Fiber As Medium

FreeformJewelArt

Making lines with a pen is grand. Splashing on a little watercolor is divine. But drawing and painting with fibers seems to take artistic expression to a different plane altogether.

Freeform crochet allows me to create lines for sure. As I choose the yarns in all their varied colors and textures, it’s as if my palette of watercolor has expanded exponentially. Abstraction gets worked into form and shape…something that can be worn.

JewelFreeformStart

I started this piece as a demonstration for a Freeform Crochet class I taught recently at Knit One Smock Too. I love communicating the basic tenants of freeform fiber work: No pattern. No rules. No boundaries (only the ones you dictate for the piece you decide to make).

FreeformFrontOutside

For some folks, the magnitude of the choices available to you are staggering and perhaps at first, a little paralyzing. We work with that. We start slowly. Even though we dive into our stash of fibers and just begin. A motif. A bullion circle. A stitch pattern.

Then add on. Whatever stitch. Whatever yarn. Any color, texture, direction.

Scrumbling to our heart’s content. Making shapes of we know-not-what.

Until something presents itself in our minds. A scarf? A hat? A purse? A vest?

JewelBody

Then we begin to work the abstraction into a shape needed for whatever we want to make it into. For this one, an open yoke. Then add a mesh bottom with more freeform trimming the edge. Asymmetry. Whimsical. Fun.

FreeformLine

And then I have to draw it…the lines of the yoke work.

FreeformWatercolor

But it is also translatable to watercolor. An abstract piece on paper.

FreeformJewelFrontOutside

But I prefer the original item, fashioned from two hands, a hook, and various fibers. From humble, leftover, stringy beginnings to a wearable piece of art.

6 thoughts on “Fiber As Medium

  1. Jeanine says:

    I love your freeform vest. Wish I lived in your area and could take your class. I have tried freeform crochet and it always ends up in the recycle basket!

    • Jennifer Edwards says:

      Thank you so much Jeanine! I would love to teach you this technique. I think the key is to be as random and whimsical as you can. Thank you for visiting my blog and taking the time to comment! Have a lovely day!

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