Level six blog post Toni Glascoe

                                                                    

Summer Project

Through the summer, natural forms inspired my work forms such as rocks and tree bark. I discovered that each natural form holds its own unique pattern texture some are soft and smooth and others hard and sharp. I would like to explore the textural aspect in my future work.

(Rock Drawing pencil)

  (Rubbing from tree trunk)

Direction

From this, I developed a collection of drawings, the tree trunk was one my favourites images to work with as it helped me to think about how I might, incorporate those line and texture into my weave samples.  

When contemplating about how I might develop my work further, my rubbings from trees 

Reminds me of a rib pattern, other patterns I may use are spider weave and Ms and Os as they are more textural and linear qualities.

Artist Dagmar binder uses felt to create rippling and affect thought his pieces this is a good example of how one can manipulate fabric using such methods helps me to imagine how I might apply such method to my work.

(Felt Scarfs by Dagmar Binder)

                    (Felt Scarfs by Dagmar Binder)

                  

                                                                   

                                                  Project One "Natural Forms"

 

As the theme natural forms is very broad, I had some trouble when thinking what my colour palate was going to be for my warp my initial thought was greens and browns however when doing my wraps the colours looked very overpowering together although my stone wraps which were grey and blue look a lot calmer and much more neutral. I believed that neutral colours will work well as I would like some busier weft patterns.

My first week back at university was very fast-paced being a weave student you have to delegate your time wisely as making your wrap can be very time-consuming. However, by simplifying my warp structure I was the first student to be weaving. By developing my project over the summer helped me to consider my colour pallet, save time and inspired me with my warp designs.

                                                        

                                                        Week two and three

I was excited to start weaving however when I was ready to weave my mind went blank I had to think about ways to develop it further with methods such as cutting, enlarging and manipulating to focus on aspects that interested me. I have always struggled with is my confidence and decision making, however, this year am going to try and be more assertive and communicate my ideas.

                                                       Week four and five 

Reflection 

In week four was struggling to relate my weaving samples to my drawings the structures and layout were lacking my relation to my initial source (natural forms texture and movement) however when I purchased the Jan Shenton weave book it helped me to understand what patterns reflect the line quality’s from my drawings.

For example, my rubbings from the tree trunk also portray this faded and sketchy feeling by experimenting with different textured yarns I discovered that each yarn portrays different qualities, for example, the black and white striped yarn. 

Doubling this tonal yarn creates a textural sketchy effect by incorporating this yarn with the spider weave pattern portrays the same aspects from my drawings.

(Ink Drawing)

(Spider weave pattern with textural yarn)

(Spider weave pattern with textural yarn)

Level 6 Blogs Posts

      Summer Project 

    

Through the summer, natural forms inspired my work forms such as rocks and tree bark. I discovered that each natural form holds its own unique pattern and texture some were soft and smooth and others hard and sharp. I would like to explore the textural aspect in my future work.

(Rock Drawing pencil)

                                                               

                                                                    

(Rubbing from tree trunk)

                                                                     

                                                                       

 Direction 

                

From this, I developed a collection of drawings the tree trunk was one my favourites images to work with as it helped me to think about how I might, incorporate those line and texture into my weave samples. 

Thinking about how I might develop my work further, my rubbings from trees 

Reminds me of a rib pattern, other patterns I may use are spider weave and Ms and Os as they are more textural and linear qualities.

Artist Dagmar binder uses felt to create rippling and affect thought his pieces this is a good example of how one can manipulate fabric using such methods helps me to imagine how I might apply such method to my work.

(Felt scarfs by Dagmar binder)

           

                                                             Project One "Natural Forms"

As the theme natural forms is very broad I had some trouble when thinking what my colour palate was going to be for my warp my initial thought was greens and browns however when doing my wraps the colours looked very overpowering together although my stone wraps which were grey and blue look a lot calmer and much more neutral. I believed that neutral colours will work well as I would like some busier weft patterns.

My first week back at university was very fast paced. Being a weave student you have to delegate your time wisely as making my wrap can be very time-consuming. However, by simplifying my warp structure I was the first student to be weaving. By developing my project over the summer helped me to consider my colour pallet and, inspired me with my warp designs.

                                                                 Week two and three

I was excited to start weaving however when I was ready to weave my mind went blank I had to think about ways to develop it further with methods such as cutting, enlarging and manipulating to focus on aspects that interested me. I have always struggled with is my confidence and decision making, however, this year am going to try and be more assertive and communicate my ideas.

                                                                   

                                                                 Week four and five 

Reflection 

I was struggling to relate my weaving samples to my drawings the structures and layout were lacking my relation to my initial source (natural forms texture and movement) however when I purchased the Jan Shenton weave book it helped me to understand what patterns reflect the line quality’s from my drawings.

For example, my rubbings from the tree trunk also portray this faded and sketchy feeling by experimenting with different textured yarns I discovered that each yarn portrays different qualities, for example, the black and white striped yarn. By doubling this yarn creates a textural sketchy effect

by incorporating this yarn with the spider weave pattern portrays the same aspects from my drawings.

(Spider weave pattern with textural yarn)

(Ink liner Drawing)

                                         

When reflecting on my samples I can see that there is a clear connection from my initial sources and my final pieces however I feel like that fabric manipulation could be taken further in my next project.

(Sample 1)

 Context 

For the context of my pieces interior such as pillows would work well however because my samples a very textural and busy I don’t think I would be appropriate for a throw or curtain. In this unit, I find myself constantly thinking of ways I can relate my work with my sample whether its colour texture tone and pattern.

                                         (Visualisations of samples on a pillow)

                                                  

                                                              Week six and Seven

By presenting work to a group of my peers it  helped me with my confidence and presenting skills as I have always struggled with anxiety, however, I managed to communicate the context of my work without stumbling, I feel that if I keep trying to present  work t it will help me to become more confident and in any future job interviews. 

The feedback which was given was very constructive which helped to get information from another person’s perspective feedback like “try to simplify my designs and consider the qualities of my yarn.” and “think more about your colour be bolder” I will try to improve this on my next project which will be the live brief.

Outward Facing

During week seven I was researching the live projects considering which ones would be relevant to my practice. I decided that the Live brief Wallace and Sewell would be more appropriate to participate as we both work with a weave.

Enabling me to understand of how the structure in their pieces works which will help me to consider what would be an appropriate sample for their company. I would like my work no to be a copy of their scarfs but blend well alongside their own samples. 

                                                (Wallace and Sewell scarfs)

Reflection

As you can see Wallace and Sewell nearly, always, use bright colours in their pieces. I wanted to challenge myself by incorporating bold and bright colours pallet into my own warp as I have never worked with such vibrant colours before.

Impression artist Leonid Afremov painting piece pops with bright colours he has captured the movement in the image by swishing his paintbrush to portray the movement of the rain is falling. I decided to use Afremov painting as inspiration for my warp I believe his paintings captured colour perfectly his pieces incorporate bold colour but it not overpowering I wanted to apply this in my own pieces.

(LONG RAIN — PALETTE KNIFE Oil Painting On Canvas By Leonid Afremov )

 Week Eight and Nine

 Direction 

When creating my yarn wraps I started by using cotton for my warp however after my tutorial with Lesley she pointed out to me that Dash and Miller don’t use cotton for their pieces. In my option, this has taught me an important lesson which is to always do the appropriate research of the company you are creating pieces for don’t just look the style of the work but the materials and process they use as well.

I captured the colour scheme of the warp perfectly to achieve this look I experimented with enlarging the painting and cutting it into pieces I then painted colour swatches to understand what colours would work well as a warp.

                                              (Finished warp)                  (cropped painting)

Outward Facing

I wanted to push myself when weaving I responded by incorporating patterns that would be relevant to my chosen painting, however, having never worked with wool before I did not understand that the patterns look different as it's much more bulky than cotton.

When creating my samples I discovered that I did not like the bold colours in my option I would not wear such a bright piece as a scarf however my peers stated “it’s the best work I have done” I realized then, that a designer will not always create work that is to her taste but of the taste of their customers. 

Direction 

                

Having the confidence to make decisions is something I need to improve on when creating my pieces I kept my samples simple as I thought the both a busy pattern and colour scheme would be too overpowering.  When reflecting back I could have experimented more with my samples and took more risk I will try to improve this in my next project by being bold with my choices and decision making such as composition, yarn colours, and pattern to include.

                                                  (Visualisations of samples)

 In my opinion, this is my most successful sample as I was much bolder with my choices and did not worry about it going wrong. A repetition of patterns worked well as they all complement each other as not one pattern outshines the other.

                                                      (Visualisations of samples)

In my opinion, this sample is not as successful as I have just repeated one pattern and colour through the piece, I need to consider the composition and adding more colours It a good start but more development is needed.   

Week Ten and Eleven 

During my second group presentation was not as scary because I knew what to expect although I do not like presentations I believe they are helping me so much with my confidence and I get a little better each time I do it also the feedback is always helpful giving me another person perspective on my work. 

When washing my samples I discovered that wool has an interesting shrinking feature some of my weave structures would portray different qualities once washed. I would like to explore this fabric manipulation further in my next unit.

Context 

I believe that the context of my pieces best reflects the qualities of a scarf. When holding my sample they feel warm and cosy reminding me of something you might like to wear in winter.

Although my samples were not to my own taste a was impressed to see a visual representation of my piece on a model.

                                      

                                                    (Visualisations of samples on a scarf)

While showing my work to Wallace and Sewell, there were many aspects I had to consider such as the way I wanted to present myself and my samples. I personally was nervous, as I have never presented work to a real company before but was excited to have a chance to experience what it would be like to present my work for a job, in the design world though, I did not get chosen for the placement I believe that experiencing rejection is just as important because it prepares you for future jobs and not to take it personally. In contrast, the live briefs helped me to think and understand the design industry and what is expected of a person wishing to pursue a career.

For my second self-initiated project, I reflected back to what I have learnt during my previous projects. I began by collecting new imagery, however, I still wanted to work within the theme natural forms and the manipulation of my samples as I felt my work could be taken further but I was unsure how I would achieve this. In the live brief, I discovered that wool, when washed, has a great shrinking quality making it sometimes changed the way my pattern structures looked I decided that wool would be perfect for my warp.

I decided that I would like to use a much more neutral colour pallet is inspired from my rock photography which enables me to have a diverse range of samples in my portfolio.

(Photograph of rocks)

When drawing from my images I was struggling to understand how I might develop my work further towards my samples my tutor Lesley suggested in a group tutorial “I really need to think about my yarn choices” as a high twist yarn such as lycra will give my samples a 3D effect.

German weaver Andreas Moeller plays with the structure within his pieces his work by keeping his work is simple as he repeats one or two structures throughout his samples.  

Moeller uses methods such as elastic pleating double cloth to create the pieces his work has inspired me helping me to understand you can create a wide range of 3D structures by experimenting.

                                                          (Andreas Moeller Scarf)

Week Twelve and Thirteen

When experimenting with the Lycra at first I struggled to understand how to get the 3D affect my first few samples were not successful I had to experiment with the different tensions when pulling it though my weft and could only see the effect once I cut my warp off.

As wool is not a strong yarn I discovered that when weaving with elastic yarns that it would mess with the tension and I would break a lot of ends which would be very time consuming to fix.

In the second week I was r thinking about my what how I might relate those qualities in my drawing to my samples my drawings are very textural so I bought some yarns form Linton tweeds which would best reflect those qualities.