Degree Show 2015: Reflection and Analysis

Holly Jane Dixon :

I draw comparisons between mine and Holly's work because of the way she has taken something black and white and injected colour into it. This is also how I like to work. She is mainly a print based student but she seems to enjoy producing samples of fabric that are constructed. The samples themselves are not constructed for practical purposes but they could easily be bought and used for inspiration by a production team. I think this is the kind of thing I'm very interested in producing, one off pieces that could be sold to a design company to then alter for their own purposes. 

Mariam Nadeem:

I feel this work connects to my own because of the combination of processes. I enjoy combining and contrasting hand and machine processes in the same way Mariam has combined hand printed and digital processes. I think this way of working is more suited to a "one off sample" context as obviously hand processes can be very time consuming and tricky to replicate.

Eden Lysette Blaber:

Although Eden's work has a decided context (fashion), I feel it bares a lot of similarity with my own work in terms of originality, she has produced work that is confident and different. I also feel her work is quite experimental which has lead to very considered composition which is how I aim to work. 

I have found looking at degree show work very useful in reflecting on my own practice especially in terms of how I should present my work and making sure my intended context is obvious. However I am very interested in achieving full artist self sufficiency from fibre to fabric so I will have to consider very carefully how I might present this at the end of the year. 

Reflections

This project has seemed backwards from our usual units. We had to come up with a context before we started sampling. I did not find this useful, because although I made the decision to make scarves I feel the work I produced equally fits an interior context as shown here:

I feel this way of working does not suit me very well because I feel like the fabric I create is more just a design to be bought and for the individual to decide its purpose, so assigning my ideas a product felt strange and limiting.

However deciding a final context did help some of the decision making such as materials and in terms of keeping the length of time each scarf took to make down, in consideration of keeping costs of labour reasonable and the overall price. Also choosing a “high end/designer” context helped me refine my fabric choices and to inform my scarf designs forcing them to have simplicity.  

I enjoyed doing visual research and allowed it to fully inform decisions such as fabric and techniques used. I found myself feeling more confident with this element of the unit than I have done previously and look forward to practising it over summer. I enjoyed the activities that allowed us to meet new people and see a variety of work, as I have mentioned in earlier posts, had I done these maybe a few weeks before having to make the decision of whether to collaborate, I think I would have done and enjoyed doing so. As for tutorials and feedback, I felt I was challenged as an embroidery student with little to no contact with even a textiles tutor, or other embroidery students during tutorials. However this did not deter me from taking part in feedback sessions and attempting to give feedback on things I felt I knew little about. It was nice that 3D and graphics students asked my opinion on their products as a fresh pair of eyes to their work and the processes available to them.  Finally I really enjoyed the experience of putting up the exhibition at the Federation House, helping people decide the best way to present their work and coming up with creative solutions to achieve that.

I feel I have developed massively in terms of contextual understanding, taking time to refine my use of colour (which would otherwise been much more eclectic) to suit the style of the high end/designer shop as well as making sure I use high quality fabrics. I feel like I better understand the importance of dying fabrics myself instead of using shop bought, which also comes from the desire to create a high quality/designer product.

My primary motivation for decision making was my visual research, when it came to making decisions about refining my work I was then motivated by my context. I also feel I considered the three words “personal, intelligent and playful” given to us in the brief as well as the idea of “limited edition”.

I am pleased with the choices I made regarding my materials and processes, they made excellent functional products. If I had more time and money I would like to have expanded my selection of designs that played with scale. Also I would have liked to develop a label or packaging for my product. Although my digital skills have improved since last unit, I feel designing packaging for myself would have been difficult in the time limit.

In the future I will be more confident in creating a final product in order to visualise a context but intend to take full advantage of sampling during future projects. I would also like to collaborate in future projects and might do so in order to brand myself.

Investigations

After some reflection over Easter and doing some samples, I have decided my product should be a scarf. I have produced some hand and machine samples using fabrics and embellishments suitable for this context.

Here I have hand sewn beads arranged so that they best represent "Plato's Disco" and it's shadow. I like this sample because of the heavy weight of the beads against the light Dupion silk fabric and the way this would affect the drape of a scarf:

This sample is cotton threads sewn down on water soluble fabric which I have then sewn 2/16 ply yarns across the empty spaces. Although I love this sample, the stitching is too heavyweight for use on a scarf and I fear if I were to try with less stitching it would not hold it's structure:

This a combination of the thicker 2/16 ply yarns and the variegated threads delicately stitched on the Irish machine. This creates a very bold impact and I think I will use to embellish the end of my scarves:

This sample is a variation on traditional kantha stitch using colour change thread to create diamond shapes:

Finally this is hand dyed patches of light cotton that I have sewn with contrasting grey thread using blanket stitch on the PFAFF machine:

A lot of the samples I have done produce a messy back so I did some embroidered scarf research to see how others have tackled this issue. I found Siobhan O’Brien, I really like her embroidered scarves.

Here she has used different coloured panels to make a double sided patchwork scarf.

So I have decided to make double sided scarves made up of patchwork panels, I need to buy my fabrics (I have decided on silk linen and dupion silk) and then cut these up into patches to be dyed separately both tonal greys and one side of a scarf to be brighter colours. I then need to get in the machine rooms and construct each side, embroider each side and then finally sew the scarves together.

After doing a narrative workshop with Alice Kettle I have realised how much more value is added to an object if it has a strong narrative. If I were to make packaging I would tell the story of my scarves, where they took their inspiration and the processes I have used to make them.

This workshop also taught me the benefits of collaboration. It was fun and interesting seeing what was inspired in other people’s minds by the objects we were given.

So far all of my tutorials have been with 3D tutors and predominantly 3D students. This has proven very interesting in terms of the kinds of suggestion I've got from them that seem focused on things like the final product and garment structure as apposed to advice concerning techniques, suggesting materials, sampling and alternatives to finished products. This focus is a new perspective and I think it's motivating me to produce a different kind of work.  



Research

I enjoyed our visit to the Whitworth and finding out more of what this brief is all about. I have chosen to do visual research based on the contrast of colour and tonal greys at the Whitworth. I have done this by picking out colours from pieces of work in the gallery, my favorite being "Plato's Disco". For my tonal greys, I have done drawings of the floor and from sections of paintings.

This is some of my visual research:

I intend to combine the colourful elements of my drawings with the tonal greys whilst sampling so I can get an idea of the best proportions for effective colour contrasts. I would like to experiment with a combination of kantha hand stitch, bead work and machine free motion machine embroidery. It will also be interesting to experiment with different weights and textures of fabrics too.
I am not yet sure which of the two shops I would like to create a product for, I feel like the children’s shop would be most suited to my intense colour use, but it might be nice to try and refine that and make something for the high end shop.


I think I would like to design either a scarf for the high end shop, fabric for a patchwork fat quarter pack for the high end shop or maybe a patchwork kit designed for the kids shop. If I choose to make a scarf I will need to make some decisions about whether it will be an evening dress scarf or a warm practical scarf. If I choose to make a pack of Whitworth fabric fat quarters for quilting, I will need to choose a lightweight but reasonably strong and durable fabric and will need to think about placement of stitching in terms of avoiding breakages in stitch work if the customer wanted to cut the fabric to size.  For the patchwork kit for kids I’d have to consider packaging and an instruction booklet for it to be successful.

I have enjoyed presenting myself to others with the intention of perhaps collaborating, which I don’t think I will end up doing, but it was a really good exercise and has made me more enthusiastic about the idea of collaborating in the future. I enjoyed the feedback back session and giving feedback to other students however didn’t feel the benefit due to the stark contrast in the way we are used to presenting our visual research and ideas on the textiles course opposed to those who do 3D or Graphics.



  

Evaluation

I have enjoyed this unit, getting to work on two projects with ultimate freedom for the basis of both has been very satisfying. This is the final product of my Apron Brief:

I am pretty pleased with how this turned out, I was pleased with my work on Photoshop work and my hand and machine embroidery. However after my last tutorial I would like to have organised my colour better and given my different techniques of colour work some space so that it could be fully appreciated, as it stands I feel it is a bit eclectic.

I also feel I could improve my garment construction skills, it might have been nice to try and use a more complex edging. Overall I am pleased with the outcome and with the knowledge of how to improve.

I have also enjoyed my self initiated brief, creating samples that are more refined with a very specific context has been a good experience and made me more considerate of my fabrics and processes.
If I had more time I'd like to have produced bigger samples or even a final costume piece and experimented more with different materials that would be appropriate for a carnival costume.

This unit I have also enjoyed the networking element, arranging work experience with Emily Wood at Cabasa Carnival arts as well as collaborating with a graphic design student on a branding project, which I feel will help in unit X for the Limited Editions brief.

Final Week

After my tutorial this week, although I have already completed my apron, I found the feedback about my colour use very inspiring and so I have decided to produce a developed sample to show how I would improve my apron if I were to do it again.
I decided to try and refine my proportions and use plain space strategically to help draw your eye to the most interesting parts of my work and altering the background colour to help enhance my colour palette. I also decided to experiment with ink painted linen, which I found really added texture and an extra dimension to the colours I was using.

I have looked at the work of Sonia Delaunay to help me with colour proportions http://soniadelaunay.fr/collections


I also tried to produce some more samples for my Self Initiated project that were more defined as fiery feathers.

Self Initiated Brief

This week I have been focusing on my Self Initiated Brief, I have chosen to create samples for a carnival costume context. Having done some contextual research, I have considered the fabrics I'm going to use such as bright colours, metallic and sparkly threads, materials reminiscent of feathers.

These are some of the samples I have made in response to the idea of a phoenix costume for carnival.

Using the embellisher and colourful rovings, I have tried to create a soft feathery sample, on top of a sparkly, light weight silk.

For this sample I wanted to create something a little more patterned and detailed. Although in this formation it looks a bit floral, I think if the pattern was repeated or separated into individual feathers, it would look more phoenix like. Despite this, I am really pleased with my colour mixing and how effectively I have created a fabric purely from stitch using water soluble backing.

Finally with this sample I have tried to combine the featheriness of a Phoenix with the bright colours and flare of a carnival costume, using ribbons and the embellisher to achieve this: