This was a very interesting workshop led y Emily Notman as part of TextileArtist.org Stitch Club.
Her method is to stitch onto painted Vilene (dress interfacing) with loads of texture and then either mount flat or wrap around old jars to create a textile vessel. I had in mind to create a silver birch forest for this piece - not sure why, perhaps I had been walking past a lot of them recently!
This was the thickest weight of Vilene I could find in my stash left over from dressmaking. It was cut to fit around a large glass jar so measures approx 30cm x 18 cm.
I started by choosing thin textured fabrics to layer in the background and then thicker fabrics for the tree trunks and the distant fir trees.
The trees were stitched down with thicker embroidery thread and hairy wool to secure then and add interest. The cheesecloth at the bottom was stitched with tiny stab stitches.
To add the knots in the silver birch trunks I cut off bits of cotton lace and stitched them on.
This worked really well.
The next step in the process was to sponge on some emulsion paint. This was slightly watered down and applied with a kitchen sponge. I went heavy on the background and fir trees but lighter on the birch trees and cheesecloth so as to not obliterate the texture. Emily Notman explained that she uses Vilene because it is cheap, doesn't fray and is easy to stitch into. She uses a lot of emulsion tester pots for the painting step as it is cheap, available in masses of colours and helps to stiffen up the whole piece so you don't need a hoop.
Once dry I added some colour to the fir tress with Inktense pencils. I had in mind a scene at sunrise hence the strange pinky colours!
Now to add the undergrowth - I cut small circles of different fabrics - mostly bits of sari silk ribbons, sari chiffon or lining fabric, mostly because they were in the right colours but also had a bit of stiffness. Using machine thread I stitched them down using a small stab stitch, pulling it tight to pucker it up into a flower shape. Massed together they make a very effective undergrowth I think.
Then I started to mix in french knots and random straight stitches in wool. This was very quick and satisfying to do.
We found that if you did a messy french knot it made a large loop and looked really effective.
The final step was to add a wash of colour to the sky. I used some Brusho colours for this, watered down by different amounts to get the graduated colour I was after.
I was very happy with the final piece and very much enjoyed making it. I looked at wrapping it round the glass jar but felt that it lost the impact of it being a forest so I have left it flat.
