This work was carried out during the seminar “Soft Power: Craft as Media” from Karina Griffith at UdK. And it is part of the collection gathered in the book MAKING NEARBY: A Potluck of Handcraft Recipes, Instructions and Unifinished Patterns.
There are days when my heart is heavy. It is so overloaded with emotions that it becomes deep and unfathomable, as if it has sunk into my chest and blocked my breath. Once it made a hole there. Then I saw it, fervent, like a thick hank of red palpitations. On one side it had a peeking thread that I pulled out. I untangled it. It was tight, contracted. I followed the thread and it led me down a path deep into my memories. Everything was fuzzy, but the thread guided me. I arrived at a place where I glimpsed figures. I recognized silhouettes from a distant past. It was a familiar environment. It was then that a pleasant melancholy came over me and relieved me. So I took a piece of thread and outlined the contour of the silhouettes that surrounded me. Following the thread, outlining the line, embroidering the knot. Completing the silhouette following the threads that bind us to the past.
Materials
- Piece of canvas of 25×25 cm
- Embroidery frame 20 cm diameter
- Red thread for embroidery
- Beige thread to fix the screen 8×8 LED matrix with MAX7219
- 5 Jumper Wire Plug
- 5 Jumper Wire Socket.
Tools
- Scissors
- Graphite pencil
- Needle
- Computer
- Arduino Uno
- USB 2.0 Type A/B cable
- Arduino Software Library „LedControl“
Step 1: Breath
Close your eyes, take a deep breath and travel to a moment in the past that you long for. Follow the thread of the moment. Feel the place. Visualize the materialities that accompany you. Listen to their texture. Smell their sound. Choose a silhouette you wish to evoke.
Step 2: Draw
On a 25×25 cm piece of canvas, draw with a graphite pencil the line of the silhouette that is projected in your memory.
Step 3: Follow the outline
Thread the needle and make the first stitch. Follow the outline. We will use a stem stitch (edge stitch or outline stitch) to outline the silhouette we want to embroider. Keeping the distance between stitches, push the needle through the fabric and pull it halfway through the previous stitch. This can be done from left to right.
Go to „Step 4“ and follow the instructions.