Do you feel you made a good selection from your drawings to use as a source material for your design ideas? Which interpretations worked best? Why?
I am pleased with the typography and the airplant as source images. The typography in particular offered many different opportunities for development and re-interpretation. The airplant was not quite as versatile but nonetheless offered scope for using different materials, re-sizing and arranging in either structured or random patterns.
The basketweave wasn't as interesting as I had hoped although I did feel that the shibori-style clamped and dyed piece was an unexpected success. The bleached version was rather disappointing - not sure whether this was the fabric or whether I needed a stronger bleach (maybe a specific discharge chemical?).
The "drip" was, I think, too unstructured. Having said that the image manipulations and negative colour imaging was very interesting. I think it might be possible to simplify this image and work into the simplified version, playing more with colour and media. Using the silk for these pieces was a good way to exploit the drippy nature of the image but I would need to do more experimentation to solve the challenges posed by getting the balance of too much/too little dripping and blending right.
In terms of interepretations, the success of the interpretation depended on the optimum combination of technique, medium and fabric. Some techniques (the potato printing for example) worked very well on smooth fabrics with thickened dye but was of limited success with the resist paste. The stencils on the other hand worked very well with both the typography and the star-flower both with the resist paste and with thickened dyes. Overall, the interpretation that I feel worked best was the final sample as I chose my favourite combination for the typography, moving it away from the original but still with echoes of the source image. I like the crispness afforded by the stencils, thickened dye and resist. I would like to re-work this piece in different colours, perhaps in an octagonal shape to mimic a kaleidoscopic effect. Whilst the colours in the final piece work, I have concluded that yellow isn't my preferred colour!
Which fabrics did you choose? What particular qualities appealed to you?
I chose a range of fabrics to give different surfaces, drape, some colour and both synthetic and natural fibres. I also selected fabrics with different densities, from the heavy hessian to the fine voile. I wanted to see how the fabric affected the design and how fabric and design need to work in harmony to achieve a successful result.
Is the scale of marks and shapes on your samples appropriate to the fabric? Would any of your ideas work better on a different type of fabric? Why?
For most of my samples I made the tools (stencils etc.) to a scale appropriate to the fabric size. However, as I have noted elsewhere, a number of the experiments could be scaled up for use on larger fabrics, for example, furnishing or homewares as opposed to apparel. The spray-stencilled typography (made with the modelling clay) wasn't used at the fabric stage but this would make an excellent large-scale motif or centrepiece.
Certain of the samples could be repeated on different fabric types. The stencils could be sprayed with fabric paint onto silk or a sheer fabric. Handpaints could also be used on a stretched silk/voile or a gutta outline used and the shapes filled with silk paint. The basketweave could be cut into a lino block, possibly with two different blocks that can be printed on top of one another to mimic the weave effect. Stamps would work well on the hessian although it would need to be a paler colour to make the paints visible!
Do the marks and shapes seem well-placed, too crowded or too far apart? Were you aware of the negative shapes that were forming in between the positive shapes?
In some cases the patterning was a bit dense (the purple natural-dyed typography sample for example). I'm not sure to what extent I was exploiting the negative spaces in the fabric pieces. Probably not very much! I did, however, look quite consciously at negative spaces when manipulating the images on the computer.
What elements are contrasting and what elements are harmonising in each sample? Is there a balance between the two that produces an interesting tension?
As mentioned in the notes accompanying the images, the negative image of the typography created with the modelling clay contrasts a geometric, balanced pattern with a subtly changing print.
How successful do you think your larger sample is? Do you like the design? Have you recreated or extended your ideas from the smaller samples so that there is a visible development between the two? 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 of the fabric? Do they make an interesting composition on this larger scale?
I am really quite pleased with the final piece. I like the way the delicate star-flowers contrast with the bolder border. I can see the progression from the early viewing frame, through the paper prints, fabric experiments to the final piece.
As mentioned in the project notes, although this fabric is a lengthwise repeat it would be possible to
adapt the design to make the typography motif a border around all four sides
to make a single unit pattern. With a larger piece of fabric it may also
be possible to create a hexagonal or octagonal border around the
central motif. The central star-flowers are printed at random intervals
but could be placed in clusters to interpret the original airplant more
closely. It would also be possible to use a single, centred cluster of
star-flowers with the typography border round all sides for a more
structured effect.
To develop the the design further it
would be possible to extend the colours of the piece by overprinting
with different colours using the star-flower stencil. With a wider
fabric the green borders could be placed close together, overlapped
along the length (base to base of the image) or left with a gap between.
So many ideas, so little time!
