Initial thought: embroidering the geometric patterns on paper - perhaps to be suspended as walls in stead of hung like painting or pictures
Referencing Coates embroidery book, considering other stitches... but choose to continue with chain stitch, although changed to reverse chain stitch as the paper was not as flexible as the fabric I usually work with is. Note to look for Tambour needle in Dubai. (UPDATE 30/11/2017: no Tambour needles available, manage to find a Ari needle, this doesn't have a latch to hold the thread in and is super fiddly, will need to practice).
Began with the Japanese 24221 paper. Has a fabric like texture and although looks delicate and translucent it has a sturdy fibrous feel.
paper, cotton, 33cm x 24cm,
Difficult to keep the tension while creating a chain stitch. ended up lightly taping the paper to an embroidery hoop to free up a hand to complete the chain stitch. I also began to piece the stitch hole with the needle prior to completing the stitch. This helped to maintain even spacing and also mad it easier to track the needle from below as the paper is not forgiving like fabric and marks are left behind from any errors in piecing through.
The technique created anxiety as I was concerned that the paper would tear while stitching which meant the process was longer than stitching on fabric.It is this physical and mental tension that I find stimulating, linking back to the elements of communities within cities jostling and looking for balance, one slight misalignment and chaos, in a manner, can result. The next piece was the Akashi-Ya paper.This paper was a little more fragile and also more fibrous but not as bonded, hence the fragility.
paper, cotton, 33cm x 24cm,
I began with the white thread, and ripped the paper. As I had identified my slight issues with 'whiting out' the work and being read from a colonial aspect I opted to experiment with a grey thread. This certainly made the line 'pop' a little more... which I'm actually not too happy with as I am looking for subtly. Tracing 41
paper, cotton, 33cm x 24cm,
Love the translucency of the paper but its terribly noisy and scratchy to work with. It feels like super thin baking paper, a sort of waxy finish. One tight stitch would rip it and render the piece a fail... or would it. perhaps these errors are part of the chaos of the everyday, the curve balls that throw our routines out of sync for a nano second until we work around them and continue on our way, in to our repetitions,the calm.
scissors beneath the paper to show the translucency. paper, cotton, 33cm x 24cm,
Acetate
This need pre-marking with holes. I've been doing it with the other papers for ease but I could stitch them without punching first, the acetate is tough though. It's ridges and, of course, plastic rather than paper. It's transparency is almost too much though, not providing any muting of a layer beneath, rendering the fractures to be seen on the at the space opacity but with some distance of the layers if spacers are used. Acetate does also come in matte which I believe provides some opacity but the texture at the moment is lost on my. there is no sensuality of the touch, it doesn't bring texture to the fractures, it mimics the slickness of the city. Due to this I will not be using it for future experiments other than as a transfer medium for printing etc. The acetate is also unforgiving because you can see the back of the work, the threads hanging and and the 'temporary' knots that I'm too lazy to stitch in to the work to hide! oops!
scissors beneath to show transparency. acetate, cotton, 33cm x 24cm,
translucent bond
a much thicker paper out of the ones used so far. too thick and large to attach to the embroidery hoop, also this is not helpful as the paper needs to be turned to complete the stitches as it is very difficult to guide the needle through without looking. The 'translucent' term here is slightly misleading as it really isn't particularly translucent, maybe slightly thinner than standard printer paper.
paper, cotton, 33cm x 24cm,
ON FABRIC - Moving forwardPrint on to sheer fabric and french knot with textured yarn to build texture and layer more pieces possibly link with threads if distance between pieces, or if touching the threads would hang and loop between the pieces.Still see paper as fabric, it is fibrous, comes from natural resources and can be manipulated in the same manner as 'traditional' fabrics, pleated, folded, stitched, dyed, woven etc.