CORDUROY PROJECT

Talked with Tutor Katie.. talked about my ideas for a theme and concept.. talked about bright Reiley’s work and the obsessed with the lines representing the patterns of Daily life.

the stripes of life...

Wake up, woke, sleep ect (find artists & films that represent this)

THE PATTERNS OF THE WORKLIFE! - DAILY LIFE

Reflection.. csm library.. finding secondary source imagery for collage.. on my journey I took primary research images...

When considering what to bring tomorrow.. what will work well with the images I have found/took.
I decided to use predominantly black and white imagery as I like how this contrasted with the dashes of colour in which I found today working in the studio. There I will bring coloured card to work with collating that will stand out well with black & white imagery.

( put artist that does this similarly on research)
Talk about materials, colours and why that your going to use tomos

CORDUROY PROJECT

Today was the introduction to our new project. This project is a materials based project, with our starting point being this given textile: Corduroy. At first I wasn't ecstatic about our given material as it's at first though it is not a material that I would associate as being particularly interesting or exciting. When I think of Corduroy I think of dull beiges and dim navys, which instantly to me doesn't spark much enthusiasm, for a three week project, our longest project to date.  

• Project Briefing... We were briefed on Corduroy and told to find something we had feeling for an were excited about as this would be the main project to build our portfolios. Chris mentioned that whilst researching to look around you and see if you would see elements that related to corduroy. This could be interpreted loosely, such as the radiator by my side, relates to corduroy because of the rides and straight lines.

• Researching in groups... We got in groups and brainstormed A3 notes and words on Corduroy. Our group decided we wanted to explore the more abstract ideas of corduroy, such as the ideas of repetative lines and ridges. I started to think about repetitive lines such as the line at a supermarket, or waiting to get into a bus or train at rush hour. I like the idea of lines representing 'the lines of life' such as the everyday repetitive lines computing to work, working, sleeping and repeating.

FRUIT MACHINE

I wanted to experiment further with creating interesting prints and images using my found method of 'water damage'. I decided to print some of my research imagery onto tracing paper instead of regular paper, using the same printer ink that when mixed with water would create the damage. I thought it would interesting to see the effect of water damage on my photos through a translucent paper. I did some mini tests, some soaked and some with only little droplets of water. This was giving an  interesting results as I found that with the tracing paper, they water damage also created ripple effects on the paper, and this ripple effect got me thinking about the imperfections of skin surfaces.
Another effect that occurred was that with the tracing paper, the ink bleed out of the page and created ink stains. I liked this effect as it reminded me of the involvement of inks and bleeding in the creation of a tattoo on skin.
     With the "left over' ink that was bleeding out of the tracing paper, I decided to transfer this onto some blank, white cartridge paper. I knew that by using cartridge paper this would absorb the ink allowing it to sink through and sit nicely in place. This created my own printing effect.
     The first few attempts did not give as much of an impact that at I wanted. It was still an interesting idea for shapes and marks that was coming through the cartridge paper, however I wanted to see if I could actively transfer an accurate rendition of the photo I had printed. Therefore I decided to experiment with this technique a few more times. At one point I decided to moistened the surface I was printing on instead of moistening the printed photo. I then took the printed photo (dry) and placed it on top of the wet surface. This wet surface instantly caught onto the ink and transferred my photo.
I really loved the effect this gave, as it merged to catch the original image but also gave a 'blurry' effect which I loved as it reminded me of the blurry, almost smoky illustration style of the tattoo art  have been researching into.
I would like to experiment further with technique of "printing making" further into my project however using my own illustrations representing tattoos. I would like to develop this idea by wetting some fabric surfaces such as canvas and leather and stockings to transfer my prints.

FRUIT MACHINE

Group Crit Key notes...

FRUIT MACHINE

Today we continued working into our sketchbooks, creating samples, and started gathering ideas for final outcomes. I wanted to continue to explore into the area of representing strech marks in my sample creating so I started to collage with some reserch images into my sketchbook and layer drawings and fabric onto my collages. This way of exploring my reserch images was helpful in terms of giving me ideas for techniques for sample creating. This is because I realised the layering effect reminded me of layers of skin and layers of ink from tattoos onto the skin. It will be interesting to take this effect of layering into my sample creating outside of my sketchbook.

I discovered an effect created by streaching the stocking material. This effect was caused by the ripping of the stocking which created ladders in the fabric which reminded me of the ripping of skin (the strechmarks) when a fetus is forming in the female body. I decided to layer this onto my collages and my drawings by usuing splitpins to hold the stucture in place. I found this effect to be the key starting point of where I want my final samples to progress into. I hope to take the use of these ripped/streched stocking further in my exploration with weaving and print designs.

FRUIT MACHINE

Looking through my work I relaised that my ideas and experimentation were starting to loose excitement. I decided to go out in search for inspiration for the developemt of my samples, by visit the area of Camden to take photos and research.

I headed out to Camden Town. Here I found a tattoo shop, with some old sketchbook under piles of 3 year old tattoo magazines on a table by the waiting chair. I asked to look at these sketchbook and if I could photograph them for inspiration. They were surprising delighted.

This almost became like a whole new experiecne for me, as I felt very innocent surrounded by this rather harsh environement I'm not used to. This was the perfect experience for me to feel as I started to think about the feeling of a young female growing up in a gang environement, compeltely exposed to all sorts of vioelence and terrifying situations.

FRUIT MACHINE

Tate modern

We spent the morning exploring the Tate. I went to the ‘materials and objects’ exhibition in search for ideas for materials and processes that I can use in my project. Looking around the exhibition I surprised myself as I found so many ideas from the artist’s work that I could see in correlation to into the areas in which I’m exploaring for this project.

I forced myself to find as many possiblities in connection the artist's work around me to the work for this project, and by forcing myslef to do this I was suprised to see how my current ideas expanded and formed new ideas. I will make sure to visit an exhibition at the start of each project as I found this to be an excellent way to gather reserch for concepts and ideas that can be intergrated into my projects.

As it is still early stages of the project I found it beneficial for me to come to the Tate with an open my mind to all the areas in which my project can go from. By opening my mind I managed to find research from all different kinds of artist processes such as photography, film and physical material processes and ways to communicate my work. I found myself gathering ideas not just from the visual elements of the art works but also the context, by focusing on the little information box adjacent to the work. Looking back at the photos I took I found that almost half of the research I gathered came from the information of the artwork rather than photos of the actual work. This is interesting because here I have discovered that it is the exploration of context and ideas behind my work that will in fact reflect the actual success of the making of my work. I have also found many interesting techniques within the artwork that I can try out with my project this week, such as techniques for mark-making, ideas for actual fabric materials I can use for weaving with and exploaring which will encourage the developmet of my work.

      Ideas for materials...          Ideas for Media...

• Stockings                                - Black Ink
• Thick and Thin Yarns            - Ink Washes with water

I will go in search for these materials for the workshop for Thursday’s class, and intergate these methods into my observational drawings and experimentation's.

Back in the Studio

I did some blind drawings of one of the photographs in the exhibition and this allowed me to think about using my own drawings for development in my work. I like th idea of usuing the technique of Blind drawings in my exploration of ideas as it adds to the idea of Fruit Matchine, this idea of chance and the outcome being unknown which is the overall theme for this proejct.

In the afternoon we did a pattern/print making workshop with Patricia and Francis.

Half drop – creating an artwork on A3 sheet of paper

After creating the artwork we needed to cut the sheet in half then in half again only on one side. The lines needed to be straight and measured equally when cut or the print wouldn't have that clean cut print as the end result. Then using the photocopier we created a repeat print that can be made into larger scale.

When creating the work on the large A3 sheet, I found that the outcome became more successful when I didn’t think of the art work as an actual Print, but instead as a standalone piece of art which will later on become a print with the technique of the half drop photocopying. I realised that I hadn't worked back into my A3 artwork, once it was cut up and put back together which effected my end result. For future reference I will make sure I work into my my artwork before photocopying as this will create a more cohesive and sucessful print.

Francis looked at my first print and mentioned that I should create another one but this time a simpler one. By creating a simpler one I realised that this would have more of an impact when repeated viciously. I did however find my ‘simpler’ print wasn’t as visually pleasing as my first print ideas it had a more abstract appearance. This idea of the abstract print however is interesting for future print making because it's a good contrast when put together with a more detailed print.

I love how simple this process was and the almost ‘handmade’ way of creating this print using my drawing and a simple photocopier rather than using the likes of a complicated computer program. I will remember this process for when I decide to create print designs in the future of this project.

I would love to take my print idea’s further by creating further prints, making sure to work back into the artwork and  possibly transfer it onto a piece of fabric for using for a garment draping or an artwork installation.

FRUIT MACHINE

Today was the first day for our ‘Fruit Machine’ project. We participated in a sample making weaving workshop, building a fabric by chance.

We gathered as a group to discuss our game rules and how we would organise ourselves for the group weaving activity. We decided to organise our materials in colour and mix the materials in size, texture and width so that when we pick from our pile, the type of material it would be would be completely by chance.

‘GAME RULES’

Each person has a number, each material colour has a number.

1. Roll the DOUBLE DICE – one for a person, one for a colour
2. The person blindly picks a material from the pile of that colour
3. The person weaves that material to a piece of music and ‘skips’ the amount of warp’s their number is, every time they hear the key word ‘YOU’ sang in the song.
4.  Start again for the next layer of our fabric making

We had one of the larger groups from the class so we decided to divide our group into creating 3 separate fabrics on three separate looms. We could later incorporate these separate pieces to make one whole piece. I believe this would have more an interesting outcome and element of ‘chance’ then just using one loom. It was a lot of fun to use the element of chance, with the double dice rolling and our blind picking of materials, to create our samples because we were not too concerned about the final outcome and by allowing the game to take over our material making we were not overthinking too much about what we were doing. In the end this had a very surprising outcome as our pieces were very abstract and the layers of our weaved piece had so many different elements to them, in terms of texture, colour and size. Even the spaces and ‘skips’ of the weaved piece was part of the overall outcome and it was interesting to see how the music and lyrics listening took us to that outcome.

Every time we added a new layer to our weave it would create a new layer to our fabric making, and with every layer came more exciting elements to our piece of fabric. What I loved the most was how we managed to create a somewhat functioning piece of fabric using random linear ‘materials’ and how this could be actually translated into fabric that could be used for a garment and wearable piece. I decided to photograph our samples on our model to express this idea.

In the afternoon we decided to take the skills that we had learnt from the morning into our own work, instead this time focusing on a smaller scale. I used colours and ideas from my research to inform my materials I used for my small scale weaving piece. I took the elements of mixed strip sized, textures and colours from the weaving we did in the morning into my smaller sample harnessing the colour scheme. This made for a more successful outcome because I was allowing one element of making to be more abstract and by chance (the material sizes and textures) and keeping one element more restricted which is my purposeful colour palette.

I found that working with the smaller loom was better in terms of using finer threads and I could make a more detailed and intricate sample. Also using the smaller loom I was able to push the layers closer together and this had more an interesting textured element to the sample. I will use the skills I have learnt into the weaving workshop and develop this type of sample making further in my work.

CULTURE SWAP

Colour Restrictions

Today I started the day a bit lost because I was stuck. Having had such a good day gather ideas yesterday I was lost on how I could further develop these ideas. I found myself struggling with the compositions and placement today because I was focusing on the colour restrain and this didn't allow me to let the photos guide where I was placing them because now it wasn't so much about the photos, but more about the colours. Because of this I found myself having to use almost ANY photos that were in front of me because of its colour and not because of the quality of the photo. This made for a less successful outcome then the collages I created prior.
      However I did find an interesting starting point for my colour scheme. Thinking of my colour scheme I wanted to find colours that contrasted with each other. For instance a blue with a red. To gather materials to collage with I wanted to go through my research images and pick out areas in my photos which I could see the colours in my colour scheme. I zoomed into these areas and printed them out as materials for collage. This was interesting because I was using my own research photos as material as opposed to just coloured paper, bought from a shop. I liked making an imagine knowing that even the paper I was using was from my own research and my own findings, as I feel this enriched my images entirely.

I started with 5 colours to use for collaging then and after looking at these samples I made decided on 3 colours for my final collection. I like this use of colour restriction that is growing in my work because I find it allows me to explore deeper within the boundaries. Having restrictions actually pushes me further to create more intense work, and look further into richer colour combinations and placements.

CULTURE SWAP

We were asked to create 4 paper samples and from these find 2 areas that we thought were most successful. We then connected these two into two more samples and from this make one more sample. I found this technique to be an interesting and quick way of developing my ideas and finding a way to pick out successful techniques that I can take further in my work.
The use of the Paper restriction in this weeks project is for us to make use of the materials we have and to explore and make something fun and spectacular with less. This is a challenging pursuit but I find myself focusing on composition and colour arrangements with my images more than I usually would.
Having only being able to use what I have in from of me, to create an interesting image I became obsessed with the tiny parts/details of my photos within the collages. Since collage in general is all about cutting and adding, taking away and sticking I found myself cutting as many minor details of my photos as I could find. I enjoyed the exploration of the minutely of deals in my research photos and this is evident in my samples.

I started to gather my collages and using the photocopier to compose these images into different arrangements. This was interesting to find different way of using my prior made images to create further completely unique images. Looking through my work on a black background I was able to sop out the strong areas and colours in my work. I found an amusing motif with the Bindi and using my single hole puncher to recreate these single Bindis within my samples.
I enjoyed the sample making from our photos and found by finding a quirky approach of combining them this task today was very fun and had rewarding results.