Week Eighteen Evaluation

Overall I think I've accomplished everything I set out to do in my learning agreement in terms of aims throughout the unit. Some ideas have took different turns than I thought they would and certain mistakes have lead to inspiration for positive change.

Experimenting with new fabrics I've never worked with before such as the moleskin cotton and linen and testing out designing for new surfaces is what I want to drive in Unit X. I think the addition of ceramics and glass has had a positive impact on my work and finishes off the fabric collections.

Although I like Collection One and think it works well together some of the fabrics sampled on could have been a heavier weight to be more suited to an interior. It was very much concept based thinking about the bleaching of the coral reefs throughout.

Collection Two to me is more exciting, the addition of colour in my work after working purely in whites I enjoyed. I was much more experimental with art work in this collection and think it definitely paid off. I was a bit unsure at first where I would place ombres and dip dyes in a home at first other than in panels however contextual research and inspiration lead to the addition of surface print for accessories too that works well with my contemporary designs.

In Unit X I hope to continue painting, dying and fabric sampling to create artwork for designs. I want to take Collection Two further and continue combining the textures and mark making with ombres in different ways. At this moment in time the outcome will be an interior surface print collection that can be applied to fabrics, wallpapers, ceramics and glass.

In an addition to the live projects I've carried out I've also been networking for the last six months on Facebook and Twitter. It started off with me uploading an image of a piece of artwork I did and people responding asking for orders. Money was transferred via Paypal and in total I've posted out over twenty canvas'.  Like my ceramic transfer commission I carried out as one of my life projects it's taught me a lot about costings and timings but also that you can use social media sites as a way of getting extra work.

Week Seventeen

This week I've tested new surfaces for both collections applying ceramic transfers onto tiles and printing some smaller scale designs onto acetate as a way of simulating glass. I enjoy working to a variety of surfaces and think the contrast of the hard smooth surfaces against the soft / textured fabrics I've been working with. After sampling it's confirmed my first thoughts that working with these new materials is a direction I would like to go in unit x.

Collection Two Visualisation

I had a go at some visualisations using my photographs, seeing how my designs work together as a collection is something I could have benefit from earlier on in the project. In unit x I intend to do them throughout as it's easier to see if my work fits into its context and what could possibly be missing in terms of scale, colour and compositions or accompanying designs.

Starting to Refine Collection Two

I have selectively refined collection two. It's gone down the route of simplistic gradients, ombres, blurring and controlled mark making. I've been combining mark making with dying in my fabric samples, recently these have been improving now I know the direction of the minimalist approach this collection has ended up taking.

Mark Making Resist on Dyed Moleskin Cotton

Week Fifteen and Sixteen

Further Drawing Experiments

This couple of weeks has consisted of further exploration of sampling and the addition of silks. The rich colour combined with the texture from Zeddana Silk creates a new interesting feature itself as opposed to the wish washy flat colour on my finer fabrics tested in this collection. I hope to continue testing this with the addition of bringing Linens back into my sampling.

Textured Silk Sample

Taking photos ready to use for visualisations has inspired me contextually. I think this second body of work (collection two) is well suited to the accessories side of interiors with the bold splashes of colour and texture.

Although intended to be high end visiting high street stores such as M & S Home, John Lewis, Natuzzi and Laura Ashley has not only made me re-consider the dual suitability for the collection of high end but also high street too. It helped bring focus to where I can visualise these designs object/ context wise.

Initially I felt the work was more suitable to a high end due to the costing of the materials I was using but also combining processes such as print, dye, and devore. Now I'm considering accessories (ceramic vases, dinner sets, glasses, cushions & lighting) a high street context could also be appropriate.