Costings, Authentication and H&S

Costs for resolved sample:

Frame - £4.50
Papers - £2.00
Fabrics - £4.75
Pelmet Vilene - £1.25
Cottons - £1.25
Threads and Yarns - £7.50
Shells - Free
Onion Skins for dyes - Free

Total Cost: £21.25

Time taken for Resolved sample - 10 hours

 

Health & Safety



Machine Stitching

• Ensure to use a chair with a back rest, at the correct height and within reach of the machine foot pedal.
• Ensure flexes and leads are kept safely out of the way to prevent tripping. tape to floor if necessary with bright tape.

Dye with Onion Skins

• Ensure a pan is used only for dyeing, large enough to prevent water boiling over.
• Ensure pan with boiling water is kept to the back of the cooker to avoid spillage and burns.
• Allow to cool before draining skins and before removing dyed fabrics.
• Wear protective gloves and an apron.

Ironing

• Ensure iron is stored in a safe place when not in use.
• Use a correct surface to iron on.
• Ensure flexes and leads are kept safely out of the way to prevent tripping. tape to floor if necessary with bright tape.

Scissors
Ensure scissors are properly sharp as there is less risk of accidents if they are not blunt.

Needles

• Ensure needles are stored correctly in a needle case or appropriate container.
• Discard of old needles safely; a local pharmacy will dispose of old needles.

M5 - Evaluation of Resolved Sample

The completed embroidered assessment piece for Module 5 is a resolved sample based on the design topic of landscape.

Do you feel satisfied with the results?
No:

• I do not feels the separate panels pulled together to form a 'whole' and feels somewhat disjointed.
• The simplicity of the design has become over complicated
• I wanted to flow over the edge of the frame but it sits inside the frame.
• I lost the success I had from the samples throughout the module

Is it fit for purpose?
Yes:

• It has 4 areas using different methods of fabric manipulation.
• It has texture from this and from the stitch,
• It has height and contours.
• It uses tones of one colour range.

If you were asked to make it again, what changes would you make?
To the way you designed it:
I would choose a design that is less linear and with more organic shapes. I would also look more at how the different elements would fit/join together at the design stage.

To the way you made it:
I possibly would use less stitch and more fabric manipulation if I were to repeat the exercise, and I probably overcomplicated the sample.

Note:
Although I'm not very pleased with the resolved sample it was still a valuable point of learning. I am looking forward to working on a larger piece and this has showed the importance of working samples. If I were moving onto a larger landscape piece I would now work another resolved sample and so on until I was confident with my ideas.

M5 Chapter 13 - Study Three Artists

Jennie Rayment

Jennie describes herself as obsessed with 'Nipping and tucking' - fabric manipulation. She started off teaching herself to quilt and by the mid nineties completed a teaching diploma and became involved in City & Guilds. She remains active in teaching and passing on her skills to students. Jennie exhibits around the world.

 



13.1

Jennie manipulates, folds and tucks fabric in a precise manner working mainly in muslin. The fabric is held in place with tiny stitches. It reminds me of origami with fabric.

13.2

13.3

13.4

Jennie found there was very little information about texture in textiles and she started making her own designs. She uses them mostly in quilts and clothing.

 

13.5

 

Fabric manipulation was a large part of Module 5 and although not as intricate as Jennie's work I have gained a better insight into how she manages some of the tucks and folds. On closer examination of her works and thinking back to Module 4 working with paper, manipulating both can be interlinked and intertwined.

 

 

Michael Brennand-Wood

Michael Brennand-Wood is an internationally known innovative textile artist and member of the 62 Group. He views his work as an exploration of textiles, incorporating the historical and contemporary. He has worked as a lecturer at Goldsmiths College London and as a curator and arts consultant. Michael's work could be described as contemporary lace making and he uses paper and textiles amongst other materials in his works. 



13.6

 

Although his work would appear to be very contemporary as in this piece made from metal and acrylic paint, Michael feels it is important to understand the historical context of how textiles, for example; lace, were formed and that the most innovative works come from a confident understanding of traditional and historical techniques.

13.7

Michael takes his work into the 3D form with sculpted wall hangings. This work 'Flower Head - Narcissistic Butterfly' is one of my favourites. It reminds me of modern stump work!

13.8

 

 

The other works I particularly like are these using paper and metal amongst other materials, wrapped and stitched. The pieces are layered and remain interconnected.

13.9

13.10

13.11

Michael's work is an excellent demonstration of how to create texture in textile work using an array of materials. I like the layering of colour and materials it has made me think of other ways I could have worked my resolved sample.

Alana Tyson
Alana Tyson is a Canadian textile artist who now lives in Wales. She graduated from the Alberta College of Art and Design. Her exhibition Interior [2015] showed her large installations of  folded and gathered fabric often using only one large piece of silky fabric.

13.12

 

13.13

 

She uses a curved needle to hand stitch the fabric onto a backing fabric. It is quite fascinating the textures that she achieves using one technique, one piece of fabric and one colour.

13.14

13.15

 

Alana's describes her work as 'reminiscent of coffin lining, chocolate boxes, and visceral entrails of the body' - the bits that are hidden away. Like Michael Brennand-Wood, she describes her work as conceptual and rooted in materials and craftsmanship.

13.16

 

Alana's work links nicely in with Module 5 both with the manipulation and use of a single colour. It demonstrates how effective this can be and the variety that can be achieved.

M5 Chapter 12 - Resolved Sample

Stitch Trial Samples 

I chose the top left design for my resolved sample. 

12.1

12.2 - Simplified onto black paper

12.3 - Looking at negative space in the design shapes.

12.4 - The design worked with flat textured papers

12.5 - Looking at relief textured paper and fabric samples

12.6 - Looking at relief textured paper and fabric samples

12.7 - Free machine stitch samples

12.8 - Free machine and hand stitch samples

 

12.9 - Fabric manipulation samples

12.10 - Interpreting the flat relief with Italian quilting

12.11 - Trapped buttons held with machine stitch

12.12 - Collection of fabric and threads. I was originally going to use white only but I decided to use shades of gold/rust as this reminded me of the rust I had seen on my original walk and the lichen.

12.13 - First thoughts on the panels. I planned to stitch each panel onto pelmet Vilene and then attach to the background. For the bottom panel I trapped shells in place of buttons.

12.14 - I replaced the middle panel with strips of jersey fabric. The top left panel was pleated with some pleats stitched flat and others padded with yarn. The top right panel was Italian quilting. I worked some more colour into the background fabric with free machine stitch. I started working French knots into the bottom panel.

12.15 - I continued to hand stitch and tried to use only French knots and chain stitch.

12.16 - The resolved sample. There is less variation in colour on the actual sample. I added some raffia behind the middle section and pushed the panels into ridges and pleats as I attached it to the background. And continued with French knots.

12.17 - Detail of left and middle panels

12.18 - Detail of middle and right panel

12.19 - Detail of bottom panel.

 

I did enjoy working on this panel and although there are things I would do differently if I repeated the exercise it shows the value of making a resolved sample before commencing on a larger piece of work.



 

M5 Chapter 11 - Design From Landscapes





Use Of Texture - Flat and Relief Textures

 

11.1 - Collection of flat and relief textures

11.2 - Rubbings taken from stitched samples

11.3 - Flat texture rings/circles and relief texture rings/circles

11.4 - Relief textures

 

11.5 - More relief textures; paste, buttons, beads, string, xpanda paint. I painted these samples with white acrylic paint but the paint faded and changed colour depending on the medium used. Gesso would be a better choice to try.

 

 

Use of Shape

 

I took my source images and postcard sized papers, both flat and relief. I cut and tore each one to explore different shapes.

11.6

 

11.7

11.8

11.9

11.10

This was a good exercise to find shapes and to observe closely. It was interesting to notice the difference between shapes using a flat and relief texture. The relief textures give a good indication of working the shape with fabric manipulation whereas I found the flat texture gave me a better view of potential stitch.