Bradfrd Brief: Week 4 Presentation

This week I held my presentation for the Bradford live brief. Doing this with my peers allowed me to compare and contrast between our work. I made myself a sheet of bullet points and ran through the presentation to make sure I could fit it in the allotted time slot doing this prepared me and allowed me to have a more professional manner within the crit. It was quite easy to see from my peers who had prepared well and who hadn't. This presentation also gave me an idea of what to expect for the next one, 

Our presentation skills is a criteria for the practice mark scheme. I know for the next one I shall create a powerpoint to give a more professional edge.

Other than nerves I feel that the presentation went well. The presentation helped me think how to further my work, however I don't feel that I want to continue with this body of work. My piece which I preferred to use as my final sample I didn’t feel had enough going for it because it was just pleating and embellisher so I made a sample with cornelli and other techniques. In the crit it was talked about how my strongest sample was in fact the pleated embellished one and I should have had the confidence in my work to know that instead of having preconceptions on what I thought the tutors and Bradford wanted.

Pleated and embelished sample

Bradford Brief: Week 4

Throughout the weeks I have sampled and ended with a small collection of beige and brown samples and a large collection of tones of white pleated samples. I feel there has been successes and downfalls within both collections. I have incorporated techniques such as:

-Pleating (made a pleating card)

-Cornelli manchine stitch

-Hand stitch

-Embellisher

-fabric manipulation

-Trapping

-Heat press printing

Beige/Brown collection:

There has been success and downfalls within both collections firstly I don’t feel that the colour scheme was quite right with the collections as adding the blue to beige and blue to white was too harsh when in fact looking at my inspirations I wanted to create a more subtle colour change. I also feel that I struggled with the idea that simplicity is best. In some samples I have used too many techniques because I thought that’s what I should do instead of trusting my gut and artistic eye. However there has been successes, I have gained a greater knowledge on pleating and some samples were simple but effective. 

White collection:

In terms of context I was looked over my artists and designers and I’m drawn back to Iris Van Herpen. Below is a close up photograph of one of the designs, the idea of the pleating being the shoulder of the garment is something interesting as it stands as a focal point for a statement piece. The chosen materials of my samples and the pleats are quite delicate and fragile as a result of this I feel the fit more as a collection of one off pieces to be in boutiques or runway instead of being mass produced on the high street.  

Iris Van Herpen

Heyhouses Primary School Experience

This week I assisted in Heyhouses Primary school in Lytham for a short two day placement during ‘mad week’ in which the school has a week full of creative activities. As I had previously completed a high school placement I used this opportunity to cement that I do in fact want to carry out a secondary education PGCE. This opportunity did this for me. This placement allowed me to work on my professionalism as I had to be punctual and looking presentable as well as acting in a professional manner with the infants. I was there to assist the teachers and make sure the children completed the objectives set at the start of class. 

After this I have sent my CV and cover letter off to a variety of high schools in my local area for any experience I can gather. I was given permission to take photographs.

Bradford Brief: Week three

I took inspiration from my initial photographs in terms of composition and technique. The sample I created using Suffolk puffs. Although it shows clear like to my inspiration I didn’t feel it was successful as it was too bulky and opaque. Below Are photographs of my initial inspiration and the Suffolk puff sample.

I used this downfall to forward me in my sampling I stopped using Suffolk puffs due to the build-up of materials and after looking over my images and drawings began to use an off white sheer pleated poly viscose material and manipulated it on the embellisher. The embellished material echoed that of crashing waves. It pulled the pleats away and changed the course of the fabric, this is something I want to further experiment with different materials. I also want to create my own pleats

.

After using a white material I want to explore this more and create a body of samples with a white theme as it mimics the natural clear forms of my inspiration. As I am creating a sample for a fashion material I continued researching designers and now with my new colour pallet tones of whites I came across Issey Miyake. The SS15 collection was all white and the designer also uses fabric manipulation. 

Issey Miyake SS15

Bradford Brief: Week Two

This week I reflected back on my own photography and began to take inspiration for samples and drawings. I gathered a large source of materials including; heavy weight cotton, printed cotton, poly viscose, wool, chiffon, linen etc. and decided that I would take time to just sit with the materials and manipulate them with my hands so I could get a greater feel for how they could be manipulated, I thought about;

-Weight of the fabric

-Stiffness

-How easily the material creased and if it held the crease

-The effect of layering the materials ie. Printed cotton with a sheer layered over

This process was vital and although it was slightly time consuming it should save me time in the future when sampling, as I will know which type of material to manipulate. This process also allowed me to narrow my choice of materials to take forward.

I also began drawing this week in and out of a sketchbook. The process of creating larger drawings is something that I found effective as when drawings are in a sketchbook they seem slightly flat and are restricted in terms of scale, drawing larger scale is something I will continue to do in the next unit. I drew from my shells and rocks I had collected and used different techniques such as;

-Blind drawings

-Mark making from looking at the textures

-Drew on a variety of papers to get a different quality of mark

-Drawing directly from drawing from the essay

- Gouache painting in coloured blocks

I used a variety of media to create my drawings including; Graphite, Fine Liner, Gouache, A variety of pencils form 4b-6h etc. Each media gave me a mark which I could translate into stitch or manipulation of fabric.

Blind drawing of rocks and pebbles on mixed papers

 This is one of the blind drawings the pencil line varies in thickness and could translate through the thickness of stitch by overlaying, it also give the impression of a cornelli stitch. The masking take and papers imply an air of pleating. Next week I plan to start sampling and continue with drawing.

Bradford Brief: Week One

‘Create a fabric for either fashion or interiors’ was the brief I chose out of the Bradford selection. As this project is running for 4 weeks in comparison to the longer second half of the practice unit I decided to take a chance. I would like to angle my work toward the fashion field as this something I haven’t explored within my work.

For this project I have captured initial photographs to collect some inspiration from the natural forms of rocks, shells etc.

I am interested in fabric manipulation and reflecting upon my photos there are many aspects within that relate to this process for example with the shells there is a correlation to pleating, folding, layering, gathering and the barnacles convey an aspect of manipulation possibly Suffolk puffs. In terms of a colour pallet I’m going to take tones of muted beiges, greys, creams and whites from my initial photographs. I also drew inspiration from textile artist Kathleen Morris who incorporates fabric manipulation within her work, she also has some pieces which she works in a similar colour scheme.

Kathleen Morris

Kathleen Morris

In terms of context as this is a fashion led brief I have been researching designers. Below is a dress designed by Iris Van Herpen, this designer uses fabric manipulation to create there garments which is something that I would like to look into. This is the context in which I see my work fitting (fashion industy). I will look into where I feel my work fits in terms of high street, boutiques or runway as I sample through this unit.

 

Iris Van Herpen