Evaluation

                Discovering what weave has to offer during this brief has shown me that it is undoubtedly something I want to pursue. The technical elements I find eminently intriguing, and hope to continue to develop my understanding of them over the next few years.

                Throughout the project my direction began to veer from my initial intentions of creating check patterns. Although this provided me with the opportunity to try an array of processes that I hadn’t tried before, I was keen to return to my initial plan. However I ran into the problem of my warp running out; causing me to have to use a completely different one that was readily available. This drastically changed the outcome of my samples in appearance, but allowed me to compare and extract the best parts from both. Whilst there were positive outcomes from not being prepared with the length of my warp, I have still learnt to make it longer in the future; due to the fact that it was very difficult to try and link the two pieces of work together.

                My sketchbook was a brilliant tool for helping me to expand and progress with my work, especially when I found myself stuck. I was able to use my drawings as inspiration for a sample; developing colour proportion. With weave being completely new to me, I often needed that fundamental research to help me to continue with my practice. Although it is a tool that I have always used, during this brief I really found out how necessary it was to not only show what I have produced, but to aid me in my progression as an artist.

                In closing, it is clear to me that in only a few months I have already learnt so much but can still see where there is room to grow. As of now that growth will definitely be in weave so I can refine the skills that I have learnt in this project. 

Friday Drawing:
Creating own tools

Friday Drawing

                The Friday drawing sessions have really allowed me to grow and develop my drawing skills throughout this brief. Although I have previously learnt a lot of the techniques in my foundation year, I still found that I was gaining insight into who I am as an artist through my drawing. 

                The most important session for me was when we created our own drawing tools. I went into the session completely close minded thinking it was absolutely ridiculous and wondering why I was paying for this. This mind set continued until we began to draw. The marks that I made, and the finished drawings I had at the end of the session, were some of my favourites out of all the drawings I had done throughout Friday drawing. It showed me that just because I think its ridiculous and stupid, doesn't mean it won't work and isn't beneficial. Before the session it was the last thing I wanted to do and now I'm quite excited to try it again. 

Extended Fingers:

 Before                                                                     After

Walking with Cotton:

         During this session I made a very big mistake with one of my drawings. I used my can with the holes in it and filled it with watered down ink to let it spill out of the holes and onto the page. However it completely overflowed and went everywhere. Much to my surprise, it created some very nice patterns in the water and interesting shapes and textures on the page.

Mon 13^th Feb – Thurs 16^th Feb, 2017

     Having played around with my colour scheme more and the proportions of the colours within my samples, I have managed to create a better link between the samples from my original warp and my new warp. The more vivid, contrasting colours seem to work best in small bursts, creating delicate crosses within the thicker check stripes. I also began to work more with varying peg plans to create a bit more texture. This worked really well and created a much more interesting check pattern than I was getting by just using plain weave. Some of the samples almost look like they have neon yarn in them which reminded me of ‘Dashing Tweeds’ and how McDougall and Hill started their company. 

                 After completing all of my samples this week, I began to create visualisations on Photoshop. After a group tutorial, it was suggested that I look at scarves, interiors and fashion. Since I am more interested in fashion I would like to look further into that area. From looking at ‘Dashing Tweeds’ and being really interested in their work, I decided to look at men’s suits. Although throughout my sketchbook I have looked at women’s fashion it is something I have done a lot of before and I can see my samples being more catered to menswear. 

Noose & Monkey

https://www.nooseandmonkey.com/suits.html#index=52&page=2

“The Revolution of Tailoring

Noose & Monkey is a story of mistaken identity and disguise. During the Napoleonic wars, the crew of a French naval vessel dressed their pet monkey in an officers’ uniform. After being shipwrecked off Hartlepool, the monkey was discovered on the beach. The locals, assuming he was a Frenchman and therefore the enemy, hung him in the town square.

The brand looks at the truth and the lie, the innocent and guilty, the Noose and the Monkey. Our concept is to focus on the two sides of every story and every man, and to play with twisting those sides.”

            Noose & Monkey create unusual, bold suits; both plain and patterned, to create a more unusual image to the norm of “identity”. Their concept for their suits is shown right through to their models that again go against the standard models that are seen in advertisements. I have chosen to focus on their check/tartan suits as inspiration for creating my own designs. The colours used here are quite muted and so the busy pattern isn’t as chaotic as it would be with a brighter colour palette. This is something that I need to consider in my own designs since my colour palette is much more vivid with high contrast in some areas. With that in mind I will also consider their concept as I create my visualisations with “two sides of every story”. My stories would probably be very different to the ones Noose and Monkey work with but the conceptualisation is something that I think I could play around with a lot. 

Tartan

                From the start of this brief I wanted to work with tartans/checks since I had an interest in learning about them - this is largely due to visiting Kirsty McDougall’s studio in London and being fascinated by ‘Dashing Tweeds’; putting a spin on a traditional suit. In addition to this I have always been intrigued by Patrick Grant after years of watching ‘The Great British Sewing Bee’. Because of this I want to try and take my work back to my initial idea now that I have had lots of time to experiment on the looms. Therefore I took out this book by Jonathan Faiers to expand on my knowledge of tartan/check patterns. 

                    The first part of the book I decided to focus on was how to plan to create a tartan/check pattern. Rather than jumping straight into sampling and trying to guess how to do it, I thought it best to try and plan what I want to do. The first thing to clearly notice from the example picture is that the colours in both the warp and the weft are the same. This is a problem for me as of right now since I am working on a loom that isn’t mine (different warp). I plan on editing the warp as best as I can, until I return to my own, to get the most optimal outcomes possible. 

                 A good example from this book of the same warp and weft is from Vivienne Westwood’s AW04/05 collection, ‘Exhibition’. Westwood is well known for her tartans and, here, clearly shows how effective colour choice and EPI can be.

                A less busy example of tartan can be seen below from Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton AW04/05. Although is appears to be less busy than Westwood’s, if you look closely you can see that there is a lot more going on than can be seen at first glance. This again shows how colour choices will massively affect the appearance of the fabric.

Faiers, J. (2008) Tartan (textiles that changed the world). Oxford: Bloomsbury Academic.

Mon 6^th Feb – Thurs 9^th Feb, 2017

                I had read, in some of the books I borrowed from the library, that two extra wefts is possible when weaving. I thought it would be good to sample and see how technical I can get on the table top looms. I am aware that there is a lot that can’t be done on 8 shaft looms and so I want to try as much as possible while I can to develop my practice. Although the two extra wefts was quite complicated and required a lot of patience and concentration, the end result was very pleasing to the eye and linked perfectly with the research I have done on the Aztec civilisation.

                I ran into the issue of my warp running out. I don’t have much left available for me to use and still had a lot of things I wanted to sample. Therefore I jumped onto an already threaded up loom that wasn’t being used to test out the check samples that I had hoped to refer back to from the beginning of the project. The problem was that the warp is completely different in terms of colour scheme, threading and design. However, the colour scheme wasn’t too much of an obstacle as Lesley wanted me to expand and play around with the contrasting colours within my samples. The new warp also gave me the opportunity to try a different threading which drastically altered the appearance of the patterns. As of right now my check samples, in my opinion, have drawn too far away from my original colour scheme and photograph and now looks like a completely different piece of work – this may be due to the new warp which is perhaps something that could be tested on Scotweave. Next week I am hoping to start bringing back my original colour scheme while also continuing with the check patterns (maybe also moving into tartans) and contrasting colours; which I feel will work best in different shades of my original scheme.  

Woven Textile Design

­­­                I found this book to be extremely useful with the amount of information it contains and how easy it is to understand. Although there are certainly areas that are still new and slightly confusing to me, everything is explained very simply. Due to this I am considering in investing in this book, but for now I have selected certain areas that will be of help to me for this brief.

                The first area I want to focus on is ‘Preparation For Design’. I am still getting to grips with filling out the technical sheet but seeing all the steps on the preparation page has helped me to try and understand the information better - it also helps to be able to see their thoughts out on the page. 

                The next thing ­I was intrigued by was how to present inspiration and visual research. Although I have a certain way that I like to express and present my work, I am learning many new ways recently but I am also producing types of work that I have never made before (woven samples); and therefore find it useful to see these examples.  I can see similarities within the pictures of how they have linked samples and research together. This is something I have always done and will continue to do so. These examples have less order to them than the way I would usually do it, but perhaps it may be a good idea for me to experiment with layouts.

                The rest of the information I have selected out of this book is to do with the kinds of weave patterns I have been using so far e.g. twill, satin/sateen, extra weft. This provided me with some more information about how to create my own drafts, allowing me to have a greater understanding of the patterns themselves and what the qualities of each of them are.

Shenton, J. (2014) Woven textile design. United States: Laurence King.

Mon 30^th Jan – Thurs 2^nd Feb, 2017

     After receiving the trimmings I ordered from Abakhan, I then had a body of new and interesting things that I could combine with my weaving. So far I have found that some of trimmings are a bit too shiny or bulky for the kind of appearance I am going for – however they do work well and compliment my colour scheme; and it’s interesting to compare those textures to the more matte, flat yarns. I have found that I have produced quite a few samples and so cut them off to start to use them to develop my work further. I scanned in my samples to play about with them and take sections to try and create new ideas to recreate on the loom. In doing so, I found that I had more of a clear direction with where I wanted the samples to go. I am still experimenting with this and new techniques on the loom so it’ll be interesting to see what else I can produce in the next couple of weeks.

                In terms of new techniques I have been learning about ‘Scotweave’ and ‘Dobby Design’ to start to create drafts before I weave them; so that I am able to see them before they’re produced. Although this is a new programme to me I am hoping to develop the skill more and use it more often. Another technique I have learnt, which I have been trying and testing rigorously, is introducing an extra weft. It appeals to me because it is more complicated and technical than some of the patterns I have been using so far. I am very enthusiastic about understanding all that is possible to do on the looms and am practicing these new processes at every opportunity. I am hoping to soon try working with two extra wefts and perhaps even temporarily changing my warp.

                Although I have produced some samples that I don’t particularly like all that much, it’s enthralling to compare those that I do like against them – even more so, noticing that people seem to enjoy the ones that I am not as pleased with. Currently I am focusing a lot more on colour proportions and colour blending. The samples are beginning to look more refined and deliberate which can be seen throughout all the work I have produced thus far.