Mon 8^th – Fri 12^th Jan, 2018

                In the past week I have found that for my self-initiated project I really needed some direction. For my live brief I have gone in the direction of quite regal patterns and designs, so Lesley suggested that I let my live brief influence my self-initiated brief for a new direction to go in to draw with. This has really helped me start to think about the idea of regal and what it actually is. Although I also still feel like what I’m drawing isn’t massively working with my project yet. I feel as though it doesn’t quite fit into place. Perhaps I need to look down a different area of what can be considered regal, which I may find more inspiring.

                I may be struggling with the direction since I am focusing more on what I intend to weave and thinking about my warp. I am struggling with how to translate my drawings into peg plans and deciding how, technically, this will actually work. Maybe this is due to me doing double cloth, something which I have never done before, so I can’t really picture how it will all work. Hopefully once I get on the looms everything will become much clearer and I won’t be struggling as much with how it all links together. 

Christmas Holidays

                Over Christmas I began to create both 2D and 3D drawings to try and look at texture from different perspectives. The 2D drawings were my first focus since I had planned to use these as potential digital patterns for my live brief. I first focused on just texture alone that I found around me since I was struggling to find much that was also white. Therefore I made sure that I thought about colour with the actual drawing.

                Next I wanted to try larger, 3D drawings creating my own textures. My aim was to make drawings that made you want to touch them. Since returning to Uni I have found that I was successful in my endeavour. I tried to create a variety of different textures, using a list of textured words that I had made to work from. I think a lot of the drawings were really successful in showing these words but unfortunately I don’t have much direction after this and am unsure now of where to take my drawings in relation to weaving. Because of this I feel as though my drawings still need a lot of development and refinement. 

First Group Crit

     I came to the group crit with my initial ideas of using white and texture. However this didn’t really leave me with a direction to start drawing from. Lesley suggested I draw things that I associate with texture and white together, and really think about the association between the two, for example; snow. In addition to that, I am to question what the colour white actually is. It is much broader than it seems and in a way using only white may be harder than it seems. It may also be worth looking into textured architecture due to some of the influences on my mood board. 

                From this, the main thing I want to take is the association of white and texture as a starting point to draw from. Further down the line I may need more of a specific direction in order to create drawings but I believe for now this is enough to work with. 

Initial Ideas

     To start this unit I wanted to begin with something out of my comfort zone. For the last unit I did this with my colour scheme and it worked out really well for me. It encouraged me to think more closely about my colour selection and in turn, the effect it may have on the aesthetic of my piece. Having just experimented with colour I thought this time it might be worth taking colour mainly out of the equation and focusing on texture – something I am known for not really dabbling in. Although worried I may struggle, I am excited to see if texture is something I can work well and experiment with.

                Jumping ahead to what I would like to weave, I imagine this time I would like to work with a fairly plain warp threaded up on a point so that I can make more figurative patterns. I think combining this with lots of contrasting textures could give some really nice effects that are not only nice to look at but also interesting to touch. The challenge of having no colour to use will test me on how I can make a design interesting and different with only use of texture; without it being boring.

                For my live brief I would still like to stick with a white colour scheme to start with but am not sure yet where it will go. I think I will begin by thinking about my audience so that I can direct everything towards that. I may start by drawing and thinking of who might have an interior with that drawing printed on it – What kind of person do I imagine having it? What is their job? Where do they live? Etc. 

Evaluation

                Checks and Tartans have been of interest to me since I began to weave; however throughout this project I have been able to explore and understand the construction much more while also developing my own techniques. Through colour and pattern, I have examined the possible outcomes for my tartan/check patterns and expanded on what I know to understand of this area.

                From the outset I tried to push myself and go out of my comfort zone – This began with my warp. The colours I chose, I was very unsure of due to their limitations in contrast to each other. I was very aware that orange and green would require specific colour combinations to create an aesthetically pleasing design, but I wanted to take the risk. Now having gone through the project and seen my final outcomes, I am very pleased I took the chance and went with the warp that I did. In regards to risk taking, I am aware that I generally work very flat (which is again how I began this project) but was hoping to try and expand on this and include some more textures. Through using mohair I was able to brush some of my samples to create a much more warm, cosy and tactile effect which therefore expanded my ideas for my context.

                In terms of skills, which I have augmented throughout this unit, I was very pleased I chose to dye my warp. Not only did this allow me to enhance my dyeing skills and refresh my memory, but I also felt much more sense of pride once my warp was made and ready to be woven. In addition to this, weaving on the floor looms has been a great experience that I thoroughly look forward to continuing with. It allowed for more design options, saved time and really pushed me to think more about and plan what my intentions were.

                As a result of this project, although I am very pleased with how I have worked and what I have created, I feel as though I need to work with patterns and designs that are more out of my comfort zone for the next unit to really expand my skills. Tartans and checks were almost a bit of a comfort zone because it’s what I enjoy to look at (even if I have only really explored them once before this). Perhaps next time I will work with a plainer warp and a much more limited colour palette to push myself to think and create in new ways. 

Mon 6^th – Fri 10^th Nov, 2017

                I had an issue this week; running out of the 3000 yards I had made of 2/40s Mercerised Cotton, Orange. I had tried to initially make enough so that I wouldn’t have to dye anymore but unfortunately that wasn’t the case. When I went to try and dye the same colour again, I struggled to get the ratios of colour right due to the big difference in the weight of yarn since this time I was dyeing much less. However, taking this into consideration, I think I did quite well in getting a colour match.

                In terms of samples, at this point I have focused a lot on checks/tartans and getting those how I wanted them. Since I have reached quite a satisfied point with this, I thought it best to try some things a little more different and out of my comfort zone involving texture. A lot of my work is very flat so I have been testing peg plans and yarns that give more of a 3D effect. Rebecca also noticed that I was using mohair and recommended I test brushing it to see the effect. I am actually very happy with the brushing finish and think it work well with my check/tartan patterns.

                Looking at all my current samples together I noticed everything was very warm and yellow. Since I was contrasting flat with texture, I thought perhaps I should try some colder colour and look more into the blues that I’ve been using; which was also suggested in our group crit. So far I have been happy with the testing I have done and hope to continue this next week and produce some nice samples.