Part 5 Personal Project Stage 1

Reviewing your work so far

It's an interesting task to review work.   Exploring Ideas covers so much ground it's easy to forget the twist and turns of work completed some time ago.  I'm going to record my thoughts part by part alongside reading my Tutor Reports.  

Part 1

In looking again at this work I realise that I was not developing my work as I should have been.  I was letting the materials inform what I was doing and not following the process I'd been taught.  I got too tied up in my holiday I think.  I didn't understand the concept of "key qualities" very well.  There are some interesting starting points for further work but I feel that I didn't pursue those ideas worth exploring.  At the time I didn't see the possibilities.  I also think that my blog contains much of what should be in my sketchbook and isn't.  

The Tutor Report emphasised that I should "evaluate ... work within the context of contemporary textiles" but I got hung up on Indian textiles of the past.

This sounds really negative but there are many things that are positive - my first tentative dyeing session, some good work with plastics and a wealth of background knowledge both from books and in the field.

Part 2

I really enjoyed Part 2; looking at the work again is very exciting and makes me want to do more experimenting with dye.  Dyeing was completely new to me and if I'm honest quite frightening.  I got some unexpectedly attractive results.  The whole thing felt like a big adventure.

The most important thing to arise from the work was the need to do more testing before launching into something with an end use.  The need to record was a major learning point as well - otherwise how can a process be replicated. The work I did in Part 2 would have benefited from some reference to the work of others so I could make more informed design decisions.

It is clear that when the "process" is followed and provenance evident the result is much more coherent and rewarding.

I would like to experiment with incorporating purpose dyed fabrics with other media.

Part 3

I've realised that I work best when I'm doing something fresh.  For instance knitting is far from new but knitting in unlikely ways is.  It doesn't always work out but I like taking a risk just to see what will happen. It's a bit like playtime.  What I'm really doing is sampling and in Part 3 I didn't really follow through my sampling very well.

I got some interesting effects during the workshops and with hindsight maybe I should have chosen some of the knitting or fabric manipulation for my final samples.

My major learning from Part 3 is to slow down and take time to understand the key qualities of my work. This is what my tutor said in response to my question about key qualities and it's so useful

the essential/key qualities of your cotton and wire sample were - the quality of handle by combining the two yarns; aesthetically, the two yarn types worked well together in terms of a neutral colour palette, subtlety and intriguingly in terms of texture and handle; the simple structure worked well - these are all key qualities. So, if you felt these were qualities you would like to build on, one solution would be to choose imagery which would prompt you use some of these in different ways without loosing the essential qualities. Perhaps combining these qualities with another sample. It's not always trying out completely new ideas but building on some of the previous successes and recognising these as you go and make decisions.

Part 4

This is with my tutor at the moment.

Some thoughts

My preferred way to begin a design is to use photographs as a starting point.  These might be my own or an image from a book or the internet.

I am still not confident with pencils, paint and so on.  I find it much more comfortable to use paper collage and introduce other materials.

I use a variety of ways to develop ideas.  My first choice is to select parts of an image and then manipulate it digitally.  Sometimes I repeat the process several times.

I often change the scale of a piece I've developed in order to make a repeat pattern or I change the mood by altering the colours.

I have learned so many new techniques on this course it's very difficult to say which appeals to me most.   It often seems that the thing I'm working on right now is the one I like best!  However, whilst I've been looking through my work it was the dyeing that excited me most so I think that tells me something.

I like the variety of texture obtainable with weaving and the idea of stitching into weaving is something that I'd like to try.

There are so many possibilities and I have no idea where I might end up at the end of Stage 5.