Evaluation: Nature

 For the brief 'Nature', we were asked to produce a sketchbook documenting all our research, both primary and secondary. We were also to create a minimum of one mood board, two visual sheets, design sheets with at least four designs, an up to date Tech File and a completed final outcome. The final outcome for this project was a bag, which must have included one woven panel.

 Our first task was to go out and take photographs for primary research. I managed to take some really good photos that morning in Cawthorne Park, which would later inspire some of my work, particularly the trees. In class we spent a week on observational drawings from a live composition set up on tables in our class. I produced a series drawings from this set up, in many different medias, such as pencil, maker pen and graphite crayon. This series of drawing consisted of line drawings, colour drawings, experimental drawings and timed drawings. For the timed drawings, we all sat around the set and once the time was up we would move two seats to the left, in order to get drawings of different parts of the composition. The timed drawings were for 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 5 minutes and 15 minutes.

 After the observational drawings, we were asked decide on a season in which to theme our project on. I decided to choose Autumn, as we were in that season and thought I wouldn't be short for primary research and inspiration. I then began to research into my chosen season. Whilst researching I came across images of trees reflected in water and was really inspired by the way the colours blended and distorted together in the water. This inspired the backgrounds for my mood board and visual sheet, as well as the colour scheme for the front panels of my bag.

 From the photos I took in Cawthorne Park, I wanted to look further at the forms and shapes of trees. I came across an image of a tree that I took a particular shine to, due to its unusual shape. I combined this images with other elements of trees from my research and this would be one of my designs for my screens. I came across some silhouettes of bats as well during my research and thought it linked well with the Halloween part of Autumn. This image really inspired me and I created my own repeating pattern of bats for my bag lining. I also included a lot of leaves in my sheet work and continued this through to the designing of my bag designs.

 In this project I got chance to learn new skills such as weaving and felt making. I learnt how to weave using a cardboard loom and a peg loom and also got the chance to use a wooden loom. I really enjoyed the wooden loom and produced two samples from it. I liked the final outcome of the card board loom and had done something similar to this looming before so didn't find it as time consuming as others may have done. The peg loom was quick and easy to do but found the finishing fiddly and the weave lost its shape and reduced in size. All in all I much preferred the wooden loom and intended to use this in my final design.

I really enjoyed felting but wasn't as equally pleased with the outcome. The felt shrinks when you make it and the design distorts due to rolling it back and forth, so didn't think felting would be right for my bag design.

We also had to learn how to knit in this project, and having been taught how to knit at a young age, was excited to develop my skills further and experiment more with knitting. I produced two samples on thicker needles than I would normally use, and in yarn rather than wool, an really liked the effect of the bigger stitch. it also wasn't as time consuming as thinner needles. I experimented using two wools at once as well and the outcome was really good. It was really thick and a lot stronger than the other knitting samples.

 I looked at three separate artists , Ulrike 'Ricky' Martin for weaving, Sally Pepperell for felting and Valerie Anne Molnar for knitting. Ulrike Martin created natured paintings then cut them into strips and weaved them together to create beautiful weaving art. Sally Pepperell creates wonderful nature scenes from felt and embroidery. Valerie Anne Molnar knits eccentric art which she describes as 'honestly deceiving'. Strangely, the artist which inspired me the most was Sally Pepperell, as her work consists of layers which was a concept I used in my final piece.

 The design for my bag is a tote bag, with two knitted side panels, a woven panel on the bottom. The front panels are layered prints and there is also a lining. Unfortunately, I decided against a woven panel on the bottom as the loom didn't work out as well as id hope and it would have been too time consuming to re thread the loom, so I decided to have one long panel for the sides and bottom in knitting.  I thought that the tote bag would be simpler than the slouch bag but could be made to look really effective, which I hope my bag has achieved.  I also had to render my handles during construction of my bag. Originally, the handles were the same colour as the knitted panel, however I cut them out wrong so they were too small, and I had to make handles out of cuttings I ha d spare from my lining. Regrettably I would have like more time to go back and do my handles in the colour they should have been but I think the green ones look good and tie the outside and lining together.

 If my bag was to be manufactured I imagine it would be difficult to do, due to the separate time consuming techniques I used such as the devore printing with pigment printing, knitting and a lining as well.

 I really enjoyed this project but I regret not spending as much time on it as I would have liked to have done, due to other commitments outside college. I am happy with sheet work, even though some of it isn't to my usual standard, but I have fulfilled all the outcomes required from the brief. I would have liked more time to work on my sketchbook and will improve from time management for this the next project, as well as producing more samples, as I haven't got as many as I ideally would have liked. I am really happy with how my bag turned out in the end, and really happy with the quality of the panels and construction, having never made anything like this before.       

All stitched together!

 So now that all my panels were finished, it was time to cut them out to the right size and put my bag together. 

My messy pile: spare pieces of fabric after cutting out my panels.

Almost done: the outside panels are all stitched together and so to it the lining, they just need to be sewn together with the handles.

My finished bag: From the top, showing the sides and bottom panel.

Closer view of the top.

The print: I was really pleased with how well the print work, it was clean and clear and with out smudges.

Knitting: I was also really pleased with my knitting and really happy with how the colours of the bag worked really well together.

All of the bag: The lining against the outside looks really good and I'm really proud of how it turned out.

The Lining: Although I needed to paint in some of the bats, I don't think i could be happier with the final outcome as a whole.

Final Panels

Now that i knew what samples i wanted to use on my final piece, it was time to start making the panels for my bag. I had already decided the side panels were to be knitted and the bottom was to be done on the wooden loom. However due to time restraints and complications on the loom, i decided to do the sides and bottom as one big panel and knitted. 

The lining of my bag would be dyed green cotton with black pigment dye using my bat screen. The front and back panels would be Azeta and dyed orange, red and yellow, with devore and pigment leaves print and my tree print over the top in black pigment dye.

The panels after devore and procion dyes.

That's Devore!

Having tried Devore in our previous project, I decided to use it on my sample for this project and loved the outcomes.

I decided I wanted to use devore with my leaves screen. This image was taken just after I'd printed my first sample.

Due to the leaves being in a repeat pattern, my tracing was put onto a screen which could be used especially for repeat patterns as it used spacing's on the table to mark out where the screen should be placed.
As the samples only need to be A4 size, I used masking tape to mark out where the fabric should go. For my first sample I moved the fabric to dry after I printed it and the pressed it in the heat press straight away. For the second sample i left the fabric to dry but then placed it back on the table without pressing it. I then printed over the devore so the pigment pattern would shadow the devore pattern. All the devore samples were done on Azeta.

Once i had pressed the first sample i dyed it using the same procion dyes as i did on my calico samples as to keep with the same colour scheme. 

For the second sample I made my own dark green pigment dye, using binder, Green B and Brown RRT.  As i'd  printed over the devore, once id pressed and washed it, the pigment came away as well, which i thought made a really interesting comparison to the first sample. Both had been done the same way except for the one difference and the effects were beautiful. Apart from one flaw, where the devore had smudged in the second sample.

I decided to do the samples again, but making sure that the print were clean and clear on both samples. 

This time the devore was really clear and clean without smudges. 

Once the samples had dried, I printed over the top using my tree screen and black pigment. I was really pleased with the outcome and decided to use it for my final design. I chose the technique of pressing the devore first then printing on top as the leaves pattern was clearer  than the other technique. I also decided that i would use the dark green pigment on one side and the dark brown on the other side.

Starting to print

This print was create by using black pigment through my screen, onto dyed cotton. I made the green dye using the Procion dyes Blue MXR and Yellow MX4G. Unfortunately, for some reason my bat screen hadn't developed as it should and the pigment wasn't coming through fully, so i had to hand paint the missing bits in. I was really happy with how my screen repeated though and thought it worked really well onto the green cotton.The black against the green was really bold and linked well to Autumn as it had a Halloween feel to it.

I really liked working with the black pigment onto green so i tried it using silk. I liked the material but thought the cotton looked better. The silk felt flimsy too and not as hard wearing and strong as the cotton.

I wanted to see what effect layering the tree and leaves together and i loved it. These samples were created by dying calico using Orange MX2R, Yellow MX4G and Red MX2R. I also made my own pigment dye as i wanted a darker brown than the one already made. To do this i mixed binder with the pigments Black SNG, Brown RRT, Brown RBT, Red BTL and Blue B. This was a bit of trail and error untill i got the balance of colours just right. 

Tracings

I developed this design based on a tree I looked at in my research. I used this tree on my mood boards and a visual sheet. 

This design works in repeat both vertically and horizontally. I loved the image of bats silhouettes that I found while researching and decided to create my own design based on this that would work in repeat. I thought that it would work well as the print for my lining. 

This leaf design also works in repeat but only vertically, as the design fits to the design of the bag.  I created this design as i had included a lot of leafs in my research, particularly my sheet work.

'Rolling on a river'... Time to Felt!

A new skill I learnt in this project was felting. I had great fun in the process of making my felt sample as it is a real hands on process, made even better by the fact we got to listen to Tina's Proud Mary whilst rolling our fabric!

The first stage of felting: layering pieces of white wool vertically, then horizontally on top, making sure the layers aren't too thick. Using a net over the base, spray with soapy warm water.  

The second stage: choose different coloured wools in order to create a design on top. Once happy with the design, cover the felt with the net and pour the soap solution on top, making sure all the fibres are fully soaked. Then carefully roll the bubble wrap, and begin the roll the felt roll back and forth. you do this for 4-5 minutes bfore un-folding and rolling the other way.

Final stage and outcome: Once all the fibres seemed fused, leave to dry. The final outcome is a felt fabric.

I really enjoyed the process but wasn't too happy with how it turned out. With felting, the design will come out slightly distorted, due to the rolling, and I would have liked it to keep its shape more, but was pleased with my first ever go at felting. 

Knitting Mad!

Another type of weaving we had to learn for this project was knitting. Luckily, i was taught to knit at a young age and was excited at being able to experiment a bit more with my samples.

This was my first knitting sample. I used a crimson red wool  to relate to my chosen season.

For this sample, I used thicker needles and yarn instead of wool. I liked the bigger stitches created from the thicker needles, and it was quicker to do.

This sample was created using an orange yarn with the same thicker needles.  I was really happy with the outcome of these samples.

I wanted to experiment more with my knitting samples, and decided to use two colours at once. The final outcome was my favourite of my knitting samples as it was thicker and more interesting with the two colours. It did however, take longer to do than with the thicker needles.

Lets Weave!

So for this project we have to create a bag, which must include a woven panel. Therefore we had to produce a section of weaving samples ready for when we had to decide on the design for our bags.

I got the chance to learn new skills throughout this project, the first one being weaving on a peg loom. To do this we had to measure out 14 lengths of yarn at 30cm. We then threaded that through the holes in the pegs.  

To create the weave, you just have to weave the wool in between each peg . Once  at the top you tie the yarn together pull out the pegs, making the yarn into the warp of the weave. 

The final product. Although the peg loom is faster than the card board loom , I think the cardboard loom product does look better and I prefer it.

Having done something similar to cardboard looming before, it didn't come as a struggle to me and i found it quite easy and fast to do. The cardboard loom consists of a rectangular piece of cardboard with slits along the top and bottom. To make the warp, you wrap the yarn around the loom, with the yarn going into the slits, and secure with a bit of tape. 

Once a warp is created, you weave strands of wool into between the yarn,under-over, alternating the weave with each new strand.

The final product. I liked the outcome as it didn't lose shape like the peg loom seemed to do.

We also had a chance to produce weaving samples on a wooden loom. This was without doubt my favourite of all the weaving styles. I really like the texture and it feels more hard wearing than the other techniques, which would be better for a bag. It was also much faster than the other techniques.

Weaving sample from a wooden loom using different coloured wool and yarns.

Observations can be deiceiving

After we returned from our morning of photographing, we arrived at class to be confronted with live composition. Our second task was to create a series of observational drawings using a range of medias. The set up included a vast number of natural forms, ranging from flowers and fruits to shells, rocks and even popuri. These are a few photographs taken from different angles of the set up.

We also had the chance to experiment with different ways of working on paper.

The first experiment was to tear an A4 piece of paper into stripes length ways. Then, using masking tape, we had to rearrange the pieces and stick them together to create a surface to draw on.

For the second experiment, we laid two strips of masking tape across an A4 piece of paper.  

For the third experiment, we scrunched the paper up and laid it our flat. We then rubbed charcoal over the top to outline the creases. We folded the paper over and back over and held it in place with a strip of masking tape over the page.

After drawing over the surfaces usinf three different medias,  we re-arranged the stripes back into the original order to create this study. 

For this experiment we simply peeled the masking tape off and placed them back on the page in a different place.

For the final experiment, we peeled off the masking tape, unfolded the paper and stuck the masking tape back on the page where the fold had been.