Spirit Cloth

Faces in the Dark

A little holiday cloth...

Half dreamed.

I didn't get to it. or the hell of it I put it in the Threadcrumbs Shop. Undone.

Happy Halloween.

 

How Composition became Story

Over time, the components (the scraps, the stitch, the symbols, the names of things) I use to create a stitched cloth become the story themselves as they touch and overlap. I always assumed that how they combined would eventually bring forth new form. I've been at it long enough to be witness to that as an evolving personal truth. I have named a lot of the stitches and methods so they become a lot like story characters in a way. Friends, acquaintances, traveling companions. Then, even when I just talk about my process, a story unfolds. I am happy to see this taking more apparent shape over time. Eye-Dea, this fits. Sort of a merging of thought and visual presence. Finding oneself in one's work.

So in short. I feel as I explain the making, I am telling a story. The story of the cloth is the story in the cloth. And the cloth is self. Telling story. Cloth itself. Cloth, it's self

 

video link if you see no player

 

I used what I call marshmallow shibori here to tint the edges. I named it that because of the soft edge. I will add a new page to Feel Free for that  but for now it is part of the Whispering Color series . This process works well with indigo because of the speed at which the dye bonds to the cloth. Indigo is simple in some ways and not so simple in others. Then again that's about how it is. All around.

Solar Self System

Helioselfcentrism?

Heliocentrism, or heliocentricism, is the astronomical model in which the Earth and planets revolve around the Sun at the center of the Solar System. The word comes from the Greek (ἥλιος helios "sun" and κέντρον kentron "center").

I've rocked inward a bit after a couple of rotten days which culminated yesterday in a huge messy accident in the studio when the bottom fell out of an old indigo vat (which I had moved from the garage, to keep it warm). It's a huge mess that has left me emptied as well. And then, right before bed I received a message from PayPal that someone opened a dispute case and wanted a refund with no explanation why and no attempt to contact me first. Ok. Refunds are no problem but really, just send an email. It is not a dispute until we disagree. This PayPal legal stuff, over a few bucks, is just really an unnecessary hassle. I've had no luck contacting the person involved, so if you come here today, just know the refund has been issued. Please resolve the dispute.

I made this photo collage over coffee, Yesterday over Today, the sense of confusion in that. And then not. Because I found my center in this new day. Like we do, witness the familiar personal sunrise. And now I will keep going. I think a lot of things are not working at the moment. Let me change them.

 

Self Rumblings

 

 

Or Less.

 

 

Combining Moments

Dark rain.

I'm going to sit with this one for a few days. I am adding many tiny black running raining stitches, to darken the outer space. A field of tiny stitches can be a like a color wash. This one, which started out as No Eye-dea, became Everything will Change and evolved into Moving Through..., might be all those things. Perhaps rearranged:

Moving Through No Eye-Dea to Know Everything as Change

I need to finish this one quietly before I continue with anything else. I feel confused. A little needle chanting without words usually clears that up.

As winter moves in, my thoughts brew differently. More indoor time and I am really in IT, that thing that holds my focus, I keep going all day and even all night , in my head. So it is easier for me to post in Diary Format, that is, create a daily post and add to it during the day.  These changes are not delivered by the email subscription service for this blog. Because they are edits to the original post which is delivered only once. That being said, I still need to do it that way. Creating more than one post a day is ridiculous.  So when I get into this continuous mode, I will make a note at the end of the post. So you know to check back for the whole story. If you care about that.

 

To continue...

A sunny Day. Crisp.

Shadows on the wall.

Reminding me of looking through The Beginning as Nine from the other side, now coated in thin cloth.

I need to tack that down a bit more.

I did do a bit more digital doodling. Just to highlight the star point idea.

 

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There was Stitching

I was not near the computer today.

The man scanned and cleaned the hard drive. He has patience like that.

I stitched the lines (continued from here) I drew online while I was not online. (I did add another layer of harem cloth, I'll show that tomorrow.

I used the split backstitch using two strands of floss. For the sun lines I used short thread ends from the thread nest, varied shades of warmth. Because that is what I had. I like to use what I have and I realize it has given a certain form, style to my work. Anyway, I like the variation. And I like the difference in the two line styles, the difference in weight. Spacing. That seems to create some other sense of space. Depth.

At the same time I began to notice the triangles forming in the spinning overlapping ghostlines. I just drew another layer, another digital line over the photo. This time just one out of curiosity. And I see the star. Forming.

And a new kind of solar system.

The cold has moved in and it's time to rearrange the living/working spaces.

Testing mobile posting again.

Technology can be awful. But technology might also save the moment.

Hacked

My computer has a virus and has caused big issues. No luck solving the problem so far. So... I will be down for a bit. This message posted from my phone. I do receive my email on this device. 

Adding Memory

I cut away the white halo of harem cloth.

I wanted it to be darker.

I was going to trace around it first so I could let it leave its mark. Be part of that. But I cut and forgot to do that first.

So ok I thought, I can remember, more or less. So let me mark it that way.

Below is a copy of the above photo with some digital drawing over it. I used to print the photos out and draw over them to test out my ideas. But these days, I save paper and especially ink because geez, that is such a rip off. And also I draw well, I am good with a pencil, but not so good with the mouse drawing, so I like the challenge that poses, makes my brain work harder.

The coma effect has taken hold. Recording the forgetting is good too, I forget more, as if I am in a coma sometimes. Maybe the coma effect is a premonition. You know what I mean?  And I  drew some really simple sun rays.  Still in simple mode. Sun, center, rays. Less white lets the dark work better.  My thoughts are switching to Night and Day. But I'll stitch these ideas in. See how it looks in thread.