This weekend, I started working on my motif ideas, which is probably the hardest part of this for me. I liked my 1/2-page rotational design from the exercise, so that seemed a good place to start. Here's the photo ...
I was also interested in exploring the basic block form of a quilt I'm getting ready to sew (see below, but think muted blues, greens and tans for something much calmer to put on our bed).
I tried a couple of other things (including the letter E inspired by Sarah's I), but kept getting drawn back to this, so I guess this is where I'm going to explore my designs.
I'm not much of a sketcher, so to explore some ideas, I cut a 5" black square and made 3 white bars to mimic the basic block of the quilt I'm working on. Then I started playing with them. Here are some images of the stuff I was playing with ...
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| Basic bock of future quilt |
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| Working towards a radial design, liked the negative space of the bars |
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| Working towards a radial design, divided into 8 parts |
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| A second try - more visual motion in this one, nonoverlapping bars seem like a better design |
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| Starting on asymmetry, but this seemed too circular |
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| Asymmetry again, liked this one better |
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| Another option for asymmetry, but not sure where this would go |
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| Seemed like too much negative space |
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| This might create some nice negative patterns in a block design |
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| Decided to play with 3rd bar, but this creates too much weight on 3 bars |
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| Liked this better, but still like the 2nd photo best |
At this point, I'm letting it rest a bit. I will use fabric with iron on adhesive, but haven't thought much about color. I am contemplating black and white fabrics because there are some fabrics with really color b&w patterns, and I've never played with them before.
Anyway, maybe seeing this is helpful to you, and maybe it isn't. What I've learned is that making a sketch book or journal or blog might help me do a better job of naming why I like or dislike a particular option.
Feel free to comment, and hope you are all getting a few minutes of your own to start doodling with your motif.
Sarah N
Thanks Sarah, This is helpful. I was taking off from Sarah Ryan's letter motif. I was trying to spell the twin's name, by doing symmetry with each letter on each block. It was fun but now I do not know how to translate that into fabric or paper. My next attempt will be rubber stamps...., maybe stencils.
ReplyDeleteAlso, thinking about putting together some natural items in some kind of format??? Still rumminating.
Hey, Cynthia! Thank you for commenting - the very first! I found the translation of the idea to a medium/composition to be a challenge too. This morning, I pulled some fabrics out while I was drinking my (toxic, but good!) coffee. I think that actually handling the materials (fabric, paint, paper, stamps) helps because I start reacting to what I see and am able to progress in my ideas. Happy noodling!
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