Sod's Law Of Sewing...

...applied in a variety of ways, yesterday.  I wanted to take a photograph.  Or two.  But I knew that the batteries in the camera are flat.  I also knew that I had rechargeable batteries....but where was the charger?  Sod's law, version one, states that whatever it is you have lost, you will find it in that elusive 'safe place', which will be the last place you look.  And, by extension, you will also find something you'd forgotten you had. 

My safe place is the footstool in the living room.  Safe, because my feet are on it.  Unthought of, because my feet are indeed usually on it...sigh.  However, not only did I find the charger (just as well, or this post wouldn't be happening), I found this piece of felting from I hate to think how long ago.

Okay, it's more of a collar than a scarf, really, nuno felted on hand dyed silk organza.  It's a bit greener than it's showing here, and it needs a bit more felting, which it might or might not get.  It was wet felted, but that's out of the question now, so any additional work I do will be with the embellisher.  I want to add stitch...which brings me to Sod's Law Of Sewing, Part II.

Which is... no matter what you have, you will not have Just The Right Thing.  In my case, that's hand dyed thread in the right colours and quantities.  Here's what I found when I went hunting.

The silk threads are interesting, would be appropriate, but I don't think there's enough of them.  And there's definitely not enough of that hand dyed perle at the front.... so...that leaves the chenille.  Yes, chenille.  The most hated yarn in my personal universe.  Not only is there more than enough of it, it's absolutely the right colours, too.  Damn.

So now the question is, what to do with it...because it really is perfect...  I could hand felt it, or use the embellisher to add it...or I could couch it with the perle, as there would be enough to do that with, I think.  Except... collars and scarves are double sided, and the stitch on the reverse would not be attractive, methinks.  Mind you, I could then weave the silk thread through the stitches, to give an unbroken line...that's a thought...   No, I don't know.  Fortunately, I have other things I can be doing in the interim, while I work it out.

Making Substitutions.

So...when I don't feel great, mentally, I tend to do stuff that I don't enjoy, on the principle that a.  things can't get much worse, and b. I'll feel a lot better when I've completed whatever it is.  Of course, completing things takes me a lot longer than it would a healthy person, so the gratification element is usually delayed, but I did get a couple of those boxes unpacked.  And found my millinery stiffener, which is great, and some more softcut, which is not so great, given that I'm finding cutting blocks difficult.

That said, I've been doing a little here, a little there, when I feel energetic enough, and this one is ready for a trial print.

I've been lino printing for a long time, but I still find it difficult to gauge whether I've carved away enough of the surplus 'stuff'' for it not to print when it's inked up.  With softcut in particular, it's really easy to carve right through the block, which, of course, you really don't want to do (it affects the integrity of the block).  Yes, I did it on this one...just a very small cut through to the base, but I'm annoyed with myself all the same.  The only way to tell if you have got rid of enough of the 'stuff', of course, is a test print, because it shows you where the ink is going.  If it hits an area you don't want to print, you need to carve that away.  When I eventually get the other two boxes unpacked, and the studio cleared, I'll get that done.  Though I might wait until the other blocks are cut, first.  Here they are :

As you can see, the one on the left has been started.  It's really fiddly, and I thought, wish I'd made a stencil, instead of a lino block, would have been a damn sight easier to cut, and given pretty much the same effect...  Click.  So, if I do want to make a lino cut in future, perhaps the sensible substitute would be a stencil, either hand printed, or screen printed.  I got rid of the Very Large screens I had, but kept one small one, so that would work. 

It does beg the question, though, as to why I'm doing this at all.  Lino cuts are made so that you can produce an edition of several prints, rather than a one off print.  Let's face it, with all that work just to carve the block, you really would want more of a return that one piece.  And I don't do editions.  I get bored....and I'm no longer selling work, so what would be the point? 

Well, that train of thought stopped me in my tracks :why am I doing this exactly?  Well...for two reasons, possibly three.  The first is that I like the effect of a lino block; it's different to a hand painted motif, usually more definite.  Secondly, whilst I will only probably print these up *as a block* once, or maybe twice, I think that this shield/spear imagery will feature in more work, so though I may not print the block in its entirety, I will print elements of it.  Thirdly, and most spuriously...I can.  And I've got the stuff.  That isn't a good reason, of course; just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should.  Which is why I'll probably sell the rest of my softcut to someone who will use it.  It did strike me that I could use it as the base for mono printing (I'm still refusing to buy a Gelli Plate, don't see the point, strikes me as an expensive fad).  So I may try that; not sure if it'll work or not, but it's worth a try, and I'd rather use what I have than go out and buy More Stuff.

Coming Along Nicely.

Borderline, that is.  Reader, I cut out those knots.

And added a lot of stitch.  I feel better about that whole area, now, and have identified something (well, somethings, actually) to go in that empty central space.  And then, I had to work out what to do with the rest of the space.  What colour, what thread?  Blue was the original thought, to suggest sky.  Then green, to suggest fields.  Finally, I picked a brown variegated thread, the colour of the earth, and started working round the lower left motif.

There's a lot of stitch going in, resulting in a certain amount of distortion up in the top right, unsurprisingly; I hope that can be blocked out of the piece.  There will be more stitch going into the rest of the piece, so I figure that it all might balance out (yeah, all over distortion...).  My  next set of decisions will be around what I do next with the stitch, whether I continue to follow the lines I've established, as much as I can, or whether I add blocks of stitch using different threads, perhaps adding some darker brown and some hints of green.  I have enough room to add one more line of stitching around the main block, and then I'll have to decide. 

I'm still not happy with All That White, though.  I've never liked working with white.  I don't wear it, either, other than the odd white shirt.  I'm contemplating adding paint after the stitch is complete, in a very light, random way.  Or possibly staining the background with tea, being careful to keep it away from the paper, which I don't want to colour.  I suppose this was predictable, and I really should have thought of it before, but it is what it is, and I'll work with it.  Because process is all there is.