Art experiment journal entry

[musekicker]

(( technically this is the 4th of my art experiment journals. But the first one I'm posting up here in attempts to once again, use dreamwidth more. We'll see how that goes.))

So one of the presents I got this was the apoxie sculpt that I asked for. (( honestly my christmas list was a lot of art related things. I'm really hoping to grow my art and experiment more in the coming year.) . I am excited to experiment with it honestly and have a thought for a possible small piece to work on as a experiment.

The idea involves a smaller size canvas as this is more so a experiment. Best to start small. I will make a number of small house shapes out of cardboard (( maybe some cheap aluminum foil or newspaper wadded up as a sort of support for the cardboard too? Depends.)) Glue those down to the canvas and cover them with apoxie sculpt and add details to them ones by one. Then painting them after that.

I also like the idea of using crumbled up and piled on foil or newspaper to also cover (maybe with paper clay?) to be cliff sides/ledges look.

Related to that thought, something like that idea but instead of house shapes glue on open boxes cover with paper clay maybe. Ohh, and maybe make little figures for inside the boxes. That be interesting.

In a area of medium I don't work in much, I found out about nalbinding and I think this is possibly be my in to the fiber arts of sorts. I don't have a good track record with learning fiber arts well. I could learn it I think if I tried harder at it but it's a hard learning curve for me. Sewing mainly I want to get better at. Crochet I have a small bit of more experience with and am still trying to learn.

From what I seen in youtube videos nalbinding is in the crochet/weaving family? Fun fact, learned about nalbinding today from a fan fic I read. So will be experimenting with that too.

Less on the experiment side, the thought of cutting out a ballerina silhouette/shape out of gold colored paper. And making the outfit black, with a tutu formed out of small paper scraps that are glued down one by one.

As always, open to comments, questions, or just chatting about art.

Comments

[galadhir]

Naalbinding is a little like crochet, but also a little like sewing, in that you are creating the loops of the fabric by stitching them into each other with a wide blunt needle. In my time in Anglo-Saxon reenactment I made several pairs of socks and a hat with naalbinding, and at that stage I also had zero experience with any other kind of crochet/knitting, so it certainly is accessible. OTOH I still haven't figured out crochet so it didn't help me there at all!

[musekicker]

It does sound like I might have a easier time with this technique. Granted what I'm going for making is a sort of abstract soft sculpture of sorts? I've seen some folks making tapestries of sorts and in this way. Not that I don't think I'll ever make socks or hats because that would be really cool to be able to make too. I think starting with the art piece idea will help me get use to the technique and I'll have more freedom with it because abstract.

[galadhir]

Oh yes, that sounds a lot of fun and also very achievable. It's a nicely controllable way of working with wool - it doesn't unravel the way knitting does, or threaten to slide off the sticks, so it's great if you want to pick it up and put it down freely. If you're buying a naalbinding needle for it, make sure to get the smoothest one you can find :) (You can sometimes find them with carving on them, which looks lovely but will be a pain to use.) Also the needle should not be too sharp - you want it to nudge aside the thread, not to run the risk of piercing it.

(Both mistakes I made myself in choosing a needle, which I wished someone had told me about before I started ;) )

[musekicker]

Oh thank you for that advice. It'll be very helpful in my search for the right needle. I did have the idea that the regular sewing needles I have would not be helpful in this project, given the youtube tutorial videos I did watch so far.

Do you have a suggestion of best resources to find these kind of needles?

[galadhir]

There seem to be a lot of good ones on UK Etsy, so I'm sure there will be some on US Etsy too. You're looking for something like this. Lovely and smooth, with the long eye for easy threading and a point that is a happy medium between too pointy and not pointy enough.

[musekicker]

Thank you again for the advice. Took a look for more closer to my etsy shops and I already put in a order for a needle that looks good. Soon enough I'll be able to do some nalbinding experiments.

[galadhir]

Good luck with it!