working the angles

Today I felt I wanted to experiment again with using different angles, VERY different angles all in the same coiled bowl.  Since this is a total experiment I did not want to use fabric that could be used for another purpose so I went digging in my stash.  I have no idea when I bought this argyle fabric, probably 10-12 years ago.  No doubt it was on clearance!  

The plan was to start with a small 3" flat base and then do a couple of rows using a very sharp angle.  I have discovered with my new Brother machine this is not going to be achieved by the usual method so I have started lifting the bowl and the rope from the front of the needle rather than from the left side. One of the things I noticed is that this fabric took on a completely different character once it was wrapped around the rope.  I thought it looked like a snake of some sort.  I also the fabric became MUCH more intersting once the coils were sewn together.  The clay color combined with the green, black and beige is what I would think the Serengeti would look like, not that I've ever see it but it had that African feel to it.  

As luck would have it, right in the middle of making this bowl.I got a wicked thread entanglement under the needle plate which I could not clear without removing the plate.  I discover a lot of fuzz so I felt it was high time to do a bit on housekeeping.  The ball of fuzz in the photo was unearthed once the bobbin case was removed.  I have to admit I was quite relieved to get everything reassembled properly and have the machine still working and now much cleaner!

The next thing I did was was tilt the bowl all the way in the other direction to flatten out the angle and went around the bowl doing my best to maintain that angle.  Next I retilted it  back up at the steep angle from the front of the needle.  Lastly, I flattened out the angle again and held the rope down to the needle plate while I tilted the bowl as far back as was reasonable.  I went abound the bowl twice which is what gave this little bowl the lip along the top.  What I discovered was that it is difficult to maintain these angles in a consistent fashion.  That is why the bowl looks a bit lopsided but I can see that an interesting bowl can be made not only by playing with the angles but also using fabric that has a rather uninspired pattern.  I am definitely going to continue playing with the angles until I get a more consistent result.   I have more than a yard of that argyle fabric to play with!