Sunday, February 21, 2010

Data Matrices in Progress

I don't have a set-up out here to photograph sequins (the flash reflects...), but as long as they're less than 9" wide, I can scan them...

Is it boring? Am I too blinded by my own cleverness?



A little darker:


In progress:


They're all technically "in-progress" since the edges aren't finished (they're just cropped). I got a walking foot last week, so this week I may attempt a facing. I say "may" because I've been working late a lot.

Meanwhile, I've got some fabric dyeing...

Saturday, February 06, 2010

There is work in progress

Pastel Grid in Progress
When I was quilting the grid on this piece of fabric I dyed in 2004, I felt a need to scan it to preserve the subtle patterning before I covered it all up with sequins.

A few weeks ago I was doing some research into information encoding at work and came across the Data Matrix. And I thought, what an excellent way to put messages into quilts (especially subversive words/sentiments...). Up to 3115 ASCII characters--doesn't have to be alphanumeric--can be put into the matrix, and of course a quilt can string matrices together. I could encode ASCII art for the ultimate geekery.

I'm still playing around with instantiation. I haven't completely rejected piecework, but I don't enjoy matching corners so it's low on the list. Fused squares are in progress but the quilting is going slowly. Square sequins have an interesting look, but the process of applying them to a pre-quilted grid feels a bit like counted cross-stitch, which I have always hated. This weekend I will investigate stamping the squares. Screen-printing is also on my mind...when I come up with messages I can wear on T-shirts, I can commission some Thermofax screens.

I don't really feel like sharing my samples (or messages) at this time; just felt like I was neglecting the blog.

What I probably need is a critique group to tell me I'm being a bit too precious with the intellectual crap and not at all visually interesting, like my fiber class did with my logic diagrams ten years ago.