Exploratory Project Hand-in 23rd November

The end of this unit is fast approaching and I have a lot of work to before then. I feel more confident going into this hand-in than I did previously so I am actually looking forward to showing my work. I think after the assessment is over I m take a few days off just to lay all of work out on the table and have a real look and evaluate all of my work so far. I don't do this nearly as much as I should (if ever) and it would be helpful to do this more often. Over Christmas I have decided to one. work on my dissertation and two. decide what my textiles purpose is. It feels like (based on sample work) my work is for fashion. I am thinking of scarves and shawls as a product but I think when I eventually add colour based on my visual research, the fabrics may be products for film for example. The handle of the fabric is rather light, which means that edges curl up very easily. I have think about the fabric as a garment and the stability it has realistically.

Cotton, elastic and Extra warp

Further experiements with wool and cotton and blending the two to create something I can take forward to the next unit. Spacing and cramming was a particularly successful. I also included a photo of a towel in my bathroom that fell on the floor and made a really interesting shape. (inspiration can be found anywhere)

Collapse Weaving

I am extremely happy with the way my samples have turned out, and I had a lot of fun making and experimenting with all new ideas, structures, and materials. For example I have finally utilize the effects of high twist yarns to create dimension in my textiles. When weaving, it looks rather plain and simple but the magic happens when you wet finish them in very hot water and watch them "shape themselves." I enjoyed reading about this technique and trying out for the first leaves me happy, but also leaves a lot of room for improvement, and more experimentation. Scale is an important feature and it always very satisfying weaving quite a large batch of samples.

 

Back to the studio

I read several books and articles online, to help give enough inspiration and tips on progressing onto more sample work. I felt comfortable enough again to begin weaving, I did have a bit of a confidence knock after the last information hand-in. But i am excited to start, I first jumped on a table loom, and attempted a double cloth for the second time, it was very long and tedious process of threading and tying on. In the end i only did 3 very small smaples which were ok but I wasnt found of the results and so, I cut of my warp and began preparing for weaving on a doby, which meant that I could make sample alot faster and I was less likely to be making any more mistakes through lifting. But trying out the double cloth did teach me a lot and in a very small way I am glad I did it but, im happier now that its finished with and off the loom.

A short break..Off to morocco

I took a short break after the hand in, and an amazing opportunity to go to morocco in Marrakesh for 3 days(birthday trip). It was loud and super busy for most of trip the hotel was beautifully decorated i took a million pictures of everything. I particularly enjoyed our visit to the Jardin majorelle museum and gardens, a lot of people out there speak french and/or Arabic (fun fact). The museum was located in the busier part of town, as soon as I walked in through the gates it was so peaceful and quite. An amazing contrast between the noise of car horns, horses and merchants just beyond the wall. I found some great images for texture there and intend to do some sketchbook work around these images.

Hand-in and Group Tutorials

On the 23rd of October I had an "Informal" hand-in with both my tutors this past Friday. I was looking forward to talking about my work because although I was excited about my work I was feeling a little lost after finishing my box loom samples. In a small group of 3 people, we all when around discussing our ideas and showing samples and research into our projects with helpful advise and discussion of our work by peers and staff after each presentation. I was given good feedback on my research and sketchbook studies, with particular interest in my box loom samples, but advised to find a focus in (under the umbrella) of shape. Intially I wanted to shape in textiles which is a big area to study, but what I hadn't yet done was state (in my proposal) a clear pathway into the topic. 

After thinking about for a while I realised that the work I had one common factor or focus that I had not yet put together. Which is texture. All of my drawings, research and samples had this in common, now I have switched my focus to creating shape using texture and aiming to create dimensional textiles using interesting structures like honeycomb and explore more into ideas using more fancy yarns in interesting ways. I also have come across some really good books, to have a look at, such as 

Collapse Weave by Anne Field, Weaving Textiles That Shape Themselves by Ann Richards and

Magical materials to weave by Lotte dalgaard. I also have to remember that every so often its a good itdea to lay all of my work out in front of me to really be able to self evaluate my work. (I own none of these images) 

Box loom weaving

I love using a box loom they are ridiculously simple to use and I love to use them for very small little experiments for my sketchbook. After the wire and monofilament yarns arrived last week I was able to really get to grips with the way they move, feel and weave. I also had some synthetic hair lying around so I used some of that in my weaving aswell. I am quite pleased with my work so far. My sketchbook in particular is coming along nicely I might now start thinking about possible outcomes and colour studies.

Fancy yarns

Through artist research I started to think about alternative 'fancy yarns' to use in my weaving. There are many usual and exciting yarns that react with sun light, water and even heat.

I ordered a small sample collection of 1 meter coloured coils (0.50mm) and a sample pack of silver plated coils in a range of sizes (0.40mm - 1.25mm) from the scientific wire company found at wires.co.uk. A UK based seller with a large variety of wire for craft. I ordered this on the 3rd of October. I received an email confirmation of shipping on the 5th of October  and received the order on the 8th October. Costing £10.33 including shipping.

It took just under a week for it to arrive. Very good service, nice packaging. I was slightly hesitant about ordering as I hadn't ordered from this website before and I am always unsure about ordering from an unknown company, this was of course before I had discussed this with other course mates and technicians and found that it is a very well used company especially for bulk orders.

I also ordered a cone of monofilament black 682 from uppingham yarns. Ordered on the 2nd of October shipped on the 6th and I received it on the 9th. It was more expensive to order from this company than wires.co.uk. I felt like the £3.00 for the cone was reasonable but the £4.00 I spent on shipping felt was a little too expensive considering that I ordered one cone, comparison to the wire company.

Artist research

My work has been influenced by several designers though this unit. I have been look at the work of Marianne Kemp, jenny ford and Fran solar to name a few. These designers have really inspired me to explore a wider range of materials, and take a different approach to my textiles.

For example, Jenny ford specializes in sculptural textiles using materials from wire to electrical cords. It made think about me textiles in relation to a purpose. In the past I have always made work for a blanket or curtains, which I enjoy but what about textiles made simply for the eyes, display or installation decorous purposes? Instead of looking at a piece of textiles made for a coat or a cushion, what about textiles for artistic expression, that had no proper function but was an idea a feeling or emotion expressed through sculpture. (None of these images belong to me.)

Jenny Ford Textiles

Fran Solar - Metal Weaver

Marianne Kemp - Horsehair Designer

Wet finishing

If I'm honest I don't particularly enjoy wet finishing my samples. But it is a necessary step in presenting my samples. I understand that not a lot  of textile institutions have a wet finishing area so I guess I shouldn't complain too much. I guess I find it tedious because I don't really like getting wet. But as long as I bring some music along with me I find that keeps me going..

Natural black weaving

I wasn't particularly pleased with my black after the skein had completely dyed.  But I carried on and tried to look past it because it was just test for experimenting. I made a few little card windings and honestly I think I should have spent a little more time on them. I only made 2 windings, with the idea that I wanted a mixture of black on one side and white on the other. But I wanted the colours to blend in together in the middle and the blend out to soild colours of black and white. Already unimpressed by the black, I returned to my dobby loom and began to set up with this new warp. I kept the length of my warp under 2 metres as I didn't want to spend or waste too much of my time or the yarn.

Acid dyeing natural black..

I dyed a very natural looking black using lanacron grey SB at 2.00%. The yarn was Falklands 9's. I enjoy using this yarn quite a lot it has a really nice finish, not too fine but it is on the chunkier side of the scale but, saves a lot of time winding and threading on the mill and on the loom. The process was quite straightforward I was lucky enough to have the dye room all to myself which made doing this again a lot more relaxing. The colour I was dyeing with of course didn't come out as dark as I wanted it was much more like a very dark navy blue. But I asked around the studio and I half the people I asked said it looked black so I was satisfied at that moment.

Weaving day 1

After finally completing enough sketchbook work and research (to my standards anyway) I finally started weaving. After a very long summer, I was a little hesitant to start weaving again I was worried I had forgotten how to weave. But as I got stuck in I remembered with a few hiccups along the way I began on the dobby loom, using only 4 shafts I thought this was best to start off with.

My first warp using a variety of different wool fibres and unbleached linen. Testing the durability, flexibility and a variety of finishing techniques such as  brushing and felting. I chose not to introduce too much colour at this stage. I am just testing out my ideas with a range of materials first before handling colour and structure. I may try that next week with maybe a natural black.

Yarns and fibres

Stage 1 of the making and designing process is always a little mix of pleasure and pain, while some yarns fit perfectly for the qualities that you want to test, some times my mind always wants to puck the softest yarn like a silk or mohair. I did however eventually (after many minutes of debating) choose a variety of different wools relevant to my study. I did however take out one cone of silk  boule; i probably won't use it but it's got a lovely texture and also terribly soft. After 2 years I am quite familiar with the yarns available to me at the studio so although in my head I already knew what I wanted I took a little extra time just for feeling all the fibres.

Sketchbook development into woven textiles

When I thought about developing my sketchbook, I was careful not to forget my initial research and always make sure my drawing and photos are relevant and have purpose to my project. I decided to look at insects because they had similar shape and structure as the costume designs I researched previously, they was a direct link between them and my visit to the V&A museum earlier this summer. Because of this i choose to study things that made me uncomfortable, things that aren't classically beautiful, odd shapes and dark colours.

I wanted to investigate the ugly and creepy animals, of the natural world and create textiles that make you feel something when you look at it, view it for yourself in person that is when you can finally understand and study it in its entirety, Literary fantasy and drama within textiles. It is an ambitious idea that I am excited and to try and experiment with. Freely sketching like this is truly enjoyable, I don't spend hours on my drawings as I feel comfortable in making my mistakes a part of my drawings, I didn't always used to be this way when I was still at school, i could not stand to have a single line out of place or a mistake on the page. After growing up and learning a lot of different things both in my practise and in life I actually enjoy drawing a lot more now than ever before.

Drama and Nature

After studying various costume designers in film, I began to notice a pattern in the necklines, jewellery and accessories. In particular the horns of Maleficent are almost identical to the horns of a mountain goat. The animal skins and natural colour palette use many different materials all identified as part of a forest. I saw this again with the evil queen in the film snow white and the huntsman, the large high collar, covered the feathers and curved like the wings of a bird. Linking these two ideas will give me something physical to draw and photograph for visual development ready for designing cloth samples. Sources: viphairstyles.com, stylefrizz.com

Costume design, textiles and film

I thoroughly enjoyed my research on costume design in film, Colleen Atwood, an Oscar winning designer for her work for the character 'Queen Ravenna' in the film Snow white and the Huntsman (2012). Anna Biedrzycka-sheppard for her work, of the titular character in disney's Maleficent (2014); and Isis Mussenden for her designs for the character 'the white witch' in the 2005 version of The lion the witch and the wardrobe. My research on Colleen Atwood was particularly exciting as she had worked on other costumes in film of a similar genre like, Tim Burton's Alice in wonderland (2010) and Into the woods (2014).

The textures and shapes that she used on these costumes are beautifully detailed, she used a wide variety of materials such as bones, wire and feathers with the necklines and crowns have a strong reference to the medieval era, appropriate for the time setting of the film but also the characters personalty and social status. Each designer has perfectly captured and thought about the time setting, environment, through colour and texture and kept true to the fundamental characters' iconic qualities while expressing themselves new materials and refreshing ideas, and I am happy to have researched these designers. I own none of these images, no copyright infringement intended.