‘I am here’ workshop - part 4 - Stitch

I Am Here

A celebration of being in one place.

Part 4 - Stitch

Time to stitch into your backgrounds!

a. Put your photographs and photocopies out of sight, except if you’re planning to use them for collage. We are going to be intuitive with our stitching and aim for expression rather than realism.

b. Stitch around some of the drawn or collaged shapes, or along the lines you’ve drawn, or both. These can be done by hand or machine, or both. Keep things simple; don’t feel you have to stitch every outline or line; you can always highlight them later with pencil or charcoal if you need to.

c. Add more stitching for texture into some of the open areas within and/or around your shapes and lines. Again, keep it simple, eg. seed stitch, French knots, running stitch, cross stitch, cross hatching, random lines.

d. Leave some areas bare; it is good to have some ‘silent’ areas to give the eye a rest and provide balance.

e. Use a darning needle or awl to pierce your stitching holes ahead of time if you are worried about making mistakes. It can be difficult to hide any mishaps as paper is less forgiving than fabric! However, mistakes can lead to new design opportunities, eg. adding collage over unwanted holes.

f. Vary the colours, types and thicknesses of the threads you use to add interest to your work, or limit yourself to only a few.

g. Add flat embellishments if desired (not too heavy or the paper will distort and not hang well).

h. Add more soil paint if desired – this can give an added layer of colour and texture over the stitching.

i. When you feel you are finished, sign and date your work in the bottom right or left hand corner (front) and seal or fix it again to protect everything if necessary.

[There is no need to add any hangers to your completed work for display; I will be using my own method to hang them for the exhibition.]

 

EXHIBITION

An entry form will be emailed to you!

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY

We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on which we operate in northern Tasmania. We would also like to pay our respects to Elders past, present and future.