Using light and shade as a tool

During my time in the knitting workshops I made a variety of different samples relating to my sketchbook work on the data project. One particular piece of mine caught my attention when I was looking at it backed onto a white piece of cartridge paper. I was using the paper to experiment with what the large sample of knitting would look like on different coloured backgrounds and whether this would change the 'look' of the piece.

In doing so and holding it up to have a look, the dark yarn made a shadow on the reverse of the white paper creating a rather interesting effect. I love looking at the use of light and shade in pieces like these where the small or larger gaps in the knitting make their own pattern on the paper. It reveals another dimension to your work.

I then thought of another way I could incorporate light and dark into my work and not just through the natural way. So I put a different piece of knitting into my photocopier to see the results. Not only leaving it on the normal colour setting but changing it to black and white and increasing and decreasing the intensity of the light used. This time the knitting sample I was using wasn't only plain knitting at the one before was; it had a change in tension in several parts throughout the piece. This became more prominent once photocopied.

Here are a few photos of my discoveries:

 this is the original piece of plain knitting with deliberate rough holes throughout

 

these two photos above are the shadows produced by the knitting on the other side

left: photocopy of the knitting sample with varying tensions    right: original sample of knitting