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.

Group Tutorial

On Tuesday I had a group tutorial with Nick in this, Showed my edged scarves which nick said where looking good, I have to say I was worried that the edging wasn't at a high enough standard as I had done it myself.
I asked for advice from Nick and my fellow students in regards to one of my scarves as I had an accident with some devore going in a place I didn't want it, it was suggested that I rectify the mistake by turning it into  pattern of triangles at the edge of my scarf. I though this was a really good idea so I went ahead and hand painted devore triangles onto the edge of the scarf.

nick also told me to cut up my Black and white hand printed scarf as sadly a few things had gone wrong on it. So I am planning to cut the scarf up and make samples out of it which I am going to work into on Monday while in the print room. I still want to do a hand printed scarf for the degree show but I think due to time I will have to do this after hand in.

Putting Designs In Context

After my Individual tutorial with Nick last Tuesday I have been working to put my new designs into various fashion contexts which Nick suggested I do. To do this I took images of models wearing garments from asos and then using photoshop I put my patterns upon some of the garments creating skirts, blouses dresses, trousers and jumpsuits with my patterns on.

I was really pleased with how these turned out, I really enjoy seeing my designs in context like this. I feel my designs work well for the context of fashion. I feel that some of my designs are more versatile than others. I feel the geometric designs could work well for a context of stationary as well, being sold somewhere possible like paperchase. 

Edging Scarves

Over the weekend I began to edge my scarves, I roll hemmed the silk scarves and frayed the large wool scarf.  On average the silk scarves took me 3 hours each to hem and the wool took me 5 hours, this was due to fact it hand not being printed on the fabric straight so I had to keep stopping and starting the thread I was fraying to prevent the design In the centre becoming part of the frayed edge. Despite this I am really pleased with how the edging has gone. I still have at least another 2 Silk scarves to edge and possible another silk and velvet but that will depend how the hand printed design turn out.

A1 Collaging

On Sunday I decided to develop my Geometric collaging out of my sketchbook on a larger scale. After my group tutorial with Nick a couple of weeks ago, In which he said to continue to develop my new style of geometric designs, I decided to do this with scale.

To create the collage I used all the old print out of my work I had left, including some of the collages I Created for the Stew exhibit but didn't show at the exhibition. I also used stickers and felt tips to help create the finished look.

I began by creating larger motifs which I could then work around with smaller shapes and lines.

I then turned the collage I so I working at a different view point, this allowed me to make sure the collage flowed.

this shows the mess I made while creating the collage I used a large amount of equipment. 

This is the finished collage, in total it took me 3 hours to create. I am really pleased with the finished effect i feel the colours and textures of the design work really well together. I had thought that I could possible do more of these for the degree show and frame them to sell.

I have only done this one for hand in, I may do another using just black and white but this will depend on time as I still have a lot to do for hand in.

Organising My Work

On Friday I decided it was time to organise  my work with my deadline being only 2 weeks away. After my tutorial with Nick I decided to start by organising my samples into collections as he had suggested.
I decided to group the designs on both theme and colour:

This collection shows samples with both floral and geometric motifs seen together with a combination of my colour palettes of black and white and bright and vivd colours. 

This second collection shows my geometric patterns with my black and white colour palette. 

This final collection has samples which have floral motifs combined with my bold and vivd colour pallet.

I am glad that I organised the samples I feel it gives my work more structure and allows the viewer of my to see narrative and development within my designs.

On friday I also worked towards organising the rest of my work from my finishing off work in my sketchbooks to organising the boards within my portfolio. By doing this I enabled myself to see what work I had left to do, and therefore I created the dreaded final to do list. I have to say this is something I was putting off as I was scared of the amount I might have left to be done. Im not going to lie the list was long, but I felt that it was an achievable amount of work for the remaining 2 weeks I had left.

Geometric Inspiration

While on the internet the other day I cam across this kimono by river island, I really liked combination of colour and geometric marks used. 

The combination of lines and motifs has created a really eye catching pattern. I hope to create this kind of effect with my hand printed black and white scarf design, but instead of using colour I will create the effect using layering techniques using procian dyes, devore and discharge techniques.