Vessel experiments

Today I've been pulling together all the ideas and techniques I'm wanting to use in my next set of experiments for some new vessels. One newly dyed yarn skein, wrapping, swirly copper and here we have the visual beginnings of something organic that can grow and morph into any shape, form or direction.

The sticking point for me with textile 3D forms has always been supporting the form without compromising the asthetic of the piece. The wire works well to a point but closed units like the circles have flexible joins that destabilise the piece the larger it gets. Using the wrapping technique as well, I'm hoping that this issue will be resolved. If support is no longer an issue, then I can be much freer in the design and organic elements of the form.

So today has been really exciting! Putting these lightbulb moments to the test :) This little sample is testing out so many things: multiple wrapped strands, exposing the copper swirls and does it work with the dyed yarns? And does this type of dyeing technique suit the wire wrapping? How to hide the yarn ends, how to smoothly taper from the covered wire to the bare copper .... you get the picture! So many questions.

And I got pretty much all the answers I needed today too. The wrapping technique I'm pretty impressed with. It gives a neat tight finish in the yarn as well as in wire so that is a big plus. It's more difficult to colour match when the organic strands meet but I think they look okay. I kind of messed up one of them trying a different method to interlock the threads so I could keep the two separate colours - where the orange strand meets the purple one. The technique worked fine, it was just my lack of finesse that spoiled it! A bit more practice needed I think :)

The new yarn worked out a lot better than I thought too. I've come to learn with these vessels that yarn looks completely different than it would knitted up. You learn to look at the yarns with a different eye. This yarn had small runs of colour so I could get more colour changes in each small piece. And although it looked kind of boring as a skein, it looks so much better wrapped here. Quite a subtle palette for me but still lovely rich and intense colours.

The next obvious step is adding beads and metal or glass inclusions in the larger spaces. There are still some techniques I'll have to master yet so it will take some time to get all the elements I want into the vessels  - but I'm getting closer! I'll have to try a bigger sample to test the solidity of the wrapping first before I get carried away with the decorative details, lol!

It will be good to be able to see all these ideas I've had for so long appear in reality. This turned out so much better than I expected today. When it feels important that everything works out well, you kind of prepare yourself for things to go pearshaped :) But no pears today, and if there are a few hiccups then who knows, it might make it even better than the original intention!

See you all tomorrow!

Oh yes, if you want to see any of the earlier vessels you can find them here or just click on the gallery tab at the top of the blog. Links to each piece are under the slideshow ;) 

Viking knit

Viking knit tutorial - Designer de Bijuterii

Hang on to your seats folks, I'm blogging two days in a row :)

At last I've found a tutorial for viking knit! I've seen a lot of knitted/crochet type jewellery and small 3D forms around recently, all saying they used viking knit or an 'old crochet tradition' handed down the generations.... :) but no 'how-to' to help me on the road to experimenting. So I tried out knitted i-cords, crochet i-cords, french knitting on those lovely dolls with with wire pegs on top, trying to work out just how it was done but they never gave such an even finish as this technique seems to. Came pretty close though but not quite so good. So this was the one I wanted to try but could I find a free tutorial? Nope.

 

As is the way of things, I put it to one side and wrote it down on my list to research when I had a free moment - as you do. Or in the real world don't do! And then forgot about it. But today, whilst surfing Pinterest, the land of all good images, tutorials and inspiration - and way too many cake recipies:) - I found a wire bracelet tutorial. I clicked the link which lead to this wonderful site just FULL of wire wrapping tutorials; from making simple hooks for earrings to jewellery, chainmail, metalworking, weaving and steampunk. What a treasure trove of a find! If you enjoy creating and working with wire especially, then this is the place to lose a lot of time!

The downside is it isn't written in English but don't let that put you off. I read through the tutorial and I could easily make out the tools needed and the wire thickness, and the how-to instructions were very clear through the excellent step by step photographs.

So this has just moved up to near the top of the experimenting list I think. If any of you try it out, I'd love to hear how you got on too.

Wires, pliers - check. Going in.... :)

Happy dance :)

Yesterday my creative mojo returned - to my great relief! I was on such a roll at the end of January with so many ideas buzzing around my head I couldn't make samples quick enough and then.....whumph.... a dry spell. Nada, nothing, zip. Maybe I used it all up in one go:) or maybe reality intervened and demanded my attention back in the real world, but may I say - welcome back! my life has been a bit flat without you!!

So new to the ideas pool is a variation on my filigree vessel. I'm just tinkering around with different wire types and strengths to crochet around and writing copious notes and ideas as I go. I thought I'd introduce some colour into the mix as the last one was uniform white and I wanted to compare and contrast a bit. The white one didn't have a wire base either and I'm seeing a lot of 3D moulding, bending and manipulating in this one's future.

I have the perfect circle shapes, then the ovals, and once I find the best wire, some organic squidgy shapes randomly altering the circumference any way it pleases. They might all work well together, they might prefer to be just a family of squidgy shapes instead. I don't know, but that is the beauty of it - and I never get bored experimenting:)

Beginning to group them together here but need to make more before I can gauge how effective they will be. The hand dyed yarn is working well on the bigger shapes but finishes abruptly on the smaller ones as the dye repeat is too long. But that's another element to play with! I don't want it overly stripey either so maybe just a slightly shorter length of skein. Or dye two varying length skeins the same colourway and hope I remember which is which!

Righty-ho, just another 10-20 more circles to go and then I can play with the 3D manipulation. Happy, happy! x