A Fun and Productive Visual Exercise

This is exercise 13 from Finding Your Own Visual Language - a practical guide to design & composition by Jane Dunnewold, Claire Benn & Leslie Morgan.

The goal is to "explore value, colour and textural arrangements within a composition, using a random selection of elements within a structured collage format."

This is how it works:

Step 1: make a selection of  same sized coloured or patterned paper - I've used these Japanese papers I had but in the end there was probably too much white on them; best to use something where the colour goes right across. Ideally, also, use more than 4 as you'll have more mixing choice later.

Step 2: cut a shape out from the whole stack - I've used a template. 

Step 3: exchange the cut out shapes - I wanted to do this randomly but found I couldn't!

Step 4: tape everything together.

Step 5: now cut a line - straight or curved - right across the whole stack.

Step 6: join the halves up randomly

Keep going cutting shapes and lines from the stack until you want to stop.

I ended up with this which actually joined two of the 'pieces' together as one.

There are of course lots of variations and the exercise goes on to explore what you can do with the pieces you end up with.

Here are some more:

Each one of these is A6 sized. 

This is something I tried in Paint out of curiosity - the line is a little wobbly but it captures the gist.

Some of these came out well. The bottom two were the ones I liked least as they were progressing but there's something 30s-ish about them that I don't mind now. Persevere!

Now that I look at the one above having made a montage of thumbnails I am really liking the way the top three rows work together at that scale. And I especially like the second row right hand piece.

I didn't like the end result of this one at all but it ended up in my sketchbook and then I started to doodle with some pastels around it and ended up with all this.

As an aside, I have been to see the Sonia Delaunay exhibition (read a Guardian review) and it has definitely influenced an interest in repeating pattern along the lines of wallpaper (above and below).

This colour scheme is inspired by some wallpaper I saw at work - this photo doesn't do it justice - which had a mix of colours I would never have put together: vibrant electric blue with red and terracotta.

I got a lot out of doing this exercise just in terms of using one of the pieces to suggest something different. But I'm sure there's lots more potential to unlock, just that I'm not able to see how to yet.

But I will learn.

Do you have any exercises you do that get you going?

Learning Filet Lace Like my Grandmother Used to Make

I decided I want to learn to make filet lace like my grandmother used to. I hadn't been able to find the needles and kit anywhere. So I looked in her Singer sewing machine cabinet which I inherited.

My grandmothers Singer sewing machine

Singer sewing machine - pedal powered

Singer sewing machine - lid open - the machine swings up and locks in place

Singer sewing machine - ready to go (the flap on the left usually falls flat and is propped up by the fully open door, such brilliant design)

This was what was in one of the drawers - untouched since the day she died 20 years ago - among other things, a full filet lace kit with a piece even started for me. I more than ever believe that they are looking down and see when we need them.

The contents of my grandmother's Singer sewing machine cabinet - including a piece of filet netting she had already started

Progress in two afternoons

I have learned to:

• cast off
• do a nice even net stitch
• turn a corner on one side (to make a square/rectangle)
• turn a corner on the opposite side (instead of, ahem, on the same side again)
• reduce the net holes to create the rectangle
• and close off (kind of, there is a stray saggy thread) 

Here I go...

My first loop

Lots of loops

My first row

Getting into the swing

Finished trial piece

Trying out a triangle - which actually turns into a square

Finished examples - I lost confidence on the left hand one and thought I was going wrong but it's actually correct

And that's just the start. Next are all the embroidery stitches to fill in the net so that I end up with something like this.

Beautiful filet lace bedspread inherited from my grandmother - reputed to have belonged to the last king of Italy

Resources

Here are some more resources for anyone interested:

• sisan881 on YouTube explaining filet lace in (not in English)
• giuseppa nania on YouTube showing techniques for filet lace net-making
• Save the Stitches by nordic needle filet lace guidance and patterns
• Tristan Gloaguen on YouTube - Confection de filet à maille irrégulière avec Andrée Flock (in French)
• Chihiro K on YouTube how to make a net filet lace useful for the left-handed

I found it really useful to watch and rewatch, pause and rewind videos of people actually doing filet. Which is why videos in different languages are not a barrier.

It's impossible to find the specialist shuttle needles here in the UK so try buying them from Italy instead. Search for aghi da filet on eBay in different sizes (ago = needle; aghi = needles).

Next ambitions

Once I've got filet down I'm moving on to tatting and needlelace. All techniques my grandmother was expert in. I was also thinking of building up to bobbin lace but that is really complex and I think I'll need a teacher (I was looking for a course in Honiton to no avail, surprisingly).

But for now, filet it is. Future progress will be posted.

Would love to hear from anyone who has had to teach themselves a difficult technique and how you did it.