Untitled (Entanglement series) copyright 2018/2023 Douglas Stockdale –
While tweaking my cyanotype prints and artist statement for my Critical Mass 2023 Finalist project and I have been also working on some visual alternatives. I discussed earlier the concept of incorporating a red line as a visual metaphor for the redlining that occurred in the 1930’s throughout the United States that formalized the segregation practices that created the underlying structural housing issues that still plague minorities today.
My first attempts were a what-if using various red shades of Prismacolor art pencils to create this red line on my cyanotypes. It was not too bad, while the art pencil create a somewhat flat layer on the cyanotype print that seemed to lack any visual impact.
I decided to try sewing this red line. My first attempts were with a red sewing thread. I guess I was leaning into my recent experience of pamphlet stitching my latest artist book, so the process of sewing the cyanotype watercolor paper seemed pretty natural. Nevertheless, after sewing a few prints, then copying these and sending the resulting digital files to a few friends for evaluation, the net result that although conceptually pretty nice, resulting the red thread line lacked visual impact. Sigh.
I decided on two tracks to find something that had more visual impact. First, I checked on line with John Neal Books where I purchase my artist book binding supplies for their binding thread. I was unsure of the thread weight (either 18/3 or 30/3) so I ordered one color in both weights. Turns out that the 18/3 binding thread is much thicker than the 30/3, while the 30/3 is thicker than regular sewing machine thread. Who knew? I think I can use both weights.
Concurrently I went to the local sewing center store (JoAnn Fabrics) to see what options that they had while I was waiting for the delivery of the John Neal Books threads. Initially all I could find was sewing machine thread, then after a couple of different inquiries, I was directed to the back of the store for some light weight yarn, one of which was a bright red. Interesting. I also realized that I might need some different stitching needles with various opening ‘eyes’ for this relatively thick yarn. Cool!
I did hand-sew a few prints with the red yarn, such as the one above, the re-photographed these hand-sewn print and sent the images to the same individuals for their assessment as I had earlier. The response was great! Big visual impact and it was somewhat delicately pointed out that being a scientist, that I had to allow myself to go well beyond what I think might look factual and that as an artist it is okay to really push the visual envelop. Yeah, a little bit out of my initial conform zone, while I feeling pretty good about it now.
I also decided to include hand-sewing the red line out of the image into the white margins to suggest that the redlining practice is extensive while inviting reflection about current mortgage and lending practices as well as the current housing inequities that exist.
One lesson learned for this hand-sewing process is the amount of spacing to provide for the yarn going in and out of the watercolor rag (paper), which is relatively ‘soft’ and the danger of ripping out the space between adjacent two holes when stitching. There must be a trick to this, but I have not figured it out yet, so I just increased the spacing a tad bit more between holes until I stopped ripping through the watercolor rag.
So although I think that I will probably label these cyanotype prints as ‘hand-sewn’, I have also noticed that some artists are calling a similar treatment as being ’embroidered’ cyanotype prints. Unsure at this point as if this wording makes a difference as to the perceived artistic intent, execution and resulting print esthetics. Okay, maybe this is a guy thing. I also realize that this definitely will be a Variable Edition, not only due to the variations in the cyanotype printing and also the variabilities in my hand-sewing these prints. The alternative is to consider these as unique prints, which is something that I need to think about.
Untitled (Entanglement series) copyright 2018/2023, hand-sewn cyanotype image is 9 x 9″ on a 11 x 14″ sheet of Revere Platinum hot press cotton rag. Variable edition of 5 + 1AP.
Make every day an Earth Day
Doug
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Book development workshop:
Update: Developing a Creative Photo Book, on Zoom with SouthEast Center for Photography (SEC4P), January 20 & 21st and 27th, & 28th, 2024, from 10 AM – 1 PM, Eastern Standard Time (EST).
Artist book available again:
The Flow of Light Brushes the Shadow, an artist book from Singular Images Press, 2022, $60.00 (CA sales tax for those residing in the USA) plus shipping expenses. Message me douglas.stockdale.artist@gmail.com
Singular Images 