Stitch Club: Indian gold

Series: Stitch Club no.10

Stitch Club from TextileArtist.org
Workshop: Indian Memories
Host: Angie Hughes website – Instagram
Aim: Create a series of component parts drawn together into a collaged panel, inspired by the vibrant colours and textures found in India.

It would take far too long to go through the whole process of creating this (mostly) textile collage in detail. The main aim of the workshop was to explore many of the ways that elements could be altered and decorated, so there are a lot of different techniques involved.

Stencilling, stamping (with clear stamps and wood blocks), foiling, and drawing were all used to add colour — I’m far more used to using those on paper, but they worked just as well on the fabric pieces I had selected.

Free motion embroidery and hand stitching were both used to add texture. I also hand-stitched on individual sequins, which took much longer than I expected, and had a few moments of regret at my decision to sew a long row of beads and sequins onto the stamped and layered sari ribbon.

While most of this is fabric, there are a few bits of card and paper as well. The fluffy gold ruffle on the left side of the embossed panel is made from layers of lightweight paper that I prepped before the “wish tablets” workshop, sprayed gold. There is also a small strip of washi tape, and the gold swoosh is card covered in gilding flakes.

The technique for the centre square was supposed to use a gold-coloured metal sweet wrapper but I didn’t have anything like that around so I improvised, using some thick aluminium foil and covering it in gold gilding flakes before embossing it.

Making all the individual pieces took a little while, but trying to come up with an arrangement I liked took even longer. I ended up painting a wood panel gold and using that to give me a frame to work within, but even then I spent a couple of days fiddling with it on and off before I was completely happy.

I like the end result; the colours work well together, as do the textures, and the gold provides continuity over the finished abstract collage. And it also works nicely as a technique sampler.