A Short Reflective Commentary

'Describing your experience of this part of the course using your answers to the review questions for each project as a starting point'
Project 1 Review Post Project 2 Review Post

My experience of this part of the course has had a lot of emotions involved! Fear of getting it wrong, fear that I won’t be as good at all of this as I thought I would be, fear of not finding my own style. I think as I come towards the end of this section I’m getting closer to feeling comfortable with my processes and ways in which I work. I’m more confident now that I can create work I’m really pleased with. I’m also confident now that I’ll be able to home in on my own personal style or look. I’m not saying for a minute that I’m there, but I think the longer I study with this course, and hopefully others, and beyond even the course or degree work, the more I will get that work/develop/style triangular building blocks sorted that will define me and my textile work.

Things I have learnt in this part of the course:

• Draw, draw, draw and note, note, note. All in one big mish-mash in the sketchbook/workbook.
• Don’t push forward with anything you’re not inspired by because it will lead to work you are not inspired by.
• I’m most comfortable with pens and can produce more and explore more in this medium.
• I like muted colours, so the base colours of my work are best for me when they are muted. This doesn’t mean ruling out brightness altogether, it just means the base colours.
• When it comes to the point where I feel like taking a sketch further into a textile sample, this is the time to choose materials and continue developmental sketches so that I can have a firm plan of what I’m going to do – I think I work better that way!
• Stitching-wise I believe I prefer simple stitches with texture becoming involved with choice of materials and yarns.

On my development of my own personal style, I’m not drawn towards the ‘fine art’ aspect of textiles, I’m more looking towards how textiles are used everyday (dare I say the commercial aspect)? I get more of a buzz out of thinking that one day several strangers might have bedlinen or curtains based on my work than thinking one person/corporation might have a piece of work of mine hanging in a room. I guess I’m even looking more towards the interiors market rather even than the fashion market. I posted a video recently that I rewatched where fibre optic lights were used inside carpet. I was more excited about the thought of fibre optics inside carpet, curtains and somehow on ceilings than I was about using on clothing.

Whilst noticing the world around me for textures, patterns and inspiration has improved over this course, its something that I have done for a long time due to other design courses and interests. What has been more important to me, and what this course so far has done for me, is development of my own style and thoughts about how my work might develop in the future.