11 December 2009

Wait for it....

OK, then. This is nearly done. There is one patch of blue that needs to be finished, and one patch of red. (I was working on this on my trip to Vienna, and ran out of those 2 colors.)

I kind of hate the green blobs on the right side, and they were NOT part of the original outline. See what I get for my troubles? I may well pick them out, too. The red net is better than I thought, but still not ideal. Etc, etc. Always a critic.

... and then what? I don't know. Stretch & frame? Sew it on to something else, applique style? See if I can get one of my friends who's done textile art to incorporate it into something grander?

There are a few things I would do differently, now that I've done them this way (thanks, learning experiences!), but that's OK. There will be a next time, and I am definitely getting the hang of some of the techniques. As soon as I finish those last two little bits of missing colors, and probably pick out the green blobs, I'm going to (a) get a color-correct photo of this, and (b) put it to bed. Maybe I'll just start a big collection of smallish, irrational embroidery pieces, which will be of great interest to archaeologists and psychologists in some long-distant future.

In other news, when I was in Vienna (Austria, the rest of this paragraph won't make sense if you think I'm talking about some other Vienna), I stopped by the Museum für Angewandte Kunst (Museum of Applied Art) and lucked out: They had a huge exhibit in their textiles ward on Ottoman embroidered textiles. Clothing, furniture ornamentation, bath towels, and so on.

Last time it was fashions made from recycled materials, and although a ball gown made of grocery bags is certainly Something To See, it has a little less immediacy to my own projects. Although I *do* like to reuse common materials, especially if they are meant to be trash. Nevermind, I think you get the point.

Not only did I see a tremendous collection of inspiring designs and workmanship, but learned a few nifty things. I now know where the term "bath sheet" comes from! It was a great exhibit. My only regret is that old fibers can be very delicate in many ways, so the pieces were behind glass in a dimly lit room. But that's OK, it was worth every minute of squinting.

Here is a link to the museum page for this exhibit. I'll update this later if I can find their English language version. There are a couple of pictures there, and a bit of descriptive text. Also, the MAK is awesome for being free to the public on Saturdays. MAK really is one of my favorite museums, both in focus and operation. [eta: in English]

3 comments:

224215152 said...

That turned out brilliant!

Is there an orientation you prefer? Your shown it at a different rotation in every photograph.

Out of curiosity, how big is the frame? I can't quite pin down the scale of the thing from the photos.

Does fabric-you-embroider-things-onto (is there a technical term for that) come in different colors? Your designs would seriously pop on black fabric. I've been imagining this piece wrapped around the brim of a top hat.

Regan said...

The purpley-blue bit in the middlish is still my favorite bit. I think because it reminds me of a shell with the texture and the whorling.

I made up half the words in that paragraph.

Holly said...

Joc, probably would need to have an application for it, to find an orientation for it. Like most of my designs, I rotated the linen a lot while sketching it in, so it was pretty a-directional to begin with.

And, yes, linen comes in other colors. Currently, because it is free and easy to get to, I'm cutting up some old pairs of retired linen pants to use for this. I think there is a black pair somewhere the scrap bag, that's a good idea! I don't know how long until I would have thought of it. Probably 12th of never. :)

Regan, they all looked real to me. :) The bit in the middle keeps looking like a hot air balloon to me, which is kind of annoying for some reason. Even if they ARE fancy to look at.