Multiple Technique Practice Piece — the Back
Many people who work in surface design talk about how the first steps can look awful. You just have to keep working until you get to a result you like – and if you don’t, well, you can always cut it up or use it as batting inside a dog bed!
That is definitely how I feel about the practice piece I started on old linen napkins — I am not even sure I will get it to the point that I like it. But that’s what practice is all about.
With this piece, I planned to “quilt once, paint twice.” I wanted to try different types of paints and pigments with the quilted lines and see if there were any effects I would want to repeat. Some of the materials I used on the front side had bled all the way through to the back, but the medium I tried out here was Jacquard Dy-na-flo® liquid color. (Which, as it turns out, is not the same as the Jacquard Lumiere® paint I have used before, and liked very much, and now have no idea where I put it.) (Okay, I just hunted until I found it! I have about 15 jars of it — how I have I not used it up before now? I am going to save it for another piece though, I am not going to waste it on this one.)
The Dy-na-flow is meant to be used with a resist on a tightly woven fabric, to get a painterly look. Being that the back of this piece is a big scrap of a loosely woven cotton/linen blend, I didn’t get the results I was hoping for.
I started with this picture from a National Geographic book, Visions of Earth, as inspiration:
Mantles of giant clams in the Kingman Reef, picture by Brian Skerry, from the National Geographic book Visions of Earth.
Cotton/linen blend painted with Jacquard textile paints.
The results are definitely too undefined and too gaudy for me. But the challenge will be to see if I can get it to a likeable stage.
But in the meantime, there’s always my old friend Photoshop®.
Photo of the fabric with the colors desaturated, and then the hues shifted.
An interesting portion cropped from the photo above, and run through a few of the filters in Photoshop.
Now there’s something I can imagine using, either printing it onto fabric myself or getting it professionally printed.
My plan was to go back into this piece with specialty threads, but I think I may just go on to another piece. As always, I am glad I took the time to just experiment!
Hi,
As I told you early I am no where related to your field of work but I love your work. The colors, they are exciting and beautiful.
I wish I have the privilege of seeing you and your work in person some day.
Kalpana.
thank you, that means so much coming
from you! India has such wonderful textile traditions and craftsmanship, and so does Belgium,it seems like you would develop a discerning eye just by osmosis! 🙂
Yikes, looks like SNAKES!
Yeah, that yellow looks pretty venomous too ! 🙂
This looks like another fun experiment. I guess I don’t have a lot of guts when it comes to surface design and dyeing/painting. Guess I’ll have to come visit and let you show me!
Here is an unrelated question: do you have good resources on the history of Indian (eastern) textiles? I was talking with Jim today about US history and when we looked another step or two back in time, of course it was to England (primarily) and then India. I know a tiny bit about England’s textile industry but almost nothing about India. Anything you could recommend?
The Victoria and Albert museum has a good series on historical textiles, and one of them is called Muslin, and it had a lot of information that amazed me, about gorgeous muslins from India. I have also read an interesting book about modern sari fashions, but I will have to look up the name. Oh, and the book King Cotton which accompanied a BBC series of the same name, which I think is available to watch online, had some info scattered throughout, I think. But that is one area I really know very little about either.
It would be a lot of fun to have a surface design get-together. Gosh, we would probably talk too much to get anything done, we would be all distracted talking about the meaning of fringes in Mongolian bridal headdresses or something.
And when we took breaks we could go look for snakes! 🙂
Using Photoshop is such a great tool to use. I need to become a little more proficient at all the package offers. Wonderful results achieved.
I think I stick to the same few tools too. I really need to get into more of the options for layers. Just too many craft opportunities and not enough time! 🙂
I have several such “interesting” pieces waiting to be needed, so I know the feeling. Not throwing them away, though 😄
I love the mental image of the pieces waiting patiently until they are needed!
What a beautiful design you created. I’d try the specialty threads, along with some fancy stitches, just to further your experiment. Never know what you’ll end up with unless you try…a masterpiece maybe!!
yes, I see a couple of rorshach blot designs in the front side that I think I can do a little with when I get time. Thanks for the encouragement!
Your problem may be that black blob on the lower left, which overwhelms the delicate tracery. You could cut it off and try some editing with what’s left, or start with something new.
Yes, there are a lot of issues on the back. I think I will end up cutting it up and using designs for small quiltlets.