Tuesday 19 April 2011

Thinking aloud.

This trophy has been in my possession for three years and I have just handed it back. Phew..what a relief. It belongs to the Embroiderers Guild and I won it for designing the cover of the NW Journal three years ago. 
Its solid silver and very valuable.
I am only blogging about it now when I am no longer responsible for it.



The sad thing is that the cover I designed had to be altered drastically because I did it on a black background and the ink was too expensive! In fact they didn't even use it this time.
It was very smart. 
It had a sort of 'wordle' on it before wordles were around. 
I typed out all of the names of the all the branches in the Northwest and then cut them out 
and stuck them down in all different directions on a black background. 
It was very smart but there was a slight technical hitch. 
 Blackpool blew away!
It was only noticed after it was printed.
I am very sorry Blackpool Branch.

Another piece made up of lots of bits is a bit further along the way now.
This was what I wanted the perspex for. Thanks for all the helpful comments. 
I was going to attach each piece to a two inch perspex rod and have them protruding from a background hanging on the wall.

 Despite having an offer of help from my cousins wonderfully practical daughter, I had a bit of a rethink. Perspex is difficult to hang and if the wall behind it isn't white, it won't look good.
Soooooo.....on second thoughts..I think I am going to attach them to a blank primed canvas with each piece raised very slightly from the backing. 
It will be easier to hang and transport and easier to construct. It will be about 24 inches square.

 I have a bit of a dilemma about this. Those primed canvases are not really meant to be displayed 'bare' are they? But on the other hand I really like the bright white background as a foil for the felt. 
It sharpens it up a bit. 
If the canvas could be seen by a viewer as giving the pieces their 'own bit of wall' it would be fine. 
I have to arrange them more carefully for the final piece.

Talking of arranging..the place where we have our group meetings has a beautiful garden full of weird and wild sculptures and at the moment these.

                                                              
 Just look and enjoy.

16 comments:

Sharne Gregory said...

I love snakeshead lillies. I seem to hav lost mine.
Good luck with getting your canvas sorted.

Sheeprustler said...

I personally love bare white primed canvas as a backdrop, and have seen it used very effectively, so I am sure your little lovelies will work beautifully on it. I have always wanted to use perspex in some way, too ...

hens teeth said...

Good luck with your ideas. Againsit the white your wonderful stitching and luscious velvets will look stunning.

Digitalgran said...

Lovely post as usual Jackie. Great to see your work and your name all over the place these days.

Maggi said...

Glad you have solved your problem re the display. I like bare white primed canvas too and the good thing is that if it gets grubby you can overpaint it. Beautiful garden photos.

Heather said...

Congrats on winning that handsome silver cup. I love the arrangement of your gorgeous shapes. Could you get a perspex cover made (like a box lid) to be screwed over the canvas after the shapes have all been fixed in place? It would be screwed through the sides of the canvas; the shapes would be protected from dust, be clearly visible and still have the lovely white background. Your meeting place garden is just magical.

chocolatefrog said...

Gorgeous. And I've used bare canvas like this, no problems - I love to create interesting shadows with raised stitchy bits and this guarantees a nice bit of "white wall" for them!

Max the Lobster said...

Hi Jackie, the saga continues! my ex embroidery teacher Madeleine Millington uses blank canvases to attach her work to, she keeps it white and it looks good, probably a lot easier than perspex and less hassle! you could google her, i know she has a web site.

Helen Smith said...

Ooh, this is going to look lovely! Bare canvases are very 'in' these days so don't worry about it! Do try to get 'gallery wrapped' though with no nails showing on the sides.

Helen said...

interesting about the canvas' as I have a friend who works in paperclay ceramics and displays the delicate flatish pieces on the raw cavas as a background very sucessfully. I can see your pieces looking very good mounted up that way.

Shoshi said...

All so lovely... Well done getting that awesome trophy, but I can understand your relief at handing it back! Nice to have some photos of it, though.

I agree with Sheep Rustler that white primed canvas is great. I love the effect of Gesso - a true matte finish that's hard to beat, and a lovely foil for the felts.

Message for Max the Lobster - Madeleine Millington is a friend of my sister in law! She's got some of her work in her house! She does gorgeous stuff.

Rachel said...

The blank canvas idea is a good one - it is something I have been considering for some of my own pieces, too...

Let us know how it goes!

Rosie said...

Can't wait to see what you do with these ... I bet it will look fabulous! Trust your instincts and go with the white?

Anne B said...

Just a suggestion - cover the blank canvas with white gesso - think royal icing - and finish off with some diagonal "sweeps" or other form of "texturising" -it'll make it a bit more interesting maybe? By the way - that trophy looks like it should have someone's ashes in it! X

Iz said...

I'm just catching up on blogs, and until half an hour ago I didn't know what a wordle is - but I do now! And guess what I've been playing with for the past 30 minutes!
Liked the big purple whotsits in the garden pics on your latest post - what are they?!

Annie and Lyn said...

We've used a blank stetched canvas to mount a felted picture (felt needs all the light it can get doesn't it?) and we were worried about the surface of it, so we painted it over with slightly watered-down white acrylic paint. The result was good. The canvas looked as it did when we bought it but was a brighter, silkier white and showed off the felt lovely.



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