So this is Frame, Fracture, Form pt2!

This has turned out with the same outcome as pt1. Really loved making it, discovering techniques, exploring ideas. But the finished piece isn’t very successful as a piece.

So – let’s break it down (no pun intended on the fracture front!).

I used this photograph as source material and sketched some layers on my ipad to work out the order of fracture.

I started with 6 pieces of cream organza and marked corners to make an approximate frame on each piece  I also added a piece of white cotton in the back to make it easier for the organza to take the stitches and something to bounce the light back through. I stitched the frames first on all pieces. (This is not something I would do again, as the fabric shrinks significantly with all the stitches – and this showed by the time it came to put the final layer on as you can see below!).

Then I started stitching the left hill on the back layer. You can see from the gallery below the order that I did the layers in and the pieces fractured out on my ipad next to it.

The first two layers with the hills on, worked well and I was pleased with them. The next layer with the brick wall on I LOVED doing. Really liked making wiggly lines that became bobbles and texture on the rocks. I did go a bit mad on here and did WAY too much texture – because I was loving doing it so much. In retrospect, this should have been lighter as the detail on this layer just confuses the later layers. I also made the organza pucker terribly. I probably should have done this in an embroidery frame and the outcome would have been better!

I also loved doing the grass. I had a whale of a time making curved lines and just couldn’t stop. A severe downfall. Way too much grass which, again, confuses the whole.

Working in black and white was a great idea – doing what we did at art school (first degree) in that we were only allowed to work in b/w for the first 4-6 weeks until we had mastered technique and then could introduce colour. It was literally to avoid colouring the issue! I would like to try this again maybe with just black and white threads in one layer only… or b/w and grey.

Once the additional layers were added, it became really hard to see any of the detail underneath as there was just so much it was impossible to work it out.

I then cut off some of the extra edges and deliberately frayed them further.

Still, I REALLY like the idea of doing layers and layers of organza. There should just be less layers and/or less detail. Some of it could be handstitched.

What I would really like to do is to do some skylines of New York when I come back in this fashion. It will be a really good way to push back layers. But I would ensure I did them in an embroidery hoop and not ‘frame’ it until the very end.

Sometimes my enthusiasm runs away with me and this piece suffered from that. BUT I do really like using these assignments as experiments – in a way that I wouldn’t otherwise. AND my next post will show that part I of this assignment has pushed my work on in the felt realm so has been invaluable.