Sian's feedback that I try to depict the fuzzy quality of the texture rubbings echoed what I felt I should be trying to do, but couldn't think of how to do it. Sian's suggestions were very helpful and I had fun trying them out, using different ways of portraying the "noise" around the main marks.
I've re-posted the original samples alongside the rubbing and have put beside it the new version. I temporarily mislaid sample 3 and didn't realise until I gathered the samples together to photograph, so I'll try to improve it and post it in a later post.
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| 5.10.1a |
In sample 1a I've tried to show the background "noise" by stitching in the leaf shapes using strips of fabric. I've also threaded threads loosely through the lines of stitching and let them dangle freely.
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5.10.2a
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In sample 2a I tried to create the background "noise" by adding tiny stitches around the main marks. I stitched from the back with very fine thread, picking up only one or two strands of the fabric. (Sorry, I tried to turn it around so that it was the same orientation as the original, but whenever I posted it, it was the wrong way round.)
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| 5.10.4b |
In sample 4b from top to bottom the lines of stitches are
- fuzzy yarn couched down with a finer thread with loops portraying the bumps in the rubbing
- cord knotted at intervals and couched down
- lines of hand cable stitch with stitches piled on top of each other for the bumps
- fuzzy yarn bound at intervals with masking tape and couched down
- stem stitch with knots worked every so often (sorry I can't remember which knotted stitch it was, I think just French knots with the thread wound round multiple times
- the same technique as the line above but with a thicker slightly fuzzy yarn
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| 5.10.5a |
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| 5.10.5b |
5a and 5b are two different versions from the same rubbing. (I did two versions because I forgot I had done one and did another before I realised.) In 5a I did a rubbing on the fabric first and then worked long vertical stitches with thin thread to portray the lines in the rubbing. I couched down a thick thread formed from multiple thin strands of silk. The yarn was not twisted and so the threads escaped from the couching stitches to give a pleasing fuzzy effect. (It reminded me of my hair when it's just been washed. Maybe I should try using that!)
In 5b, I couched down two pieces of a fluffy yarn to give the main lines and worked long straight stitches for the vertical lines. It still lacked a certain fuzziness and so I tried trapping some picked fuzz from the yarn along with bits of thread under a layer of Bondaweb. The ironing flattened the thick fuzzy lines and the centre of them was a bit too solid and so I broke it up in the thicker line with some random straight stitches with black thread.
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| 5.10.6 |
For sample 6, I simply couched down a thin, fuzzy yarn. The fuzziness spread over the fabric sufficiently to break the sharpness of the lines. For the bumps, I rolled the yarn around a few times and couched the circle down.
It has been interesting and fun to revisit work I thought was done with, and I am glad that I was able to (I think) improve on my first efforts. It was at what was a busy time in my life and the small samples could be picked up and worked on whenever I had a few spare minutes. I found it also a useful stress reliever when I was my husband's full-time carer. My husband now has a care plan in place, I have more free time as his main carer and I am really enjoying having time to go for walks and find inspiration in nature as well as time to be creative. These little samples have helped me through a taxing time.
