I
had my session booked in the print room today and was very surprised at how
quickly it was to create everything I had wanted to. It just goes to show that
when you go into the print room with an idea of what you want to do, you can
get a lot more done!
For
the first part of the morning, I was experimenting with printing using cotton
and my new favorite hessian fabric. I had made a net, which I wanted to see if
I could use as a kind of printing block, to print the netted design. This however
was not too successful because the net soaked up a lot of the dye. Instead, I
decided to print through the holes of the net, leaving the original colour of
the fabric where the net had been. This did work better and made the White net
turn a vibrant blue colour!
As
I had time to play around a little I used spatulas to experiment with a mark
making design, which mimicked the netted pattern. I liked the block colours of
this and although they worked well, I think my work is a little beyond that
stage now; it was a little too simple. I aim to stitch back into the samples to
improve their intricacy and show a development of ideas. These hand print, mark
making techniques relate directly to my research report based upon the
preservation of craft. Hand made technique and the preservation of it is
important, but a way of developing it, improving it and making it more current
is vital to the preservation of the craft industry.
Following
my time on the print table, I had my booked time in the dye kitchen. For this
part of the day I was again well prepared, bring with me some netted samples
that I had intended to dye to experiment with the colour , moving away from the
traditional natural colours of the jute. I also had a ball of string and ball
of wool to dye, to test whether dye the string before or after knotting it had
any effect of the end design.
I
create two dye pots of green and yellow. I chose these colours because they
rate to my colour scheme for the project, but push my own boundaries in colour
usage. I tend to stick to the same colours all the time, red and blue, I wanted
to push myself a little and I like the way both of the colours worked together
and how they worked for the samples. I also chose the shades of the colours,
because they are pushed the boundaries of the natural colour scheme, but not
too far, not too way out there and synthetic looking. That was not what I
wanted to achieve.
These
samples too worked well, but again I think they could do with working into them
a little to add another element of development and experimentation rather than
just the use of colour which is to be honest a little boring now.
Again
I had time when I finished so I thought about how I could potentially develop
these ideas and something one of my tutors had previously said popped into my
head. She suggested that my knotting and netting was very similar to weaving
and knitting that the process and feel of the finished samples were visually
similar. I thought about perhaps using an idea of weaving to push my sample away
from the simple net and perhaps into a more fabric, screen. I knotted some of
my cotton, simply, and dyed it in my two dye pots to add a slash of colour,
which could tie it into my own work a little more.
Overall
I think I have had a very successful day in the print room and I have lots now
to complete my samples and develop them even further ready for hand in.
To
do from today...
·
·
Wash out all print samples and iron.
·
Weave with plain fabric into one of the dyed nets.
·
Weave with dyed cotton into one of the Nets.
·
Couch a net sample onto one of the hessian fabrics, adding another
element of texture.
·
Use the string to create a netted sample.
No comments:
Post a Comment