An afternoon in Matlock

After a morning of discussing our self written briefs with academics, me and fellow students decided an inspirational and spontanous trip to Matlock was required to begin the project and enjoy the sunshine!
Fish and peas, ice cream and sunshine are the only way to enjoy our 'inland seaside'.
I photographed a number of natural shapes for early project inspiration, and a wonderful sunset once home.

Self written project

The final project of Year Two is a self written brief. It can be based on whatever you desire, however must be structured appropriately and requires approval from a lecturer.
As my brief has just gained approval I felt it would be appropriate to share it, and here it is!

Project Brief:

In this project I intend to look at natural forms for inspiration, with an aim to creating traditional inspired florals.

I want to use my own surroundings as starting inspiration for my collection, and as I am surrounded my countryside this is where I wish to take my inspiration from.

As I have a large garden I have copious amounts of photographs of my garden in every season, which makes basic observations simple. As spring turns to summer, I can also make first hand observations of the plants and wildlife around me.

In style I wish to take inspiration from William Morris and Sanderson’s, maintaining a traditional and somewhat archaic approach to interiors. As well William Morris’s style, his philosophy and morals of design also interest me, and I wish to research these further and apply them to my work in some degree. Modern designers who interest me include Robert Kime and Bennison. Their designs appear rich and sophisticated and are strong examples of what many people desire from their homes and interiors. Both of these companies promote the use of hand techniques and authentic dyestuffs, as well as British manufacturing.

When considering the techniques I want to focus on in this project, I wish to put to use my recently acquired knowledge of printing large scale repeats. I also wish to print repeats in up to 7 colours and at official furnishing width dimensions. This skill will be useful to practice and master as I want to print 3metre lengths for my degree show, not small swatches, therefore practicing this now and the skills it requires will be useful.

I intend to use natural fibres within my work and attempt to keep to a natural colour palette. I would like to experiment with traditional dyes using mordants and natural colourants, however, as many of the mordants are chemically harmful and cause more harm to the environment than other synthetic dyestuffs I will use safe products and attempt to replicate natural results.

I will not do any digital printing during this project, as I want to focus on the merits of hands on processes and traditional techniques, as well as designs.

Using the Jacquard loom is also a feasible way of interpreting my designs, as Morris was known for his weaves as much as his prints, so creating woven fabrics with natural motifs is also an aspect I wish to explore within this project.

My final fabric collection is intended for use in interiors, specifically soft furnishings, but could easily be translated into wallpaper also.

When considering my target market I want my collection to appeal to mature individuals who appreciate high end products and top quality. The idea behind the fabrics is possibly restoration work and to replace damaged original fabrics.

Bradford Textiles 2011

Today was the deadline for submitting my entries for the Bradford Textiles Society competition once again. So after an extensive period of long hours and hard graft the time has finally arrived to breathe a sigh of relief and submit my work. Here are a few of the boards I chose to enter featuring work from my current project:

Fashion Illustrations

As well as photographic visualisations using a model, I also decided to use fashion illustrations to illustrate my scarves. I used the ink templates created sevral months ago as a basis for my illustrations, and editied elements. I considered how I wanted fabrics I had already created, including devore and digital prints, to be used. Some examples can be seen below:

Scarves

As the project draws to a close I have taken the oppertunity to photograph my digital mimaki prints as scarves, kindly Modled by Natalie Cole, some of the best images can be seen below:

Brownie Break

Between university work I managed to squeeze in a little time to bake, for the first time in many years. I decided to make a cookie brownie to take into university and share amongst friends, and I think we all enjoyed it with a nice cup of tea.
Here are a few snaps of the brownie fresh out of the oven:

Scarf Designs

Based on my studies of insects and spiders I began to create designs suitable for printing on the Mimaki. I plan for the designs to be printed as disperse and transered onto sheer fabrics to create scarves. Some of the designs feature Wasp mimicing insects such as moths and beetles, however my favourite design features a swarm of stag beetles.