Unit X: Inspiration and Artist influence

As I am continuing this project through from the practice unit my inspiration and artist influences remain the same. The Bauhaus art movement is an extremely influential movement that passes through many industries and contexts including; Art, Architecture, furniture and design overall. They use geometrics and have a contemporary feel which is something my work has. As seen in the photograph of my own collages below.

Bauhaus

Owen’s Olivia a company which creates geometric style quilts. For context similar to where I see my work; contemporary interiors one offs for a select group of consumers rather than mass produced. Something that I also find interesting is how Owen’s Olivia uses patchwork design to create products similarly to the Bauhaus and HAY. This is where I see my work fitting in the market. My drawings could be translated into quilts for interiors ie chairs, table tops or could be used to create designs for products and sold in higher end high street shops such as Harrods, Selfridges or even stationary shops such as Paperchase.

Owens Olivia geometric quilt

The quilter guild a formation of quilters also make gemoetric quilts their work is influential to me to to its colour and composition. This idea of all over pattern is something I want to explore.

Quilter guild 

Transition to Unit X

In the previous practice unit I sampled patched quilted pieces which I plan to build on this unit. For unit X I plan to comprise a body of work which will consist of both finished and still working patched quilts. As I am taking part in the Gawthorpe brief I will still be continuing and working on quilts after hand in. I will have finished quilts which I will showcase at degree show possibly alongside some drawing of patch ideas.

I plan to hone in on my edging in particular corners so that my work looks more professional as it will be shown at the knitting and stitching show later this year.

I came across some issues with the quilter last unit for example the block stitch outs which make the stitch out take much longer and have a lot of securing stitches. Also I wrote my name on the booking sheet for the quilter however it is filling up surprisingly quickly so I have a slot next week and then nothing for two weeks. I plan to use this time to research and create a body of drawing.

Practice Unit Evaluation

For the practice unit I completed the Bradford brief and produced a body of drawing and sampling to build from in unit X resulting in a finished quilt. Throughout this unit I have improved as a designer and refined my working methods. This can be seen through my development and progression of work from Bradford and into self-initiated and Gawthorpe brief. I have refined my skills in choice of material as a result of this unit. Originally in my Bradford I didn’t take enough care when choosing materials resulting in a vast array including polyester. A number of samples were unsatisfactory due to the choice. However this downfall in Bradford allowed me to fine tune my choice of materials; cottons and silks for my self-initiated body of work and a clear improvement in quality of samples can be seen through this.

I feel that I have challenged and improved my critical and analytical skills throughout this unit as I was able to see my down falls in the Bradford brief for example; time management due to decision making and lack of initial drawing. I used the negatives of the previous unit and challenged

them head on with the inspiration of my self-initiated brief being that of a ‘chance dice’. This method greatly improved my time management. I built a large body of drawing in my self-initiated brief as it was lacking in Bradford as a result my work is now more efficient.

Chance dice

Body of drawing

I used photography, sketchbook, sample ideas and plans book, blog and concept boards to communicate my ideas in a variety of forms that could be easily understood by different audiences. I have become more precise with the context of my work. Bradford was a context led brief; A fashion material. I broke this down and after taking into consideration the delicate nature of my samples I decided that the material would be best for one off garments in runway similarly to that of Iris Van Herpen opposed to high street.

Iris Van Herpen

For my self-initiated and Gawthrope brief the context was more open ended and although My work could be presented in the knitting and stitching show I wanted it to have an ambiguous factor. I took inspiration from HAY and Owen’s Olivia both contemporary design companies for interiors this is where I see my work sitting. As I go into Unit X I want to create a versatile quilt that can be used in a high end interiors context or simply as a piece of art. This ambiguity would not only mean my work could be used in different contexts but also open more opportunities for income as a professional artist.

My own work; Hand paper patched
 using dyed cottons and silks with quilted circles.

Owens Olivia Interiors

I have continued to build on my prospects of professionalism outside and after university. I had a placement at a primary school and set up some opportunities local craft societies. I’ve researched into what types of job opportunities there are in the industry right now. I have sent my CV’s off to high schools for opportunities and will be applying for a secondary PGCE after I complete my degree with a year’s experience.

Overall I am slightly disappointed in my research and development of Bradford but feel I managed to turn it around completely in my self-initiated as can be seen through my initial drawings, refined drawings,artist research folder, context ideas folder, sample plans, choice of material, initial samples and current working samples. The techniques I explored in my self-initiated; paper patches, quilting machine, dyeing, double cloth cut through, were all relevant and helped the progression of my patchwork samples. I am now moving into unit X with a body of work I am proud of and look forward to refining.

Self-initiated and Gawthorpe Brief: Week Eight

I Quilted my finalized working samples on the quilting machine this week, four were machine patched and one was hand patched which was extremely time consuming. When continuing this project through unit X I will make sure that I am booked on the quilter, I have already booked on for the first week as slots are taken up so quickly. I carried my colour scheme through and used a technique of creating cut outs in the materials. This mimicked my drawings and added a focal point to the patches. I used a variety of wadding in these samples including; Thick polyester wadding, Cotton wadding, raised cotton and cotton bump. I felt the raised cotton and cotton wadding worked best as it was a subtle texture change. 

Dyed cotton bump and plain white cotton

dyed cottons

Hand patched dyed cottons ans silks

Dyed raised cotton and cotton poplin

Although the work is being handed in it isn't finished and I will be continuing it through unit X.This week I Sketched up some ideas on how to forward my work for example double quilting and double sided. I also looked into and sampled edge treatments; Mited corner, Bias Binding and Bonded fold, I will incorporate these into my samples as I continue through Unit X where I will create a finished quilt.

Self-initiated and Gawthorpe Brief: Week Seven

I’ve been researching contemporary quilter this week and came across Owen’s Olivia a company which creates geometric style quilts. For context similar to where I see my work; contemporary interiors one offs for a select group of consumers rather than mass produced. Something that I also find interesting is how Owen’s Olivia uses patchwork design to create products similarly to the Bauhaus and HAY. This is where I see my work fitting in the market. My drawings could be translated into quilts for interiors ie chairs, table tops or could be used to create designs for products and sold in higher end high street shops such as Harrods, Selfridges or even stationary shops such as Paperchase.

Owen's Oliva 

Owen's Olivia

 I continued sampling this week to create patches to be sewn on the quilter next week I experimented with composition and when choosing the materials I chose varied weights for example plain cotton with a cotton bump which has a pile. I also washed a sample I had quilted it was interesting to too how the fibers molded together and changed the quilted area. This is something I want to further look into.

Self-initiated and Gawthorpe: Week Six

I booked myself on the quilter before the Christmas break but because of the high demand I only got on for this week. I created some coloured cotton patches. The quilter was quite technical and hard to use however with technical guidance I overcame this. I used the machine to create geometric it was successful as on the bernina free hand quilting it’s almost impossible to create a circle. There are a lot of measurement and maths when using the quilting in terms of plotting out points etc as one inch out could ruin a design. Some testers were successful and others weren’t due to composition and shapes.

Quilted patch turquoise

Quilted patch pink

I created a small hand patched sample this week, It was time consuming but in my opinion worth it. I plan to scale this u and then quilt over on the machine.

Hand patch sample front

Hand paper patched sample back

Self-initiated and Gawthorpe Brief: Week Five

This week I researched traditional quilters; Gee’s bend and Pojagi (Korean quilting) both of these quilters use techniques of patching by hand and using scraps. The long history of quilting for necessity is with both of these movements. There are examples of geometrics in the quilts however because on the most part it is off cuts there are no sharps geometric lines which I want to create so I plan to keep researching and find quilters more relevant to my body of work and context. However looking at these has influenced my material choice and has also made me want to create a hand patched sample

Gee's Bend quilt

Pojagi quilt

I spent the majority of the week dyeing natural materials of cottons and silks to create my colour pallet. As this was my first time in the dye lab so there were issues at first for example patches of colour however due to persistence and learning the correct process I came out with a variety of materials in the colours I wanted. I plan to use these t create geometric forms of patchwork.

Dyed cottons and silks