Fossilised.

Back to hand stitch, and the piece I showed you here... The advantage of working small (this piece is roughly A4 size), is that it can lie beside me on the sofa, while I decide what to do with it.  Of course, the disadvantage is that the cats lie on it, don't they, Merlin?  I found myself drawn to the random marks I could see, and stitched them :

That was the easy bit... deciding what to do to create the whole of the shape, which reminded me of a fossil (hence the title), was a bit more challenging.  Another hard line didn't seem to be appropriate. Mainly because 'that purple morass', as I called the area to the right of the figure, was still there, and needed to be worked with, to minimise its impact.  I finally decided to use blanket stitch.

It gives the firm line I wanted to delineate the area, but pulls the eye in to the mass, rather than outwards.  The whole area reminds me of a fossil we have, somewhere, Orthocerus Nautiloid.  I love fossils, I find them fascinating.  I've made one or two pieces based on fossils, but this was a surprise...

And I'm going to leave it at that.  No more stitch.  I don't think it would add anything, to stitch the background, which is quite interesting as it is, plenty of texture and visual interest.  Anyone who has attended one of my printmaking workshops, will know that I talk about 'leaving space for stitch'.  There needs to be a strong visual justification for adding stitch to a print, not just, because it's a textile piece, or, because that's my style... and in my view, there just isn't one here. 

Another one bites the dust....on to the next hand stitch piece...

The Last Page...

...is finally complete. 

I wanted to continue the theme of long, straight lines that I started in the 'tail' section of the larger motif, so used blanket stitch again in the circular section.  That, of course, meant that I was limited in the number of stitches I could get into the small circle at the centre, so I ended up adding a couple more straight stitches in places that seemed too wide by comparison with the others (if you see what I mean).  I don't think you can tell the difference, really. 

And then there's the vertical secondary motif.  That is made up of long, straight stitches, couched down with that same thread, as in the 'tail' section.

The reverse of this side is intriguing...for some reason, it reads in a circular format, rather than a straight line...who knows how that happened.  But for the vertical lines to make visual sense, I decided to whip them, to make coherent lines.

What next?  I hear you holler.  Well... ostensibly, I sew the pages together.  In practice, however, I'm going to leave them for a week or so, and go back to them.  I'm contemplating drawing on them, and it would be easier to do that if I leave them unbound.  I'm undecided, and the best thing to do for that, is to build some time into the process.  We get too close to the work while it's being done, and stop seeing it objectively. 

I'm still not sure if these pages make a coherent whole, but perhaps that's the point.  That's another reason to live with this a wee while, and see what emerges.   There's a lot to be said for having no deadlines or imperatives other than the lack of energy; I don't have to make immediate decisions any more.  The lack of energy has its upside, though there is only the one... I no longer procrastinate.  I can't afford to; I don't know from day to day whether I'll have any energy at all, so I tend to use it while I do.  I've always said that procrastination comes from fear; the only fear I have left is that I'll be bedridden and unable to do the work, or anything else, for that matter, so I choose to work when I'm able, and try not to waste too much time on regretting the amount of time I wasted in the past.  Sigh.

Sew...

...more stitch on the book I'm currently working on.  Here's the progress.  I've finished the front page now...I think... I'm never entirely sure until the whole thing is done...

You're going to have to imagine it folded, admittedly...but this is both sides.  I'm intrigued by the reverse, because, of course, the stitches don't look the same on the back, as on the front, so things get a bit more abstract (or should that be random?).  So...that's the front and back of the book (as well as both sides of the paper, if you see what I mean)....now here's the central pages.

The central motif is stitched with a rayon hand dyed, corded thread (the rest are cotton), which proved a pain to work with, but its sheen goes nicely with the metallic paint that was used.  As this isn't a colouring book (and don't get me started on the point of colouring books, or lack of it...), I didn't feel the need to continue the stitch so that it filled the entire motif.  I decided I wanted to have large vertical stitches on the bottom dark section.  Blanket stitch, I thought.  Ha ha ha, said my memory.  I know you've done it lots of times, but I don't remember how you did it... ME affects memory, and a lot of what I used to know, doesn't come to mind easily.  In this case, I could remember how the stitch works, but not how to start it.  Got there in the end, though, by process of logic.  Just as well that hasn't gone, too...

I did briefly think about swapping the front and central pages round, but decided not to...they've been trimmed to fit the way they are, swapping them round would require a further trimming, and I want to avoid that.  Given that no real narrative for the book has yet emerged, it wouldn't have affected the flow or meaning of the book.  That's unusual for me; usually there's a story, a meaning, a sense of how things relate to each other, that requires a particular structure, even when the work is largely abstract.  I think that's why I'm drawing a blank on writing a poem to go inside the book.  Perhaps something will emerge...that often happens with titles and concepts.  I start with one thing, and end up with that thing, but also with other meanings and ideas.  That's what I like about making art.  I'm not following a pattern or a template; each piece is unique.