Some Circular Designs (Page 8)
The earliest curve-stitch designs were made with cardstock and thread.
Such a medium always struck me as tedious, imprecise, and unforgiving.
My early designs were done on drafting paper in India ink. This, too,
is an unforgiving medium, but not totally so. In any case, I was
delighted to find I could produce designs by computer, and I never again
considered an arts-and-crafts approach.
Not everyone is afraid of getting his or her hands
dirty, however. The designs in
Millington’s book, for instance, are mostly of
the thread and cardstock variety.
Recently, I received an e-mail message from Artur
Błaszczyk, who lives in Poland. He sent me a link to his
Instagram page
and asked permission to produce a constructed version of one of my designs. I
told him to give it a try, but I was pretty skeptical about anyone’s ability to
translate what was an intricate design into a construction using real thread. I
should not have been so dubious.
The design Artur wanted to copy is one from the
previous page, which, for convenience, I reproduce
here:
Artur’s version of the
design, which he embellished somewhat is here:
Of course, you cannot
appreciate this construction from such a small image, so be sure to click on the
photo above for a larger view. The photo perhaps does not do Artur’s work
justice, as the lighting for it was not perfect, but you cannot but be
impressed.
I asked Artur for a
description of how he made this piece. His reply, slightly edited, is the
following:
The substrate is a chipwood board, the posts are 20 mm nails, and the lines
are just ordinary neon-colored polyester sewing thread. The board is 45 x 45
cm. The overall cost of this piece (not counting
the labor and the board, which was recycled from an old shelf) was approximately
$5,
but the amount of fun and final effect is priceless for me. I painted the
substrate with matt-finish spray paint. As for the technique, it is explained in
this YouTube
tutorial.
As for the nails, I used a compass, a protractor, and a ruler to measure out the
angles and spacing (5 mm increments), Then I took pliers and a hammer to drive
the nails in one by one (540 in all). Then I straightened the nails to align them
as much as possible. They are not perfectly aligned, but that adds
to the uniqueness of the piece and shows that it is hand made.
Here is a version of my original design, but with a black background:
Click on the image for a larger view.
Finally, to see Artur’s construction
and my design with a black background side by side, click
here.
— LED, 3/29/2017 |
