After the helpful responses to a previous post on printing out my images, I've been following up all sorts of leads.Very many thanks to those who replied to my queries.
First of all, I've ordered up a printed sample from Fingerprint. I'm not sure what had held me back from investigating this service before as I knew of its existence. Maybe it was because I had thought it was available from Laura Kemshall's main website - which is not the case as far as I can see.
Now I've found it, I'm happy to say the website is very easy to use. Three sizes of fabric are available (fat quarter, half meter and full metre) and several types of cotton. I was able to upload my images easily and to arrange them on the fabric myself to maximise use of the available space. As this was an experiment with the process, I opted for a fat quarter - £6 including postage. It should arrive in the next few days.
I've also ordered samples of cloth from Crafty Computer Papers to try out and a book Digital Art Studio, both recommended by Olga Norris. The latter arrived this morning courtesy of Amazon and a birthday token and looks at first glance to be jam-packed with useful information. I plan to go and see a supplier of Epson printers later this week - so excellent progress then! I am coming closer to deciding how to proceed.
Meanwhile as I waited for everything to arrive, I've been having fun. At the start of new work, I always like to play round the subject, investigating various ideas and trying to think laterally. So far, I've been experimenting quite a lot in paper and stitch so I include here some pages from my latest large sketchbook, They show paper trials with bridge images.
In the first, I've played with disrupting the image by chopping it into strips, and then reorganising and rotating before sticking them down onto a black background for contrast - a favourite technique of mine.
In the second, I traced one of the motifs from different bridge image, cut it out twice in black paper and rotated and played with various layouts till it seemed to offer something interesting. I then added dotted and dashed lines in black felt pen and graphite pencil to simulate stitch.
Last of all, I took photos of stitch experiments shown in October, mounted them on white cartridge, extended the lines of the design and the stitch from the photos using a black gel pen.
I feel I have a lot to absorb at the moment - investigating a new printer, the latest update of Photoshop, using my iPad for sketching out and about - and that doesn't include the Intuos graphic pad my husband kindly bought me for Christmas and which I haven't even taken out of its box ... am I trying to do too much all at once? It has all been too tempting!
Now I've found it, I'm happy to say the website is very easy to use. Three sizes of fabric are available (fat quarter, half meter and full metre) and several types of cotton. I was able to upload my images easily and to arrange them on the fabric myself to maximise use of the available space. As this was an experiment with the process, I opted for a fat quarter - £6 including postage. It should arrive in the next few days.
I've also ordered samples of cloth from Crafty Computer Papers to try out and a book Digital Art Studio, both recommended by Olga Norris. The latter arrived this morning courtesy of Amazon and a birthday token and looks at first glance to be jam-packed with useful information. I plan to go and see a supplier of Epson printers later this week - so excellent progress then! I am coming closer to deciding how to proceed.
In the first, I've played with disrupting the image by chopping it into strips, and then reorganising and rotating before sticking them down onto a black background for contrast - a favourite technique of mine.
In the second, I traced one of the motifs from different bridge image, cut it out twice in black paper and rotated and played with various layouts till it seemed to offer something interesting. I then added dotted and dashed lines in black felt pen and graphite pencil to simulate stitch.
Last of all, I took photos of stitch experiments shown in October, mounted them on white cartridge, extended the lines of the design and the stitch from the photos using a black gel pen.
I feel I have a lot to absorb at the moment - investigating a new printer, the latest update of Photoshop, using my iPad for sketching out and about - and that doesn't include the Intuos graphic pad my husband kindly bought me for Christmas and which I haven't even taken out of its box ... am I trying to do too much all at once? It has all been too tempting!
I love the black and white work you're doing, both your excellent images and the resulting stitched pieces. Keep it up!
ReplyDeleteRight now, I seem unable to stop myself - all black and white and geometric. The Delaware bridge has a lot to answer for!
DeleteGosh, you are certainly going for it all in a big way! I hope that out of all your trials you find a way forward which gives you satisfaction, and marks the beginning of an exciting body of work. I've always really enjoyed the bumpy road that is research into techniques that will not only bring ideas to fruition, but also stimulate even more ideas and avenues to pursue.
ReplyDeleteThat 'bumpy road' is a great pleasure indeed but not having the right equipment can take all the pleasure out of it and lead only to frustration. I have been thinking (and dithering) over this for so long now it is time to sort it all out if I'm to make any progress. Thanks for your help in finding the right road.
DeleteThe black and white images are very striking. It will be interesting to see how you get on with the book as to whether it has stood the test of time in the fast moving digital age.
ReplyDeleteThanks Maggi - it will indeed be interesting to see how the book stands up as I get onto the more technical stuff - so far so good! The first few chapters are chock full of good advice on materials and basic techniques which seem very appropriate still.
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