Year 2 Textiles 2012/13

Day 1- Our first project: Repeat.

I was so glad to get started into my second year at a new and experimental project. It has been a very busy week and it already feels like i never had left. We have been split into groups of 3 and i work with two very different people, which gives us all an opportunity to learn from others and gain ideas i would have never thought about. It is slightly challenging due to conflicting ideas sometimes but i feel today we have managed to overcome any slight differences we have had.

Our first project is called 'repeat' and is due to last (and overlap) two weeks and go into the second part of our unit BA4. It's very exciting as last year i got involved in printing and would love to develop and puch my work further hopefully with new technqiues.

I was very suprised at how much work i had achieved today in such a small space of time, i made about 10 a3 drawings, in different scales, weights of lines and textural details in a new and exciting way of standing up to become more free and held the pen at the end to enable more movement within our drawing. With these we put all of our observational objectdrawings together to come up with our repeat pattern.

Indivdual drawings.

We had to cut our design in half in a wave shape so that the design could link together "like a jigsaw"

Our design put together.

 

I am not that pleased with this design, it's quite sparse and the word "sup" looks lazy and not very thoughtful. We will have to all sit down tomorrow to discuss what needs to be done in order for everyone to feel pleased with the result.

 

Due to not feeling positive about our result i have come home this evening and started drawing objects of my own. Instead of drawing lots of random things i have chosen to concerntrate on one object and look at perspective, scale, textures, weights of line, different pen marks and overlaying them on top of one another to look at the negative space.

My own observational drawings.

 

After just looking at one pair of scissors and drawing them in different ways i looked at a variety of the same object but how they all have different designs. I looked at colours, and not adding a outline which was really difficult but this made the drawing more loose,and gave me more freedom with the paint brush i feel.

Scissors in different colours,styles, and with no outlines.

 

I'm hoping with the new knowledge i have about different ways you can draw, i can take this further into my own repeat pattern that i can experiment with.

 

Day 2 - Continuing print design.

 

We came in today fully focused on what we wanted and got on with editing our design ready to transfer onto kodatrace. We covered up some of the tartan like lines so we could add bulk and interesting marks. We picked up some of the textures from our drawings and continued these into the background to link our drawings in with the overall design. I feel much morepositive about our print now and cannot wait to start printing with it.

 

We added in more drawings,a bird, umbrella,show and a peg that we later added in extra detail.

Our final revised design with detail in there and marks made in the background.

I feel it looks more successful as a repeat print as there is more going on compared to previous where it looked a bit weak in design as the lines didn't add much character or attractiveness. Adding in the drawings also added in more focal points to the overall design.

Once our design was in place we could start applying our design onto kodatrace. Everything that we wanted printed had to be made opaque in order for it to be exposed onto a screen. We went with the method of applying block colours  on one kodatrace and on the second one we would add highlighted areas and detail.

I continued my drawing at home and this time i looked at different imagery : the peg. Both the objects i have looked at link in with our group repeat but alsogives me a chance to look into these further. I drew onto a textured surface, and used oil pastels,felt tip pens, biro,watercolour and permanent markers to get a variety of 'brush' strokes and thicknesses.

 I took one of my little drawings and repeated it in a regular and geometric pattern onto a textured background. I found this little texture from a previous drawing in my sketchbook. I want too take this further so as for now,it is still in progress.

 

Day 3- Finished Kodatrace and Dye Testing.

 

Today,we had a print and dye induction where we were taught how we technically repeat a print pattern. It was definetley a lot to take in! I wrote down everything i possibly could in my pdp book where it explains how you measure up your screen in comparison to the table and fabric, what screws you need like t-bars and screws from screen to table. We also were taught how to wash our screens properly and how we apply the ink well without smudges, or joining marks. It's all very complicated but i have every faith that once were in there we can get on and it'll make more sense; i think it's the typical thing until you do, you won't fully understand!

 

We also finished our kodatraces so they are ready to be exposed ready to be printed a week on tuesday! With that knowledge and the induction this morning we thought it would be ideal to start testing dyes out on our fabric as we have to have our fabric prepared ready to print straight onto.

 

Detail of finished kodatrace.

 

What i like about it, is that you can see two different tones so you can get a feel and an idea if what it would look like before its even been printed.

Us hard at work working onto the top layer of kodatrace. We had to be really steady handed as we need to align both kodatraces together and and the design underneath.

Some of our dye samples.

Some more of our dye samples.

 

I had forgotten until this afternoon how long the dyeing process takes! We looked into warm colours with lighter and darker tones, i don't think were all convinved still on our final colour palette but we are going to use some of the colours we tryed out today so we know what dyes they were and how we got that outcome by recording them into our pdp journals.

 

Day 4 - Revising our kodatraces.

 

This morning i attended a lecture given by Nick Rodgers (course leader) and it was a very thoughtful and deep in meaning lecture. What is textiles? Most people (myself included, before i started my degree!) associate the word textiles with fabrics, sewing, knitting however textiles; to me, is about the exploration of materials in exciting and interesting ways such as sculptures,installations and of course the classic garments and interiors. You cannot of course just pick an idea from thin air and textiles starts from the initial drawing created that forms part of your investigation into the final piece. Drawing is the initial part and a continuous aspect throughout a project it allows me to gain ideas, help explore compositions and colours. Rather than being a translation, it acts as my interpretation so that i can create something thats unique to me. The lecture has really made me think and question why i do things in such ways and how it affects my work.

Our kodatraces are also nearly completed, we have aligned them up properly together, however once putting them onto the lightbox we noticed that a few lines need going over, so that is the job for tomorrow! The lines need to be opaque in order for them to print properly, when exposed to the scree. Fingers crossed we would have completed it, i didn't realise how long it takes to set up a printed design... I have learnt so much already in these 4 days being back at university, it feels like i have never been away.

 What our kodatrace looks like with the 2 layers.

 Close up of kodatraces... i particularly like the textured backgrounds.

I feel we have the right balance of block and linear patterns, and have divided up the layering between all of the colours so it is not just a dark detail print onto a light print background!

Colour Inspiration for our print from the 1960 editorial version of Vogue, Germany.

These photos are not mine, they are from an editorial of Vogue Germany (October 2010), inspired by the 1960s but this is not why i was drawn to it. It was the vibrant but muted colours that drew me in,we want something happy and cheery and although these colours are slightly on the drab side, these could be brightened up and given life too! I love how they are in contrast with one another, which compliments and highlights each of their 'personalities'.
I really like the bright pink with the muted blues lightened up with the sunshine yellows!





Day 5 - Finished Kodatraces, digital print induction and a lot more research!

From looking at the colours i blogged about the day before i started to look into 1960s as this was the period these photos were inspired by. Looking through some photos and my notes from the past few days i remember one of the girls in class mentioned the fashion and textiles museum of which i went and saw a printed exhibition there. This encouraged and excited me too look into my findings as i was yet to use them to inspire my work.

Mary White was a popular post war textile designer in the late 1950s and 60s which fits in nicely to the colour scheme i am looking into and the types of print-layered and repetitive. The exhibition was small and intimate so i was able to evaluate and look into the work as much as i could, and really take on board the colours and shapes. Taking the photos was a great reference, and now i am happy to be able to include these into my current work. It is slightly different, but i have learnt that research (along with drawing) should not be a direct translation/link but a reference, a source that i can interpret to 're-invent' something.

Small environment for an exhibition at the Fashion & Textiles Musuem.

A collection of the same prints but all in different colour combinations. It just shows how different a print/piece of work can feel in different colours and shades, each one emmits its own feelings and attitudes.

Although the colours are not directly the same as previous, they are a lovely and appropriate link into what i am looking at. I am looking at layers of prints in fun and interesting ways - block colours and linear layers with strong accent colours. By looking at a range of work i can fully understand and appreciate what works well and what works best for the context of my work.

'The Printed Square' exhibition was also being held at the fashion and textiles musuem at the same time. The exhibition was a colaboration with textile designer Nicky Albrechsten and Oasis for the Spring/Summer 2012 collection and they were off square printed hankerchiefs. It was really interesting however i don't feel i benefited from it's full aims whilst there as i wasn't as heavily involved in printing in my first year and therefore didn't appreciate it as much as i do now. Now i have had time to experiment within my own work and our second year has introduced us to new and challenging printing techniques that i see these printed designs in a 'new light'.

I love how each one is different, some being very linear in pattern, some being photo realistic, some block,abstract and some that were more detailed than others. Seeing all these photos again has given me alot to think about.

Day 6- drawing workshop & photoshop skills.

Today- a start of a brand new week and we had a very fun, fast-paced drawing workshop this morning which i thoroughly enjoyed. We had to draw observational flowers, the print market today is made up of 90% floral designs. I do love florals as they are quirky, beautiful and easy to draw. However saying that i do not want to do my degree to make up that 90% off people, i would like to stand out in my own right with my different designs and be part of that 10%.

We made about 7 or 8 different drawings off different flowers in different perspectives concerntrating on the marks that we saw. What was interesting about this exercise was it was a way of teaching us how to understand different types of prints and what better way to just do and not think. This way of drawing has opened my eyes up to the possibilities and opportunities im missing out on spending time bein precious with my work,when some of the work i deem most successful is when i havent had time to question my thoughts and i have just 'done it'.

We then had to trace over our drawings several times, in order for us to make a half drop repeat enabling us to still see underneath it.

With our drawings traced out and drawn we could then play around to create our repeats, this is what my outcome was:

I quite like it due to the combination of chunky designs mixed in with linear prints as it allows each design to be accentuated within it's own right. I would like to put this onto a screen though i will talk to the technicians about it to make sure that it would be successful or not too do it. Fingers crossed i will be able too! I would have to be taught how to print a half drop as a lot of calculations go into printing a full drop! Because i enjoyed this so much i decided to make some of the half drop repeats onto some of my previous drawings:

This is not a half drop repeat but it is a 'mirrored' repeat something else which we briefly touched upon but i wanted to take it further to widen my knowledge.

Half drop of 2 types of flowers.

Photoshop.

The second part of our day was learning photoshop skills. Well this was certainly a challenge i spent the hour and a half being able to work out how to cut and copy using mac software (something i am not familiar with) and learning shortcuts and am still not confident enough to be able to just 'do it'. So i was not going to be defeated by a computer and took the learning sheets home by emailing them to myself and going through step by step on my home laptop on photoshop cs5 (rather than cs6 - what the university has installed but i am reassured that this is practically the same system!) It still hasn't been easy and has been harder without someone elses knowledge to steer me in the right direction but i have made one half drop repeat design. It is very basic but didn't want to 'run before i could walk' so with new drawings that i will make, and newimagery hopefully i will build up my confidence to produce more effective repeat prints. Photoshop is such a good skill to have, due to the complexity only few know how to use it. Most industry, companys and business who are in the design industry will make full use of its potential.

It's a combination of pegs and flowers! Part of my original drawings and new drawings made today. Tomorrow i am going to look into it's negative space as i have learnt that this is just as important as the subject matter itself.

 

Day 7 - 1950s floral inspiration.

After my flower drawing workshop with Nick on Monday i wanted to take these drawings further and develop them into prints (also following the photoshop induction on Monday!) All of this week i have been practising photoshop skills to make a successful repeat pattern. To gain inspiration i took to our nuca library and sourced some print books both (1-1950s fashion print by marnie fogg and 2-1950s floral graphics) on 1950s fashion/floral prints and what was popular in that time period. I found that the floral graphics was much more of use to me as it produced some great colour ways and a variety of repeat choices in there. Whereas 1950s fashion prints focused on areas of interest from the 1950s like domestics. This was more informative to me in learning about the history of the 1950s but didn't gain a huge inspiration from it. Here are some prints i found particularly interesting.

Day 8

Part of Les' talk this morning was about lateral thinking and sourcing inspiration from unlikely sources that can have even the slightest of impacts you. It could be a colour, it could be a question, it could have nothing to do with what you are doing as long as it ticks into your mind and allows it to relate to your theme in one way or another...

Love the cut out shapes, reminds me of one of my scissor drawings negative space.
Also contrasting repetitive prints.

Fendi Spring/Summer 2012.

metals-part of the objects i've looked at all contain mechanical parts like bolts, screws, nuts, springs and metal materials.

metal made feminine.

Day 9

Today has been a good day, a much better day than yesterday. I had a lecture first thing this morning that was held by Les (lesbicknell.blogspot.com) and his lectures he gives are a real mind blowing experience. He makes you think so deep into things that you even begin to think into things that you would have never though possible. After an eye opener of a talk, i took a very brave step into the oppostie building at university and stepped into the digital design room. Considering i am never in this building let alone in a computer room on my own, this was a step forward (literally!) and i learnt a few tips on photoshop like how to edit a dawing, how to adjust levels and how to make sure they are the standard of which is good to print onto acetate with. I got these straight into the print room ready to be put onto a screen of which i aim to do next week! Between this and 3pm i had spare time of which i put together 2 layers of kodatrace for another type of print, pat of this project is exploring all of the different types of repeat that print can offer, obviously the list is endless but i want to explore as many as i can as print is something i am very interested in learning about. I had my tutorial at the end of the day, and learnt that my strengths lie with my drawing and that i should continue to gain imagery from my drawing as this opens up so many options for me - print, stitch, repeats, digital art, illustration and acts as a source of inspiration. I also,after this caught our photoshopteacher who taught us more photoshop and for me clarified up all of the points i was obviosuly missing for why my repeats never repeated properly. I am pleased to say they are going well so far tonight and i feel much more confident and better about the project already this just proves to me that all my sleepless nights and negative thoughts stem from that fact that i was getting very stressed over the dreaded p word. I am going to continue makng repeats after i have posted this, i am very excited and motiated right now to explore more printing repeats. Here are some of mine so far...

I will definetley put more time into refining these but i was a bit excited over the fact that i have learnt how to repeat without a line showing, and how they repeat and not knowing what the actual repeat is.

Day 10 - from a repeat project to a norwich scarf.

I have been thinking today after my cad embroidery induction that i would like to have a natural transformation from my repeat project where i have been focusing on flowers,pegs,scissors and other 'mechanical' looking objects. Norwich to me was where i was born, and i would like to take this as my starting point - a birthing place - A people place where 132,000 people live in the Norwich City council area. I would like to investigate the transformation of birth to the working person that journey that they go on. Just like a flower starts as a bud in one persons home and blooms into a flower and is more of a concerntrated and controlled transformation.

Here are some images that i have found inspiring and are quite lateral and far off the target but can be used as starting points, colour palettes and techniques.

Paper sculptures made from tax returns and receipts.

Eunsuk Har.

Lasercut.

Tracey Kendall.
- a wallpaper designer/artist.

This piece of work interests me as this jigsaw wallpaper has been arranged in a way that you cannot ever tell what the image was. A jigsaw to me signifies different aspects of someones life, different events, chapters, people, history and experience. All of this makes that one person. Using something simple and perhaps 'child-like' in a professional and mature way supports my idea of going forward with idea from birth to adult and the idea of laser cutting - this is all very exciting!


Eunsak Hur.

Eunsuk Har is a textile graduate from central saint martins and is someone who interests me as part of the start of my new project of transformation in quite a mechanical and sculptural way. She uses sublimation printing onto wood, acid printing onto wool felt and etches into leather. She creates multi dimensional and directional pieces that can be worn by the user how they would like as a way of demonstrating her aim : "temporal identities and constantly transformative human nature".

Her collection is called the 'nomadic wonderland' and its purpose is decided by it's user and could be used for interior accessories or fashion.

I think that this artist suits my potential work well due to it's complex context and the fact that it comes with a meaning. It has been created on purpose, to inform the user and the viewer about a deep and meaningful issue. I also feel that laser cutting could be used in my work, as i am excited about our laser cutter induction that is soon approaching!

Artist Inspiration: Grayson Perry.

Grayson Perry.

"Over the Rainbow"

2001

As part of my contextual studies on Monday and as part of my learning from year 1 i learnt to take inspiration from not only textiles/fashion designers but from artists, architects, books/stories and everything else! Inspiration doesn't have to come from something that has already been done, but something that triggers something in your brain, to form your own unique ideas.
I have been online again looking for artist research (as part of my 5 internet research artists!). I remember looking at Graysons Perrys' work in A level and knew that he had focused on autibiographical/childhood events. His work doesn't appeal to me visually but his context is far more interesting for me. I like my work to have a strong sense of personailty i don't want to do it because i 'have to' but because each piece has a mini story, a small part of me, a thought about idea that has turned into something.
"In his work Perry reflects upon his upbringing as a boy, his stepfather's anger and the absence of proper guidance about male conduct. Perry's understanding of the roles in his family is portrayed in Using My Family, from 1998, where a teddy bear provides affection, and the contemporaneous The Guardians, which depicts his mother and stepfather.^"

"golden ghosts" - 2000.

In this Grayson has portrayed unhappy expressions on little girls faces contrasted with beautoful scenic landscapes. He has hidden meanings within each of his objects. The girl in the gold dress is of his alter ego Claire and is described as his 'coming out dress' mirroring the time of when he 'came out' within a period of his life. He has visually intepretated and displayed/documented his life through imagery.

"two children born on the same day"

1996.

 

In his work it is also very political on the saatchi gallery, i quote:
"Perry reveals ‘One of the reasons I dress up as a woman is my low self-esteem, to go with the image of women being seen as second class…It is like pottery: that’s seen as a second-class thing too’."

Also to link it back to my theme of childhood,although all of his vases are not of childhood scenes, they are revealing his feelings from when he was a child and going through different stages in his life. He is looking back and conveying personal emotions through art when in my opinion he feels that it is time and he is ready for his voice to be heard, something of which he may not of had.

Artist Insiration: Emma Lundgren.

 

Future Folklore print:

Emma Lundgren is a Sweden born fashion and textile designer and graduated with a first class honours textile degree from Central Saint Martins.
I particularly like her as she infuses her past (Sweden) with her present with contemporary London influences. Which is something i am going to try to achieve within my upcoming work.

She has used typical scandinavian design patterns like cross stitch and horses with a playful colourful twist so she provokes a feeling of the past and the future - typical design with contemporary colours.

I really like this piece as it is very geometric and routine but looking closely it is hard to tell were the repeat pattern starts and finishes and this is a aim that we have had with our recent repeat project. It has been very thought about to me it looks mathematical. I like her use of colours, she has broken up the background with a invisible line from red to white. The pattern of the broken square shapes helps with this transition. My eyes dart across the whole of the fabric due to the broken shapes however my eye is first drawn to the rythmic look of the statement flowers. To me this broken shapes that descend down the page is a way of translating visually that something has broken down, something has changed from it's original state. - Links to the idea of things change from past to present.

Emma Lundgren for Tokion Magazine.

"Blend past and future by constructing a future folklore hat for Tokion Magazine Reincarnation Issue 2009"

Emma Lundgren again has used the idea of past and future within her work but within sculpture this time. She has used old tablecloths, re-using materials with the combination of shiny new materials. Again she has used scandinavian design patterns with London culture colours and a feel to it. Her signature 'more is more' style is evident here.
I love the colours here they are primary colours. The use of primary colours to me is a way of exploring my childhood. I would use paint kits that came with blue, red, yellow and white/black paints. I first learnt how to mix paint with primary colours. Children are more alert to the boldness of primary colours.

This looks so intricate. this inspires me to go onto the laser cutter! She has used a new range of materials to me it looks like a type of rubber due to its scaly yet shiny texture. Rubber is versatile and very tactile to be able to move and bend and be manipulated like that.

Colour editorial:

These fashion headpieces are a exploration of narrative and identity. She has used a variety of techniques here, knitting is predominant but it looks as though she has used material manipulation amongst the technique pushing it forward and making it unique. Knitting to me is about the intertwiningof two materials coming together, again another reference to my concept of past and present coming together.