Growth and Disintegration (ii)

For my stitchery sample I revisited the shapes of Chapter 9. Sadly in presenting the samples for photography I ironed and flattened the appearance rather badly.  However the exercise did reveal how working the fabric with sewing near the edges of the cross did encourage the edges to curl, particularly with the sample in the  bottom centre and the right of 30a.  Frayed and gathered strips could also blur outlines

                                                                                                   Ref 30a
For a composite sample of several shapes I used fabrics and threads in 30b, cut shapes and bond them to the base fabric with a chiffon top layer.

Ref 30b

By bonding the shapes I had thought stitching would be a vehicle for interest but I soon realised that I should have frayed the shapes before bonding them as they appeared rather stark.  This piece will be revisited and more stitching will be used as I experiment in preparation for the final resolved samples.

Growth and Disintegration (i)

To ease the input of this final chapter I have set out three sections. This first section will show elements of exploring the ideas and examples of growth and disintegration, the second section will summarise and show examples and the third section will be the resolved samples.
SECTION 1
First thoughts:
Using two weights of paper, which had been coloured, sample a) shows free machine embroidery straight stitch on  a heavier weight hand towel sample b) shows grid pattern machine embroidery zig zag stitch on a lighter weight kitchen towel

                                        Ref 28 a                                                  Ref 28 b
The more random stitches on the heavier paper of sample a) did not disintegrate as easily as the grid structures on the lighter sample b. By using the feed dogs on sample b) a certain amount of tearing took place beside some of the seams - this gives the appearance of 'bridges' across some of the gaps. I was able to lessen the gaps by pulling edges together and machining across.  Both pieces were in the water for the same time.  I was surprised at how much twisting, tearing and rubbing needed to be done on what I thought would be a fragile material.  This amount of action and the sewing had an added bonus as you had some control over the extent of disintegration.
 I was inspired to try a sample with fabric.  Fabric strips were tied over a frame which included warps and wefts of elasticated thread. Free machine embroidery was used to hold the threads to a backing voile fabric.

                                                                                    ref 28 c weaving on original frame

                                      Ref 28d background fabric added                           Ref 28e taken of frame

                              Two sheets of small paper samples were made to show a range of:

                                                        Ref 28 f                             Ref 28g
To distinguish the various methods they are from top to bottom on sample a): perforation with pin, punch, pencil(bursting through from other side) burn and scald; tear rip and slash; twist and fold; crumple, wrinkle, squeeze and curl.  For sample b): water dissolve on 'right' side then 'wrong' side; pleats, two strips in 90 degree chain; weave plain and twill;origami cuts.                    
Second thoughts:
 Using specific shapes from Chapter 4 -Ref 29a the process of tearing various stages of disintegration from paper Ref 29b. 

                                                          Ref 29 a                                              Ref 29b
Paper samples were then made.  I included two samples of fabric that was torn on the left side of Ref 29c, the way the fabric pulled, gathered and frayed showed a natural part of the process. I particularly like the way frayed threads occurred on the diagonal axis of the samples sadly the bottom sample of 29d these threads got cut by mistake!!! hence the pencil markings. Ref 29e appears to replicate seeds erupting from the top shape.  Introducing tartan fabric allowed a colourful and more visible sample of distortion by pulling threads out.

                                                                  Ref 29c                                              Ref 29d

                                                                  Ref 29e