Rewriting History...

or, in this case, restitching a piece.   I told you here that I intended to take some of the stitching in one of my rusted pieces out, so that I could do it again; well, once I'd started, I couldn't stop.  All of it, gone.  This particular piece was the third that I'd made of rust dyed silk, in what I thought was a series called 'Flotsam'.  The first I've already shown you, but I'm going to show it here, too, for the sake of comparison.

The second, framed in a similar way, is this one;

I used very little stitch, just enough to keep it interesting, in the same thread that I used in the third piece.  I clearly intended to make the second and third pieces very similar in nature, as the latter also had very little stitch in it.  But while the second piece has flow to it, encouraged by the stitch, the third piece didn't,  The stitch seemed to create little stagnant pools of stillness, which weren't good to look at.  I was happy enough about it at the time...but with hindsight, it just Didn't Work.

This was what it looked like before...

And... here is the final version (believe me, I'm not taking this lot out again!).

Much more stitch this time.  The piece feels very lively, as a result.  I decided that I preferred it the other way round, and as the piece of mother of pearl came off during the process, I turned it over to give a bit more contrast between it and the background.  The thread is a lovely variegated hand dyed brown with hints of gold and yellow.

I work often in series.  What I hadn't realised was that that can be a curse, as well as a blessing  In this case, I was so busy linking this piece with what had gone before it, that I failed to look at the piece itself, and see what it needed.  I've done that now, and I'm pleased with it.  And oddly enough, it links very nicely with the original starting place of the series...so there is a natural, rather than a forced, connection.  All in all, a useful piece of learning.

This Clearout...

means that I'm finding all sorts of things that I'd put aside.  At first glance, this rust dyed piece looked complete; closer inspection, however, told me that I Really Don't Like the stitching.  I'm mostly allergic to frog stitch, but I think, given that the rusted areas are interesting, I'll take out at least some of the stitching, and replace it with... I know not what, yet, but I'll think of something.  The larger stitches definitely need to come out;  I can't make up my mind about the smaller ones.  They are the wrong colour, I think... but better, perhaps, or at least, simpler to stitch over them in a more appropriate colour.  Of course, if that doesn't work, it'll be Even More Stitches to take out...but I'm game to try, because I think it will be okay.

Here's a close up of that bottom element, which I like a lot.

Remember yesterday's pieces?  Well, I decided to try the blue one in a mount, and have decided not to touch it.  It's called 'Rock Fall', and I'm fairly pleased.