Working with a book

To start the project I went browsing in my local Bric-a-brac store, they have a lot of old books. I found a copy of The Sleeping Beauty which was illustrated with paper cuttings/silhouette, this offered lots of interesting possibilities to me.
I wanted to alter the book and give it a new life. I looked and I read, and eventually I started cutting into the book in a way the characters began to jump out of the pages whilst still leaving the book intact. I found it really absorbing after the first hesitant cuts.
I made a small hanging to complement the book where I incorporated some roses cut from the book, which also depicted the main characters in the story.
The project was fun, absorbing and satisfying. It came to a natural conclusion, and at this point I am not sure what next. What I did learn was that I enjoy working with books and would like to explore it further.

Merete

New challenge - using a book

Not sure whether to call this altered book or not.

Anyway. for those following (and gave up on us) we got caught up in the exhibition Whatever Floats Your Boat by Thames Valley Contemporary Quilt at the Slough Museum. So, we didn't spend much time together talking about anything else!
but now we are hoping to do something for us again, and we are looking at the idea of using a book in some way.

So, this week I have been investigating Book Sculptures. I frequently follow links admiring this sort of work. So I googled the phrase "how to make book sculptures." through that got an idea of what I might like to attempt. You should try it, very interesting things going on out there.

Then I had a look at the rescued books I have picked up here and there.

I have used a bit of this book about writing letters before. So, I decided to combine that with something else I am interested in...Letters from Illuminated Manuscripts or at least from books from the Middle Ages.

At this point I am thinking of using these letters with the writing letters book. They seem to want to go together. I am going to combine some letters to create the ones needed to complete the modern alphabet.


I am not sure if we are meant to use stitch, too. But once I get going, I can work that in.

PS I saved the pages about how to address letters to Royalty! I might need it. HA! well, they might want to be in their own piece.

Working in 3-D

We have been experimenting with 3-D, I certainly found it a struggle. I tend to think about 3-D as something which can be viewed from several different angles. So far so good! I recently visited St Ives in Cornwall and I saw the Barbara Hepworth Museum. In the garden which is on a steep slope is a collection of her wonderful sculptures. As you walk around you keep getting very different views, but what really struck me was a sense that she could feel a sculpture in all its dimensions, from inside out, from top to bottom, turning and rotating it on an axis and at different angles. I'm not sure my brain has the capacity to that, I have problems with garments turned inside out!
Merete

Triangle experiments - finished!

My "suspension bridge" (although I am not calling it that.) I think I will call it 'Points on a Journey', as it is about the journey and meeting places and stops along the way.

from the right

from the left

Merete's box in the background.

The cord wasn't quite behaving as I would like. Too stiff to drape and yet not stiff enough to be straight. So, I put some dangley bits between, which adds a bit more interest and actually helps keeps the triangles upright. The small end ones kept being pulled over though, so they get their own dangles on the front to weight them properly.

Triangle experiments - 3

The 3D triangle experiment came to a bit of a halt while I worked out how to keep the triangles upright. I had the bright idea of using springs - in sort of a mini toast rack effect - to work as "feet". However, I needed time to go find out where I could get any. After a bit of a search I remembered the ironmongers in Great Hollands that has everything...including a few bags of random springs. A rummage produced these which work nicely.

These are just stuck in, but they do what I want them to do. I will make sure they are evenly spaced and stitch them on.

Now that I know they will stand up, I can go ahead and do the suspension bridge cords to join them. I can also go ahead and do some embellishment...although I am growing fond of them just as they are.
I will probably be a bit more restrained than usual...if you can believe that.

As Merete commented earlier,
I had thought to use triangles as feet, but the engineering and product testing time is a bit hard to come by at present. This was simple and effective and won't distract from the triangles themselves.

Triangle experiments - 2

Covering the triangles developed something like this:
... trying to think what fabric to make it up in, somehow I thought I would really like to do it in black and white...and then I thought I would like it a bit black on white and white on black. Recently I took a Masterclass with Rayna Gillman about screen printing on fabric. So, I had a go and came up with some prints I really liked.

now what to make the triangles from?
I thought to use something stiff like pelmet vilene, but I only had scraps. Then I started looking around and thought about some scraps of wool I had felted to see what would happen. but being brown and not having very much, I doubt I will ever use it. It was a bit floppy, so I discovered some fusible interfacing I got for craft uses. I fused some to the front and back, and it became even more stable than the pelmet vilene. I cut triangles from it and some more from the vilene, which I might do a bit more with.
Then I fused one side with black Misty Fuse and the other with white.

I selected areas of the fabrics I thought would look best on each triangle and fused them.

I am actually liking this arrangement for another idea! So, I have prepared more of the interfacing sandwiches to do something further at another time.

Triangle experiments

I finally got to start exploring my 3D piece. Here are a few experiments with paper.
Some with points joined, some joined to make a centre triangle. and both of these pieces placed so that you can interact with the piece behind or in front.

and then several of varying sized spaced in a similar way to a suspension bridge. I envision cord connecting them like a bridge.

I think I am leaning toward the latter idea. The thought is rather like travelling between meeting points.

All the pencil lines are from failed attempts at drawing equilateral triangles!

Maths is not my strong point.

I have laid them out on my cutting mat to see how much fabric it needs. The next step is deciding what they will look like. a bit different to 2D, as both sides will show.