Notes on My Tutor Report - Assignment 4

The overall comments were generally positive reassuring me that it's fine to be nervous and find the artistic process a little strange still, also that often struggling has a positive outcome long term.


Things to Think About

The woven sample of two pictures could be used to create a painting or patchwork.
My sketchbook needs to be less like a scrapbook and contain more actual drawings and thoughts of my own.
My theme book needs to contain more drawings so that the blank space is filled.
Notes that my preferred images are quite sculptural, do the vintage fabric designs I like have a 3D quality.
Use books more for research than the internet as it can provide biased information.


Things to Read Around

The braid makers workshop at The knitting and stitching show.
The british tapestry group.
Moore, Piper and Sutherland and Tracey Emin.
Cathy de Monchaux.
Mandy Pattullo.

Next assignment due January 2014.

Pointers for assignment-

• How am i going to make my love of vintage fabrics and clothes work for a starting point for designing a textile piece.
• Will I be doing a 2d or 3d item, will it be practical or decorative? 

Assignment 4 - Links to online source material.

Online Themebook Sources : http://www.pinterest.com/darlingsvintage/theme-book/

Online Sketchbook Sources: http://www.pinterest.com/darlingsvintage/sketchy/

Assignment Four - Reflective Commentary

Demonstration Of Technical and Visual Skills

I think I managed to demonstrate good technical and visual skills during this part of the course using a wide range of materials and really making sure I tried all the techniques in as many ways as I could. Although it took much longer I'm glad I spent the extra time as I feel I've learnt a great deal. My final sample shows I am able to convert one form of artwork in to another and I'm quite pleased with the outcome. I enjoyed working within a wire structure earlier in the course but found myself wanting to make it in to a piece that had meaning and not just something created on instinct. 

Quality Of Outcome 

I think the quality of my work does tend to vary a lot and although I'm happy with my final sample I wasn't happy with the triangular wire structure I made. Although it met the criteria it just felt messy and too small. Generally though I think the presentation of my work has improved and I feel much happier sending it off.

Demonstration Of Creativity

I think the demonstration of my creativity has been quite weak through this part of the course. I felt that the project was quite exercise based and aimed to teach the techniques and didn't give a great deal of room to use my personal voice to create a piece. Although I was imaginative with the samples I produced when I started weaving I think it's difficult to see my personal voice in the work I produced. 

Context

On reflection I am happy with the work I've produced. I am unhappy that it took so long but I think I'd rather take longer and produce good , well thought out and properly researched pieces than something rushed. There are still lots of areas for me to improve on but I look forward to working with weaving more and I think it has given me plenty of original ideas for my final piece. 

Stage 4 - A final Sample

I decided to base my final piece around this piece by Monet simply because I liked the combination of colours. After a bit of fiddling with paint and crayons I decided to focus on the far right of the picture and just use a very small section as the source as I felt it worked better that way. Below is my final piece with the yarn winding and my colour planning. I carried the plan everywhere with my and ended up finishing the sample on a train to Edinburgh, hence the coffee stains! 

Did you have enough variety in your collection of yarns and other materials? Which kind of yarns etc did you use the most? How do their characteristics affect the look and feel of each sample? 

I think by the end of this part of the course I had collected enough yarns and materials to use for weaving and was no longer particularly limited by it. I personally preferred to just use standard weight yarn in a variety of different colours. I also used a lot of embroidery floss. I did find that I preferred the thinner yarns as they concealed the warp better where as thicker ones left is exposed. I really liked playing with the rug making techniques and loved the way the outcome felt. I can see myself using that again. 

How did you find weaving in comparison to the other techniques you've tried? Did you find it slow or too limiting?

At first I found it frustrating and slow but as I did more I found my own way of working and got much quicker. I really didn't think I would enjoy it but it may be my favourite technique so far! I don't think there are many limitations and I'd like to try combining it with other disciplines such as stitch and printing to create more unusual effects. 

How do you feel about your finished sample? Are you happy with the relationship of textures proportions colour and pattern to the finished size? Is there any part that you would want to change? If so try to identify how and why you would change it?

I'm actually rather happy with my finished sample. I really like the way it looks. I spent most of my time concentrating on colour and proportion. I chose a small section from the right hand side of the painting on and think the result was quite good. However I think there is far too much brown in my sample than in the painting. 

The piece isn't perfect but it's the first piece of work I've produced so far that I really like and feel happy with so I don't think I would change anything. It may be interesting though to reproduce the sample but to block all the colours together instead of alternating and focus on using more textual yarns. 

Was there any stage in the whole design process that you felt went wrong? How would you tackle this process differently another time?

I actually liked the way the design process was so thought out and planned. It meant that the work turned out pretty much as I had expected which is not often the case with printing and other such techniques. I think next time I should use a loom bigger than I think I need so that I have extra space. I found that i was very conscious of getting close to the end and needing to keep the work exactly as I had planned instead of doing what felt instinctive. 

Which did you enjoy more- working from the source material or putting colours together intuitively?

I actually really enjoyed both for different reasons. I think putting together colours intuitively was very helpful for the final sample but I do like to create something that is something as opposed to just a random piece. For this reason I think I prefer working from source material. I look forward to creating less abstract weaving work in the future. 

Project 9- Stage 2 - Excercise 3

I was a little cheeky when I started this part of the course and read ahead as I knew I needed to be speedy having lost so much time faffing earlier on. So i decided to try and incorporate this exercise in to the others as much as possible. I think given the time I spent on the other 3 samples I haven't lost anything and will make sure to produce a small sample trialling any techniques before I start the main piece of work.

Below are the samples I produced.

Project 9 - Woven Structures - Stage 1 & 2

I decided early on to buy a loom from eBay and managed to find a pretty cheap vintage style children's loom. The instructions were terrible so I warped it up totally wrong the first time I used it but it didn't seem to make much difference to my sample.

I did also buy a larger frame and warped it up the traditional way as instructed by the course. I found this really frustrating as all the yarn kept shifting, then getting knotted, then the tension wasn't right. It took ages and my sample didn't really end up any larger than on the childrens' loom. I am glad I tried though as if I want to create a larger piece ever at least I have had a go.

I started just by different coloured wool in to the warp until I felt comfortable with the technique. At first I made it all much too tight. When I felt comfortable I started experimenting with other materials such as pipe cleaners, string and different weights of yarn.

After this I produced a second sample to learn some of the more complicated techniques. This included sumac , curved wefts and knotting. I particularly enjoyed the knotting and the tuftyness it left.

I was advised by my tutor to buy Joanne Soroka's book on weaving and I must say it was immensely helpful and I found it contained more information than the notes. It was also really nice to see where weaving could lead and the types of work it could produce further down the line. I really did think I was going to hate it but I surprised myself and kept being inspired by lots of things and had a great idea for a final project to do with fireworks.

Overall though I've been pleased with the work Ive produced so far in this part of the weaving section.

Project 8 - Stage 2 - Exercise 3 & 4

Did you enjoy inventing constructed surfaces? Were you suprised at the results? Can you see a connection between your choice of materials and the types of structures you made? Regular irregular small or large scale. Which samples worked best and why?

I enjoyed inventing constructed surfaces much more than I thought I would at first. I especially liked making the braids. I found it rewarding to watch the patterns emerge and once I'd got the hang of it It was quite a quick process. I did find myself being surprised by how a simple plait could produce something actually quite interesting. However other times work I thought would be interesting just ended up as a knotted mess of materials. 

I tried not to think too much about giving the work a theme as I didn't want to box in my creativity and I just tried to go with it but I think for smaller structures I used smaller thinner materials where as in the larger pieces I had more freedom and not worry about clogging up the work. 

I personally enjoyed working on a larger scale as I did with the final grid. Although I didn't weave in to it much I just enjoyed the chunkier structure and felt that I could then add smaller details where necessary essentially giving me the freedom to work with all my materials. In the smaller piece I didn't have this option as it was too small and fiddly to work the open space.

How accurate were you in matching all the colours in your post card: 

with paints?

I thought I did quite a good job matching the colours with the paint. I selected a small area of the bird so that I didn't have too many colours to choose from.

with yarns/ other materials?

With yarns I thought I did the best I could given the limited supplies I had when I did this part of the work. Looking back though I still don't think the matches were terrible.

Project 8 - Stage 2 - Exercise 2

I was really determined to exhaust all the methods this exercise wanted me to so that I had some good samples for future reference.

I decided to start by producing a group of braids made from 2, 3 and 4 strands so I could see how they looked and make sure I had mastered each method. I chose 4 different materials , a thick jersey, twine, a thin wool and a 1" ribbon.

I gave up with the wool after attempting one, four strand braid. It was extremely time- consuming and fiddly and the results were poor in my opinion as the detail was so tiny. It might be better though when using a mixture of different colours. I much preferred working with the chunkier materials.

The samples I produced gave a good variety of surface quality and for this reason I went on to use the same materials to test contrasting textures. I tested them using a flat four strand braid. I really liked the way the thinner yarns looked like a cage round the thicker fabrics. My favourite was the jersey and ribbon braid. I loved the combination of colours, textures and the pattern it created.

n.b. I always started with the same colour strand on the outside if alternated a different pattern would be produced.

Project 8 - Stage 1

I think this part was originally the most difficult for me as I live in an area where you can not get scraps for free from any of the textiles shops, the wool supplies in the charity shops are also extremely scarce. When I'd decided to start again I went out and bought every type of material I could get my hands on.

I discovered that pound land is great and they stock a really good selection of acrylic wools. I then had to go to hobby craft and bought a multipack of 104 different embroidery threads and lots of weights and types of wool. It was an expensive trip but I found the first time I tried this project that not having the right colours was a real disadvantage. It also made it look like I couldn't match colours properly which was the whole point of the colour analysis exercise.

I now just need to make sure I put it all to good use and I must not forget that I should use my fabric scraps from earlier in the course too.

Project 8 - Starting Again

Having already attempted to work through this part of the project I found myself becoming increasingly frustrated with my work and disappointed with my results. I then became increasingly stressed as the deadline date approached and I was no further along. I was becoming more and more tempted to rush work and to say it was "good enough" yet when I looked at other peoples learning logs in an attempt to inspire myself I just found myself feeling even more downhearted. I really needed to break this cycle so I contacted my tutor who is always extremely helpful and supportive.

After a break I decided to go back to the beginning of this project and start again completely. I really want to focus on producing quality work and making sure I really use the exercises to try all the methods I can so that I have a good set of resources to build on further along in the course. I think it's important to do a great deal of experimentation now so that I don't have to do it all again in the next module.

A positive thing to come out of this is that while frustrated I found it very therapeutic to collect source material for my theme book and work freely in my sketchbook. I have previously struggled with this area of work and so it's nice to see the improvement. I think it will also put me in a good position when I come to start my final project. 

Assignment 3- Thoughts on my report

I'm glad that Trisha (my tutor) thinks I'm beginning to get the hang of the design process and I think it's very fair to say that I need to start to become experimental. I'm still finding it difficult to not to restrict myself in my work. I'm so used to disciplines being separate so sewing paper on to fabric seems very alien to me. I realise how important it is for me to start looking at areas beyond the vintage scene. I think that because this area is of such great interest to me and because it inspires me creatively I've stuck to it. In order to move my work forward though I must make a conscious decision to focus on other areas, especially as my theme book is based on vintage/antique textiles. Overall though I'm pleased that there has been some improvement and glad I've been given such supportive yet focused aid. 

I've picked out three paragraphs from my report all which make a different point and provide information to help me move forward. I thought It would be good to put them in my log book so when I'm stuck in the future or need to progress a piece further I can come back and use this advice. I think in future I need to really take the time to go through my report like I have done here so I can get the full benefits. Up till now I don't think I have made good use of my tutor and the other support made available on this course. 

Trisha's Notes: 

"One tip for selecting which drawings to work from is to look at them in a mirror, either on the wall or a small handbag one, or even through a camera lense. This often removes the work one step, so you can look at it with more of an objective eye, it feels less like yours and you tend to worry less. Look for strong lines, good movement, sections of colours you’re drawn to – either focus in with the camera if you can, or use a frame made from card or even a small picture frame. Isolate sections you like and work from those, so that you really bring out the qualities that are important to you." 

"Unless the piece is meant to be functional, you can try working big stitches in bold, thick threads as a decorative element – maybe with contrasting thread. Bondaweb the fabric first if you wish, also try a big running stitch some way from the edges. Experiment with other stitches as well and just see what happens. Another element, which might make it more interesting for you, is to work with a wider range of materials. As I’ve mentioned before, start now to incorporate papers, plastics and other materials in your work. Layer them up, overlap and so on and have fun.  Don’t worry about making acceptable looking samples to send in – you don’t even have to like all the effects, just try and see what happens.  Experimenting with different materials is an important part of degree level work, so I urge you to start trying some soon. I do think you will enjoy working this way too. "

"Try tearing fabrics, slashing with scissors or a fabric unpicker or knife, try different fabrics again. Try slashing through plastic sheeting, different types of paper – magazines, newspaper, whatever you can find. Fray different fabrics, thick ones, thin ones, and loosely woven or tight weaves. Quilt fabrics, plastic and papers and see what happens. Try different things as “wadding” from conventional quilt wadding to tightly screwn paper. Stuff with buttons, tap washers, things you find around the kitchen or garden. Moulding fabric around bottles is always good fun, use PVA glue from the supermarket or bargain bookshop.  This level of work is all about experimenting like this. You will find that personal voice partly through drawing (and that is coming along) but also through doing lots and lots of experimenting with materials and techniques. I cannot say this enough. "

Further Reading-

1) HYPERLINK http://www.kapitza.com www.kapitza.com – have a look its fantastic and their new book called Organic is wonderful. The bird feather pattern reminds me of some of their designs. 

2)Have a look at Artists' Textiles 1940-1976 a wonderful book, not long out with lots of novelty and other prints for fashion and furnishing. I’m sure a search will find lots of other books. 

3)Floral Frocks if you can get hold of it is good background material. 

4)Marnie Fogg has written some books not to be missed about fashion prints from various eras too. 

5)Tapestry Weaving, by Joanna Soroka would be a great help to the next module. 

6) Craft Council Website.

7) Kimono design

Notes to myself- 

Ebay, charity shops and freecycle/preloved for fabric. Also try Whaleys of Yorkshire. 
Look at crafts council for textile makers near me.
Look for art shows close by and GO !!!