Block 2 - Print

Print Sample - screen printing from a design I created on photoshop
This is two samples put together, the top layer was silk viscose dyed  and then discharged to
take out the colour, to show the design. The bottom layer is printing the design onto cotton.

Block 2 - Print

Print Sample - screen printing onto cotton

Block 2 - Print

Print Sample - a different technique of screen printing
Dyeing the fabric, using discharge to take out the dye to show the image
and printing the image normally

Block 2 - Print

Print Sample - from the design I created on Photoshop I could screen print
different techniques onto various fabrics

Block 2 - Print

Digital Silk Scarf - created on Photoshop from photographs I took of mushrooms
and then digitally printed

Block 2 - Print

Digital Silk Scarf - Design produced on Photoshop and digitally printed

Block 2 - Print

Print design that I created on Photoshop from my drawings of mushrooms

Block 2 - Print

Reflection of the Print Block

(15/11/10 - 26/11/10) 

Print

Having completed the print block, I have realised that I don’t think I’m a printer.  Although I would like to be able to use the process within my work in future projects.  I did enjoy the block but I think I’m a lot more experimental and mixed media based, using a variety of materials.  I think I would find the block limiting.  However, I did find the science of adding chemicals to produce dyes for the different techniques interesting, but at the same time it confused me, which ones meant what and how they would react with different fabrics.  One of the main reasons I don’t think I’m a printer, is due to my work not being image based.  When I produce drawings of an object, I think of how I could manipulate the drawings, looking at the textures, colours and shapes.  So I found working on Photoshop quite difficult with the drawings that I had, but I still think I worked quite hard and came up with some good results.

Block 1 - Stitch

Stitch Sample - Based on drawings of mushrooms
This sample is many fabrics bonder webbed together, then using a scapel, I cut away to
create a mushroom shape and the lines from underneath a mushroom, I
ironed the pleits to show the calico and the structure

Block 1 - Stitch

Stitch Sample - Based on drawings of mushrooms
A close up image of the tucks representing the lines of the underside of the mushroom
and burnt into the tucks to create an organic mushroom shape, texture and feel.

Block 1 - Stitch

Stitch Sample - Based on drawings of mushrooms
Representing the lines on the underside of a mushroom, machine stitched tucks,
which have been burnt into to create an organic mushroom shape, texture and feel.

Block 1 - Stitch

Stitch Sample - Based on drawings of mushrooms
A close up image of the machine stitched tucks creating the lines of a mushroom and
the hand sewn threads

Block 1 - Stitch

Stitch Sample - Based on drawings of mushrooms
Machine stitched tucks closely together, representing the lines shown on the inside of a
mushroom and hand sewn threads through the tucks, creating an organic feel.

Block 1 - Stitch

Stitch Sample - Based on drawings of mushrooms
Machine stitched tucks, coffee stained the cotton organdy and hand sewn threads,
to shows the lines on a mushroom.

Stitch Sample - Based on drawings of mushrooms

Block 1 - Stitch

Reflection of the Stitch Block

(1/11/10 - 12/11/10)

Stitch

The week when we started this block I got so excited to get stuck into producing practical work and being hands on.  I always get some sort of thrill when working on a sewing machine.  I find the type of objects I draw from I can manipulate into stitch without difficulty.  I feel it comes naturally and ideas come visually to me.  I really got stuck into this block and thought I produced work that linked well as a series relating back to my organic theme.   My work gains from being able to use mixed media and a variety of materials, I like being experimental and I feel this comes across in my work.  I believe the samples I have produced are quite fashion based and I think this may be the route I would like to go down, although I realise I should try knit and weave because samples in those blocks can be based on fashion.

V & A Visit - Notes and Reflections on the Trade between East and West

Theory V & A visit  - Trade between East and West (Textiles and Worldwide Trade 1600 – 1900)

Relevant to study and design in Britain

From 1800’s fabrics started to be imported to the UK from India – they are famous for the Paisley pattern.

East Indian Company – organization to trade repeats with countries

Why did Europeans want Indian Textiles?

To trade in south-east Asia for spices, tea and coffee (spice islands)

Trade Indian textiles for these goods

To trade in Africa for gold and ivory

As luxury goods for Europe where cotton + cashmere did not grow

As washable substitutes for European woven silk, wool + linen

Can’t grow a lot of fabrics in European countries, need the warm heat to grow types of plants

Indian dyers worked out how to make dye that didn’t wash out on prints, very highly skilled and Europeans needed to have raw materials to grow and make the dye.

What was special about Indian Textiles?

Very fine cotton ‘muslin’ – lighter and softer the European linen

Printed cotton ‘chintz’ with bright colours that could be washed – unlike painted European linens

Trade up to 1770 – advantage to India

Indian patterns adapted for different markets

Good at producing fabrics

Japanese designers started using Indian designs and techniques

Very highly skilled designers

Indian designers knew exactly what people wanted, even though they had never been to the spice islands

Trade after 1700 – advantage to Britain

British trading cotton to Indian, to produce cotton textiles

Technology developed – spinning jenny (machine for spinning cotton)

1770  - water power used to drive spinning machine

1783 - roller printing developed in Egland

1800 - England was the most important trader of cotton

Making textiles in Britain for India

Design researcher – going round India to see what was most in demand

British manufacturers and traders studied India and other Asia consumers tastes

By 1860, British firms were designing and making printed cottons that would sell in India, China, Burma, West Africa…

Local markets were undercut – traders compete

India wanted new exciting designs

British made mass market cheaper designs

Garments started to be produced with a Japanese cut and Indian design with European silks, textiles started to mix and change.

Indian, Japanese and Chinese motifs were being pushed together – bazaar!

Every family in England had to have embroidered fabrics of silk, showing wealth and that they were worthy. But because the fabrics were so expensive, people couldn’t always afford them, so families would take the pattern home and sit and stitch as a family.

Thoughts from the lecture and V & A visit

What I found really interesting about this lecture and visit is learning that Indian designers were willing to adapt their pattern and designs for different markets, such as us, the Europeans, even though they would never even wear the garments that they produced. 

The trade industry changed when Britain started selling and producing textiles for India.  Even though India wanted new exciting designs, there local markets were being undercut by an MEDC, England, which is a wealthy country, so therefore India (an LEDC) was loosing out on revenue, which doesn’t make sense when India have highly skilled designers and produce good fabrics.  Researching into the topic, I realised that the main reason that the trade industry changed was because of modernization of technology in Britain.  Britain could mass produce designs and make printed cottons cheaper.  The patterns used on the cotton were direct imitations of Indian designs, just machine printed instead of hand produced.  So therefore local industries and designers in India couldn’t compete with the traders from European countries because people found that their fabrics were a lot cheaper and cotton was introduced into Indian, which they couldn’t produce because they didn’t have the technology, which Britain could see they were in demand for.

British Museum Visit - Notes and Reflections on Collecting Things, Collecting People

The British Museum Leaflet

British Museum Visit - Notes and Reflections on Collecting Things, Collecting People

Theory British Museum – Notes and reflections on the collection and related lecture

Notes I took from the visit to the British Museum

Living and dying

How did cultures and religions deal with death and health in Britain?

Cradle to Grave explores our approach to health in Britain today and addresses some of the ways that people deal with sickness and try to secure their well-being.

Susie Freemain created a piece that is shown in the British museum that’s states just this.  It shows how many different pills and drugs you take in your lifetime.  Contrasting the difference between how many women and men take, the result being that women take that many more than men.

Various cultures celebrate and grieve differently, such as

Burying the dead

Coping with death – mourning

Safe guarding children

Promoting fertility at marriage

Africa

Men’s cloth – recycled metal foil bottle and neck wrappers, copper wire

By El Anatsui, Ghana

Traditional narrow – strip woven silk kente cloth of Ghana is a source of pride and a receptacle of cultural memories, placed in the middle of the room to show its contemporary.

Contemporary textiles mixed with historic African textiles as historic textiles.

Benin

Cast brass plaques

British reacted Benin City in 1897, Royal Palace was being rebuilt with brass sheeting and some 900-brass plaques from the old building were found half buried in a storehouse.

The cast brass plaques date back to the 16^th century.

The wooden pillars of the Oba’s Palace show scenes of the palace life and ritual, showing that they were made in matching pain.

No record to show how the plaques were originally arranged.

Leopards were attached to the horizontal beams and they lie along the branches of the trees. Which suggests a distinction – followed here – between vertical and horizontal plaques.

Why are they here?

We discussed how they got here but not why they should be here or whether they should be here. But these plaques have been all over the world in many museums, where all nations can come to learn about their culture. I think it’s important that people understand other people’s cultures, because it makes you as a person appreciate what you may or may not have and respect other cultures. Also to learn about the world we live in and what goes on.

Tree of Life

Amazing what’s it’s made off – old machinery and weapons

Was sent to England to show what they have been doing. They made a tree out of weapons that have been made to kill – this as a very significant meaning to it.

People from Mozambique found these weapons from the civil war and switch them with contemporary artists for a tractor.

But the questions is should the piece of art ‘The Tree of Life’ be here in the British Museum or in its own country that it was made in and were the weapons were found.

The Tree of Life symbolises the dynamic creativity of America.

Millions of guns were poured in the country during the Civil war, most of which remain hidden or buried in the bush.

The people who live their have been encouraged if they find a weapon to hand it over for an exchange of items, such as ploughs. This is to make sure violence and crime is kept to a minimum, not that there is much.

Weapons are cut up and turned into sculptures by groups of artists in Maputo, grew out of a collaboration between Christian Aid, BM and Christian Council of Mozambique.

Thoughts from the lecture and British Museum visit

The lecture and museum visit got me thinking about different cultures and how it’s important that people respect and understand other people’s cultures.  Cultures can represent a lot about a human being, showing their identity, especially by the collection of objects and things, it can show a persons way of life and symbolise how you think about life.

From talking about various countries in the lecture and the exhibition it made me realise that artifacts from all over the world show how people think about life and understand others, because museums are a way of educating people about different cultures, if they are not able to travel to see for themselves.

Also from learning about different cultures in museums or visiting the country, you get a great understanding that cultures and religions deal with the norm in very different ways, such as life and death, every culture has various traditions.

Science Museum Study Task

Theory Science Museum – Challenges of Materials Exhibition

Materials

The challenge is to select the right material for the job and the priority is to match the properties of the materials to the lack to be performed.

Many other factors have to be considered, such as, cost, appearance, fashion, individual taste and cultural conventions.

Perceptions of materials

How do we feel about materials influences which ones you choose?

A material that performs well may still seem ‘wrong’ depending on personal taste or social convention.

Artists and designers are often able to change people’s perceptions of the suitability of using particular materials.  

Select one material that inspires you that you have learnt something new about – make notes on its

Applications

Properties

Development

American Red Oak

I was inspired to research about oak because it is a material that is used in our everyday lives and I thought I would research into a material that isn’t related to textiles, something different.

Applications –

Today oak wood is still frequently used for making furniture and flooring, timber frame buildings, and for veneer production. Also barrels in which red wines, sherry, brandy and spirits are made from American Red oak. The use of oak in wine can add many different flavours to wine based on the type and style of the oak. Oak barrels, can add a change and a difference to the colour, taste, and fragrance of the contents, such as an oaky vanilla flavour.

Properties –

American Red oak has great strength and hardness, and is rarely contaminated with insect and fungal attacks because of its content of high tannin.  Which is why oak is commonly used to make furniture, flooring, timber frame buildings and for veneer production, because consumers know that oak products will be long lasting and durable. 

Development –

American red oak has developed over generations because of the growth of production, inventions and modernization of machinery and mechanics.  Also because a scientist discovered that the oak tree could be used as a material, developing from its origin a tree, to now being produced and used as everyday objects.

Block 1 - Stitch

Stitch Sample - Based on drawings of mushrooms
This represents the lines of the underside of a mushroom, machine stitched tucks and burning
into the tucks, creating an organic mushroom shape, texture and feel 

Science Museum Study Task

Theory Science Museum – Trash Fashion

1.              Reflective notes on your experience of the exhibition

I thought the exhibition was quite small and not what I was expecting, but there was so much information provided, such as research that could be used and interesting facts to be read were vast.  There were many thoughts, views and things to learn from the exhibition, even if you weren’t a student and just visiting the exhibition.  At first I wasn’t quite sure what I was supposed to be researching and recording notes from.  I felt the exhibition was quite confusing and not well laid out. 

2.              What you learnt

I learnt that the exhibition was portraying a message, not just to fashion or textile students researching into different topics, but also to the general public who view the exhibition, stating that even though fashion is fast-changing all the time, clothes can be worn more than once, even if you’re fed up with the look because a garment can be changed and modified to new and specific trends.

3.              Explain the different processes/approaches to ‘designing out waste’ for differing projects

Discuss the merits of each approach in contributing to the sustaining the environment

What the issues might be regarding what impact they can have?

Stinging Nettle Fibres

They can be used as an alternative to cotton. Stinging nettle fibres can be turned into a fabric to be produced into garments of clothing, which is as soft or as softer as cotton and is stronger, so therefore could be a better fabric to make clothes from.

So why would anyone consider turning the stinging nettle plant into a fabric and might it help contribute to the sustaining of the environment?

There are many reasons, one being that stinging nettle is a weed and it grows just about everywhere. Researching into the plant I found that it doesn’t need pesticides and fertilizers for it to thrive. So therefore, nettle is easy and fast to grow and kind to the environment.

Also stinging nettle naturally retards flame. Which means when the plant fiber is woven in with other materials like cotton or wool, dangerous, flame-retardant chemicals don’t have to be used, so again better for the environment.

Another reason being, those stinging nettles are very strong when it’s woven into a fabric. As we know stinging nettles are stronger than cotton and it doesn’t need large amounts of chemicals than cotton does.

Recycled Polyester

Polyester can be recycled over and over again, but its not always eco-friendly.  Most fabrics and garments that are currently used are made up of 60% fibres.  Plus quite a lot of the unwanted materials end up in/on landfill sites.  Therefore so much is wasted and not kept pure, which means that it is harder and impossible to recycle and biodegrade.

Recycled polyester is not always eco-friendly but it depends on the recycling process, and the original polyester itself. Polyester is a synthetic fabric, so it’s not going to be as organic as plant fibres. Polyester has health hazards and environmental issues that make it a lot less eco-friendly than it could be.

Visiting the exhibition trash fashion I watched a video clip on the textile designer Kate Goldsworthy, who uses laser beams to cut, stitch and design patterns onto 100% recycled polyester. Also this process of laser beams gives creative freedom back to the designer. The use of this fibre means the dress is easy to recycle at the end of its life.  When experimenting with lasers to create patterns and textures, the designer must stay clear of using chemicals because they can impact with the environment and cause pollution.

Unit 1 - Rough Guide Theory Task

Object from a shop - Print Blocks

Unit 1 - Rough Guide Theory Task

Object from a market stall - Crab

Unit 1 - Rough Guide Theory Task

Rough Guide Theory Task

Describe the objects/images/items

List keywords that come to mind

Now consider the context within your area and how these might differ if they were shown in another context

Object/product from a market stall

Crabs from a fish market stall, to buy and eat

Crabs are obviously natural living species that live within the sea and are made up of particles and enzymes.  They look like mean creatures that you would never think you could eat because they have such a hard structured body and coating.

Coast, seaside, beach, textural, scuttle, hard, fragile, dangerous, dirty

Thinking of the context of where the crabs are sold, and if this were to change the context would differ greatly depending on the situation.  If you were to find a crab in a department store (Selfridges), say in the food hall, you would expect to be buying ‘luxury’ crabmeat, which would not be cheap!  Whereas to come across a crab in an art gallery, I think a person would have slightly confused thoughts and probably think the artists had some peculiar concept behind his work.  However, I don’t think you will ever find a crab in an art gallery.

Object/product from a shop

A Print Block

I came across a little old antique shop, which you can find many of in Notting Hill. They sold these beautiful old-fashioned print blocks.  They are square wooden blocks, with the section of the stamp being metal for the build up of ink to go.  These print blocks were used when old-fashioned printing presses and typesetters were still used to print the newspapers. 

Newspaper, prints, letters, delicate Imagery, beautiful, subtle, raised, design, pattern, detail

If a printing block was shown in another context, such as either an art gallery, market stall or department store, I don’t think the context would differ at all.  A printing block would still have the same meaning because it is an antique and has a specific significance.

Object/painting/artwork/image from a museum

Museum of brands, packaging and advertising – graphics and labels from old packaging

I visited the Museum of brands, packing and advertising because it was in my area, Notting Hill, for the Rough Guide project.  For this task, I decided to research into the graphics and labels from old packaging to new, how each product has changed over time through centuries.  The graphics and labels on packaging are so detailed, intricate and beautiful but nowadays the products we buy are so boring!  The products used to be attractive objects made from earthenware, wood, glass, paper and card, the to tin boxes and cans of the 19^th century, to the new materials of aluminum and cellophane in 1920’s and 30’s.  Then since 1950’s came the dramatic change and introduction of flexible plastics.  The evolution of packaging has become increasingly more complex and dull.

Dull, vibrant, detail, colourful, intricate, beautiful, flexible

Having been researching graphics and labels of old packaging to new, if I were to move the old packaging to a market stall from the museum passersby would probably not even take a glance.  The packaging might look old and battered, and nowadays everyone consumes up to date products, fashion garments and objects because they are satisfying their needs and stating their identities with modern possessions.

Comparisons between them

The reason why I researched into these objects for this task is because they all relate to each other in the Notting Hill area.  Notting Hill and Portobello Road has always had antique shops, markets and food markets along the streets, which is how the crab, print block and old packaging relates to each other because they all show and state the history of the area, but not just the area, and you can kind of imagine what the area used to look like.  However, “the area hasn’t really changed at all” said a market stallholder, whose family has worked there for generations.