I like the idea of twisting the silk tops into circles in an uneven way and couching them on.

When I was stitching on holiday I loved just doing it without much of a plan.  When I came home and did the Stage 3 sample my plan didn't work that well so I'm a bit afraid to commit too much future planning on this task.  I think that to prepare something basic and to go with what seems to work from that point is a way I'll prefer to stitch.


3.


When I did a textural drawing of my lovely little blue vase I struggled and ended up having 3 tries at it.  The colour version I kicked completely into touch.  I was most happy with a pencil and eraser piece of work.  I've returned to the colour version again to look at how it might be interpreted in yet another medium.

My discarded drawing

This was drawn in soft pastel with a band of gouache.  I tried to show the subtle horizontal bands on the vase.

I thought hard about how to get the soft linear effect I wanted.  I considered knitting but didn't have anything approaching the right colour.  This is a soft silky chenille that I couched on.  I then introduced the wispy blue that can be used sparingly as a highlight.  The band is actually darker than the photo shows and is edged subtly with gold. I have used a beige/gold silk background as it picks up the colour of the band and makes a lustrous contrast to the soft yarns. I used spray glue to fix this in my sketchbook and unfortunately it has marked the fabric.  Overall I'm quite pleased with this little sample.

My textural interpretation

4.

This is something I did some time ago when I was looking at adjectives.  The words I was working were hard and fast.  I remember pressing hard on the charcoal then moving really fast to produce severe, angular marks.  I was pleased with it at the time and with the distance of time I still find it powerful.  Doing the drawing taught me that lots of time doesn't necessarily mean a better picture.  This was done very quickly and is more successful than most.

To get the hardness I want I'm going to use black silks and white background because I want stark contrast.
I've got some beads with a high shine that might work if they could be worked to look spiky  and sharp.  I've recently bought  Machine Embroidery Stitch Techniques by Valerie Campbell Harding and Pamela Watts and on page 21 is a picture of an embroidery by Della Barrow.  She uses threading pins to indicate rain and it looks fabulous.

By Della Barrow

I'm not happy to use pins on work that's likely to be handled (just in case) so I'll strive for something that gives the same effect.

I've become aware that I'm writing this as though it's going to happen not just selecting materials.  Better get going.

Materials chosen

I chose white poplin and covered it with white organza.  I bought a DMC six stranded rayon thread which had a high sheen but was hard to work with because it kept splitting into it's constituent parts.

At the edge I laid down heavy satin stitch mainly with the shiny thread but put some cotton in as well.  I then used the silky thread to make the sharp points.  The first layer was done in fly stitch but the second row gave me a problem; I needed a sharp point at each end so I took just a small stitch in the hope it wouldn't show too much.  As can be seen from the photo this wasn't always successful.  I introduced silver thread to emulate the pins Della used and put in some clear beads.

 I'm pleased this fulfilled what I wanted.  It's certainly hard and uncomfortable.

When I look at against the original picture I now think the drawing isn't as hard as I thought it was.  It could be the charcoal that does that.  Maybe felt tip or pencil would have looked different.

5.

This is a piece of soft kitchen paper that I dipped into my water jar and it gave just what I wanted.I was trying to create something that looked soft and had several tries.  In my early efforts the colour was always too strong.

I had the idea to cut the bubbles away from bubble wrap and stuff silk tops in to the empty holes.  This gave a much more patchy effect than I wanted so I simply spread the silk around and placed the plastic on the top.  The colour looks soft and muted and the plastic gives an uneven texture that's tactile. My friend says it has to be felt to appreciate it. I'm pleased with this.

..

 6.

This was a making marks exercise in felt tip pen that I worked on in many ways and I've isolated just this bit.  It represented hard and cold.  I can visualise this using short lengths of coloured thread.  Maybe I could use the reverse back stitch I used on one of my samples.  It gives a textured but quite broken line that I think would be a bit like the felt tip lines.









This looks very simple but in fact it puzzled me for some time.  I couldn't get the colours right.  Only on really close inspection did I notice (and then remember) that there were three colours and not two as I had thought.  Once I introduced the third colour even though it was hardly perceptible everything changed.  I'm quite pleased that my back stitch has come up trumps again.  It offers a solid sort of line that has lots of texture.

I tried to achieve the feeling of this drawing and think I have succeeded.  I wonder if I should be developing things more though.  Maybe that's a question for my tutor.


















Valerie Campbell Harding and Pamela Watts (1989) Machine Embroidery Stitch Techniques, Batsford.