Larger circles...

As I have been worried about whether some of my experiments would work on a larger scale, I decided to trial test this aspect with the circle format patterns and make them slightly bigger and see if I loved them as much as the first smaller ones. I did 3 slightly larger ones and they all held up to my expectations in a positive way, especially the latest one. The latest one combined the media of watercolours and black thread, this combination has worked throughout my experimental work and is something I would consider when recommending media choices for this pattern to be created in. Would this combination be a good media choice for a furnishing fabric? Or would print suffice as well?

Circle Formats...

As I was impressed with how the circle formats that I have been experimenting on were working out, I decided to continue using this format but this time experimenting with needle and thread, like I did earlier on in the project. The first one I did using just black thread and as all the others done in this media, it worked wonderfully. Because of the circle format, it seems to capture the right amount of detail and I am left with the right amount of space.

            My next experiment was about adding colour so I used coloured thread and chose the colour purple this time. The relationship between the green and purple colour is lovely, nothing sticks out, and it works well as a whole.

            Now, this experiment is one of my favourite ones so far. I did not apply the colour in this specific way but how it looks works astonishing well with the black threaded outline. The painting and drawing of these experiments are very quick and added the thread takes up a lot of time but the contrast between the roughly applied watercolours and the structure of the black thread, connect with each other to create this sample, which has worked the best for me so far. These samples are on a small scale and do work well, but if they were to be bigger would they work out as well, even if they were to be slightly bigger?

Different Compositions...

As I liked the simplicity of the previous black thread design, I wanted to repeat this but with a bigger scale design with added detail. It is a lovely design and with a little work and extra detail, it could be made into a repeated pattern.

            This is another design similar to the one above; the main difference is the colour that has been added with no barriers.

            Even though, I do like the pattern above it is short and holds little detail, baring this in mind I wanted to create another pattern using the one given by the Archive but changing its positioning to extend a pattern, hopefully making it easier for me to put into repeat. To repeat most of my designs, the detail in them may need to be altered, extended and or erased. Repeating my patterns is a process that I have been told by my teacher, I will do in the upcoming weeks.

           

Enlarging...

This is a larger scale design which I love. It is a basic design, simply drawn out using black thread; there are no distractions from the beauty of the design. Putting the scale and simplicity of the design forward, this in repeat would be lovely. I would however like to try out this design using faint colour, just to see the outcome.

            I drew out this design again using black ink and applied faint watercolour to selected areas. The colour in this design is not over used and is only used in certain areas so colour is not evident in every aspect of the design but this works.

Flowers...

I wanted to create a number of different ideas, so I decided to go back to the original pattern and from there I picked just one of the flowers and repeated this flower using black thread on a faintly ink splattered field and this was the result. This design was very quick and not planned out and considering these reasons turned out reasonable. My problem with this design is that in comparison to the original design, this is nothing! There is no detail or pattern or even thought that went into this. To go from the original design to this would be a mistake.

Sampling...

This is the same pattern as the previous experiments but with no thread being used. I decided to stick to just using watercolours and applying them roughly and seeing how the outcome is perceived. This drawing was a fast and loose painting that is rough but appealing to my eye. From a distance this work looks detailed and nicely structured and presented but up-close it is a mess, the pencils lines are still there, some areas are horrifically painted and it definitely fits in the phrase of loosely painted. As it does work at a distance, if I was to continue with using watercolours, I think even though I wanted the watercolours to be applied artlessly I would give more consideration to its placement and how it is applied. 

            This experimental piece was about bringing order to the loosely applied watercolours and making it look more presentable. To do this I decided to combine 2 previous experiment methods, hoping to end up with a better design. I combined the loose watercolour experiment with the coloured outlined thread and this was the result. I do think this design is better than the other 2 singularly but something is still missing, for me there is nothing from this design that ‘wows’ me or stands out.

           

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As the design above did not ‘wow’ me, I began to look at something from the design that could be changed so that the design could be improved. I decided to change the coloured outline thread to black thread, hoping that the black thread would make the floral pattern stronger. The end result was good and it did make the floral pattern stronger! If I was to choose one of the designs done so far this design would be in the top 2, the downfall it repeating this pattern and making it look evenly placed and presented. I just hope as a viewer the black thread is not too distracting. For my final designs for the Bradford competition, if I can get this pattern to work in repeat, I may think about submitting this one?

Applying Colour...

As I wanted colour to be one of my main focuses for this project, I looked on the internet for coloured floral designs to see which way my work could develop further. After looking at some of the floral designs I have found, the ones that were my favourite are the top 2 designs as the colour is applied skilfully but free with no barriers containing the colour of detail. I think this sort of colour could be created and applied using watercolours; using watercolours would give me the chance to explore with wet media whilst applying it freely and working over the top of it, as it would be applied faintly.

Adding Colour...

To start off using colour in my design work, I decided to create a copy of one of the previous designs that was completed and drawn out using black thread but change the black thread to different coloured threads. I associated the different colour threads to the expected colours seen daily in flowers and leaves. For the flower colour, I wanted to use something strong and vibrant and decided to use the colour red because it would complement the 2 different shades of green used for the leaves. As the threads I was using for this experiment were thick enough, for the pollen buds, I used yellow thread and used the Bullion techniques and this worked well and gave this experiment a 3-d result. I do like this layout as a singular image but as my outcome will be a furnishing fabric, I would like to create a repeated pattern or a pattern that can be continuous in a line. This experiment could be taken further if I found a way of repeating it. I would also experiment with different colours and how colour would be applied, whether it would have colour inside of the thread, have no thread but it would just be painted or whether colour and black thread would work.

Marbling Print...

My other experimental designs have worked out well but I think they lack some sort of extra detail, so I thought back to when I did the smaller scale samples using different background fields and thought I could try and recreate that but on a larger scale with more of the floral design. The field I decided to work with was created by using marbling inks and not to go over board and explode it with colour I decided to stick to the 2 colours of black and silver. Once I had printed using the marbling inks and it had dried, I sewn the floral design over the top in black thread, where the patterned silver printed ink areas are the designs looks well-presented and clear but where the darker black printed ink areas of the design it becomes harder to see and make out which deflects from the design. This sample was something good to experiment but isn’t something I would take on further, maybe in colour but not like this experiment.

Simplifying...

As the previously sewn floral design worked impressively well, I decided to do another design but with a few details altered. One detail that I have changed is the amount of detail that will be put into this design, to simplify the design it will not have as much detail as the previous one. It also has an ink blown patterned line that acts as a barrier to where the pattern starts and ends. Visually I think this type of design would be more suitable for table chair coverings, the design would be placed on the lining of the chair and would maybe only be used once for each chair as this type of pattern and its positioning could not be repeated.

Full Floral Design...

As I did like my end results of the small scale experiments, I thought it would be time to try out the floral design as a whole larger, but just in black thread on a white background. As I am just using black thread on a white background there will be no distractions from the floral design so I want the sewn drawing to be perfect. For the top of the flower pollen stem I wanted to use the bullion knot technique but I had no thicker black thread so as a resort I hole-punched black foam board and sewn these onto the design and the last resort did not turn out so bad, in fact, I may continue to use this in my other designs. Once I had finished sewing the full floral design, I was really impressed with my first attempt at sewing this floral design out, it however, is very time consuming but the results make it worthy.

Small scale experiments...

 

Before I get ahead of myself and start thinking about using colour, I want to start with small scale black and white drawings that are small selections from the chosen floral design before I begin to make larger drawings. Because some of the selections have smaller detail, I decided to draw them out using needle and black thread. I haven’t sewn drawings in a while so each drawing did take a lot of time but some of the results were worthwhile.

            I decided to add a few fields down before sewing onto them to give them shadow and a little bit of extra detail. To create these fields I used black ink and applied it to the paper in different ways, stripes, random and splatter. These experiments did work to add extra detail so I tried one small scale experiment using coloured ink splatter then blown onto it through a straw creating a random splatter pattern. The overall experiment was successful but the colour choice could be re-thought and the scale could be larger.

Linda Florence...

 

I have found a designer that fits right into this category of floral designs, I have come across her work before but for a completely different reason, her name is Linda Florence. Linda Florence’s work is beautiful, everything from the pattern to the scale to her colour choices are stunning. Some of her floral designs can be simple and elegant whereas others can be exquisite and intricate with a graphic edge however, no matter which design of hers I am looking at, it shows the effort that goes into colour selection as all of her work colour co-ordinates and works harmoniously. Not only am I fond of her work due to all of the reason above but also that she applies a twist to some of her wallpaper designs, she gives her wallpaper; function. Linda Florence gives some of her wallpaper designs layers of life, underneath one layer is another and to get to the one below the artists or the lucky owner of the wallpaper would have to scratch away the existing top layer, to reveal a brand new colourful design. This would make decorating a lot easier! If Linda Florence’s wonderful wallpapers were for purchase, she has essentially created a connection of interaction between her designs and her audience, something I consider hard to create. Even though I love Florence’ work this is something I would work towards aiming or trying to aim and not begin with. If I was to take anything from Linda Florence’s work and hope to use in my work is her colour choices, it doesn’t take over her design and it is applied with thought.

Other Floral Designs...

 

Before I began to fully experiment and re-create this sample, I wanted to have a look at other floral designs and how other artists have included floral pattern in their work. The elements that immediately stood out to me during my research were: repetition, fine drawing, small detail and limited colour as the images I mainly liked were in black and white.         

Selecting...

 

To begin, I decided to select sections that interest me and consider working and experimenting with them. Below are some of the areas I have selected to work with, however after doing some small scale drawings from them in black ink, it didn’t work, it made the design look cheap. I think this is because of my choice of media but it put me off focusing on such a small scale and little detail when the whole floral design would offer me more too work with.

 

            This selection of the floral design cuts away the outer areas of the pattern as I do not think they fit in with this type of floral design, this selection is all joining together and is big so it gives me more to experiment with.

Locating: Bradford College Textile Archive: Live Brief 1...

For this unit, Locating, I have been given the right to choose which live projects I want to work on and how I split the designated time between my chosen 3. I have decided to choose 3 live projects and split the time at 4 weeks for one and 2 weeks for the other 2 live projects. The 4 week live project I have chosen to do is the project from Bradford College, it entails designing a furnishing fabric that can be created from any process or technique. It must be based on a Textile piece from the Bradford College’s Textile Archive; however elements of it can be change to become anything.

           This submission includes 2 x A1 mounted boards that show my development from the original archive sample to my finished design; all of the production details should be clearly stated.

            I have chosen this live project as my starting point as it gives me the opportunity to transform something already given, it also gives me the time to experiment and play around with colour, texture, scale and pattern. I would like to focus this project on experimenting mainly with colour, seeing how different colour can change an image.

            After looking over the 12 given samples from the Bradford Textile Archive, I decided to choose the sample created and posted by Shelagh. It is a floral design that uses light and shadow to create different shades of colour, the only colours used is green, black and a lighter shade of green. The floral design is nicely presented and the main detail is central in the design, this is the area I may concentrate on.

My first instincts to what I may change and alter are definitely the colour, the process and the scale. I would like to keep the detail of the floral design similar because I think it is lovely but may re-structure its positioning.