Assignment 2 (1)

Application of design ideas

For this assignment I am required to show sound decision making regarding the design of a large scale single design,  a repeat pattern and a design for a border.

I have developed all of these from my earlier work in Part 2 and some have been more successful than others.  I found making a border design tricky until I realised that diagonal patterns are always going to be difficult at the corners. Maggie, who often sends me encouraging messages, has suggested that it might be better to work on a square rather than a rectangle.  It seems to me that the best way would be to design the corners in rather than allow chance to decree which bit hits the corner.

Diagonals just don't work

I took to working with single motifs.

This was better - based on Corn Exchange roof in Leeds

I quite like the simplicity of this next one:

Based on the huge spools at Masson Mill

My attempts at a single design were perhaps more successful; I felt I had more freedom to invent.

Stripes of many widths coming from both directions

Based on Masson Mill spools again

Stripes generated in Word

Weaving with tissue

Tissue layered into stripes

My repeat patterns made use of my earlier work.

I used the early card printing as a repeat tile.
This is really interesting and textural

Computer drawn image from early in Part 2 - recoloured

Computer generated image manipulated

Developed from stripes

Scribble stripes

I've come to the conclusion that many single designs can also be used as repeat patterns with a bit of tweaking.

I've selected one or two of my designs to take a bit further.  I was bought a couple of blank cotton scarves ready for printing at Christmas so my designs have them in mind.  One scarf is plain and the other crinkled batiste cotton and they measure 50 cm x 200 cm so they are quite large.

I have found before that the most lovely things can come out of almost nothing.  This image from way back in Part 2 seems at first glance a bit boring but I had a good feeling about it:

Initial image

Single panel printed with card

Border design

Repeated design

I used the same principle for one of my border designs, for a single panel and a repeated design. Although the border and the repeat were reasonably successful the panel was a bit underwhelming but I still wanted to pursue it in a larger, more developed version.  I'm so pleased I did.

I'm going to work on A3 for my designs because I've found that's where I'm comfortable.  

I began by marking out my page into 10cm squares and cutting several 10cm wide pieces of corrugated card.  I planned to make a grid with alternating vertical and horizontal lines.  My colour scheme was pink and bright green for one square and purple and yellow for the other one. These are two sets of complementary colours I have had some success with before.  I hope the photos make things clearer.

Stage 1 - pink

Stage 2 - pink + green

Stage 3 - pink + green + purple

Stage 4 - the addition of yellow

I'm just so pleased with this.  The colours work well, there's plenty of movement and it looks wonderful from a distance.  From the most unpromising start something quite wonderful has happened.

If I'm to use this for a scarf design there's lots to think about regarding scale and pattern placement. But that's for another day - maybe.

My next piece to do some additional work with is this one:

which in it's turn was inspired by this from earlier in Part 2:

This design seems to lend itself to being painted onto the ends of a scarf.  I scaled the scarf down making the width 12.5cm.  The longest brush stroke is 21cm (representing 85cm) which means that the design ends only 20cm from the middle of the scarf.  My idea is that at the other end the design is very much shorter; only 70cm.

I laid the scarf on the floor and fiddled with wool until I got a
pattern ratio I was happy with

I made a "scarf" out of light red tissue and painted brushstrokes in bleach; they turned the tissue a pale yellow.

Using my Procion dyes I added strokes in green (looks yellow) then in turquoise.

Finally I added magenta:

This has lots of movement and although I was only working with the limited colours I have I'm happy with them; they are lively. I prefer the strokes that taper sharply towards the end.  If I end up using this design I'll need to practise getting it right on fabric.  I think the design needs to be painted rather than stencilled.  That way it has a spontaneity that I like -  but it has inherent risks.

One image I like but feel that it doesn't offer much space for development is this one:

I could change the colours or the length and shape of the stripes but it doesn't feel very exciting.  I decided to think a bit further about shapes that fit around each other with space between.

I came up with a design and cut a stencil.  It seems much different to the one above but fits the criteria I set.

I'm not sure about the mono colour here but it was something I wanted to try.  This covers an A3 page of my sketchbook.  If it were to make it to the final design I'd have to do a bit of adjustment to the scale as it's a little too large.  There are several ways the design could be presented on a scarf and I need to look at those before I make any decisions.

The mono colour troubles me a bit so I tried some background contrasts:

For reasons beyond my understanding my computer wouldn't react to the paler blue except to ignore it completely, but this gives me some idea of which contrasts would maybe work.

On my trip to Masson Mill last summer I took lots of photos that I keep returning to time and time again.  This is one of them:

My image of circles arranged into stripe and grid patterns comes to mind:

I like the way the spools have a hole in the middle; it makes for more interest.  I'm going to re-interpret it using the colours forecast for spring/summer 2014 (see next post).

Hot summer colours  (Pantone)

Then I multiplied it:

These colours are very pleasing.  I need to work on this a bit more if I want to have it in contention for my scarf design. There are one or two anomalies like two purples together.

I made myself two printing blocks and used funky foam as the print surface.  I used my procion dyes again and thickened them a little as described by Ruth Issett.  As is obvious from the photo funky foam didn't absorb any dye and when I printed it tended to squeeze out of the sides. I would have been better using something like standard sponge.

My first hurdle though was in trying to create a pale grey background.  I hadn't used my black dye before and thought that just a weak, watery mix would work.  I was alarmed when my black was both very dense and very blue.  I was eventually able to wash my page in a weak colour but the outer ring which is also grey was more tricky.  I beefed up the black and accepted that I wasn't going to get the sort of grey I wanted.  Making the rest of the colours followed the same pattern and I ended up making an almost total compromise.  There's no purple at all because I didn't seem to have the room.   I should however, have substituted purple for the lime green.

First and foremost I need to get to know my dyes much better. It's expecting a lot of myself to mix quite subtle colours from a standing start.  I expect my new dye colours in the post today.

The initial computer generated colours are flat, the image is precise and the whole thing is very "certain".  With hindsight what I was attempting was almost directly opposite to that.  The colours were translucent, the method of printing fairly imprecise and the entire image was anything but "certain".   This doesn't make it wrong, just not what I'd anticipated or wanted.


My next design is on a bit of a whim.  It's taken from the drop cloth which I found very attractive.

I used the main elements from the cloth; block stripes, shapes on the diagonal and so on.  I like the idea of using this because it holds a record of everything I've done in Part 2.

My stencil

I'm getting impatient to follow some of Ruth Issett's ideas for mixing dyes so I painted my sketchbook page with mid yellow procion dye and then with ultramarine.  I'm pretty sure I don't like what I got but my intention is to overprint in the way that Ruth does.  The first problem I can see is that my page is no longer flat and if I'm not very careful my stencil isn't going to contain the dye. How much does it matter? Can I use thickened dye on paper I wonder?

I've no answers but for me this is very experimental so I'm not too anxious.  I don't think this is a serious contender for the scarf design but I've been surprised many times before.

I eventually decided to thicken my magenta dye and I used masking tape to try to hold things flat.

The method  seemed to work OK with only a little bleeding although it took ages to dry.  Next I made some orange thickened dye and shadow printed over the magenta.  The effect of orange over the other colours is to give a sort of muted yellow/green effect.

Not quite what I would have wished

I had no real expectation of this work which is probably a good thing.  I think my inexperience with dyes is very evident and probably my choices were poor.  However it's taught me lots:

my dyes are strong
it's easy for one colour to overwhelm another
layering obeys the rules of colour mixing
it's going to be hard to mix subtle colours
I need far more experience
the only way to learn is to do it

I don't feel inclined to take this any further but I like the stencil and I'll save it for possible further use.

Now that my new dye colours have arrived I'm taking a break from this work.  I'm sure that some experimentation with mixing will help the final outcome of Assignment 2.

Colour on Cloth - Ruth Issett

I bought Ruth Issett's inspirational book "A Passion for Colour"  when I was at the Harrogate Knitting and Stitching Show and I was lucky enough to receive her "Colour on Cloth" for Christmas.  The book gives a very comprehensive, easy to follow, series of practical exercises and techniques to enable both the beginner and the more experienced to extend their knowledge of cold water dyes.

It's a shame that I'm coming to the end of Part 2 because the book would have been invaluable as it covers direct dying, using thickener, resists, bleaching and discharge.  If I'd read the advice on getting started earlier I wouldn't have chosen the Selectacine route; I'd have gone straight to Procion dyes.  As it is I've got the colour range Ruth suggests but in a mixture of Selectacine and Procion.

Ruth suggests a basic colour selection of acid yellow, golden yellow, scarlet, magenta, ultramarine and turquoise.  From this she says that hundreds of colours can be mixed.  On page 12 she helpfully lists mixes to try and this is a task I've set myself to try.  Until my three new colours come from George Weil I'll see if I can work with the Selectacine - the two dyes seemed to work together when I mixed them before.

I sorted out the suggested colours; I have three Procion and three Selectacine.  I put samples of each colour into my sketchbook:

Procion at the top and Selectacine at the bottom

Painting these samples has highlighted how different these dyes are.  Although I still plan to give mixing a try just looking at the result it looks like putting chalk with cheese. The Procion colours are translucent whilst the others are dense.  This is evident even on the photo.

Colour on Cloth has been an eye opener from the technique point of view.  Ruth uses immersion dyeing rarely preferring to spray or paint her cloth using brushes, sponges and rollers. This is something else she has inspired me to try.  Just as with her embroidered textile work Ruth uses layer upon layer of colour to create beautiful and unusual colour effects.  I could well spend the next few weeks experimenting.  This approach would have Ruth's approval she says

the only real way to learn about colour is to use it.

Ruth's sketchbooks (I saw them at Harrogate) show how she uses them to record her own experiments and this is something I really need to try to build up - to make my sketchbooks a real resource for all the topics I'm covering.





Issett, Ruth, 2004, Colour on Cloth.  Batsford, London
Issett, Ruth, 2013, A Passion for Colour.  Search Press, Tunbridge Wells.

Treswell Wood

A winter walk

Treswell Wood is ancient woodland near to where I live.  It's a wonderful, wild place that is part of Notts Wildlife Trust and managed with ecology at the forefront.  Today I took photos with stripes in mind.

In the recent high winds several trees have blown down 

creating diagonal stripes across the vertical ones

A hurdle shelter at the back of a rustic seat.
The impressions of trees behind the hurdle is yet another stripe.

Charcoal is made in the wood and these are the coppiced hazel

 branches ready for the next firing.

These are thicker branches and this time the stripes have pale,
round ends where they have been cut down.

These stripes have been tied together to make bean poles for next summers gardeners.

These are neatly cut and stacked to make fence posts.

A bit more casual.

Stripes in the landscape

More stripes in the landscape

The line of the trees threw stripes shadows

The bark of an ash tree 

Not stripes but the fallen crab apples looked like jewels in the sunshine

Treswell Wood is a fantastic, peaceful place but there's so much going on in the wood.

http://www.nottinghamshirewildlife.org/images/uploads/Treswell_-_Corkboard_Web.pdf