This unit has been a step in the right direction for me. Although at some points I found myself getting stuck and confused, I was able to work around the problem by changing the way I was working and what I focused on. I have manged my time much more effectively than I had done in the last unit, which enabled me to experiment more with drawing and sampling, finding the strengths and weaknesses in both, and being able to rectify the problems.
In some respects I would like a couple more weeks to see where I could take my work to next; however, I like that this unit has been left open ended, so that I can come back and look at it from a different angle another time. The idea of an open ended brief scared me at first, as I had no idea of what I was working towards for submission. Being someone who likes to be organised, I found this quite a challenge at first. However I learnt to forget about what I was 'supposed' to produce at the end, and rather concentrate on the work I was creating at the time. This enabled me to be more free with my drawing and sampling and not limit my ideas.
I feel that this unit has been a successful one for me, in both what I have produced and what I have learnt. Also in helping me find my 'hand stamp' and experimenting with it. I find ink and water very enjoyable media to work with and this is something I will take forward to future units.
Sunday 22 February 2015
Saturday 21 February 2015
Finalised Self-Initiated Brief
During my last week, I produced some small final experimentation samples to finalise my larger sample designs. My aim for my self-initiated brief was to refine a tonal colour palette and apply it to my sampling. Photographed below are two of my mounted final samples and a selection of the most successful experimentation samples.
Bradford Textiles competition submission
I have produced a fabric that could be applied to both fashion and interiors, however I can imagine it being more successful for interiors. I have also produced a small collection of accompanying samples. I have applied ideas and sampling from my self initiated brief to produce this fabric for submission.
Below I have also included images of how my designs could be used in an interior situation.
Thursday 19 February 2015
Final Pin-up
Nearing the end of my final week of the locating unit, I am feeling confident that I will be able to develop my work as far as I had envisaged. Our final pin-up session on Monday helped me finalise my ideas. As expected, I was told that I needed to go back to my first drawings and pick out the tonal palette that I want to be working with, as just choosing one colour thread didn't have any correspondence with my drawings. I had mentioned this in one of my previous posts.
In the last couple of days I have experimented with mixing different colours and different brands of inks together, and using water with them, to find the best combination to use in my final samples. Over the course of this unit I have found different brands of the same colour of ink, disperse in different ways, which I found quite interesting and is something I would have never expected. I also found that some materials will hold the colour from the ink better than others, and don't wash away when dissolvable fabric is being washed away.
(mixing black Winsor & Newton ink with blue-black Parker ink worked best)
With the Bradford Textiles competition brief in mind, I set about refining my ideas for a final fabric. I developed a selection of smaller samples, as well as a couple of final samples for my self initiated brief, that displayed an understanding of a refined tonal colour palette.
I've completed a selection of small scale samples varying stitch width, stitch length, thread colour, placement and the way in which I dyed the fabric. I found some of these samples to be more successful than others. This is what I was experimenting with and I have been able to use this knowledge in my final samples. A variety of these are photographed below.
Sunday 15 February 2015
Artist Inspiration
Marit Fujiwara
The use of fold and relief in her work is what I was initially drawn to. I like that she has not only created a raised material but has also incorporated a flat embellished ground. The work of Marit Fujiwara really interested me more at the beginning of the unit when I was still focused on building a surface using folding and stiff materials that hold a fold. Although my work has now taken a different direction, the influence of her work on me still has relevance in terms of relief and embellishment.
Eva Bellanger and Emilio Nanni
I find that I can easily relate to both of these artists as they use ink in their work. In Eva Bellanger's work I particularly like the drawn qualities in her mark making in her pattern designs (photographed below left). I also like the use of repetition in her mark making, especially where the lines are irregular and imperfect. These are the qualities I have created in my own drawings and in my sampling. This is also seen in the work of Emilio Nanni. This piece photographed below right is what I have also achieved in my own work. I like the simplicity of the design in this particular piece and the use of water on just small sections. This is something I hadn't really thought of in great detail; that is only applying water to smaller areas of my drawings and samples rather than all over. It is something that I would like to potentially experiment with in the remainder of this unit or to take forward as an idea to future units.
The use of fold and relief in her work is what I was initially drawn to. I like that she has not only created a raised material but has also incorporated a flat embellished ground. The work of Marit Fujiwara really interested me more at the beginning of the unit when I was still focused on building a surface using folding and stiff materials that hold a fold. Although my work has now taken a different direction, the influence of her work on me still has relevance in terms of relief and embellishment.
Eva Bellanger and Emilio Nanni
I find that I can easily relate to both of these artists as they use ink in their work. In Eva Bellanger's work I particularly like the drawn qualities in her mark making in her pattern designs (photographed below left). I also like the use of repetition in her mark making, especially where the lines are irregular and imperfect. These are the qualities I have created in my own drawings and in my sampling. This is also seen in the work of Emilio Nanni. This piece photographed below right is what I have also achieved in my own work. I like the simplicity of the design in this particular piece and the use of water on just small sections. This is something I hadn't really thought of in great detail; that is only applying water to smaller areas of my drawings and samples rather than all over. It is something that I would like to potentially experiment with in the remainder of this unit or to take forward as an idea to future units.
Ink and Silk
It is amazing what pinning all your work up can do towards helping you see where you're going wrong. In the past couple of weeks I had been feeling that I had too many ideas running along side each other and with no refined colour palette. However, they are all linked by the same initial idea I had at the beginning of this unit; irregular shape and pattern. During the pin-up session I was able to hang all my drawings and samples up and see how they work well together.
Although I have been unsure about refining my colour palette, it was suggested that I don't necessarily need an obvious one. For example, I've been working using ink and water where the colour in the ink splits into various tones. This was something I had been interested in at the beginning of the last unit and is something that I am now beginning to look back into, and experiment with more, in the last few weeks.
I found that my ideas incorporating set stitch into my work was quite successful, however the material and colour threads I am using need to be refined more to link with my drawings. Using lightweight fabric would enhance the stitch and give the material a different weight to it once processed. Therefore I have spent part of this week researching and experimenting with different lightweight fabrics, dyeing them using ink and water, to give the same affect as is seen in my drawings at the beginning of the unit. I found this process to be quite time consuming and unpredictable due to the ink and water combined with the absorbency of the material; however I embraced this quality as the unpredictability gave exactly the effect that I was looking for.
After drying the dyed fabrics, I used one of the set stitch designs to embellish them and add relief to the thin fabric. I am aware that I have only used one colour of thread which doesn't fit well with my idea of having a tonal colour palette. However I wanted to experiment first working with the dyed light weighted material, as well as looking at placement, before incorporating my tonal colour palette. Photographed below are a selection of the end results. I found that working with backing helped stablise the material, however to get the quality of the material back after processing it, I needed to use the cold water dissolvable material. This I found worked well but when washing my samples, sometimes meant some of the colour ran out of them. This is something I want to work on over the next week.
I found myself concentrating much more on these sample designs than the other ideas I had been working on in previous weeks. I still wanted to bring my other ideas forward though, as from the last pin-up session I had discovered that combining my samples worked well. I have experimented with mounting two of my different samples together which is photographed below. I think it is a successful piece and possesses some qualities that I would like to bring out further if time.
Although I have been unsure about refining my colour palette, it was suggested that I don't necessarily need an obvious one. For example, I've been working using ink and water where the colour in the ink splits into various tones. This was something I had been interested in at the beginning of the last unit and is something that I am now beginning to look back into, and experiment with more, in the last few weeks.
I found that my ideas incorporating set stitch into my work was quite successful, however the material and colour threads I am using need to be refined more to link with my drawings. Using lightweight fabric would enhance the stitch and give the material a different weight to it once processed. Therefore I have spent part of this week researching and experimenting with different lightweight fabrics, dyeing them using ink and water, to give the same affect as is seen in my drawings at the beginning of the unit. I found this process to be quite time consuming and unpredictable due to the ink and water combined with the absorbency of the material; however I embraced this quality as the unpredictability gave exactly the effect that I was looking for.
After drying the dyed fabrics, I used one of the set stitch designs to embellish them and add relief to the thin fabric. I am aware that I have only used one colour of thread which doesn't fit well with my idea of having a tonal colour palette. However I wanted to experiment first working with the dyed light weighted material, as well as looking at placement, before incorporating my tonal colour palette. Photographed below are a selection of the end results. I found that working with backing helped stablise the material, however to get the quality of the material back after processing it, I needed to use the cold water dissolvable material. This I found worked well but when washing my samples, sometimes meant some of the colour ran out of them. This is something I want to work on over the next week.
I found myself concentrating much more on these sample designs than the other ideas I had been working on in previous weeks. I still wanted to bring my other ideas forward though, as from the last pin-up session I had discovered that combining my samples worked well. I have experimented with mounting two of my different samples together which is photographed below. I think it is a successful piece and possesses some qualities that I would like to bring out further if time.
Sunday 8 February 2015
Set Stitch
This week I have felt very confused and unsuccessful with my work. I feel that at the moment I have so many ideas but haven't begun focusing on anything in particular. So I am looking forward to my pin-up session tomorrow which I hope will help give me direction in the weeks to come.
Regardless of feeling confused about my work, we have always been told that we should keep making and producing even if it doesn't feel relevant, as we always make something for a reason. So this is what I have been doing this week.
After sorting through my samples and drawings, I found that I like working in repetition but in a disorderly format to produce an irregular pattern. I experimented with the ruffler foot but found it was unsuccessful as there isn't a lot that can be done with the material once it has been processed. I looked at the set stitch designs on my home sewing machine, trying to relate them to my drawings and found a selection that worked well when I varied the stitch length and width. I have done a couple of samples using this idea which are photographed below.
This gave me something new to experiment with which makes me feel more confident about the pin-up session tomorrow.
Regardless of feeling confused about my work, we have always been told that we should keep making and producing even if it doesn't feel relevant, as we always make something for a reason. So this is what I have been doing this week.
After sorting through my samples and drawings, I found that I like working in repetition but in a disorderly format to produce an irregular pattern. I experimented with the ruffler foot but found it was unsuccessful as there isn't a lot that can be done with the material once it has been processed. I looked at the set stitch designs on my home sewing machine, trying to relate them to my drawings and found a selection that worked well when I varied the stitch length and width. I have done a couple of samples using this idea which are photographed below.
This gave me something new to experiment with which makes me feel more confident about the pin-up session tomorrow.
Sunday 1 February 2015
Experimenting with the Cornelli
This week I've been looking back over some of the drawings I have done since the beginning of this unit, to help inspire me to produce more samples. One quite recent drawing caught my attention whilst looking at the photograph of the lumber yard in Gabon. Although it is quite an abstract recreation of the image, I wanted to bring forward the thread-like quality I like from the photo in the form of a continuous, irregular line.
In first year embroidery I was inducted onto the Cornelli machines. It is one of my favourite machines and can produce amazing pieces and samples, however I never managed to harness the control you need with it. I was determined this year to master it. Looking at my drawing above, I could imagine the Cornelli recreating this long continuous line. Below are a couple of photographs of the results from my Cornelli experimentation.
In the future I think I would like to create some samples using the finer chain stitch machines to give a more refined finish, as I feel that the heavy chain stitch can be quite bulky. I would also consider combining to the two, to balance the heavy and fine stitches.
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