Project 1, Stage 3, Exercise 2

Similar to the last project - textural studies except with real objects rather than just images. I'm going to stick photographs of the objects (a flower, a leaf and the dilapidated paper cover of a saw) next to these images on the A3 sheets. Again, I found it hard in some cases to 'let go' of just copying the object and in other cases I wasn't happy with the actual result.

I like individual qualities of some of the work I've done here, and I can definitely see how elements of each might inspire further work so I'm not completely downhearted about this exercise.

Project 1, Stage 3, Exercise 1

This one asked me to work from visual sources which I used a postcard and magazine adverts. It was a 'textural study' so the idea was to capture the 'feel' or 'idea' of something rather than just copying. I found that easier in some cases than others. Especially the advert with the chandelier and mirror - I think I found it so beautiful that I didn't want to ruin it by changing anything - I think I should have pushed the boat out a little more on that one as my results were a little 'blah'!

I really liked some of the results but again others I was a bit unhappy with. I think it was because when I first looked at the image I thought that I knew exactly what I wanted to produce and the reality didn't quite match up - I guess thats what sketching, creating samples and prototypes is for!

I also felt a tiny bit like the first, 'most inspired' pieces I produced were the best, and the 2nd and 3rd pieces that were more 'forced' weren't as good!

Study Plan

I haven't written down my plan yet so here it is:

From May (when I started the course) to December I aim to get one project done every two months. I'll be too busy with wedding planning (and making) to do more without stressing myself out. This means by December I'll have finished Project 4. After the wedding I hope to get 3 projects done every two months so I'll be working a lot harder. This means that project 10 will be completed by the end of April 2013.

Project 1, Stage 2, Exercise 4

Blimey I got stuck on this exercise! It seemed so much to do! The thing I felt most confident on (collage) I left till last then got a massive block and didn't finish for a long time. I know that the possibilities of each of these methods are endless and want to show a 'decent' cross section but also start/concentrate on the basics. I also wasn't massively impressed with the results - many of my pages look very pre-school which turned me off the exercise a lot!

 Fixative transfer didn't work for any of my magazines but did work for gardening seed catalogues. I found that rubbing over them with a pen worked better than pencil or crayon

Bleach didn't work on some of my papers and fabrics (nylon lace, bright felt and polyester were unaffected) it worked best on the bright red tissue that came with my OCA folder

Spraying acrylic mixed with water with stencils and with just the spray bottle

Stippling and sponging with stencils with acrylic

Rubbing away and combing with gouache

Block printing with bottle tops, corks, fingers, stamps, foam stamps, comb etc

Crayon rubbings and wax resist

Collage

 I liked some of the effects and know how I might use them in the future - actually DOING some of the techniques opens up further uses - a very valid exercise even if I didn't like the results as much as I could hope! This has been quite a long time in the making, I hope I don't get as 'stuck' on future exercises.

Book Thoughts - Textiles Today: A Global Survey of Trends and Traditions by Chloë Colchester

To start with I found this book really hard going. I could tell that there were wonderful pictures to browse through but thought that the text was going to be long, airy-fairy, 'artsy-speak' and irrelevant. I found it extremely difficult to properly understand the introductory section and felt like it was written in the way that students write to make up a word count!

I persevered however and soon got into the writing. In each section the language is easier to understand and gives plenty to think about for both textiles and the pieces that are shown in the imagery. I think the way different aspects of textiles are examined is a good structure but feel like the text goes from very detailed to very general in strange ways and the book ends rather abruptly!

I hugely enjoyed the parts of the book that explored future-textiles with scientific breakthroughs explored and also ways that fabrics are helping less developed parts of the world. Its nice to see that the author explored how very scientifically advanced fabrics can help the planet rather than poo-pooing anything that is not taking things back to our roots or historic farming/production methods.

At the end of the book I re-read the introductory section - I understood a bit better but still found it difficult going! Perhaps when I know textiles as a subject better I'll find it easier!

Sketchbook Pages - June

Sketchbook Pages - Rest of May