This post could be a bit long as I’ve not been keeping up with commenting on the books I’ve been reading. There are four books that are for different reasons worth a mention. The first book on my reading list was Drawn to Stitch by Gwen Hedley.
Having started doing some sketching with the drawing lab, I am more amenable now to doing some preliminary sketching for textile work. It was something that I was always getting in trouble for on my C&G course, because I wasn’t too keen on it. I liked to just leap in and start work. The subtitle sounded intriguing too – line, drawing and mark-making in textile art. The book, when it arrived, did not disappoint. After some background information on tools, materials and preparing backgrounds, the next chapter introduces various techniques for line drawing and making marks. Quite a variety of techniques are discussed, with plenty of colourful examples. This is all still preparatory work. The third chapter then goes into detail about interpreting line and marks in stitch. As it states in the chapter this is the kernel of the book.
In this chapter, the general format is to list the design references, the observations made, the drawing approaches and the stitch techniques used.
This is what makes this book a real joy to use. It is the longest chapter and contains many examples of work from different artists. For each piece you get an insight into the design process from inspiration to final product. The final chapter covers using stitch to indicate texture and surface.
What struck me most was that nearly all the stitching is using very simple stitches either by hand or machine. No complicated stitches and yet the variety of the finished pieces is quite astounding. I have been wanting to include more stitch in my textile work for some time, but I was at a loss as to how to do so without it appearing contrived. This book provides plenty of ideas as to how to include stitch as an integral part of the design. Most of the design inspiration comes from observations of the environment be it rural or urban. The finished pieces are almost all abstract pieces composed from details of the original source. A strong recommendation for anyone interested in using line/stitch better in their textile art.
The second book is Experimental Textiles by Kim Thittichai. What attracted my attention to this book was that the book was named after a 30-week course the author wrote and taught for seven years.
Experimental Textiles was originally written as a one-year course but my students just would not leave and so eventually it developed into a four year course
I presumed that I was getting a condensed version of the course. Condensed is the operative word here. I was disappointed with the book on the first reading. The suggested exercises are rather sketchily explained and often one is directed to another source (book) to gain more detailed knowledge. In second longer part of the book (70 pages rather than 36) there are quite a large number of pieces of textile work by various artists and past students. These are roughly gathered together under themes: choosing your subject, interpretation, 3D, and scale. Each piece is illustrated with mostly only one image, sometimes with a detail. I felt that the descriptions were lacking in depth – it read more like an exhibition catalogue than a book that was really going to give any hands on information on techniques or processes.
I’ve since reread the book a second time and have found some ideas to try that has tempered my disappointment somewhat. But it is not a book I would strongly recommend to anyone. I’m not sure how long it will remain on my bookshelves.
Sqeze is currently taking an online course on digital photography. He ordered the book The Photographer’s Eye by Michael Freeman at the same time as I ordered Experimental Textiles. He got the better deal.
This book is about composition and design for better digital photos, but there is a wealth of information in it that is equally pertinent to any other graphic art form. As examples Chapter 2 is titled Design Basics and covers such topics as contrast, balance, rhythm, figure and ground. Chapter 3 covers graphic and photographic elements including points, lines, curves, triangles. Each of the topics is illustrated with photographs showing good and the best examples. Often there are a range of images taken of the same subject and the author explains the final choice. Obviously not all the information in the book is relevant to textile art, but I personally enjoy reading about these topics in the context of another medium. It is good to see composition and principles of design from another perspective.
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in a beautifully illustrated and clearly written text on composition and design.
Finally a book which has nothing to do with art per se. It is actually a business book. I’m talking about Rework by Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson.
I really read it with my day time hat on – that of Test Manager and software tester, but I found some interesting ideas that can be applied to any business. Anyone toying with the idea of taking a hobby a step further and maybe earning some money with their textile art will find topics of interest in this book. The book is organised around various chapter headings that gather short texts together. These texts read like blog entries, I’m guessing they originally were. Under the heading Go there are topics such as “Start making something”, “You need less than you think”.
This is a book you can dip into and find something of interest to read if you only have a few minutes. It is refreshingly down to earth and avoids any kind of hype.
This book isn’t based on academic theories. It’s based on our experience. Along the way, we’ve seen two recessions, one burst bubble, business-model shifts, and doom-and-gloom predictions come and go – and we’ve remained profitable through it all.
What worked for them could work for you too.
Ruth | Category: 
