Feature On DeAvenue

Not long after the Stew Exhibit I received an email from a lady called Rosemary Ogun who contacted me and asked if I would liked to featured on her website called DeAvenue within the gallery section where she shows up and coming designers work. I felt very honoured to be asked and felt it was a great oppurtunity to get my work seen by a larger audience.

Here is screenshots of my work featured on the DeAvenue:

http://deavenue.co.uk/the-gallery-6/

Final Day In The Print Room

On Monday I spent the day In the print room, I took the opportunity to work in to my black and white scarf which I cut up to make 3 samples which Nick advised. I planned the 3 samples, the first I decided to work into with dots and more discharge keeping the idea of a black and white sample.

I really like how this turned out, my plan for after the hand in is to create a new black and white scarf using the idea of this sample. I plan to create the scarf using only circular motifs using the processes of printing with procaine dyes ( navy black and intense black) the using discharge and devore overlaying dots and circles of different scales, I think this will create a really exciting design.

Next I worked into a longer sample which I cut from the scarf, I decided to work into this sample using discharge in both clear and pink which I used on a previous velvet sample. I did this as I wanted to add a pop of colour as that is a current trend of black and white with a dash of a vivd colour. 

I think this worked well, but I prefer the previous sample. I think sections of this sample have worked well, I really like the contrast of the clear and pink discharge against the black procaine background, If I get chosen for new designers this is something I may develop.

The final sample I worked into from the black and white scarf I decided to try working with a floral motif. I once agin used discharge in both clear and pink to create the finished look. I am really pleased with the finished look of this sample, I think that this back ground of geometric shapes works well as a contrast against the floral imagery. 

I really like the layering of the different colours and shapes upon this sample. In particular the 2 tonnes of pink with the devore sections appearing darker. 

Finally I worked into my velvet scarf trying to fix the mistakes that occured while in the print room on thursday last week. I spoke to Yasmine the print technician and she suggested that I paint over the discharge using the direct black dye which I used to dye the velvet in the first place. This worked really well and covered the mistake the best it could have done. Next I printed on top of the devore thistle with the detail of the thistles. I used a discharge paste with a pink dye with the strength of the discharge eating away at the colour but this make the colour of the clear discharge more dull and more suitable to the effect I wanted to create. 

Considering the amount of issues I had with this scarf I am really pleased with the finished effect. I am going to hand it in for assessment I may print a new scarf it will depend on the feedback I get from tutors as to wether I print a new one or not. 

Scarves In Context

Over the weekend I decided to take some images of my scarves being worn, I wanted to get a visual of how they would look when worn. I used my self as a model taking selfies of me wearing the scarves, I also took some images of my brother wearing my Black and white scarf as I wanted to suggest that some of my scarves could be unisex.

Practicing For The Degree Show

Before hand in on Friday I wanted to have a practice and an experiment of ideas for hanging my work for the Degree Show. I wanted to do this as I am unsure as to when we will get are work back from hand in and I worried that I wouldn't have the opportunity to work my ideas out.

I used fishing wire and bull dog clips to suspend my scarves from the ceiling, draping them from different heights. My hope was to show contrast between fabric, patterns and colours.
Here are some images of the effects I was able to create:

This took me a lot longer to do than I first anticipated, it also was more difficult to drape the scarves than I first thought. I am glad that I tried this out before the day of the hanging. In my plan I also stated that I would use frames as well to get the viewer to focus on a section of the scarves, this however I have yet to experiment with. 

Something which I feel was particularly successful was the draping of the devore scarves, I really like the way you can seeing the pattern of the other scarves behind creating a really interesting visual.

With this being my first experiment I am pleased with how this went, After hand in when I get my scarves back I will practice again so that when I have to hang the work for the show I will be prepared.

Creating Final Mood Boards

Over the weekend I worked On creating Final mood boards for each of my collections. On each board I aimed to show Inspiration for both colour and pattern, initial drawings and print designs followed by the scanned photos I took inspired by Sue Foster and final context Images with my designs seen as fashion Outcomes.

I planned these boards first On the computer, I set myself the task of choosing between 13-15 images per board at A5 size. I found that this structure allowed me to focus on only showing images which really explain to the viewer my journey through each project.

I still need to come up with names for the 3 collections which I am finding harder than I first thought it would be.
Here are the 3 Final boards which I created:

I kept the format of the three boards the same as I wanted to keep uniformity and the boards to flow from one to another. I really like the black and white boards I feel all the imagery works well together and the final appearance of the board is very eye catching. I plan to add titles to these boards and maybe colour palettes, just to give a finished effect. 

Print Room Thursday

Yesterday I spent 9 hours in the print room trying to finish off all my samples fro hand in next Friday. The day started well, I began by printing the edge of my velvet scarf using pink discharge dye. I used a screen which I created in Ba7 of spots which I used to foil the edge of my shift dress.

I did this first as I knew it would need to be steamed and washed before I could get on with the rest of the design. When I got it out the steamer I was disappointed with the colour of the discharge as it was more fluro pink than when I had previously used it.

While that was in the steamer I got on with devore printing my final samples using the new screen design I created last week.

I was really pleased with how these turned out, in particular the thistle print I feel has been very successful with the different colours and textures working well together to create a finished design. My plan for these finished samples is to show them in context using bias binding and pleating. 

I also worked into one of the A3 wool samples I had printed. The design was one I made for the first part of BA8 but I never got round to working into it the way I had planned. 

Here I have foiled the dashes of the design i think this has worked successful and I am glad that I finally got round to creating the effect I have been planning to do for months.

Once I had done this the scarf was out of the steamer and I got to work devore printing the block thistle pattern from the velvet. 

When I was burning this off I thought that a section hadn't worked and I was right, due to the rush in time because of my bus this put me into panic mode. In my haste I painted devore on the section that hadn't worked and somehow I got discharge on a section I didn't want it on ( I have no clue how it got on there). So when I heat pressed the devore the discharge took the colour from both an edge and the centre of the design ruining it. I was so gutted and felt like I had wasted my days work. 

The Images show the discharge mistakes.

Thanks to my friends and Yasmine the technician in the print room Yesterday, they helped me think logically and suggested I book in the print room for Monday had there had been a cancellation and A free spot. I did this and have booked in the dye lab as well. I will either try to fix the issues on the above scarf by re dying it and more devore and then printing the planned layers of discharge on top or I will start agin completely and dye and print a whole new scarf. 

In the words of Tim Gun from Project Runway "Im going to have a make it work moment!!"

Scanning Fabric - Sue Foster Inspired

A couple of weeks ago we had a lecture with designer Sue Foster, in which she spoke about the importance of photographing work so it becomes a record for you to reference and is accessible if some one wants an image of your work e.g. applying for a job or an article is being written about you.  Sue had some really interesting ideas for Photographing work one was using a scanner. I really liked this idea and decided to try it out my self.

To create a scanned photograph of her work Sue placed her pieces on the scanner than laid a piece of black cloth on top of her piece replacing the scanner lid. The effects she created was really interesting with shadows and distortion of fabrics. Here are my attempts using her concept:

Some have worked better than others but, I feel that the looks created are really interesting and this is defiantly something I will continue to use as a way of photographing my work. I am going to add these image to my website as well under my Ba 8 project.