20/09/2022
Method:
Some of you may be wondering how I make such complex sewn work, so here is a very brief description. You will have to forgive me if I leave out the finer points even though the majority of them are important. If you want to know more, just ask.
For my sewn work I use only single coloured 100% cotton. When I need metallic textiles like gold I use polyester. The basic principle is simple and can be carried out by anyone with scissors and patience. If I want to sew a big yellow dot, with a red ring around it on a black background. First take a piece of yellow cotton of the size of the final result. On top of that glue a piece of red cotton of the same size, with a hole of the size of the yellow dot cut in it. Once again, on top of that glue a piece of black cotton with a bigger hole cut in it. The motif is now ready. Then sew around the red ring, after that the black edge. Each hole must be sewn around to avoid the cotton becoming flossy. The eye is cheated. What appears to be the background is actually the foreground.
From then on things get very complicated. For example in "Nike On Quadriga", the largest sewn work I have made to date, there are more than 27,000 holes and none of them are round. They are all irregular shapes of different sizes. There are 4 colours. And each hole has to be sewn meticulously. All of the spots on the horses for example, are sewn all the way round.
In my case I use a laser cutter to cut the material. Consider this the worlds most expensive cutting knife. Using and maintaining a laser requires an engineering background and programming capability, so why use it ? I use it because it is the only cutting knife in existence which does not touch the material during cutting, never becomes blunt, and of course because I do have an engineering background. Because of this it is possible to cut knife sharp patterns with a distance between holes of only 3 threads in the weave. This I never do in practice because there needs to be enough room for a sewing needle and space on either side for the pressure foot on the sewing machine. This means that the minimum "track" width (distance between holes) is 2.5mm. If I go above 5mm then double sewing is needed, that is around each hole seperately. I NEVER use zig-zag sewing or other possibilities on the machine, and stitch length is most often 2mm - 2.4mm with the larger of the two being only used along the side reinficements and rod channels.
I divide my work into two specific areas, art and crafts. If the craftsmanship is unable to honour the demands of the art then it must be improved, either by adding a tool or by creating a new method or both. After a while the two form a symbiosis, where the abilities of the tools affect the art too. So one must be very specific in the art stage, and determine whether the art would suffer by using a tool designed for something else or whether it is acceptable. Now when I say "tool" I don't just mean a needle or a hammer or a laser. Sometimes it is neccessary to make a tool in wood or plexiglass to enable a piece of work to be carried out properly. I made many templates in plexiglass for Henny to help her make her patchwork, and I make them for myself whenever needed. Some tools can be kept and others thrown away when their purpose is fulfilled. In my case, such a "tool" is a set of drawings which can be used as a basis for work, as in the case of the sewing chest "Oakwood".
On the art side. I do all of my drawings on the computer with Ashlar-Vellums' ARGON. This is a very expensive piece of software that I used to design ships. These days I only use about 1% of its capability, though I have used a little more when I built som of my designs for remote controlled boats and hovercraft. Drawings can be divided into two types, cutting and engraving. In my sewn textile work I only use cutting. Engraving is used on my work with wood, plexiglass and ocasionally glass. Drawings made for cutting are exported in a DXF format. This is a language designed for the exchange of data between machines. Drawings for engraving or printing are exported in PDF format. These PDF drawings cannot be read by a normal reader like Adobe. But my graphics package, Corels' Paintshop Pro, can read them. I use those to colour areas either black or white if I am to be engraving, or in full colour if I am making a textile which is to be printed. These drawings are full size and can result in very large files of more than 100 Mb in the case of "Ormen Lange". If the drawing is to be engraved, white will tell the laser to turn off while it is moving and black will tell it to turn on. In all cases the finished file is stored in JPG format.
Now we come to the common ground between art and crafsmanship. If the JPG file is to be printed it can be sent as is to the printer as it has the required final textile size. If it is to be used for engraving, it is used together with the DXF cutting file by the laser control software.
The laser control software allows us to choose between cutting a DXF drawing or engraving a JPG drawing, and to choose the parameters for each. At full power the laser cuts with 2000°C. Actually in reality it does not cut, it evaporates the material as it passes across it. A lot of experimentation with speed and power as against material type and operation (cut/engrave) is needed to gain experience enough to decide when to use what. When making a piece which is to be both engraved and cut, as for example in the outside plating of "Oakwood", I normally choose to engrave first then cut afterwards. I do have reasons for this but won't go into it here unless you ask. When cutting or engraving wood a lot of soot is generated, so the parts need to be washed and dried diligently afterwards.
If the work is a sewn textile work, all of the parts need to be cut, placed on top of one another with vliesofix and finally sewn together. This procedure is very complex and time consuming. If it is a printed textile work, then all of the edges need to be folded and sewn with double seams, and finally the rod channels at top and bottom for hanging are folded over and sewn.
