Exquisite Corpse Textiles

Exquisite Corpse is dead, long live the EC

2009-11-19T15:09:00.003-07:00

Waving good-bye!

Due to many factors, the EC has given up the ghost and there will be no further rounds. Thanks to all who participated and made these three rounds a learning curve of enjoyment and experience.
I am proud of all the work done by so many players around the world and wish you all success and joy in your art and hearts.

MA's Corpse is home!

2009-08-18T14:28:00.008-06:00

Here it is, and I love it!! Thank you SO much Robin, Kaite, Miles and especially Arlee.
The head, of course was mine. She was a take-off on Medusa with all her snakes.
Next came the shoulders, by Robin. She has a lovely bead necklace and a pretty brooch at her cleavage, and nicely padded boobies. Thank you Robin!
Next was what Kaite did. Unfortunately my camera doesn't show the true sparkle. It's all metallics and glitters so beautifully. She even added a belly 'button'! Thank you Kaite.
Miles did a very lovely skirt (complete with a bow) and nice knobby knees (wonder if he'd been looking at mine?!). I love the beads...they look like they're handmade. Thank you Miles.
The last part is by Arlee. I know it's hard to tell in the picture, but the coins and beads are dangling from the piece and make the most delightful sound. Thank you to Arlee too!!

The poem reads: 'A very shameless....lips....raised her.....(blank...Miles didn't add any words)...ending with me.

Thank you so much Group 1...I love it all!

arlee's 3EC

2009-08-15T09:16:00.007-06:00

MaryAnne's manly chest:

Robin's lower torso:

Torso open:

Kaite's hips and thighs:

Miles' "feet" of a sort:

and open:

I've added punctuation so the poetry reads "The exquisite starlet, absorbed, ate colossal soul, dancing."

arlee's square for Kaite

2009-08-12T18:14:00.005-06:00

Written May 5th.

Kaite's EC was a difficult one. Her woven background was wonderful, but tricky to work on, and Miles left no clues really as to where i should join the part i was responsible for, the lower torso and arms. I decided to just pretend there were arms there and crossed some bony hands over a bulging belly in a too small tshirt, then extend into skinny skinny hips :}

I tried to co-ordinate the tshirt with the visible part of Mile's square, and added a belly ring as well. It may not make sense anatomically that she has flesh on her belly and everything else is bones, but that's just part of the fun for an Exquisite Corpse :}

I had been doing a lot of handwork at the time i worked on this square--had almost forgotten how fast a machine can be and what special effects could be used :}

Since we are essentially creating an Exquisite Corpse poem as we go along, my section reads "gleaming ghostly, her"

Kaite's Exquisite Corpse

2009-08-04T00:10:00.004-06:00

Kaite's (my) Exquisite Corpse has sprung home after travelling the world since January this year. Many thanks go to (in order of work) - Miles for the torso, Arlee for the lower abdomen, Mary Anne for the thighs and Robin for the lower legs and of course the head was mine.

I started with a grasshopper head, with blue and silver eyes and orange jaws, as it was mid Summer here and we had a lot of 'hoppers jumping around the garden and at times indoors as well.

Miles gave me a wonderful male torso, perfectly constructed and even with a touch of hair, then he added a beautifully tailored shirt. Thanks Miles, great work, you "lusty carnivore"!

Arlee added a tummy then a pair of "gleaming ghostly" hands which partly cover pink undies and the top of a shimmering pelvic girdle. Such a lot of exquisite work Arlee, thankyou.

Unbelievably, Mary Anne must have read my mind as she added a pair of "mysterious" hairy green grasshopper thighs which are made of shimmering soft plastic and added beads for knees, naturally.

Robin has finished it off with the best pair of platform boots i have ever seen, set in a field of flowers on which the invisible "cow" is probably munching, and she has brought the colour back to blue again. Brilliant Robin, thankyou.

I probably made life difficult for everyone by constructing my background cloth from woven 1 inch lengths of rami linen, which could move about a little, at the wrong times. Just alittle challenge to overcome or try to live with. I also chose to indicate the 7 inch boundaries with short sections of a flexible dressmakers ruler. I've never been known to stick exactly to the 'Rules' as such.

Thankyou everyone who participated in this Exquisite Corpse round robin and thankyou to Arlee for coordinating it. It has been an exciting journey, i am thrilled with my final work and have learnt such a lot from joining in. I have also made some new, good friends from the experience.

The 'poem' says: "the single footed lusty carnivore gleaming ghostly her mysterious cow". .....hmmm....thought provoking!

Kaite

A Tail Artist's Heart Became Bounteous Night

2009-07-31T15:34:00.004-06:00

I was so thrilled to receive my completed exquisite corpse home this last week! Here she is in all her glory.

She began with just a head of course, and four empty squares outlined in black thread. The background fabric I chose to use was a white-on-white print that I'd dyed years ago and never used for anything. I thought it had a lot of movement and interest for a background, and I liked the colors.

This is the face that I created, a self-portrait of sorts (me and my big mouth, and ever present pony tail). Words are: A TAIL
This is the neck/chest that Jan made. How do you like those lacy wings, the breast is dimensional by the way. I really love that the heart is right at the throat chakra, one of my key points that I'm working on (ie expressing myself verbally and clearly). The words are: ARTISTS HEART

This is the torso/waist that Betty made. I love the sequined belt, so pretty and flashy, and if my waist were this small in real life, I would totally be wearing one to call attention to it! The word is: BECAME

This is the hips/upper legs that Joanie made. How about that apron, and jeans, (under the apron, is just jeans by the way), I love how this represents a big part of me being the housewifey type and all. The word is BOUNTEOUS

And finally the lower legs/feet that Linda made, dancing away the time of the night. Isn't that beaded watch and parts a cool addition? The word is: NIGHT

Here is the whole thing (click picture to see it larger). The poem reads:

A Tail Artist's Heart Became Bounteous Night.

I'm considering switching out the "i" in tail for an "l", because then it would wind up being a very descriptive self portrait!

I'm thinking this would be fun to hang on the outside of my studio door so visitors will know who they're going to encounter...

This was a really fun round of this project, I'm glad that I talked myself into participating and can't wait to see the other three completed corpses from my group as well as all the others, which will all be posted in some form or another here at Exquisite Corpse Textiles
or at our Flickr Group.

Nancy's Exquisite Corpse - third round

2009-07-23T08:06:00.010-06:00

Here's Nancy's third round EC:

She's been dubbed MoonChildFortuna. A fortune telling, belly dancing, all-seeing gypsy/witch/goddess. Each artist wrote a note to go along with her section. I've included those with each photo.

Her poem says, "Bright goddess, dance the fringed night."

by Nancy S.M. Waldman - Cape Breton, NS, Canada
I used old watch faces for the eyes.

by Donna Funnell - Milton, ON, Canada

As the deadline draws near I have to put the finishing touches on block #2. I must confess I felt around on the head for its placement but I did not peak. I was inspired by a book I bought on Goddesses. In all the illustrations, the goddesses wore intricate neckplates and bare bosoms! I decided to make the neckplate on my embellisher. It consists of blue felt, a blue printed silk scarf (from S.Army store) and yarn from the dollar store. I added bits and pieces of scrap yarn. The diamond shapes are cut from some Christmas ribbon and all the beads are from my collection. I am very much into recycling and using what I have.

by Debby Albrecht - Litchfield, MN, USA

I enjoyed working on this piece for you. Making clothes without a pattern was a challenge since I've never done that before. The clues left for me were a bare tummy and a bit of blue top with burgandy/magenta stitching. So first image in my head was belly dancer. With that thought, I went looking for possible fabrics. The skirt is short but has about 1 1/4" hem if you want to let it down. I hope my work blends well with the previous.

by Emmy Schoonbeek - Drachten, The Netherlands

It was so much fun working on this piece. I could only think of "dansen" ("dancing")

by Kate North - Surrey, UK

When I started thinking about legs, what popped into my mind over and over were the legs of the wicked witch of the East lying under the house in the Wizard of Oz. So... I hope you don't mind my wicked witch legs - with Ruby Slippers of course! In terms of technique, I wanted the shoes to sparkle but didn't want to use tons of beads or sequins, so have combined a sparkly fabric with punchinella (sequin waste) and sheer fabric. The background is heavily quilted to give the legs some body.

Thank you all for another wonderful collaborative experience! You are all beautiful artists as well as charming, long-distance, creative-companions. One might say "Goddesses". And a big HUGE thank you goes out to arlee who has been our High Priestess and Chief Bottle Washer for all these months. Great idea and great job, arlee!

Machine Quilting Unlimited article

2009-07-09T10:21:00.003-06:00

My third round EC has arrived back home!

2009-06-29T21:47:00.008-06:00

I have to confess I was not expecting this round to be much to speak about. I thought that the proportion issue might just make it fairly peculiar. With my apologies to our fearless leader, Arlee, was I ever wrong!

My piece arrived today and it is spectacular. The work that went into it is so good and extremely well done.

My choice for the head was three fish heads done in tyvek, stitching and paint....from there I didn't care what anyone did.

Below my head is Anne Marie's spectacular neck. She carried the ball from what she could see so well that it looks like a continuation of my fish heads.

After that it went to Lee. Lee, you must have spent an inordinate amount of time on the arms and torso. My husband can tell you I was struck with wonder at the beauty of what you've done. You can't see the beauty of the stitching done on the arms and torso. I may try to take another photo tomorrow and see if I can get that to show up better.

It then went on to Trish whose simplicity of hips and upper legs fits perfectly with the ornateness of Lee's torso. Very nice

On to Margarita whose jester legs and pointed shoes are wonderful and echo back to my fish heads.

I have to say I'm actually very happy with this piece and think I'll hang it in the family room.

EC's published!!!!

2009-06-27T12:07:00.002-06:00

Issue available at the website. There are 4 in the article!

moving along!

2009-02-20T08:20:00.003-07:00

The third round of the EC is happening fast--players for the most part have already beat the first mailing deadline of Feb 26. (NOT that it's a prerequisite to beat, just to meet :} )
The discussion has been lively and we have a truly articulate and expressive bunch this time, with ideas and jokes flying back and forth.
Looking forward to seeing all of the finished pieces, as it really sounds that all involved are pushing their comfort zones and imaginations.

Exotic Garden

2009-01-14T09:44:00.013-07:00

I'm extremely happy to show the results of my EC, Exotic Garden!

The artists who worked on this obviously embraced the *exquisite* part of Exquisite Corpse. Their workwomanship is outstanding and I thank them all for their artistry.

Most people did this as a grid but I am not a fan of straight lines, so I did free-form divisions. (I now know that the lines should be basted by hand as the machine stitching leaves indelible holes! I did mine on a deep green fabric and asked that some of the background show through. We were only allowed to give minimal hints with colour preferences. I asked for saturated, vivid colours plus metallic bronze and gold with no white. We could send along tiny bits of fabric (no more than 2X2 inches) or thread that the others could incorporate if they were so moved. In mine, you'll see a teal coloured fabric on several of the areas.

I've blanked out the surrounding work so that you can easily see who did what part of the overall design.

My section (center):

Anne Marie Desaulniers section (lower middle):

Anne Marie did ‘thread painting’ along with gorgeous machine quilting and lots of details

Betty Donahue's section (right bottom):

Betty added appliqued flowers and her own machine-embroidered butterfly

Carol Taylor's section (top right):

Carol did a complex layering of tissue paper, gesso, paint, embroidery and applique. The leaves are fabric and the stems were embroidered and then painted.

Paula Phillips's section (top left):

Paula included dramatic metallic flowers and detailed beading (including a dragonfly!). [Paula ~ Get well soon!!!]

Nellie Durand's section (lower left):

Nellie’s techinque is called Ortwork. Bits and pieces are layered under netting and then machine quilted.

Center Detail:

As you can see, the workwomanship here is outstanding. Each is different stylistically but the whole really works. I have a few minor things I want to do but the amazing thing is that they are minor. As a whole, this piece has such impact and is so fun and rich! Thank you all, including arlee who makes it all possible!

~ Nancy

3rd EC files

2009-01-11T19:08:00.004-07:00

To all of those who are playing in this round, the file for group line ups has been uploaded to the Yahoo group. The Guidelines file will also be updated and added in the next 2 or 3 days. You will also receive these in an email to your private email address. PLEASE save to YOUR files, and print a hard copy to refer to. Make sure your info in the addresses section is correct.

If you have any questions, please email me privately.

Grand Vizieress, arlee

3rd round signup closed

2009-01-06T16:55:00.006-07:00

We now have 20 players, for 4 groups of 5 players each. Sorry, no more sign-ups!!!

Susan's 2nd Round Piece

2009-01-06T11:29:00.017-07:00

I'm so very pleased with my piece. It isn't strictly an Exquisite Corpse though. I drew a pentagon and surrounded it with five more pentagons. One side of each pentagon touches the middle one but they do not touch each other. I think Arlee would tell us this is a no-no. I probably should have made the outside edges larger so they would touch. But I'm very happy with it and may decide to fill in the holes with something that would bring it all together....or maybe not.

I began my work with a kokopelli playing a flute to the midnight sky. I had some wonderful paper that worked very well for a rock for him to sit upon and some great blue fabric that looked right to me. I did a tiny bit of stitching on the left side of the rock to indicate a plant. Then I put some feathers in a headband, made a flute out of some stiff interfacing and made a moon from Angelina and stitching. For my corpsemates instead of putting a design of my own making in the five pentagons, I put words so the were able to interpret as they wished. I think this was inspired on my part because my drawing skills leave much to be desired and I didn't want to copy a pattern from elsewhere.

So to the top right, we have Reta's interpretation of maize. I love how she made a cornstock with ears in it and roots at the bottom and tassels at the top and then reinterpreted it as a large ear using what looks like pieces of cut plastic sewn to a backing so they stand out with organza maybe? for the leaves. The picture does not do it justice.

Next is Julie's interpretation of sunshine (I think it said sunshine but shame on me I didn't write it down) This is gorgeous. It is pieced cotton and velvety fabric with freeform stitching and a butterfly and beading at the bottom.

The next one is Donna's interpretation of rock art. It is just wonderful. It looks like a fabric with a background of brown and a pattern on it that looks as though it already had some rock arty things like a spiral on it. Then with what looks like tyvek there is a figure and some little tiny figures she drew on it and the whole thing is overlain with some fibers and all is coated with modge podge or ?.

Next we have our illustrious corpse mistress's work which is so beautiful I have no words. Arlee really did a wonderful job on this one. I think the word here was desert but it may have been cactus. In any case on the right is an element done using reed grass, beads, and raveled fabric (I love this). On the left is a cactus made of painted bubbly stuff, beads, netting and ?...I'm going to have to let her explain the materials. The whole thing is sewn on top of a handpainted polygon with stitching to emphasize the divisions of color. It is so lovely.

Finally there is the gorgeous squash blossom interpretation which was done by Elizabeth. So much work went into this and it is obvious. There is a background stitched with ribbon and embroidery thread. This is overlain with a felted stem, leaves sewn from cotton on felt and then the gorgeous squash blossoms and finished off with three perfect yellow beads.

This piece is worthy of hanging in my living room it is so nice. It is obvious that all involved took care to do excellent work. I am a happy camper. I've put more pictures up on my www.flickr.com/gourdgal site. There are closeups of each polygon. Thank you all.

Exquisite Corpse Self Portrait

2009-01-02T19:49:00.004-07:00

Did you know you can create an Exquisite Corpse of sorts by yourself? This piece was started before i finished the first round of the ECRR. I've so far used pieces from 5 different projects: a good way to use up UFO's, "off-cuts" and "Components":} The left arm is made from a jacket made 7 years ago, the right an offcut from an arch page, the body a scrap of painted and melted batting with a reverse appliqued hand painted and free motion stitched heart, and the head a sample i created. I have to add more hair---if the eyes are not placed half way on the head, it implies a small brain pan :}

Try It! Would love to see other "self portraits" or pictures done this way!

3rd round update and news

2009-01-02T18:33:00.006-07:00

So far we have 9 new members! This means confirmed players number 17, so unless we have one more person sign up--you have until Jan 15---i will be dividing into TWO groups this time, with myself being in both.

I received an email today that Susan has received the pieces for Cyber Fyber--that means "Shifting Gears", my 2nd round Exquisite Corpse, completed by myself, Susan Sawatzky, Donna Royer, Elizabeth o'Donnell, Reta Brunner and Julie Zaccone Stiller is there and being "hung" this weekend in preparation for the show opening on the 9th. I was freaking about my late mailing date and the cost (45 bucks!) but it did get there and that's what matters!

Deirdre's Exquisite Corpse

2008-12-28T19:50:00.002-07:00

My piece was returned to me, just before Christmas. I am thrilled with the way it came out. This was my drawing before I put it on the fabric.

We then picked a section to work on when we were done we covered the front and back of the section we worked on then mailed it to the next person on the list.

I had some help from my resident quilt inspector

Then I covered up my section

I sent my piece off and waited for it to come back. In the meanwhile I worked on the 5 other women’s pieces as they were passed around. I had a blast working on them.

I got my Exquisite Corpse back right before Christmas. Linda was the last woman who worked on my EC. She asked if she should cover up her section. I told her no, so when I opened the package this is what I saw!

All the other spaces were covered up. Uncovering them was harder than I realized it would be. I was afraid to cut an important thread, so the process took some time. I didn’t know what order they were covered, so I worked my way around the outside.

Here is the 2nd square that I uncovered and a detail. I’m not sure who did this section, but I’ll add the names as I get them.

Corryna’s 3rd section uncovered and detail

Gail’s Section - uncovered and detail (Isn’t the face wonderful!) Gail was the first person to work on it. She also told me she make the bluebirds!

The next section uncovered. I need to get a close of up this section.

And finally I uncovered my section. I LOVE THIS - everything worked beautifully!

A Special thanks to all the talented women who worked on my Exquisite Corpse -

Thanks, Gail, Leslie, Corryna, MaryAnne and Linda!!!

And a special thanks to Arlee - The hard working organizer of this swap!

eirdre

Nellie's Corpse - Round 2

2008-12-28T13:04:00.002-07:00

My Exquisite Corpse completed its rounds quite awhile before the deadline of December 20th. When it arrived I hadn't even opened Carol's. My work space was piled high with elfish duties of making and wrapping presents. I cleared a space, filled in the last section on Carol's corpse, packed hers up, and then excitedly tore into my package to reveal this piece of fabulousness.
Each talented corpse mistress in my group completed a section without having a clue to what was previously done. So those resulting alternate patterns of warm and cool hues amaze me.

The way this interesting round robin project of international scope worked is that a basic design was created by each of the six participants in three groups. I was in group two.I transferred my drawn design to a background cloth and divided it into six sections and worked the first one. It is hand appliqued using a freezer paper method. Meaning each piece was transferred to and then cut out of the FP with an added narrow seam allowance which was then turned under before each paper covered shape was blind stitched into place on my chosen background fabric. I completely covered every bit of my worked section and sent it out into the world.
Included was a note to use full-strength colors ... meaning no pastels, nor muted tones. I also stated my preference that the piece be quilted after it returns to me. I requested that each name be written on the fabric covering a worked section (those have since been pieced together as the backing).

Carol in Wales was the first to get it. I'm sure she figured out that her chosen section was the other half of a face. The pink area is hand-dyed cheese cloth while the blue is machine felting. And then there is painted tyvec and newsprint as well as beads.
It was then sent onto Nancy in Canada who filled the bottom right section with wild colors and pieced it together with lots of texture.
Betty in Alabama was the last one to work on it and hand appliqued silks and crystalline fabric in the bottom left section. Her points could not be any sharper and the scattered beads sparkle on that rich, deep, shining blue.

In the meantime, Anne Marie of Canada was the third corpse mistress to add her talent to the upper right section. She suspected my design was a variation of a NY Beauty. She was a little surprised by that after checking out my blog and not seeing much traditional work. So she decided that my "traditional" block wasn't going to be very traditional, if she had anything to say about it. She even included orange snake skin pleather on the point pieces.
Paula in Maine painted the upper left section and then filled in the shapes with beads ... and then more beads to create radiating patterns.

I am most pleased with my piece and thank all those who contributed their talent and creativity to it. I brought it on my holiday travels to work on. I've blind stitched the seams between the sections closed, layered it with batting and a backing pieced from the signed cover cloths, and am quilting it with seed stitches. There will be another post about this one when it's finished.

Susan on Arlee's piece

2008-12-27T10:54:00.006-07:00

I was the first one to work on Arlee's piece so had a good choice as to which area to work. The first picture is of the whole area finished. Arlee had painted some and I followed her color choices and painted a bit also. I did a block print of the large gear shape then cut out some copper, punched it with eyelets, put some purple/blue wallpaper into the cut out holes and stitched it into place. I used some purple eyelash yarn to fill the 'squiggles' and then wound some wire around a bamboo skewer to create spring like thingies. I filled one of the other gear areas with some copper paint and the attached 2 or 3 tiny skulls to the piece. I also free stitched another gear looking bit with a variagated blue/brown thread.

I seem to be able to do a bit more free form work if someone else gets me going with either a design or a bit of material. From my own brain it doesn't come as easily

Reta's square 2nd EC

2008-12-26T11:51:00.004-07:00

EDIT: originally written on Oct 18/08

First of all, as Grand Vizieress, i should be pilloried! For the first time, i haven't met a deadline with this project. Finished today, it will be mailed on Monday Oct 20th, 2 days after the deadline...i am so ashamed!

Reta's design was very basic, on a pretty background but with no clues really about where she wanted it to head---which is okay, as that's the very nature of the game! I chose the square at the bottom right.

I was unsure where to start! Reta had said we could use any colours, but i decided i would go with the general colouring as it was---soft, romantic and a bit old looking. I thought of ilustrations from a child's book that perhaps had been coloured by hand. First i used metallic markers on the legs, then i started thinking of where this "person" would be standing. I wanted some texture so used this stitch, layering it and using 6 strands each of 4 different greens:

(The foiling and beading by the way were added as the last step.) I redid the legs with a bit of metallic paint as they were too faded, and quilted around them, padding just the leg and foot area to add some dimensional relief.

I had to pierce larger holes in this metal leaf so that the needle would pass through with all that thread and not break. It was a snarly mess at some points and i said a few bad words! I'm filing this technique/idea for later use in other projects as well:}

The whole square was then beaded and gently sprayed randomly with an adhesive, the blue, green and copper foil pressed on---i deliberately did it over the whole shebang, beads, stitching, painting and leaf, as i wanted it to look "aged".

I wanted to do more stitching over top of the foiling, but decided i would probably hate myself for adding and adding..... and adding, as is my wont! I glued an amber rhinestone in the middle of the leaf before i packaged it up to go to the next player, but forgot to get that last picture!

Nellie's section on Carol's Corpse

2008-12-24T01:26:00.001-07:00

I was the last to work on Carol's corpse before sending it on home for her to reveal.
She had included her color preferences of browns and blue-green as well as these inspirational materials.
Somehow in the rush to meet the December deadline before I left Tennessee for the holidays I missed seeing one of Carol's design lines that continues the flow of the ribbon across my section.
It had gotten covered up as I lay the bits of silk and deconstructed metalic threads and yarn as well as roving over the background of the square. The shapes were traced on freezer paper over a light table and cut out of silk fabrics. The whole section is constructed in my "ortwork" technique, which is a form of collage. The pieces are placed and layered and then "trapped" under tulle netting. Machine quilting holds everything in place. I finished by couching metallic cording over the edges of the shapes as well as outlining the diamond shapes at the top of my square.
It amazes me that my parallel rows of stitching on the loopy part mirrors Carol's double needle stitching on the corresponding shape in her section. I think if she were to repeat those double rows of machine stitching (or couching) in the area where the ribbon disappears in my section, it would create a ghost shape.

My finished corpse was waiting, still in its sealed envelope, for me to get Carol's finished and to the post office. It was difficult not to rip into mine until my obligation to the group project was fulfilled. Soon I'll post about my piece.

THIRD round Exquisite Corpse

2008-12-23T18:57:00.002-07:00

THIRD Exquisite Corpse Textiles Project Round Robin
---deadline for sign up is JAN 15-----tell your friends but they MUST be able to commit and keep up. I’d like at least 2 more players but we could have 6 more----

I would like you all to either try some new techniques or build on ones you have developed and enjoyed along the way, especially the Moldie Oldies :}

Remember if you cannot meet deadlines, MAIL ANYWAYS. The owner can always finish when she receives it back.

Starting January 22/09
First deadline Feb 26
Second deadline Apr 2
Third deadline May 7
Fourth deadline June 11
Fifth deadline July 16
Sixth deadline (back to owner) Aug 20

THESE ARE NOT IN ORDER OR IN GROUPS YET:

12 players as of Dec 17/08

Linda/arlee/MaryAnne/Anne Marie/Margas/ /Nancy/Patricia/DonnaF/ Susan/Joan/Debby/Lee

I will divide into groups and sort addresses out when I have decided group line-ups.

Remember too—NO QUESTION IS TOO DUMB TO ASK!!!!!!!!!!

Shifting Gears

2008-12-23T18:30:00.005-07:00

What a fantastic surprise it was to receive my 2nd round completed piece! I was thrilled even before i opened it, as i never received my first round one, lost somewhere in Postal Purgatory.

I had chosen violet, electric blue, black and copper for "my" CorpseMistresses to fill in my "squares", which depicted loose abstractions of gears. I started in the centre with reverse applique and discharged vintage rayon, painting, beading, machine stitch and rusty bits with xpanda paint and bundled threads.

I'd like to thank Susan Sawatzky, Julie Zaccone Stiller, Reta Brunner, Elizabeth O'Donnell and Donna Royer for their work on this piece.(Follow clockwise from the top right for who did which area.) No one got cutesey, no one used wrong colours or made flowers out of things---it's a truly seamless joy to behold! Every one of these talented Decomposers brought such talent and beauty to the piece that i was floored as i revealed each section.

Next stop for "Shifting Gears" is the Cyber Fyber show in South Carolina! As an invited piece, this one symbolizes what i enjoy most about the internet---groups of strangers becoming fellow artists, creating astounding collaborations and yet rarely if ever do we meet in person. Magic and memories!!! I hate to let this work go, in one sense----i pray it arrives safely in Susan's hands, and that it returns to me after the show, but i'm also very proud to send it out in the world again!

Carol T's EQ comes home.

2008-12-22T08:18:00.004-07:00

Well my EQ came home and I can't tell you the eagerness I had to get the covering fabric off! The tresure beneth was worth al the careful unpicking. The design i chose was based loosely on a celtic swirl, but included diamonds and dots too.I included pieces of brown silk, had to be brown I am sure Arlee will be laughing at this! I also incuded some annealed copper mesh.

This first square was completed by Nancy and include's the mesh and silk and beautiful purpley blue fabric with a peacock feather and some rusty coloured velvet. It is just lovely nancy thank you.
The next is by Anne Marie and is so lovely and crunchy textured, looks weathered and corroded and is very me! There are some lovely textures and she used the mesh in the same way I did on my square. It is mainly hand stitched too! Many thanks Anne Marie.

The next square is my own and I used fabric paint, silk and the twin needle. I FME'd the grid of painted foil and annealed copper mesh in place.

The next squarewas completed by Paula and is also hand stitched. It is also painted in a lovely detailed way and beaded and hantha'd beautifully. Thanks paula, I love it.

Nellie completed the next square and is full of lovely FME and the eye shape has the metal mesh in incased in sheer. Love the diamonds at the side to, such strength of colour. Many thanks Nellie.

And finally is the square completed by Betty. I can't wait to find out what Betty did as the technique is fab. It has metallic swirls and beading and a lovely turquoise bottom to the swirl. Thank Betty I can't wait to hear how you did the background.

Here is the whole, it needs a little integrating, mainly around my square it has to be said. Hope you all enjoyed working on it as muc as i am enjoying looking at it.

Elizabeth's Exquisite Corpse

2008-12-19T19:25:00.004-07:00

Julie's Work on Donna's ExqCor

2008-12-19T09:31:00.004-07:00

Donna's Exquisite Corpse from round two has been revealed, see a few posts below for a view of the entire piece. This is a closeup of the square that I worked on. The black stitched circles are done using the circle stitch on my machine.A closeup of the beading that I did. I really liked how the red beads looks on the black and white. I tried to emphasize the curviness of the shapes with my beading.
And this is the original version which I did without noting the color scheme that she'd requested. It wasn't written on the piece, but was on the online list which I'd neglected to check before beginning work. D'oh! Boy did I feel stupid. Luckily the artist I was sending to, Elizabeth, noticed the wrong colors peeking out from my covered up completed square and sent it back to me. I'm so glad too, because I like the black/white/red version that I came up with much, much better and it sure would have ruined the whole piece if one of the squares had been the wrong colors! Thanks again Elizabeth for saving my unobservant patootie.
I got to pick out allllll this machine embroidery stitching. It didn't take nearly as long as I thought it would, but I did muck up the fabric a bit. Hopefully the stabilizer I put on the back will keep the revised square together ok for Donna!

arlee's square for Elizabeth

2008-12-18T19:41:00.003-07:00

Elizabeth's was the first i received to work on in the second round of the Exquisite Corpse Textiles project. The background was a lovely dyed/handpainted/stenciled rust and umber with varying depths of motif. Liiz's colour choice for her design was black. JUST black! At first, i was stumped. How do i delineate areas using only black materials, merge them so they fit the idea and yet make them stand out in areas?????

TEXTURE!!!!

I painted the feet, couched yards and yards of black soutache and eyelash yarn on the body and tail sections, then thought it needed a wee bit more to make it "mine"--even though the owner is Liz:} There were spots where some colour had shown up from her stencilling and painting, so i accented them with a few torn scraps of burgundy velvet and added some shell beads. Yes! I like it :} Liz's theme obviously was Ravens, a common animal totem in several cultures.

Elizabeth's Ravens

2008-12-18T17:34:00.014-07:00

When I received Elizabeth's piece I had four areas to choose from and I chose the bottom middle. The design in that area was pretty sparse with only two sets of feet and a head to work on.
The night before I began work I actually dreamed about a bird nest and when I started working on the piece I decided that a nest of baby ravens would be perfect. The nest was really fun to do. I began with paper stitched and restitched adding threads and bits as I went along.
I read up on raven nests and then searched for days for a picture of baby ravens. I finally found one and printed the babies out on fabric then stitched and feathered them with clipped bits of yarn.

The large raven head was done again using the clipped bit of yarn.
The beak was painted and both sets of feet were of a sparkly felt. The final touch was the red bead to echo the red lines of paint Elizabeth had put on the background fabric. I really loved working on this one.

Susan's work on Julie's

2008-12-17T18:02:00.005-07:00

When Julie's piece arrived in Spokane three spaces were done and covered and three were open. I chose the lower left hand one. I knew that Julie had done the one right next to the one I chose and the colors in her cover appealed to me so I decided to use those for my square.

I wish I'd taken a picture before I covered everything but the green curved piece and the two 'leaves' were supposed to echo the flowers in her green flowered cover. I got to try out some machine stitchery and actually got better at it. It was a good exercise for me besides being a fun piece to work on.

Julie's Round Two Completed

2008-12-17T12:32:00.006-07:00

Here is how my second round piece looks after making the tour through all the participating artists. Didn't it turn out great?

Here's what my overall design looked like, with one piece of fabric added to my square (oops forgot to take the picture first!). I used as my base a piece of cotton moire' that I'd dyed. The design idea came from the faux barkcloth print on one of my atomic pillowz.

So when I received it back, it was all covered up. Part of the fun is un-stitching each of these covers one by one, slowly revealing the entirety of the work!

First, I'll show you the square I worked on. The dark stitched line marks the edges of the six individual squares. And yes, I'll definitely be taking that stitching out.

Next is Arlee Barr's work, she always has such great texture in her work. also, she is the Corspe Mistress aka the organizer of this whole shebang, and she does such a good job keeping us all on schedule and pointed in the same direction. Some of this is painted, some is stitched, and lots of it is sparkly and/or beaded
Next is by Elizabeth O'Donnell, lots of great hand stitching and embroidery on top of couching and applique.
This square is by Donna Royer, it has a great fringe treatment on the edges of the shapes, and if I'm not mistaken she's hand drawn the patterns on the two fabrics of the shapes (ie not the background).
This square is by Reta Brunner, you can't see it too well in this picture but there are clear star sequins scattered across the background, very twinkly and beautiful. She used some interesting fabrics that go together well with the rest of the piece.

Finally a square by Susan Sawatzky, she's used several silk fabrics, couched yarns, and some great beads.

There's been some discussion on which way is up on this piece, which is great, because I think that abstract art is good when you can enjoy it from any position.

3rd round update

2008-12-17T10:31:00.001-07:00

Regarding the 3rd round of the Exquisite Corpse, since i have so far only 10 confirmed players, i'm thinking of either one group or two. If you are interested in playing in this round, please let me know by using the email in the sidebar of my blog.. The deadline for signup will be Jan 10th, so that i can create a mailing list and group sequences, to start at the end of January.

Donna's Unshrouding

2008-12-14T16:17:00.005-07:00

I had no idea that Donna's was "themed" in a sense! She had specified black and white with a touch of red, and here is the resulting LOVE :}

Mine is the middle bottom square. The "story" of mine is on my main site---let's hear from the rest of this Corpse's Decomposers!

Mummy (Corpse) Dolls

2008-12-13T09:13:00.001-07:00

I know you all think me a touch strange (to put it politely), but i LOVE these dolls---very inventive, sad and evocative.......

Gail's completed piece

2008-12-10T17:53:00.002-07:00

From left to right, Corryna, MaryAnne, Gail, Leslie, Deirdre and Linda. This piece looks totally spontaneous and so integrated. The figures really look like "by day/by night" portraits! Well done, Moldie Oldies and Fresh Young Princesses---you are all now qualified Decomposers :}

Exquisite Corpse Textiles Project and Cyber Fybre Press Release

2008-12-02T19:56:00.003-07:00

Exquisite Corpse Textiles Project and Cyber Fybre article

2008-12-02T19:49:00.004-07:00

Article written by Cindi Boiter, published in Undefined, Book 4.

Julie's square 2nd EC by arlee

2008-11-26T15:17:00.006-07:00

This is the first piece I can show but actually it’s the second piece I worked on . (WHERE is Elizabeth’s?) Julie’s theme was Modern Geometric, based on her "Atomic Pillowz" designs, using any colours or methods, and we were welcome to fill in the background as well if we felt it was necessary. I "saw" a Viking boat in one square:

Above is the back, after working. I "flipped" the photo in my PS to show you the shapes. Obviously the front is reversed to the back in orientation, but i forgot to take a shot of it before working--this gives you the basic shape outlines and colours of the background.

I painted the main area in copper, accented a bit with metallic blue, then stalled. During the working of these pieces, i had no working machines, so wondered what to do next! I ended up digging through my "Components Box", finding scraps from a previous Hoodoo project: strata layered torn strips of fabric and yarns invisibly stitched and some cut chunks of painted tea bag paper. Perfect! (Never throw out the beautiful teenies, no matter how small!)

I painted the background with some DynaFlo to make it look more watery, which also left the print on the base fabric to show through. The long strip reminds me of an oar, so i "splashed" the beads as well to add to the feeling.

Though i thought i had worked at the bottom, i guess i hadn't----my Viking boat works just as well as a bird head :}

This round of the EC has moved so fast and smoothly with a wonderfully talented and enthusiastic group of players!

Ginger's completed first round

2008-10-05T17:14:00.003-06:00

I can't give you a lot of info about these squares as i'm not sure which is whose work! As soon as the "authors" let me know, i will edit this post, with explanations and credits.

Finished pieces catch up 2

2008-08-28T09:50:00.003-06:00

Sarah's "Texture"
Nellie's "Pattern"
And since mine is still lost in the mail.......Vero's square for my "Rust Never Sleeps"
And my starting square.

Finished pieces catchup

2008-08-28T09:42:00.005-06:00

Annie's "Seven Deadly Sins"
Betty's "Flowers"
Leslie's "Country Home"
MaryAnne's "Escape"
Patti's "Hands"

Found Upon Close Inspection at the Water's Edge

2008-08-14T14:46:00.012-06:00

I walk along the seashore's edge almost everyday and what I see is different on every walk. Each glance presents an abstract picture filled with varying degrees of interest. The beach changes from very rocky to smooth and sandy, depending on the tide, weather and season. The evidence of life is always present in both beautiful and disturbing ways. There is such a vast variety of objects, shapes, forms and colors and I felt that would give every player a wide open opportunity to express their memories of sights along the seashore. I made sure the title included "upon close inspection", hoping that it would connect to the idea of how interesting nature is when we take time to slow down and examine the details.

My Square

As the tide is receding there are little rivulets of water running out and they leave beautiful patterns on the sand. My beginning sketch started with just patterns in the sand. I transferred the pattern to silk organza with a gray permanent marker. Laid the silk organza down over the hand painted cotton fabric and lightly tacked it down with thread around the edges. My starting point was the area you see in the darker turquoise. Why? Just because it was the most interesting shape and that was exciting. The stitching colors weren't planned ahead, the composition lead me to the colors and paths that my machine needle followed.

I have to confess that I had some of the threads used in this square in my studio for years and never used them until this project. I bought them from Ellen Ann Eddy after hearing her lecture. Tried using them once with disastrous results. I took a workshop with Ann Fahl and she introduced me to the Bottom Line thread by Superior threads and then I was able to sew with the wonderful Madeira threads purchased from Ellen Ann Eddy. So it took two teachers to get me stitching.After the stitching was completed I looked through my beads and found some that worked with my thread colors. Added one shell, some pseudo pearls and some hand embroidery.

If you want to see my work on other players projects then go over to my blog, http://inpspiredbyjoy.blogspot.com/

CREATE

2008-07-18T18:15:00.002-06:00

I thought it was time I posted my photos. Here is my finished piece. Well...it's not finished, but it has completed the rounds and is awaiting me. I haven't quite decided how I will finish it.

My theme was the word "CREATE" and the instructions were to place one letter of the word in each square vertically so that the word could be read on the piece. I did not specify whether the letters should be capital or lower case. The only other thing I asked was that it be "distressed" in style.

I chose to do the center "e" to start with. I found it intersting that those who worked below my letter chose dark colors, while those who worked above my letter chose lighter, more pastel colors. I hope you can click on the photo to see it up close. Each square is fascinating.

Above is how my square looked before I covered it up and sent it on its way. I challenged myself to use a bottlecap in each of the pieces I worked on. For the "e" I used chipboard, which I painted and then covered in some tissue from an old sewing pattern, and then painted some more. I can't even tell you what all I did to this piece, but I sure had fun. Below are some closeups.

I'll start posting the other squares I made soon. :o) Michelle

2nd round news---and MAYBE a third next year

2008-07-14T18:57:00.002-06:00

Crossposted to my main blog.

Don't get too excited yet----sign-ups for a third round, IF it happens, won't be until Nov. You can email me if you would like to play, and i will keep you on file :}

alas..........

2008-07-13T11:14:00.004-06:00

So far, i can only show the square i had done for *my* Exquisite Corpse. The whole completed piece was mailed by Vero, on time, back to me, but has to be forwarded from my old address, and it still hasn't arrived.......

My theme was "rust", a favourite topic, colour and "style" that i find more and more to explore about :}

My background fabric was a semi rusted and dyed cotton. I burnt holes and edges in deep green, black, blue and copper organza, stitching them in a loose rust inspired design. Some edges encroaching on the next squares were left loose. On top of these i appliqued torn pieces of painted, bubbled cellophane to simulate older rusted areas. I also cut areas of the background out, placing fabrics underneath and stitching to create the look of rusted holes.

I then created a "bar" that stretched across the two main pieces, slightly padding it for a relief effect, and attaching it with washers and a nut, and some beads.

I cut a hole, painted a piece with the eye and did a reverse applique with it under the hole. From the cutout piece i created a pivoting piece with a cardstock stiffener, more of the cello, sheers and beading, and a found metal object. It was attached with a bead that allows the whole to swivel left or right to reveal the eye. (Since this piece, i have started using actual metal pieces, like old gasket metal or rusted can lids, for the "door", absolutely fascinating and satisfying :})

"Rust Never Sleeps" has become a "mini-series" since, with two other pieces resulting, so far!

square for Carolyn

2008-07-13T10:59:00.003-06:00

Carolyn's theme was "purple/cool/geometric"--easy--but not :}

She had sent a fabric with her piece that she asked be used in small amounts, the purple dot at bottom and top of my square for her. Overlaid with a purple sheer on gold lace and painted cheesecloth, i added grid lines in black stitching, then echoed the white dots with pearly seed beads. These lines were to echo and integrate the visible edge i could see with tiny white dots on a thin black line in the underlying base fabric. Some of the purple sheer was manipulated into folds.

I also free motioned some circles, joining them with a straight line---reminded me of "scientific"(geometry!) drawings :}, then scattered beads amongst and on them.

I added squares and triangles with a painted bubbled cellophane, holding them in place with bugle beads and seed beads, couched knotted rat-tail cording along the edges of the fabric she had sent, then appliqued 2 pieces of previously stenciled and foiled scraps. One is rather bird like!

Some of the knotted cording was left loose at the edge and integrated by the person who worked the square beside.

Loved the colours in this one!!!!

Square for Susan

2008-07-08T18:33:00.003-06:00

Susan's theme was "flower power". I believe it was the second piece i worked on, not counting my own, and i had a lot of fun with it, after some initial puzzlement. I love florals but starting this one for her was a bit daunting! I didn't want it to be conventional, but neither did i want it too outre!

Since i never know what order photos are going to go into blogger, i'll just say one is of the door closed, one open, a detail of the door, a detail of the bug and how i made the door:}

I had an earring with dangling parts that were the perfect size for hinges and the door handle. I also used some flattened metal beads that Anna Nowicki had sent me a long while ago. They were in correct scale and worked wonderfully!!!

The bug is a painted styro leaf hopper, one of the many bug "picks" that are always floating around flower shops---just added some beads and longer legs to him and he;'s happy crawling on the leaves, ready to leap through the door as soon as it opens.

I had also used this piece with most of it blocked out, to show the group how to integrate the previous squares with the details that were visible, and how to "encroach" into them so it all tied in better. Painting in some viney tendrils and adding stitching accomplished this. My sunflower's petals also leaned over the visible edge :}

I think Susan will enjoy opening that door, and in her imagination going to her garden for lots of Flower Power!!

Betty's ECRR - round 1

2008-07-07T21:36:00.002-06:00

I got a nice surprise today. My Round 1 ECRR came home. Didn't expect it for another week anyway. It had some very pretty flowers on it. I'm posting a picture of the way I received it and also, even though it isn't completely finished, how it looks now with window sashes and an attic window border.

Another Fairy for Vero

2008-07-02T13:10:00.001-06:00

This is how Vero's Exquisite Corpse looked when it arrived. So, as you can see, I had my choice of the two remaining squares. The four other completed ones were pretty thick and interesting feeling.
Her theme was fairies, so I started pulling some materials to use for a fairy to be hiding in. Some lace, wool, flowers and sequin waste were the first things that fell out into my hands.

I drew/inked a fairy face with Tsunienko and then played around with placement of the supporting pieces.
The colors on my fairy were too intense and not blending enough with the rest of the piece, so I got some green tuelle net out.
The leaf shapes were freehand cut out of several steam-a-seamed fabrics. The trick was heating them up without destroying the other materials.

I played around with several silk flowers I had on hand and the sunflower-ish one worked out best, plus it had some great green leaves. I free motion quilted all over and then beaded the center of the flower.

This photo shows the small hints of hand stich outlines of leaves on the un-hidden margin of Vero's square, so I tried to echo those with my machine quilting right next to and overlapping.
Here's a no flash version which shows more of the detail, just in a very strange color scheme.
This post was originally posted on my blog, High Fiber Content.

Flower Power for Susan by Nellie

2008-06-28T21:04:00.000-06:00

I was the fourth contributor to Susan of Spokane's "Flower Power" themed Exquisite Corpse piece. My work blends into the edge of Arlee's section, but hardly into Susan's. Aargh! I wish I had been more attentive to that edge. It's now up to Susan to meld our work together.
I used my "ortwork" collage technique. I constructed it separately from Susan's whole piece. It consists of silk flowers, "bits & pieces", and roving collaged over a hand-painted background fabric plus a thin batting layer. Tulle netting and free-motion quilting holds it all together.
A bit more quilting secures it to Susan's large piece. I have been among such an array of wild flowers on a sunny blue skied day and have definitely felt their "power".

Susan's Exquisite Corpse - Round One

2008-06-28T16:25:00.015-06:00

My corpse came home yesterday. I am thrilled with it, really! I'm so happy I chose the flower theme. I love what Vero, Nellie, Carolyn, Julie and Arlee did with it. It is obvious to me that they all devoted much time and talent to my piece.

I posted pictures of the individual squares on my flickr account (http://flickr.com/photos/gourdgal/).

For my square I carved flowers on a block and then first printed with gold ink and overlayed the same block with red. This was the main print which I then stitched with gold thread. I carved a smaller block and printed with blue overlayed with gold in the left hand corner. The right lower corner was done by copying a quote by Mark Twain onto photo transfer paper and then ironing it onto a piece of flowered fabric and buttonhole stitching it into place. I finished up with beading.

Vero received this next and her flowers are 3 pieces of fabric with beads in the center and gold cord for stems and the leaves are two pieces of fabric front and back stitched and then sewn into place. There are the words "change the world" in the corners. It is lovely.

Next I it went to Arlee. Her work is stunning. She can probably describe it better but what I see is that first it is a handpainted background with leaves and tendrils. Over this is a beautiful gold flower with a painted face and beading surrounded by what looks like metal leaf outlines filled in with netting? There is a secret door which opens to a lovely piece of netted fabric overlain on a sequined burgundy fabric. There are hinges a doorknob and a door knocker on the front . In the upper right corner is a wonderful wooden beetle and on the lower right is a fly!

From there it went to Nellie who sewed dozens of flowers, maybe hand painted? onto the lovely painted pastel background. There are bits and pieces all through this and every time I look at it I see something else. The back of Nellie's work is almost as pretty as the front.

Carolyn was the next one and she did a wonderful folded flower stitched in place with beading as an accent. There is a beaded flower on the left and the leaves are stitched with green thread onto the background. It is sooooo pretty.

Last before coming home it went to Julie who proceeded to echo Carolyn's beading with beading on the middle right. The background looks to be several different fabrics and colors with flowers cut from other fabrics and sewn into place. There is angelina fiber with thread which sparkles and beads sewn onto the flowers in places. the whole thing looks to be free form quilted. It is loverly.

I'm just so pleased and so glad I decided to participate in the 2nd round. It should be even more fun.

thanks to all these lovely ladies for their hard work on my behalf.

Vero's Fairy by Nellie

2008-06-18T17:52:00.000-06:00

I was the fourth contributor to Vero's corpse and had chosen the center space on the unworked side.
My work is rarely populated with recognizable forms whether human or mystical, but it often features flowers. So hiding a fairy among flowers was the most natural and easiest choice for me.
Creating the fairy was experimentation and play. I drew several versions of her. The chosen one's outline was traced onto freezer paper. I cut away her form to get an outline of her face and shoulders. The wax paper was ironed onto a piece of hand-painted silk. A flesh colored oil stick pastel was used to shade her skin. I ran the pastel across the rough surface on a piece of paper, then used a stiff bristled paint brush to pick some of it up to color the skin area exposed within the wax paper template. I kept applying the pastel until it was built up enough to be seen against the background. I used a permanent pen to draw her facial features. If I were to do this again, I would use a light brown ink rather than black. However, black is what I had at the moment. Then her wings were traced from my drawing onto the silk with that same pen. I ended up painting them with a mixture of silver and white acrylic paint plus Gloss Medium to make them shimmer. Yarn, roving, and thread form her hair.

Days before Vero's piece arrived I had purchased a stem of silk hydrangea flowers just because it was so beautiful. I loved the multiple range of coloration within the flowerettes. A few of those were scattered around the fairy along with free form leaf shapes cut out of various batik fabrics. The centers of the flowers are made with "balled up" strands of silk and cotton threads. A few Angelina strands were sprinkled overall. Tulle netting was laid over all and it was machine quilted with just a thin layer of batting. Vero's background was a wonderful piece of linen that I didn't want to completely cover up. I cut away excess background from my piece around the outside edges and attached it to Vero's corpse with more machine quilting. The irregular edge gave opportunity to my fellow creators to fill in the dips while the extended pieces could interact with their edges.

square for Vero

2008-06-17T14:28:00.005-06:00

It was a bit difficult to paint on the linen as i couldn't get a clean line---her face shows it! She's a wicked- mean-evil-nasty fairy, but i hope Vero likes her anyways! I used some dragonfly wings printed on a transparency and painted them also on the back, then stitched them lightly around the edges. Her swing was a continuation of the only detail i could see from Vero's piece; with some green ribbon showing, i just extended them with paint.

I twined and twangled some twisted fabric cording and swooped it across the bottom and up the right side like a grassy overgrown area, attached a fly, a Fimo caterpillar and pupa, and did a bit of beading to hold everything. There are also some silk leaves encroaching into other squares and over the borders edge; i included some loose ones in case she wanted to use them to integrate more when she received the whole back.

Each "unshrouding" as this first round for the Exquisite Corpse Textile Project Round Robin is revealed is more and more a surprise, a joy and a revelation!

I have to admit as i did this one, it was then that i realized that some of my instructions hadn't been clear to begin with, so i broke flow too! My square only integrates with the whole because of the theme and colouring, not the style or "continuation" or her design! I totally changed the concept for the second round we are now doing, because of this flaw in my planning!

Vero's Fairies

2008-06-17T11:34:00.004-06:00

Well, the first thing I see is that my fairies are upside down! I don't remember seeing a top or bottom label. That doesn't mean there isn't one I just didn't see it.

Since I was the last person to work on this I tried very hard to follow Arlee's guidelines to get some flow between what I could see on other squares and on the one I did.

On Nellie's square above mine, I could see the dogwood-like blossoms in a pink color. I happened to have some bits of yarn in the same color so fashioned some blossoms from those, stitched them down and then stitched some fake yellow flowers in the center. I could also see a bit of green leaf and used some leaves cut from an upholstery fabric and sewed them down. Then on the other side next to Julie's work, I could only see a piece of yellow petal and some turquoise-green colors. I used a piece of turquoise with yellow fake flowers sewn to mimic her work. I did remember to work outside my own square a bit so that things might flow. The finishing touches were a bit of beads sewn down and three sculpy faces for the centers of the dogwood flowers, some trailing gold threads and some fabric and paper for the fairy gown.

I would think that Vero could pop the faces off and reglue them in the other direction if she wanted make the whole piece flow in the same direction although the gown would then be askew. Or maybe just the two outer faces and leave the center one as though the fairy were taking a dive..lol

Even though fairies are not something I do, I really enjoyed working on this piece. There was a theme I could follow. Sometimes winging it creatively isn't easy for me to do so to have a definite way to go is probably the easy way out for me.

Julie's "What is a Weed?" by Nellie

2008-06-04T14:46:00.002-06:00

I was the fifth corpse mistress to add to Julie's "What is a Weed?" piece. Arlee's dangling appendages presented a challenge to work around.
I figure they serve to push my flat area more into the background. After all, weeds can hardlty be noticed growing in the hard dirt where nothing else will sprout.
The plants in this piece are actual weeds that I had picked along a rocky bed of a stream in Colorado. They were pounded with a flat river stone into a piece of muslin. That was done several years ago and the natural dyes had faded so I used crayons to give them color. I heat set the crayons to melt the wax and pigment into the fabric. A fusible web was ironed on the back before I cut them out and fused them to the background fabrics.

The ground fabric is textured from a crayon rubbing over a cut wood surface from the same area. It is over painted with fabric paint. The blue sky is a piece of hand-painted fabric.

Tulle netting is layered over the whole area. A piece of batting provided by Julie is sandwiched between my piece and her background fabric. I machine quilted with black thread to outline as well as to define the weeds. Seed stitching by hand quilts the ground and sky to add a bit of texture.

I had fun! I'm glad that a bottom square was left open for me. The dirt serves as a base or ground for the whole piece ... or at least this bottom corner. I like to think that I would've thought of a different composition if my space to fill had been in the middle of the quilt.

Working on Carolyn's First Round EQ

2008-06-04T09:42:00.002-06:00

This post was originally on my blog HighFiberContent.

Another exquisite corpse revealed! This time it is Carolyn's, and her brilliant idea was to include a piece of fabric that we were to use bits of in our design to hopefully tie the 6 squares together. I haven't seen a photo of the whole thing yet, but I think it will have helped. Here is how her piece arrived to me, I was the first to add on to her starter square. She's got the grid nicely marked out, and a good margin all around for clues on how to join up to the existing colors and shapes. Her theme was cool purples/geometrics
The purple polka dot is the fabric that she sent along for us to use. You can see here where I utilized it, mostly as a background. I thought what I came up with was ok, but I wanted a bit more "wow", so I couched on some wooly nylon and then added some beads.

Two looks at the square once it is done, one picture with flash one without. The pink bit on the left is the covering-up fabric over Carolyn's square, then a bit of margin of her work, then mine to the right.

Carolyn also mentioned that several of us put beads on our section.But not all of us, so she plans to add some to each square to pull the whole piece together.

That's the big challenge in this project I think, having a cohesive looking whole at the end!

Susan's remembrances of working on Julie and Nellie's EQC

2008-06-03T21:41:00.006-06:00

I think that Julie's was the first piece I worked on and I was the first one to work on it. I was not clear on the rules I guess as I bordered my piece with yarn and I didn't understand that there was to be carryover onto the square that was already finished. I also didn't take pictures of the 5 other pieces besides my own as I worked on them.

Julie's theme was "what is a weed." As near as I can remember with Julie's piece, I carved a linoleum block with a thistle, mixed blue, green and gold paint and printed the piece. Then I did some freemotion stitching on the thistle and beaded the thistle flowers. I printed a butterfly on paper, cut it out and glued in on then printed a saying backwards on iron on paper and ironed it onto the piece and finished it off with the yarn border.

So what I learned for the next time is that I should not border the piece and there should be some continuity between my part and the other parts if I can see something there. Only next round we aren't supposed to be able to see anything of anyone else's work so the continuity will be the overall design which we draw and any colors we specify if we do specify any colors. I will also take notes as I go along in order not to have to try to remember after several months what I did on someone's piece.

Nellie's theme was "pattern". On Nellie's piece there had been three squares done by the time I got it. What I remember is that all I could see was some dark colored squares with different stitching done on them. It was dark and gloomy looking to me so I decided to use colored paper with patterns on it, mimicing the colors but not matching them completely plus a carved linoleum block design in the center and some stitching with a bit of beading. I did do an overall pattern but my square really doesn't fit with the rest of the bits even though I was very happy with it when I had finished. It was a fun one for me to do and I liked working with the paper as opposed to all fabric.

That is how I remember those two pieces. I have to wait for the rest to be received and posted to comment on them.

square for Julie

2008-06-03T18:20:00.004-06:00

There were very few clues with Julie's EC, her theme "What is a Weed?"----previous squares completed didn't quite adhere to the guidelines. I decided to integrate my square with Vero's (above mine) and (i'm embarrassed to admit!) i don't know who's on the right: Vero's had some loose threads, so i zigzagged over some dangling threads from the manipulated purple organza bloom i had done as the main focus of my square, turning them into tendrils of viney material and used my hand twisted cording again, also as a plant element, attaching it to the border whoever it was had mistakenly used to frame their square--NOTE---No borders are supposed to be withIN the squares, only around the edge of the entire Exquisite Corpse!!!

The background has been painted and stenciled in a sort of InnerCity Garden effect, with the text added on top. I also cut apart an artifical silk leaf and re-attached it in pieces, combining it with the cording, a touch of gloomy ghetto gardening. I also left loose pieces of the cording and the bloom swinging over the square below, to be integrated into that person's work or not.The purple bloom reminds me of something from the Little Shop of Horrors---i tore and stitched and tore again to create the shape in the organza scrap.

The text reads "We are not weeds in someone's garden: we are the flowers of Eden", from an original poem of mine.

square for Nellie

2008-06-03T15:27:00.004-06:00

I knew Nellie's EC piece didn't have a lot of dimension, as i could tell by the thickness of what was already covered :} Somehow it seems we all knew intuitively that this piece was more of a pattern, rather than relief work. Appropriately, Nellie's theme was "Pattern"!
First i stenciled and stamped a trellis pattern of sorts and some bubble wrap imprinting to create more pattern, sliding a wee bit of it over Nellie's work (square directly below mine) to encroach and join it.I integrated mine with Vero's (hers is on the right) by adding more "ribbons", painting mine in colours to match hers. These stripes then extended across some areas. I also added small dots of copper paint to echo some of Nellie's tiny printed dots. Nellie's approach from what i could see was very graphic with lines and enclosed shapes intimating the pattern rather than using textural elements.

I created pattern within pattern, by "bundling "---bits of oxblood sequin knit stretched over lightly padded chipboard, then joined them loosely with a hand twisted cording. Some of the fabric scraps added to the cording in a random and randomly stitched method also echo the trellis patterning, as they were a loose open weave metallic knit mesh. One small gold sequined bundle "dropped" along the border of the three squares to unite the three, a bit of beading to continue Vero's touch and Voila!!

Now i'd like to see how Nellie will use it/mount it or alter it!

Exquisite Corpse Unshrouding

2008-05-20T08:32:00.004-06:00

There are now 3 completed pieces back in the hands of the original owners! Considering that the final deadline for this round robin was in August, these really liquesced :} !

The very first thing i have learned with this exercise, is to be direct and to have clear photos and instructions! We have been having some fabulous discussions and critiquing happening on the Yahoo group, delving into the mechanics and the practice and how to improve on the concept. Because i, the hostess, originator, and Grand Corpse Vizieress, wasn't on the ball from the beginning, so far we have only one piece that sort of qualifies as an Exquisite Corpse. No one's fault but mine! All the work done though is wonderful and covers the whole spectrum of textile techniques, and has resulted in intriguing interpretations of each person's theme.

Because we have already been discussing the pros and cons of what we've seen to this point, those who are still working on squares are benefiting doubly as they apply these ideas to their work for each other. Second round participants will have a plethora of advice and ideas to draw from and i'm hoping that we all have fun! No one is getting nasty and the support for each other is a joy.

The second round also will take a different format from the first. I'm torn between having the "owners" draw a complete design on the whole and each person working their square, with the owners covered, or doing a "traditional" layout and concept. Much to think about!

Crossposted to albedo

Just because I can

2008-04-17T20:32:00.003-06:00

This is my virgin blog post, altho I am not one. Did you really think I was?

Anyway, I spent my day making this apron, since I have no ECRR piece at hand.

Second Round Sign Up!!!!!

2008-04-15T13:26:00.005-06:00

16 players so far! Sign up is open until May 25th. If we have more than 18 this time, we will divide into more/smaller "tumbrels".

If you are interested in playing with us, please email arlee. There are rules to be followed--and i DO enforce them :}--and you must meet deadlines or you will be booted from the group. This isn't mean-ness: you are in a line of players and if you screw up, it screws everybody in your group up! You must also be aware of postage costs: some of us are on tight budgets i know, so please take this into account if it's truly a problem. You CANNOT show ANY photos of your EC work, until the ENTIRE piece is done and back to the owner---ANY infractions here will be immediately dealt with.

Second round players will have a small advantage in the sense that the first round will be used as teaching tools. The format though will be changed somewhat so that in no sense will there be any replication.

Because this is a truly international undertaking, some of the guidelines and rules may seem despotic, but they are there to make sure things go smoothly! You will have LOTS of scope for creativity, help from the group and room to gripe or gloat :} though!

Players will be announced on the 26th of May, divided into groups at my discretion and invited to the Yahoo group, where the mechanics and daily business are.

The Exquisite Corpse is open to all players, regardless of experience level. We do ask however that you be committed to the project and willing to do your best work; the main criteria here is primarily TEXTILES. You may use other mediums, but the majority must be in fabrics.

If i haven't scared you off, please email me.

Dear Corpse Mistresses....

2008-04-15T12:09:00.003-06:00

This ECT blog can be for your thoughts, ideas, side projects that are related---- and whining :} As i said you are not obligated to post or to"join". You can write about how it's affected other areas of your art, how it bothers your family, or how it's changed your life (as if:})!

It's hopefully a more public forum to show the rest of the world what the EC is.

Introduction

2008-04-15T11:48:00.003-06:00

This is what started it all on December 26th of 2007.

Are you familiar with the Exquisite Corpse exercise? "One strategy the surrealists used to elicit imagery from the unconscious is called the "Exquisite Corpse." In this collaborative art form, a piece of paper was folded in four, and four different artists contributed to the representation of a figure without seeing the other artists' contributions. The first drew the head, folded the paper over and passed it on to the next, who drew the torso;
the third drew the legs, and the fourth, the feet. The artists then unfolded the paper to study and interpret the combined figure." from Encarta: IV. Surrealist Techniques

I was thinking each person could divide a chunk of fabric into quarters (assuming there are 4 players), then stitch, bead, destruct, paint whatever !:}! one quarter, cover the done quarter with a piece of fabric stitched around the edges to hide the work done, leaving half an inch at the boundaries so the next "player" can "join" the imagery but without seeing the subject, then passing it on, again hiding the new quarter. A general "theme" might be a useful thing but open to any interpretation or technique!!!! I'll post a photo too later to show what i mean, as this may not be clear :} I need at least three other players at this point but i'm open to any number of participants! Each person would start one, then mail to the next so we'd have a bunch in circulation. If i get 6 players, the fabric will be divided in 6ths--get the general idea???? I think this would be a fascinating way to start the new year with something really different.

And then we had 18 players from around the world sign up! The deadlines have been superseded and some pieces are close to completion already--we thought we wouldn't be "Unshrouding" until at least the end of August of this year, but it appears there will be a Viewing VERY soon!

This has been a real learning curve for myself as the originator and "Grand Corpse Vizieress" and for the players, the "Corpse Mistresses". I am SO proud of this group and its efforts!!