I’ve been thinking about what a lovely shape a tetrahedron is, and how it could be great covered in fabric on which was surface decoration to make a 3D textile work.  Last week the penny dropped on how I could make one with rigid flat sides that didn’t have to be stuffed (and therefore lose the straight shape, perhaps) .  

You know, it is true that no education is wasted, and my memory is long.  In a weekend workshop in Kalgoorlie 35 years ago, taught by the late Rusty Walkley I learned the basics of how to make fabric covered boxes, though I myself only made the one – it wasn’t my thing, but I did finish it, and still have it.  She showed us how to work out the required panel pieces for each side, base and lid of our basic cubic 5″ box.  We measured out cardboard shapes and scored along fold lines before covering and lining each individual piece with fabric, all stitched by hand of course, none of this modern hot glue thing.  When all pieces were covered they were sewn edge to edge to form the 3D piece.    I looked on You Tube and there found tutorials on how to cover existing boxes, but nothing on how to make one from scratch, and as for tetrahedrons covered in fabric, I was clearly totally on my own!  

So anyway I adapted what I remembered from Rusty’s class, and instead of cardboard cut my triangles from template plastic.  I had some thin heat activated adhesive batting which of course did not stick to the template plastic, so I affixed it to the back of the outer fabric before folding those edges over to the inside and stitching into place.  After covering the 4 panels in black fabric, I sewed three together to form the cone which I then decorated with a simple couched design before finally attaching the base:

But next I want to decorate each panel before I sew them up,  as it will certainly be a bit easier to apply the stitchery or whatever paint and other mixed media I decide on, and I hope to make them much more texturally interesting – maybe requiring just a little stitch or dab here and there to carry things over the seam onto the next panel, we’ll see.

For this first effort, I found the big time component is getting each shape covered.  Slip stitching along paired edges to assemble the 3D shape, though a bit fiddly, doesn’t really take long, and applying the 4th side, the base, was less difficult than I expected.  So that’s what I’m up to this week, and I am well along covering enough shapes for 4 tetrahedrons… something I can do with one eye on the telly or sitting out on the shady terrace – it’s not too unlike hexagon patchwork! 

A rock concert is about far more than the music, though heavens, there was plenty of that in almost 2 and 1/2 hours’ concert with The Rolling Stones here in Montevideo last week.  Mike and I were into rock music way back when the Stones began, and though I have often been distracted by other music and groups, he has stayed a strong fan.  The concert gave me a new interest in and respect for this amazing group’s music, including the underlying R&B rhythms that Elton John said last week are the roots they should return to and focus on – and I agree, being a bit of an R&B fan myself.  And most of the concert consisted of big RS hits, which is what fans of any performing artist want to experience live, don’t they?  How difficult it must be to bring new stuff forward in the face of such demand, to find a balance in a concert playlist.  With the aid of massive speakers and all the gear, the music was thrillingly loud, but not uncomfortably so.  We felt at times the boys’ aging vocal chords were not quite equal to the task, perhaps, but the they have been heavily used and possibly abused  since the early 60’s, and that’s a remarkable length of time in the history of rock bands.

And, awesome as the sound was, the visual aspects were thrilling, too.   I don’t know how high the constructed stage in the Centenario Stadium was, but maybe 5 stories above ground level.  Three massive screens enabled people to see the performers as if up close from way back in the stadium, as we were,and able to see every wrinkle and grey hair.  Apart from drummer  Charlie W in a white tshirt, the other Stones wore several changes of very theatrical bright coloured shirts, often satin, with added sparkle and metallic glitter, but the support musicians were all dressed in muted or drab colours, so that was interesting – we had no doubt about who was starring and where on stage each was.  Mick J never stood still for one minute in the almost 2 1/2 hour performance, leaping and dancing all over the stage including the long catwalk out into the audience, just like someone half his age. The others were less dramatic but moving about constantly, and by the end of the show they all looked rather knackered, and no wonder- they had performed generously and it was a very hot night.

But what we were able to see was far far more than just up close views of the Rolling Stones doing their thing on stage.  All round us the massive audience surged and heaved in time with the music.  The stadium rocked with a sea of heads and arms pulsating totally in sync with changing lights and lots of animated graphics around the screens, all wonderfully coordinated with what was happening with the artists.  The most stunning example of all this was towards the end with  Sympathy For The Devil which you can view here  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MA1njkX48M  filmed by someone with a far steadier hand than mine, better sound, too.   I’m sure this oldie but goodie has never been so completely enthralling.

While The Stones were here they spent several hours the day and evening before the concert meeting up with musicians in the black quarter of the old city, taking the opportunity to experience some of the local music – candombe or drumming.  The papers wrote it all up with pics of the private home and people they visited – so perhaps there will be some new influence in their music in future.

Pinterest is marvellous to explore for ideas, rather a digital artist’s morgue.  I browse there at length every now and then, it can be very addictive, and while pinning I also sometimes add to a list of things/techniques I’ve seen others do in their work, and making a quick sample of something on that list is a way to have it register with me – to show whether it is worth the trouble, if I have the necessary skills and materials to do it, and is a first step in exploring its potential to fit into my own work sometime.  A sample is a shorthand way of saying a great deal.

I often finish up a morning or afternoon in my work room by making a quick sample or two, and here are a couple from this week:

A scrap of nylon organza with random tucks machine sewn.  I saw something along these lines hand stitched in a strongly contrasting thread, but I think machine sewn could make an interesting surface, perhaps for a collage, but possibly for a sheer ‘quilt’ … just wandering here.  The fact that the thread in the machine happened to be silver is purely circumstantial, but interesting.

Here segments of various ribbons or tapes and some waxed nylon cord are very exciting, I think.  The idea could be exploited as the main surface design, or  could be in the role of embellishment of something beneath.  Again that silver thread … means absolutely nothing except circumstance.  I did say these are quick samples,  ‘notes’ if you like.

Here in Montevideo I don’t run a car, and to get about I have put in a few miles on buses and taxis; they’re usually good, only very occasionally shitty.  Most of the time though, the driver won’t lift a finger to help anyone  beyond arm’s reach of the car, unless you’re struggling with an obvious mobility aid  like stick or sporting an arm in sling.  At such times I’ve found they will go out of their normal way by parking right close up to the gate and even put grocery or other bags just inside said front gate as I’ve unlocked it.  Otherwise its pay the fare, get your stuff out ASAP and they pull off as soon as the door’s shut.

Turning into our street this morning, we passed a man walking along with a small hand cart – there are a couple of regulars who come through the neighbourhood to pick up bottles and other useful recyclables from the rubbish bin area down on the corner of the block, though I hadn’t seen this man before.  By the time I was exiting the taxi a few yards up the street from our gate, this man had drawn level on the other side of the street, and was loudly demanding pesos in a fairly hostile manner.  With my key in my hand I walked briskly to the gate and let myself in, then turned around and waved as the taxi driver wave out of his window and drove off, so he had waited to make sure I was safely inside, as I just felt he might have.  I had tipped him but now wished it had been a few pesos more!  I had flagged him on the street and taken no note of the company, car #  or his name  – and most Montevideo taxis are now white and reflective yellow like this one.    The man with the cart had moved on realising someone was literally watching my back.   Requests for money aren’t frequent, but for such moments I usually have a few pesos in my pockets or the outside area of my handbag, normally a shoulder bag worn diagonally, as I had this morning.

I really like the effect of the little dotty lined one on the right edge, but though done with a Sharpie pen, and ‘permanent’ such lines from these pens do bleed over time and also develop a sort of yellow stain around them on some fabrics.  This is to capture an idea only – more experimentation needed!