Chelsea Swan

TESTING ADDING FOILS TO WOODEN LETTERS WITH THE HOPE THAT I CAN USE THEM ON MY LAMPSHADES.

So even though these are just testers I have to keep on theme. I just had to see if the machine embroidery could be used to do work more in keeping with my drawing style as the act of embroidering and drawing are interchangeable in my practice. Overall verdict- it is getting better and I am starting to see it as something I can do a lot more with on a larger scale even though I don’t currently have any plans. I like how delicate it makes the images, fragile and shaky, which reflects the feeling behind the images and also juxtaposes and off sets the block reas of colour and the block letters, solid things and less solid things. I did use scrap fabric that was already inked but I think its a bit distracting from the images and the themes but at the same time does reflect the busyness of the thoughts, ideas, thought process that go into my work. Having said this I thing maybe areas of busy/ complicated thoughts and ideas expressed with colourful inks might work well if I leave other areas blank to let the drawings speak for themselves. I did the lettering with wooden letters I found a bunch of – like a lifetime supply- and layered up glue to use nail foil an d the put resin on top. Very shiny and satisfying in an almost sensory and fetishistic way that is lovely to touch. I love the shine on them but it did dull the iridescence to add the resin. Doing the letters and the wooden flowers was a little tedious and was a real learning process. I am definitely leaning towards the metallic threads for the machine embroiders as, firstly sparkles cover the pain as always, and secondly it just snaps less.