{"id":10346,"date":"2026-04-06T13:25:03","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T18:25:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alisonschwabe.com\/weblog\/?p=10346"},"modified":"2026-04-06T13:25:03","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T18:25:03","slug":"brainstorming-with-an-algorithm-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alisonschwabe.com\/weblog\/?p=10346","title":{"rendered":"Brainstorming With an Algorithm, 3"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Backs are intriguing to a stitcher like myself. My early learning in embroidery always included guidance on the importance of neatly finishing off as you come to the end of each thread and start a new one, whether sewing by hand or machine. It’s ingrained, automatic, my normal level of craftsmanship. After all, for household linens like tablecloths and mats, serviettes and the like, they need to hold up to plenty of repeated washing and use, and securely finishing off ensures some level of durability. But I also associate this unseen-but-still-perfectly-done-ethic thing with the training we had in the Brownies and Girl Guides – we had to polish the backs of the brass badges on our uniforms. The Brownies and Girl Guides movements paralled the Scouting movement for boys founded by Robert Baden-Powell, <\/a> Our uniforms were subject to weekly inspection, and our patrol lost points if we failed inspection on some detail. OMG, it was so military – but good training in leading fairly orderly lives I guess.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my other blog, https:\/\/www.pickledgizzards.com<\/strong><\/a>, I recently posted about how the 1970’s Golden Hands Magazine<\/a> <\/strong>was a huge influence on the keen stitcher I later became. I remember seeing some brighly coloured, richly embroidered head and shoulder porttait profiles by an artist who I think<\/em> came from somewhere in the sunny Mediterranean, possibly Italy or Greece. They were unusual and therefore very interesting because the reverse sides of these were framed and exhibited, and in the magazine showed beside images of the fronts. Despite the knots, hanging ends and travelling threads etc, we still saw the expression or personality of each subject- serene, happy, angry etc, but as if through some kind of filter. I will try to find this work again, now that I think of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have previously taken pics of some of my backs too, because of their interesting patterns, like Green Mosaic, 2022<\/em>, a 12inch work for that year’s SAQA Benefit Auction – it’s not too different from the front.<\/p>\n\n\n

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“Green Mosaic” in progress; pic above shows the reverse side at that stage . (SAQA 2022 Benefit Auction)<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The next images are (1)<\/strong> the reverse of the surface design stitching before layering and quilting, of “Out of Order 3” and (2)<\/strong> In an earlier post on this blog<\/a><\/em><\/strong>, I outlined my interaction with ChatGPT about it, which produced the second image. <\/p>\n\n\n

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“Out of Order 3” <\/em><\/strong>is currently showing with the SAQA Global Exhibition “AI: Artitistic Interpretations”,<\/a><\/em><\/strong> at the Louisiana State University Art Museum. It will tour to various venus until the end of 2029. (2)<\/strong> In an earlier post on this blog<\/a><\/em><\/strong>, I outlined my interaction with ChatGPT which produced this pattern based on the above image I sent it:<\/p>\n\n\n

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Yesterday I took a pic of the reverse side of what I’m currently working on, Out of Order 7<\/em> – <\/p>\n\n\n

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The back side of “Out of Order 7”, but here the back is less interesting than the front.<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Backs are intriguing to a stitcher like myself. My early learning in embroidery always included guidance on the importance of neatly finishing off as you come to the end of each thread and start a new one, whether sewing by hand or machine. It’s ingrained, automatic, my normal level of craftsmanship. After all, for household […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6uxpF-2GS","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alisonschwabe.com\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alisonschwabe.com\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alisonschwabe.com\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alisonschwabe.com\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alisonschwabe.com\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10346"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.alisonschwabe.com\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10346\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10355,"href":"https:\/\/www.alisonschwabe.com\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10346\/revisions\/10355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alisonschwabe.com\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alisonschwabe.com\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alisonschwabe.com\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}