Week Fourteen

After initial sampling for collection two and further inspiration I have decided to put collection three on hold. There is so much more development than I first thought and new directions this second collection of colour transition could take.

Kate Blee

Kate Blee along with Susan Bosence has provided me with inspiration of new surfaces I could work with and objects I could use within my dying to create new line and texture. In this sample I used pegs dipped with bleach as a way of making controlled pattern within an already dyed fabric inspired by Susan.

Susan Bosence

Bleached with Pegs Sample

Revising collection one and furthering the accompanying ceramic sampling rather than just visualising pattern placement will be more beneficial in the long run as materials and methods need testing.

My ideas for collection three at the moment are more finalised in my mind in terms of colour, material, technique and imagery, continuing exploring inspiration and my ideas for collection two is what I intend to experiment with and explore more over the next few weeks.

Week Thirteen

Pigment Resist on Velvet Cotton

After sampling in the print room and some inspiration/contextual research my second collection has had a turn in its direction. Rather than dip dying I've found stripes created by tie-dye much more interesting visually, in this print that has inspired my turning point I used pigment as a resist that I printed onto the fabric first. It works really well on pile fabrics creating a contrast in textures and subtly shows the design. After sampling a range Velvet Cotton and Moleskin Cotton have proved to be the best in keeping the rich warm tones of the colour. 

Paola Navone

Paola Navone's rug collection has inspired to test various folding methods, the lines she creates are much more appropriate to an interior typical tie-dye prints you may see in fashion. 

Ralph Lauren

Vera Wang

Context wise Ralph Lauren and Vera Wang have designed contemporary ombre and dip dye bedding collections whilst Romo Black's Orchis Collection includes cushions, upholstery fabrics and drapes for a contemporary home. 

Over Christmas

Ombre / Dip Dye

Drawing for Collection Two was a priority over Christmas, with dying, devore and colour transition being the main focus of this collection I experimented with ways I could translate this onto paper. Gradients and new takes on the typical dip dye was my started point quickly moving onto more interesting markmaking. Using bleach proved very successful, the uncontrollable lines all were very fitting to my initial inspiration of coral reefs. It seemed I had finally found the most fitting media to capture the tentacles of a Jelly Fish.

Ink and Bleach Drawings 

A little dying of fabric took place, simple dip dyes onto already burnt out devore turned out more interesting than was intended. I had placed wallpaper face down on the floor for somewhere to put my fabric while it dried, when removing it these prints below were created. The textures and marks created are so random, they demonstrated the colour transition approach I'd been trying to create but in a much more interesting way. I'm going to continue making drawings this way when I go back in the print room expanding my range of mark making and dying techniques. 

Fabric Prints