Whilst my book is winging its way to Australia and Fiona’s book is coming this way, my mind turned to other projects which had been roaming around in my head.
During consideration of ‘Shape’, I had worked out this configuration of small concertinas, by stitching them together I was able to form a long and complex book. By joining small concertinas together it was also possible to conquer the restrictive length of a print, in my case 75cm. This book measures almost 1.5metres.
I decided that I would make three books, all to be contained in a slip case.
I needed three plates, two I made and one I already had, these would be the backgrounds
Each plate needed to have the means to place small fragments into the design
And three plates for the small fragments.
Here all the components are laid out.
The first printing session involved printing 12 prints
The second session I printed about 100 small fragments of three different sizes, each shape from the same printing plate. For scale the largest fragment is 3cm square.
They are all now drying flat in the house where it is warmer. It will be a couple of weeks before I will be able to fold and stitch them together.
We had been emailing each other for a few years but we have never met, Fiona living in Australia and myself in England. It was interesting considering titles and protocols via the internet and with someone that you don’t know, all those hand and eye movements when you are face to face and the nuances of language aren’t there to gauge the impact of ideas.
With only a little debate we decided that the title would be ‘The Shape of Things’, we would produce editions of two, one for each of us and to consider different structures of books and to include text. We wanted challenges both intellectual and constructional. The first books would begin to be posted off to each other in January 2023 and then at the beginning of each following month. There was no set number.
We began by sending each other a bundle of our own papers which would be incorporated into the books.
My papers for Fiona, ready to parcel up.
The received papers from Fiona spread out on my table.
The challenge was set!
For my part there followed thinking, research through my notebooks and allowing my mind to wander over ideas.
Does a shape define a thing? Some, rather than many, of my antique textile fragments are of a shape that tells of its past purpose. Lace is long and thin so that it can be used as trimmings, whereas bodices have curved edges for necks and arms. I decided to use these as my design sources and respond to them for my books.
Two plates were made, here the bodice one printed
and here the cut out printing plate of lace.
To me, an important part was forward planning, an overview of the whole, a need to think about the parcel of papers, how to use them, stretch the resources throughout the series of books, consider the properties of each paper, several of which I had not used before.
I just got down to it!
Fiona had suggested that whilst we would be blogging about the project we didn’t want the other to have full knowledge of the book that they were yet to receive, so that we should only provide ‘teasers’ and then on receipt, the full reveal. Brilliant!
For me, there followed many sessions of moving the papers around, trying to work out their properties, I hadn’t worked with any of the papers before, they got shuffled around, placed into sections and constantly rearranged.
My first book evolved from the bodices and lace that I had begun with, it was a way of easing me into the practical part of the collaboration. A printing plate was designed and made inspired by the lace and the way that it was folded.
Choices had to be made for the supporting papers.
Here is almost the last stage of the covers being glued to the print.
And two teasers!
Text and print
Appliqué using Fiona’s braille paper as a printing plate onto some of her fine paper and my painted tissue paper.
It seems to me that it is important to remain true to my ideas and to produce pieces with integrity and not to create work to please the other, but to use the collaboration to extend my practice, to explore different materials and challenges.
I will readily admit that I bought this piece of lace as I couldn’t identify it. My research is still ongoing!
It’s a perfect piece, I doubt that it has ever been sewn onto a dress. It is a tape lace, the tape being looped into the design and then stitched and embroidered with needlelace stitches into place. The tape is about 3mm wide, so the work is very fine. It is possibly called Vermicelli lace and from Armenia. My piece is 7cm x 1.30m.
The last piece that I purchased at the Decorative Antique Textile Fair in London in October is this silk shawl.
It is from India, silk fabric with silk embroidery using straight, running and seeding stitches. It is 54cm x 1.30cm. It is a Bengali Kantha shawl. It looks great hanging from the end wall in my studio, where the sun does not fall. Believed to have been made in the 1940’s.
We are heading into Winter here, the days are shortening and the darkness creeps further into each day. If the sun shines I nip out to the studio to test colours and to take any photographs, making the most of what light there is.
I am beginning a Collaboration with a fellow Book Artist and Printmaker and next time I post I will start to write about it.
Annwyn Dean 