Posted by Agnes Iley , Sunday, January 9, 2011 9:46 AM
What have you achieved?
Do you feel you made a good selection from your drawings to use as source material for your designs ideas? Which interpretations worked best; can you say why?
I think that the drawing of the butterfly wing that I selected as a source for my design ideas was a good one. It had such a strong graphical, almost tribal look with strong colours, that I knew I could have almost endless fun with it. I could focus on the pattern, the colours or both.
Personally I like my third interpretation (the lacy, wavy design), because I can see a textured, maybe even 3 dimensional piece in that design.
Which fabrics did you choose; what particular qualities appealed to you?
For dyeing, painting and printing I haven’t been as adventurous with my fabric choices as I maybe should have. I choose a (sheet-like) white cotton, a white cotton jean type fabric and a black cotton. I mainly choose these, because I thought they would work well with the dyes and paints I used. I still want to do some more experimenting in the future with more textured fabrics and I was thinking about the possibilities of altering patterned fabrics.
Is the scale of marks and shapes on your samples appropriate to the fabric?
Yes, I think they are.
Would any of your ideas work better on a different type of fabric, for example, sheer, textured, heavyweight? Why?
No, I don’t think so. I had some images in mind that worked as pictures, so I don’t think they would come out on textured fabrics, I would have liked to add stitching to some of them, but thought that might distract from the original assignment.
I am very interested in trying some of these pictures on a sheer fabric. And I would love to experiment with textured fabrics, but am thinking more of using these to create a background to a stitch design.
Do the marks and shapes seem well placed, too crowded or too far apart?
The assignment said not to worry about placement, but (at least for me) that is impossible.
So I used guidelines for my stamped and shibori designs. Overall I think it could be neater, but seeing that I have not had any experience to speak of with these techniques, a little more practice should solve this.
Were you aware of negative shapes that where forming between the positive shapes?
This was most apparent in the crows on barbed wire design. I had to reposition the barbed wire a couple of times. This had nothing to do with the barbed wire or the crows itself, but everything with the negative (red) space around them.
What elements are contrasting and what elements are harmonizing in each sample? Is there an interesting tension?
Inkjet print - There is a lot of contrast in this piece, the colours are in strong contrast to each other, but also the pattern, sharp corners vs. rounded lines. To me it still is a harmonious piece though, partly because of the repetition in the pattern, but also because of the colours that although very contrasting appear to have the same dusky value to them.
The tension in this piece comes for me from the pattern the gentle rounded lines vs. the sharp corners.
Green stamped sample – the harmony here is the combination of the stamp and the background.
The stamp is kind of diffused, which for me matches the dusky green. The contrast comes from the painted and foiled wonder under. The tension comes from the cross hatched lines.
Reclining nude – this sample is all about contrast and the tension that causes.
Shibori – The shibori technique is about the contrast between the dyed and undyed areas of the fabric. Although I think there is a harmony in the monochrome colour pallet. For me the tension comes from the “dropped “ little square in the bottom corner.
The window – Although this whole picture is done in blues, there is quite a strong colour contrast. At the same time the blue pallet pulls the picture together. The tension is caused by the addition of the silhouette of a lady.
Lino print – This was meant to have a very strong contrast, so not much harmony here.
The tension for me is caused by the rather haunting picture.
Crows on barbed wire – This is (again) a sample that is very strong in contrast. The harmonizing comes from the little yellow beaks. It made such a difference when I added them, like the whole picture came alive. The tension comes for me from the positioning of the crows and wire against the background.
Bleach discharge – Bleach and black fabric will always cause a strong contrast in colour. The harmony here comes from the repetitive pattern. The tension from the different shades of discharged colour.
How successful do you think your larger sample is? Do you like the design? Have you recreated or extended your ideas from smaller samples so that there is a visual development between the two?
All of the larger samples in my “book” started out very differently.
The green stamped sample was just a quick freehand trial in lino cutting. I tried the stamp on paper first and then stamped the fabric, then I figured it needed something “more” and added the cross hatching. So this was very much a “make-it-up-as-you-go-along” sample.
The shibori sample was much more of a mathematical exercise. I knew what kind of design I wanted, then it was a question of working out the measurements which I did on the computer.
The window was also a “picture in my head” for which I did a sketch. This was not a design sketch, but more so I would not forget about the idea. Working out the actual design was also more about measurement and proportions, which I did on the computer.
The design for “crows on barbed wire” was a rough sketch at first I worked out the final placement digitally as well.
Of course all of my samples started out with little trials, experiments with masking tape, a wax resist and stencils for instance. I just need to learn to keep these for reference.
I’ve got an annoying habit of being very stingy with my materials. So I cut up some small pieces of fabric and try a stamp, a colour or anything else until there is no space to try anything anymore. Then they will turn into a rag to wipe my brushes.
Does your repeating design flow across the surface, without obvious internal edges or do the shapes and marks in your single unit sample relate well to the size and shape to the fabric?
Do they make an interesting composition on this large scale?
I am not sure how to answer this, my only truly repetitive design is the crows and I think that absolutely requires the larger scale. Any smaller and it simply wouldn’t have the same impact.
Within the design there are no obvious edges, except that I bordered the design for display purposes. But my daughter loved it so much that she could see a jacket made in that pattern, so I guess that means it would work as a fabric.
The shibori and green stamped samples are of course repetitive accept for the dropped block and turned stamp, but thinking about it I would still do that even if I would create yardage using these designs. And I don’t think there is anything within these two designs that would stop the flow if yardage with these patterns was required.
For my single unit samples I think “the window” would work on almost any scale. And I would love to make a larger (A3- size) lino print, but didn’t have the tools to pull this off. I do think most of my samples will work on most scales.
Post a Comment