Sunday 18 August 2013

here it is


So here it is
This isn’t a proper photo, just one taken with my i-phone but the give a good feel as to the piece and how it looks in the space.  The figure in red is Nicky cardio technical advisor and work horse when we installed.  Big thanks.  Her being in the photo gives and indication of the scale of the piece

Let me know what you think

Saturday 17 August 2013

what every textile artist is wearing this season

Now the Lobby is a dirty ol’ space.  And I upset someone when I said that I was taking footprints off a 150 years of dirt.  She was a cleaner in the mill many years ago and said that there wasn’t any dirt in her day.  That’s as maybe but there is now

So when I was installing I had a choice either to get very dirty or look like and extra from CSI Bradford.  I opted for the later.  I needed to redo a running stitch of about 10m which did involve me on the floor sewing quite a bit.  I had bought kneelers BUT it was the one that I attached to my ankle that really made me comfortable.  I sort of sit on my foot when I work on the floor and that was definitely the way to do it.


Want to see the piece properly?  Log on tomorrow

Friday 16 August 2013

the giant plinth

I went up to Salts Mill on Tuesday to start the installation.
As the doors went back on the service lift and I saw the space again I was struck by one thing: the enormous run of pink plywood that was indeed the plinth for my piece.  It seemed to run the whole length of the room.  It went on and on.
As I left the lift I could see that in the distance the sides had been painted grey.  I didn’t panic.  I knew that the piece would fit……its just I hadn’t realised quite how long 100m was.

You can see the Cloth and Memory2 team in their charming white suits and the piece is wrapped up like a dismembered body.

Tuesday 13 August 2013

the last stitches...for real


These are the final stitches on the piece….from a technical point of view its me joining piece 8 and piece 9, that’s the seam at 45 metres.  So what you see is the embroidered ECG being joined up.

 

And this is what 100 metres of lovely British woollen face cloth with my embroidery on looks like when its rolled up and ready to go.  It weighs about 4 stone.

Monday 12 August 2013

the last stitch



Technically speaking this is the last stitches being embroidered.  I say technically because they are the stitches on the furthest right.  I have always seen the piece being read left to right or with the footprints coming towards you, either way these are the last stitches of the piece…..but that would mean that the embroidery was all done…..and it isn’t….its just that I have finished embroidering piece number 20.


Sunday 4 August 2013

The red threads



A big thank you and ‘star of the day’ must go to the guys at Madeira thread.  You might remember that they sponsored the thread for my piece (see: ‘The empty spool’ post).  I reckon that by the time I am through I will have got through 20 miles of the thread. It’s pretty close as to whether I have used more black or red.  Its hard to tell when I am using five different reds and just one black.  The plan is that the colour of the ECG waveform changes as the piece goes along but you don't really notice the colour change as its subtle; its stronger up one end and mellower at the other.

I was running low on one of my favourite reds. I spoke to them at Madeira and another spool was in the post that day.  Great stuff.  Thanks