Evaluation

I have really enjoyed this unit. I feel like I started with a really strong concept that I was able to keep producing new and original visual research for. I have also enjoyed creating work without the restrictions of context to dictate my fabric decisions allowing to really focus on developing my aesthetic for my samples. Although I have enjoyed this freedom by designing a collection of samples, I feel like next unit it would be interesting to make a range of final products. It would be interesting to make some fashion or interiors products and see how that dictates what fabrics I use and the decision making process. I also feel like I have become more open-minded to seeing my work as exhibition pieces and really look forward to the opportunity to exhibit my work in two exhibitions. This is a direction I’ve never really considered before but I have enjoyed working this way. 
I really enjoyed producing a body of visual research, which is often something I struggle with so I’m glad I have improved in this area. I feel like all the work I have created is linked and has an obvious progression. 
Gawthorpe Hall has probably been my favourite part of this unit and I’m really proud of the samples I’ve produced. I think this is because I was reacting to visual stimulus as well as basing my work around a concept. I also just find textile archives absolutely fascinating so it was quite exciting to get to do a project on one. I hope to carry this project forward to unit X and hope my work is chosen by the curators at Gawthorpe. 
I also feel like next unit it would be really interesting to develop my darning technique. I think the old fashioned technique has so many variations and it would be interesting to see how far I could push it, perhaps changing the scale and experimenting with different materials. 
I would also like to expand my concept slightly to look more into the science behind how we see colours, the idea of chromophobia and I would like to do some research into colour forecasting. I feel like these would be appropriate steps forward and could lead to some really interesting projects. 

Colour Research

Having spent the summer doing drawings extracting colour from places I’d visited over the holidays, I was swapping visual research with a fellow art and design student who is colour blind. He told me he couldn’t see the colour purple. I was really taken aback by the idea of someone not being able to see an entire colour. So I started thinking about ways in which we as humans create colour and mix colours. He is blue/pink and green/red colour blind so it would make sense that he would struggle to see purple. After considering ways in which colour is made up on screens in pixels I decided I would see if there was a way to translate this effect into fabric. After exploring and looking deeply into woven fabric that use different colours for warps and wefts and how that can drastically change how a colour looks I decided to create some drawings:

I have thought about using lots of different materials for my drawings including inks, crayons and coloured papers for collage, however I feel these crayon and ink combination drawings are particularly successful. 

I think I’d like to experiment using the embellisher and couched down threads as well as experimenting with different hand stitch techniques such as needle weaving and kantha stitches.
I think it will be really interesting to see if I can recreate this different marks made by the different media I have used and whether I will be able to maintain the same level of optical illusion as I have managed to achieve in my drawings.

I really like the “grid” quality of my drawings and how this reflects woven cloth in my drawings and I think this is something I want to try and recreate in my embroidery.