Completed Textile Construction #1 2010
If your weather has been like ours here in SC, it has been a colder, damper winter than usual. This has really made it difficult to get into my wet studio and so it inspired me to work on some ideas for studies that don't require that studio.
I have been thinking for some time about exercises to help people break through creative barriers and generate new ideas. I think that sometimes the very process that we use for 'finished' work acts as a barrier to exploration so I decided to try some ways of working that allow you to start immediately and freely. I have also been thinking a lot about obsession and how some artists are able to use their ability to stay with an idea to create amazing and wonderful work. The following exercise is a result of these thoughts.
I started by creating a procedure that I would follow. I've talked about this before.
Procedure
- Select a piece of fabric that will be the substrate on which I will sew (12" x 12")
- Select several fabrics in colors that I know will be interesting together
- Cut the selected fabrics into small pieces in a free manner
- Place all cut fabric in a container and mix
Cut bits of fabric
I prepared a batt of the substrate fabric, cotton fabric and backing fabric. I determined that I would sew the cut fabric to the substrate in the following manner:
Quilt sandwich
- Working directly on the fabric sandwich, blindly take a small 'stack' of the cut bits and sew to substrate. I call this Organized Random. It is organized because I preselect the colors and it is random because I use them as they come out of the container.
- Start by sewing one row in the center and work out to each side
- Turn and sew crosswise rows until the bits are all used
First row of bits.
Second row of bits being sewed to substrate.
Here you can see that I have used all the bits I had cut and I was only about half way throught the second set of rows.
After looking at the piece at this stage I decided to cut some bits from pieces of the substrate green fabric and finish the vertical rows. The idea being that it would bring the green back to the surface.
Here I have completed the second set of vertical rows with green.
The piece was then squared up and I added a binding which is turned to the back. I like the effect and I plan to do more. I promise, next time I will use something other than green and red;)
What do you think about this way of constructing a piece?
