Untitled (The Last Iceberg series, #9200 Solo Voyage) copyright 2022/2023 Douglas Stockdale –
Last week I wrote an article about working with a back-stitch on one of my Entanglement cyanotypes and how I came up with an idea of how to potentially represent the barb’s along the barbwire fences. Which then led me to consider other alternatives to represent these barb’s in my cyanotype prints, which one was the use of French knots. After looking at the French knot design, it then occurred me that this is might also make an excellent looking “dot” for my Morse code messages in some of my recent Last Iceberg cyanotypes.
So I tried to learn how to make a French knot; bummer, not as easy as it might first appear. So after wrecking a couple of my Last Iceberg cyanotypes with tying to use this knot I realized that I needed to find a cyanotype print in which I could practice hand-sewing this knot. A lot. Until I could make one of these French knots routinely and not destroy anything in the process. (Lots of how-to for embroidery of this knot on the web, so no need to spend time on that aspect here). A Sampler is a term used to illustrate a variety of designs and in my case, I wanted a pattern that I could use the French knot frequently to practice.
Aha! I recall seeing a cyanotype print that had a lot of lines and French knots and then my brain-storm for the hand-sewn pattern in the Last Iceberg print, above. So off to the fabric store for a selection of yellow embroidery floss; sun yellow, light yellow for highlights (to make the French knots) and then an orange yellow for the sunshine ‘rays’. Why not incorporate a little bit of color hue variety to keep this visually interesting?
Below is a photo of my first phase on this sampler to represent the sun and what the emanating sun-rays might look like. Stopping at this initial point was a two-fold objective; was I getting the French knots looking correct (without destroying the cyanotype) and was the resulting image looking intriguing? Hmmmm. So far, so good. My French knots were getting easier to make and look a bit more consistent. (I would almost destroy this print with a nasty French knot a little later). And the pattern looked intriguing, while thinking that a slight change-up in the pattern might be better suited for my narrative.
Today I continued the hand-sewing with the slight change in the patterning after sleeping on this ida overnight. No nightmares, so it must have been a brilliant idea, eh? I also wanted to extend some of the sun-rays out of the image into the margins to insulate that the hot sun is expansive, as are the continuing effects of climate change. Also I did blow out a French knot (ugly hole in the paper), while my fix looks pretty decent, as I doubt that anyone could find it. It’s that always the case, just about finished with an extensive project and some dumb mistake goes sideways that seems to turn all of the extensive amount work into a heap of rubbish? sigh.
I am stopping at this point in the hand-sewing and I am not completing the sun-rays emitting from the sun around the entire circumference of the sun. I think that would place too much focus on the hand-sewn sun-burst. I want to provide a counter balance between the sun and iceberg and not totally overwhelm my iceberg subject. I sort of have the sunburst now pointing towards the iceberg to create a visual emphasis as a cause and effect narrative (sorry, still a scientist at heart).
In the process of hand-sewing this print, I am already cooking up some more design alternatives for the other Last Iceberg cyanotypes. And maybe I will need to head back to the fabric store for a few more colors. LoL.
Untitled (The Last Iceberg series, #9200 Solo Voyage) copyright 2022/2023, hand-sewn cyanotype image is 9 x 12″ on a 11 x 14″ sheet of Revere Platinum hot press cotton rag. Unique print.
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 