How a thought rises through consciousness. That's what I was thinking a day or so ago...with all that has happened, it fell back in. Anyway there was too much coffee, probably because there was too much shitty wine.
I promised a video but I am not up to it really. These big squares are 5". Once I start with a certain puzzle piece size, all the other elements fall into relationship with that. I talked about that here. Obviously, I could continue adding 5" squares until it was "big enough". But I've done that.
I made the cross and stitched it to the base instead. Like a puzzle block. Maybe to see it that way. There many ways to patch to a base. I talked about that here. As a matter of fact, what I talked about in Small Cloth can apply to large cloth, right? Just the scale is different which might require a bit of problem solving in terms of handling a larger cloth. But that is the never ending learning part.
So I made the puzzle pieces in the same way. Ironed around a template, edges glue-stitched to keep the edges in place while fiddling. Then I stitched 9 squares (made more than 9) together to form the cross. I glue-stitched the cross to the base cloth by sewing down the center in both directions, so the edges might flap open, allowing me to add the 4 more pieces to create the extended 9. A little awkward to work into the corners but it worked. Of course I could just applique them as well. Or draw the framework of the patch work and use the skatching (patching over a sketch) method. So you see, so many ways. I like to mix it up. Or go with what works with my mood or my energy in the moment. All the while noticing how each way has it's own feel. Sensing that.
This was Monday's post but I didn't post it. I felt detached. But now, ok, there it was, an idea. Not planned bit as it happened. Could I create a pieced back? One that would might show through the base cloth, like a shadow yet still a main part of the structure, and work with the existing pieced cross/extended nine patch? What if?
I woke up and spoke the words, The Spell is Broken.
I lost part of the thread in waking. I guess there was a story.
There was a bit of work on this in the evening before sleep. Some thin silk to fill in the whites of the new eyes. I will work the third one in stitch. I like variation in technique in one piece. It raises the awareness of change in the expected. This split image is interesting. It would be interesting to see both side of things at the same time, not thinking about them as separate. We may say we do, but we don't. We, by nature, are divided.
It was a long noisy process but it went well. The large white oak was tall and had split into multiple trunks, maybe 5 or 6. They came with a bucket truck and wove in and out of the power lines, slowly snipping the branches, dropping them carefully until the danger was past. The tree had been most likely damaged by gypsy moths, I have been though that before. But the wood was mostly good, so maybe not that long ago. We might had left it standing had it not been so close to the wires and the house. They also cut a lot of the fallen trees here outside the kitchen window. More good wood and now clearing the way to the layered stone rimmed ridges that go back to the stone walls. There is real wild garden potential here. That cedar which was hardly visible before will be much happier. There is more air and light and open paths to walk.
I was talking about the lion quilt yesterday. Remembering how it came together. And then not so much why I made it but why it seems important and what it became and then what it has become.
I got interrupted yesterday, which has me on a side trip this morning. After Henrietta asked if I had the drawings of the lions. So I will just talk for a moment.
And just now, rewriting history I guess, a new loose page, overwritten, to make it useful in the moment. Now motivated to tear up the past and use it to patch the present, make way for the future. Regenerate.
I will start with noting A Field of Color. As a start. As a Base. Considering A full Spectrum of them. I can use them to explain. And they can be used as blankets for little people. Ok. Which color should I begin with. Green?
I don't remember the name of these trees. But I remember them.
Don't tell me. It's OK.
Never planted one. But they always seem to be familiar. In winter I don't recognize them. When they bloom, I remember them, though not by name.
I began with a soft pink because I had some. I was thinking white, but it is a fleshy pink I picked up and threaded through the needle. Might seem white against a dark color but flesh colored here. Two strands of embroidery floss, a free running stitch over the pen lines which still show in the spaces in between as the thread weaves in and out , appears and disappears. A soft circle has formed hardly seen but strongly felt. Mapping a womb field. Not perfectly.
I don't find words for old memories. I close my eyes. I catch a thought.
The Story Cloth style, as described in Spirit Cloth 101 (although I was working small) has basically evolved from the concept of "the Base" and story layers. In perspective, we could just imagine all of those beginnings larger. Or, if you are like me, you might also think of a lot of the smaller pieces you have accumulated as pieces for a larger puzzle. Solution unknown. Still, regardless of size, I always consider what others call a quilt top or a larger cloth, as a base for story.
So I went back to look at this base lesson. To see how my basic approach might change in the context of large cloth. And I guess it is just important to note, that working toward larger often requires adjusting techniques simply because bigger is a little different than small. Problem solving is a big part of the form that evolves and can test your creative side in new ways...Encourage new form and process (which to me is part of the form),out of the need to hold it together. How it goes, how it might happen, is really quite a big part of the story for me. And that's what will unfold here.
It is also important to note that a larger cloth can be looked at in two distinct ways. A useful cloth, that is, one that has another function apart from being looked at. Or one that is just to be looked at, an art cloth. But then we can ask, what if ? it could be both? How might this influence approach?
I would just like to list my basic approaches here today, adding a few to the base mix and talk about them individually in separate posts. This will allow me to share my current thoughts in each technique in the context of a larger scale.
1.Piecing. When I talk about pieced large cloth, as a base, the base is really no different than a quilt block. Except maybe the number or size of pieces or the time it takes to make it. While piecing takes time, it offers a grid or system of seams that I love to use as a guide. To build a story. Maybe because seams are lines, and I love to draw. This might lead me into some other ways to create lines to work around.
2.Cloth Weaving. The cloth woven base has built in layering. Weaving a bigger base has it's own challenges, and I have some solutions, but smaller blocks can be combined. I still love the natural grid and texture of the cloth woven surface as a base for any kind of patch or stitch.
3.Whole cloth. The instant gratification and freedom of working on a whole cloth is a nice break from the tradition of seams and the time it takes to piece a base. It offers space, perhaps less stress in terms of construction. The collage method can be a nice break from the worry of straight and neat. With the trend toward "boro" these days, it has become very popular because of a more relaxed approach. It just takes less traditional skill. But then you put the focus on just stitching/quilting a big piece of cloth,if you have one.
4.Pre-existing Base. And then maybe in terms of base methods, we could add the existing base, maybe an old blanket or a garment you might simply use as a ready made or recycled base. To coat with scraps and ideas. Working on a large something that already is, can be a shortcut. Or way to renew an old cloth item. Or take something further. I will add to that this time, the pre-existing puzzle piece.
5.Free Style,Build as you Go. Because sometimes you just can't know. Maybe most often. This is so true to my actual style, ... you can simply always make something small bigger. Creating the base/large thing as you go. Mixing it up in terms of approach. Working around the smallest idea/scrap and letting it grow. For me this is one of the easiest ways to get to large cloth. Not suddenly, but simply Eventually. And this method is also the easiest to handle. My favorite because it evolved through my own process of just going.
Just because it was folded and sitting across the page and a labored beginning.
I just put this here tonight because it happened and it's in the journal and that is what I am doing. Putting it here. It is not necessarily a plan. But I always consider anything that happens.
Tomorrow, (finally I think I am working into my evening schedule...) I will talk a bit about the different general approaches I use to build a big cloth. Technically speaking.