SonUmbra & Solar Harvesting Textiles

this week I’m away from home, and have been sick. it’s thursday and the first day my head’s felt clear in ages. after a week of early night’s sleep with nighttime cold’n’flu tablets I’m finally catching up on some class work.

tonight I came across these projects:

  • loop.pH design studio’s project “SonUmbra” – experiments in responsive textile architecture.
    “SonUmbra is a solar-powered tree composed of strands of light-emitting fabric woven into a lucent web of branches. The installation’s canopy of photovoltaic panels captures light during the day, and once the sun sets the tree blooms in an interactive flourish of light and sound.”
    this looks great – it seems like they’re using fibre obtic cables? I have to research this some more. their photos on flickr show some of the projects and installation.
    image via C-Monster<> at www.flickr.com/photos/23835356@N00/2297218390
  • Solar Harvesting Textiles – a project by Sheila Kennedy that I came across via this article on their Soft House. according to the article, Kennedy hopes that “textiles will soon be able to take the sun’s energy and turn it into electricity”. . . .”The Soft House is a structure that can create close to 16,000 watt-hours of electricity by transforming household curtains into flexible, semi-transparent, solar collectors.”. whilst this system is too expensive to use practically now, with Moore’s Law it won’t be long before these sort of fabrics will be in regular use.
    image via http://assets.inhabitat.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/softpv2.jpg & soft house article on Inhabitat site

Assignment 2

project 3: colour

stage 1 – Introduction and preparation

stage 2 – colour perception


exercise 1


exercise 2

stage 3 – recording colours accurately


exercise 1


exercise 2


exercise 3


exercise 4

stage 4 – colour moods and themes


exercise 1


exercise 2

stage 5 – coloured stitches

stage 6 – combining textures and colour effects — exercise 1 and exercise 2

sketchbook

research point

project 4 – developing design ideas

stage 1 – Introduction and preparation

stage 2 – looking for shapes and drawings

– introduction

exercise 1

exercise 2

exercise 3

exercise 4

stage 3 – selecting from your drawings and stage 4 – developing design ideas

(combined)

experiments with printing and painting

(project 4z)

stage 1 – preparation

stage 2 – experimenting with techniques

project 5 – painting and printing

stage 1 – reviewing your fabric collection

stage 2 – selecting your design ideas

stage 3 – printing and painting onto fabric

stage 4 – a larger sample

assignment 2 review

assignment 2 prep

prep for assignment 2 / part 2: building a visual vocabulary
these notes are mostly to list which materials & techniques will be used in the exercises, so I know what to prepare for

project 3: colour

materials

  • sketchbook & A3 paper
  • coloured pencils, paints, brushes, jam jars. paints (gouache): alizarin crimson, cadmium red, cadmium yellow, lemon yellow, ultramarine, cerulean blue
  • collection of coloured paper, sticky paper, origami paper
  • fabrics and yarns from stash
  • small sheet of sugar paper – mid-grey paper
  • brightly coloured patterned fabric (8cm x 8cm)
  • transparent folder or bag
  • collection of small coloured objects or fruit & veges such as an orange, apple or lemon
  • water-soluable fabric (for machine embroidery)

    stage 1 – Introduction and preparation

  • painting colour wheels

    stage 2 – colour perception

    exercise 1

  • painting/coloured paper squares with another colour square in the centre

    exercise 2

  • painting/coloured paper squares with grey square in the centre

    exercise 3

  • record (paint) the colours in a postcard of a painting, image

    exercise 4

  • record (paint) the colours in an object, or a few objects close together eg fruit, shells, leaves, jewellery etc

    stage 4 – colour moods and themes

    exercise 1

  • paints & sketchbook – use these 2 pairs of opposite words & find colours which express them

    exercise 2

  • colour mood or theme – make colour bags with small fragments of fabric, yarns & coloured papers

    stage 5 – coloured stitches

  • on black background fabric, repeat stage 2 project 2 but with stitches

    stage 6 – combining textures and colour effects

    exercise 1

  • hand embroidery

    exercise 2

  • hand embroidery

    sketchbook

  • fabric paints, fabric crayons or paintsticks and dyes
  • work in sketchbook for min 10 mins each day

    research point

  • look at a textile piece you have at home – look at it, sketch it, reflect on it

    project 4 – developing your ideas

    materials

  • A3 paper
  • paints, coloured pencils, crayons, brushes, jam jar, ruler
  • a collection of small coloured objects to draw (stones, shells, fruit, Christmas decorations etc)
  • sketchbook & resource materials (postcards, photos etc)
  • photocopier, scanner or tracing paper

    stage 1 – Introduction and preparation

  • drawing, cutting out paper squares and shapes

    stage 2 – looking for shapes and drawings

  • images from resource materials
  • drawing

    exercise 1

  • drawings

    exercise 2

  • drawings

    exercise 3

  • drawings with mixed media – paints, wet & dry media, colllage

    exercise 4

  • drawing from objects

    stage 3 – selecting from your drawings

  • drawings, viewing frame

    stage 4 – developing design ideas

  • drawings
  • scanner or photocopied or tracing paper

    experiments with printing and painting

    materials

  • selection of fabric paints, fabric crayons, Markal paintsticks, inks
  • prepared surface for printing (table or board)
  • cutting mat, hardboard or thick cardboard
  • ink pad
  • paper in different colours, textures including brown paper wrapping paper, newspaper, tissue paper, sugar paper, shiny paper surfaces, hand-made paper
  • block printing and stamping equipment
  • stencil card, acetate, sticky-back plastic or any stiff card
  • masking tape
  • hand painting equipment: household paint brushes, hog’s hair, sable or synthetic brushes, stencil brushes, old toothbrushes, foam brushes
  • palette, plate or small pots for mixing colours
  • squeeze bottle for adding clean water when mixing colours
  • thin rubber gloves
  • sharp craft knife – scalpel or Stanley knife
  • mirrors to look at your design in repeat
  • iron to fix fabric and silk paints
  • baking parchment or cotton cloth
  • small line and pegs to hang up samples
  • waterproof adhesive

    stage 1 – preparation

  • making a printing pad

    stage 2 – experimenting with techniques

  • block printing
  • relief printing
  • stencils
  • masks
  • hand painting
  • silk painting

    project 5 – painting and printing

    materials

  • collection of fabric samples
  • design ideas and experiments from project 4
  • fabric printing and painting equipment
  • dressmakers’ pins
  • hand hairdryer

    stage 1 – reviewing your fabric collection

  • fabric – painting on fabric. test swatches

    stage 2 – selecting your design ideas

  • design ideas and experiments from project 4

    stage 3 – selecting your design ideas

  • hand painting onto fabric
  • printing onto fabric

    stage 4 – a larger sample

  • printing on a larger piece of fabric

    assignment 2

Stitches which create texture

A Creative Approach — Project 2 Developing your marks — Stage 5 — Stitches which create texture

In this exercise I had to work stitches in different directions, initially using the same type of thread, and then introducing other weight threads. I used a single colour thread (or as close as possible) for each sample. Some threads are shiny and thin whilst others are thicker, multi-threaded and matte. when you mix them together you can see the difference in texture each creates, as well as different textures caused by the different amount of light the threads reflect.

I began with satin stitch in red shades, using different stitch lengths and shiny and matte thread. The rows of satin stitch sit nicely next to each other. Some of the threads look softer and others look rougher.

My favourite sample is the thin white triangle peaks. The stitches are fairly close together, thinner at the bottom of the upside down V and there’s a thicker gap at the top. I stitched different number of rows along the rows. I think this makes a nice pattern and it’s something I could use in a project. I’d tried he triangle peaks in thicker orange yarn too but I don’t think it’s as effective — it seems to soften the edges, whereas the thinner white thread is more precise so the lines are more defined and crisper to my eyes.

I also tried a few samples in red and whites for overlapping stitches that crossover each other, and are of different stitch lengths and thread weights.

stage5-01

stage5-02

02/09/2013 — After discovering Junko Oki’s work, I tried a few textured stitches that she uses to create circles, triangles and lines.

(circle-stitching.jpg)
(circles1.JPG)

Preparing to create textures

A Creative Approach — Project 2 Developing your marks — Stage 4 — Preparing to create textures

In this exercise I had to look through some of my previous work and think about them in terms of textiles and creating textures. I looked at some of my sketches, but one stood out the most is the Agapanthus root from stage 3, exercise 2 — it’s the ugliest topic and drawing but I think it does show a lot of texture. It’s both rough and shiny, lumpy and distorted, it has hard and soft parts, and chaotic stringy parts.

Here’s the drawing and original photo:

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Whilst I started to embroider just a small part of the root, I was swept up by it and wanted to finish it so I embroidered the whole piece instead. I used a mixture of matte and shiny threads, thick and thin. Stitches included running stitch, back stitch, satin stitch, chain stitch, and a couple of crouched stitches. The colours closely match the original (well, as well as I could given the threads I have at home). I used a mixture of short and long stitch lengths and narrow and wider stitch widths to try capture some of the space & shape of the root. It doesn’t look exactly like the original though I think I have managed to capture some of the textures.

I’ve been reading through the book “Hoopla: The Art of Unexpected Embroidery” by Leanne Prain, and there’s a chapter called “A Brief and Incomplete History of Embroidery” which mentions,
“Early embroideries were stitched to tell religious and social histories, and they depicted scenes not only of peaceful domestic life, but also the horrors of conquest.”

Agapanthus plants are a pest in the Australian native bush — they are an introduced plant, and whilst they might be OK for paths and lining highways, they are not meant to be planted in bushland. J tries to remove them as much as possible — he’d pulled this one out of the garden and was showing me how the shoots sprout all over the main root. So, whilst this isn’t a war of invading peoples, it is a smaller scale war with the Agapanthus to try remove them all. Once they flower and the wind spreads their pods and flowers, they spread quickly. So this picture reminds me of the horrors of the Agapanthus conquest of the garden and J’s hard, great work in trying to lessen their damage to the Australian bush.

stage4-01

craftivist collective mini protest banner kit

I’ve been looking through the craftivist collective website and some of their projects. they do many fibre / textiles / craft based activism (craftivism) projects to raise issues to people in the community. they also write about slow activism and the importance of personal reflection when making – I love this idea and it’s something people can do from home without having to be too vocal (verbally) with their ideas – work on projects to highlight issues they think are important. so I purchased one of their mini protest banner kits and it arrived from the UK yesterday. tonight I embroidered a message and sewed the aida onto the fabric. it was the first time I’ve embroidered letters so the first couple of lines are a bit wonky (especially the “D”), and I found it easier to write in all caps so I’m probably shouting the message, but I was getting the hang of it towards the end (though I ran out of space on the last line – need to plan it out next time)

I embroidered the message “what have you done to help lessen climate change” because I think this is one of the most important issues currently facing the world (Earth) and I want people to think about their own behaviours and to find things that they can do at home and in their own lives to help lessen the issue. tomorrow I’ll pin it up outside somewhere – will go looking for a good spot. the kit includes cable ties, and the fabric has holes punched in it already so it should be quick to install. another great thing was the whole project only took me a couple of hours this evening (whilst already pretty tired) so it’s one of the quicker craft / fibre projects I’ve worked on! it’s quite rewarding to see something finished in a short period of time

I made another which says “seeking asylum is not illegal” in response to one of the issues facing Australia at the moment – our politicians are making terrible decisions on our behalf.

craftivist_collective_climate-change-01

craftivist_collective_kit-02

I hung the mini-banner up in the street with the warehouse – it’s adjacent to my favourite cafe and has some paintings hanging on the side of the warehouse, plus some graf (which I think was paid for as it’s the suburb name not the artist’s name and this site is being developed into apartments next year and they advertise it as a “cool” location. it’s possibly preaching to the converted in this suburb, but hopefully it’ll make some people think… it’s quite small so hard to see in some of these photos

craftivist01

craftivist02

craftivist03

craftivist04

craftivist05

craftivist06

sat 17/08: I made another mini-banner “seeking asylum is not illegal”. I’ll try hang it near the first banner tomorrow

craftivist08

I installed it near the first banner today

craftivist09

craftivist10

craftivist12

A Sample

A Creative Approach — Project 2 Developing your marks — Stage 3 — A Sample

For this exercise I chose one of my ink drawings which is mostly line based. I hand stitched in running stitch and stem stitch — in different directions and with a mixture of threads, some shiny, some matte, some thick, some sewing machine rayon so very thin. A couple of the diagonal sections turned out quite textural and layered. They have multiple threads and layers so are quite raised on the surface of the fabric. These probably would suit the following exercises. The stitches are all line based stitches though, so it shows how they can be used to create both line and texture.

stage3-01

Here’s the ink drawing which was used for inspiration. The top two diagonal / horizontal sections are a bit different — I was enjoying seeing the different light on the threads poke through as I stitched, so this is a bit of interpretation rather than accurate portrayal of the original picture.

stage3-02

The range of threads used in my sampler:
scansilk – colour # 1804 100% rayon
scansilk – colour # 1805 100% rayon
DMC #8 colour 321 coton perle
DMC #25 colour 915 mouline special
DMC #4 2346 coton retours mat
On the Surface – the second one on the card – Couture Red (CRT113)

The fabric is olive green linen from my fabric stash (this was my partner’s Mum’s fabric).

stage3-03

freestyle machine embroidery

I can’t get the sewing machine to do freestyle machine embroidery. it seems to sew in the wrong direction – ie sew up the excess thread from the threaded needle and then the thread comes out of the needle. 🙁 I’ve tried holding the threads but still no luck. I’ve tried with a foot on (I think it’s actually a clear buttonhole foot), the foot off, tightening & loosening the screw on the bobbin holder to adjust bobbin tension and the feed dogs down. when I put the feed dogs up again it sews normally (well, as normal as it usually does – see the stitching in this first photo, with white thread plus red bobbin thread). I tried pulling the fabric tauter on the hoop and trying a thicker fabric. I haven’t tried using fusible interfacing on the fabric yet though, so maybe the fabric is too thin? basically it doesn’t seem to pick up the bobbin thread at all either.

freestyle03r

 

feed dogs down & feed dogs up

freestyle02d

freestyle01u

I tried watching some videos and following their instructions but I’m still not having any luck. I’ve had some problems with it when doing straight stitching too – so possibly it’s the machine’s problem – it skips stitches irregularly when stitching normally (I quite like this in some cases though – it has a nice glitch). but maybe this means it’s not suitable for freestyle machine stitching?

am tempted to try find a bernina 1008 sewing machine – the books I read by Sue Stone mentions she uses one and I like her work and stitches. in technique & stitch vocabulary she says she has two! one for normal stitching and one for machine embroidery. I also like the darning stitch she uses over the top of her layered stitches, she makes it look like hand woven stitches

tonight’s web wanderings

tonight I’ve been reading the following articles online

Age-old crafts become next generation technology tools via OCA blog
A Computational Model of Knitting & other articles combining knitting and computing via bit.craft
Audrey Walker of the 62 Group in the UK – I love how some of her stitches look painterly, like Van Gogh’s night scenes painting style in this one
Radical Thread book – a sample of it anyway, from the 62 Group
Observed Incident by Audrey Walker
Textile Artist website
Abstract Fabric Collage by Margaret Kaye
11th Century embroidery pictures – I like the satin stitch (I think!) in this one
Sue Stone
on slow craftivism
threads of life – Indonesian fibre arts and textiles

and a couple from last week, the Game of Thrones embroidery pictures & site
Michele Carragher’s embroidery for Game of Thrones TV show
These Close-Ups Of “Game Of Thrones” Fashion Will Take Your Breath Away
love Daenerys’s dragonscale dress – there’s a page showing how to create dragonscale too (I’m up to book 3, and just started 2nd series of the show)

Exploring marks and lines through stitch techniques

A Creative Approach — Project 2 Developing your marks — Stage 2 — Exploring marks and lines through stitch techniques

For this exercise, I started with machine embroidery. I dropped the feed dogs and put the fabric into the hoop, but I had to remove the footer each time I had to start sewing. The first stitch I tried, the machine just sewed on the same spot — almost like satin stitch. I found it really hard to move the fabric around. So I ended up taking the fabric out of the embroidery hoop, lifting the feed dogs again and sewing normally. This time I used red thread so it’s easier to see the stitches (the first exercise was off-white on cream calico so is harder to see the stitches clearly). I didn’t have any other machine threads of different weight to try the hand wound bobbin.

I made some parallel lines, moving closer together until they made a solid area (albeit small solid area!)
and I tried some circles, though they’re a bit wonky. I also tried some “squaretooth” stitches as I liked the shape of these. I must have a tension issue as there’s a bit of puckering of the fabric where the stitches have pulled the fabric around the stitches. I did try different stitch lengths. When I did the test swatches I found that tension=3 was the best setting, so I kept this the same for all the stitchings

Front side of the fabric:

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Underside of the fabric:

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Next I tried some hand embroidery using different weight and colour threads.

The sample on the left (red thread) is a mix of running stitch – using different stitch lengths, stem stitch, back stitch and a short satin stitch.

The sample on the right (blue thread) is a pattern of horizontal and vertical running stitches, using similar colour range and slightly different thread weight. Horizontal threads are made with “mouliner special” DMC 25, colour way 796. The vertical threads are slightly thinner, DMC #8, colour way 820.

Front view:
proj2-stage2-03

Rear view:
Once again, I like the underside of the fabric, especially when viewed from a distance.

proj2-stage2-04

For the next sample, I used a piece of cotton I’d dyed at a Shibori workshop a few weeks ago. To make this piece, I’d put a coin in the centre of the fabric, then wrapped it in string. you can see the fine, lighter coloured string markings on the fabric. I sewed some straight lines, squaretooth lines and zigzag lines in red cotton. I also tried circular lines around the centre where the coin imprint is, and some diagonal lines too. The centre of the fabric puckered a bit, so it’s raised compared to the surrounding fabric. When I scanned it, it squashed down and covered some of the stitches

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11/08: Today I tried some darning stitch (Sue Stone calls it needle weaving) — though I changed the width of the stitches so the first are further apart than the latter stitches. I also changed thread — from a thin cotton to a thicker embroidery thread. It was like weaving with the needle & thread. I think it could have been a bit neater, and now that I see it with varied stitches, I prefer the more uniform, loose weaving that Sue Stone does to my experiment. I will try another later to more closely match how she does hers.

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