I was really intrigued by Do Ho Suh’s thread drawings at Tate Modern last summer (Summer II). After some research I discovered that his method was developed during a residency at the Singapore Tyler Print Institute. He had been spending a lot of time drawing in his sketchbook when it was suggested to him that he might try drawing with thread. Applying thread to wet paper proved unsuccessful as the thread was difficult to control and so he tried sewing on tissue paper but it proved too difficult. It was an intern at the institute, who had experience of textiles, who suggested that he might try gelatine tissue paper which is used in embroidery. So he sews his drawings on gelatine paper and then applies it to wet handmade paper and the gelatine paper dissolves leaving the thread bound into the paper.

This has got experiment written all over it.

I couldn’t find gelatine tissue paper as such, but I managed to source some water soluble embroidery stabiliser. I haven’t attempted to make paper before but I did a bit of research online and gave it a go. The results are not great, mainly because I’m so impatient and kept on touching it etc and so there are lots of overlaps and tears – but then that is me in the process, so actually it’s all good.

I borrowed my daughter’s sewing machine, sewed on a couple of test pieces and applied to the wet paper and these are the results:

The thread has, for the most part, bound to the paper, so it’s been a success. You can still see where the embroidery stabiliser was, and when it is lying flat there is a slight sheen to the paper. I’m not sure what can be done about that and I probably need to experiment more. The stitching doesn’t have the same effect as Do Ho Suh’s, and he has commented that he likes the unpredictability of how the bobbin thread appears. I think it would be worth using a larger stitch which might create a more interesting effect.

I double dunked this one in the paper pulp and water solution (there’s probably a technical term for it) to see if I could get rid of more of the stabiliser. The effect was quite interesting as in some areas the paper folded over itself trapping in some of the thread and in others the pulp settled on top of the thread, partly obscuring it.

I need to do some more research and experimentation and think about how I might incorporate this approach into my work.

In the meantime, I decided to do some more lines.

Because the stabiliser doesn’t dissolve very well when placing it on top of the wet paper, it’s necessary to help it along using a spray bottle. I think the spray combined with the excess water and movement in the stabiliser as it dissolved, caused some of the threads to distort. Initially, I was a bit disappointed, but I actually quite like the movement it creates and also the loopiness of the stiching on the right. It has the feeling of a continuous line drawing.

There was some pulp leftover so I played with some colour and some graphite powder. The graphite powder didn’t really do anything interesting, and still remains quite loose on the surface of the paper. I like the mottled effect of the colour as well as the impression from the kitchen paper it had been sitting on.