Nigel Havers.

Jungle Fever.

Then today i decided i wanted to create a sample for a neutral panel which will look something like this but on a bigger scale, mixing paper yarn, dyed wool slub, thick florist rope and a linen. All very natural colours which will link into the idea of the port, boat rope theme.

This sample was done on a different warp so it doesn't have the same twill affect but it was a tester so i could get an idea for colour and pattern. This again will be worked on top of using hanks lightly tacked. I may also bring in the idea of wrapping the back board and placing this on top.

The extra lines of thread running down are called floats, the loom which i have been using to practice on, belongs to someone else there threading plan is different as you can see in the pattern, but the reason for the floats is a technical fault with the Harris Loom itself. Its not picking up shaft 11, which is why the weft threads don't lock it into the design. This doesn't have an affect on the total finish of the design though so its ok.

Then i decided after i had done quite a bit of sampling and exploring to make a final design. Which is going to be added to, it's a symmetric 40x40 design, taking the coral pattern at the top and repeating it again at the bottom. The edges will be taken into consideration and made neater, maybe with a background wrapping for the design to sit on.

It's going to have hanks of the coral coloured ropes stitched onto it, which will weave in and out of each other on top of the design, so from starting at a 2d design i have now created a 3d design this will have a lot more depth and interest to it.

This is a mixture of hand dyed cotton, to sizes, then a wool slub mix, with viscose and a very thin cable knitted fancy yarn (as named in the yarn store) makes it that little bit more exciting have the label 'fancy yarns' or it.

My Camera is back but i still haven't unpacked it, so I am still using my phone, so bare with the quality of the pictures. Over the past 3 weeks I have been playing with samples & testing strips relating to my project which i would then go onto to create a final design from.

The panels are 40x40 so it has to be interesting & exciting pattern or design, so the past couple of weeks has been a lot of experimentation and sampling. Which has comedown to long nights, lots of time spent thinking about colours, affects, designs, patterns and a lot of stress.

Some things which you can't visualise you just have to test sample on the loom. So this is what i have been sampling this week, its a lot of neutrals using natural fibres, such as linen, paper, florist string. Then working into it with wool, slubs, cotton, silks, viscose's...

Angelina Jolie

Vogue

December 2010

Not normally a big fan of her but this picture, its very seductive and sultry

Now I have started thinking about patterns using the idea of a Twill weave which relates to the rope theme which I have carried through my project. As ropes are twisted together when placed entwined together it’s a series of diagonal’s going in different directions, so I have played with that idea and focused on twill patterns.

These series of picture are all samples which I have been playing with to create a final design which will be 40x40cm. When I have been playing with these samples and yarns, trying to build texture, but also want to think about concepts, what am I making this for? Furniture, Cloth, Cushions, House accessories, Rugs??

This is something which I don’t think I visualise and think about enough in my design process. I want explore more interesting techniques, which will then excite me to create a 40x40 cloth. Do I make one whole series or do I make 4 and stitch them together, am I looking at a stripe fabric? Or am I looking at continuous pattern. All these ideas and questions are something I can only answer by experimenting.

I have been using a series of different yearns in different texture to create a series of similar creations but something which relates to my Glocalisation research. So basing my project on Greece I have had to create a colour palette in yarns which relates.

I have decided to work with one picture which I really feel I have based my inspiration on, because I love this picture it has so much feeling, atmosphere and meaning to it. Every time I think of Skiathos it’s always an amazing memory and exciting place with really inspired me.

So with that picture in mind I have created this colour palette to use in my samples & designs.

So last time I blogged about my weave I was setting up my loom.

Now I am full into swing of things on a Harris Loom. This is completely different to the hand looms which we used in stage 1, because all your patterns are put into the loom and electronically saved on the memory. So every time you come to weave all the patterns which you might want to create are saved. So you can just start weaving which takes away a lot of lost time.

So once you have threaded your threading plan, you then have to putt all your threads through the raddle in groups of two, depending on your structure and plan.

You then tie on and wind down so you can start weaving to get the right tension in the material and stabilize the base to create your cloth.

Victoria Secret Fashion show NEW season.

Incredible vast amount of creativity and excellence puts this show together.

One word: AMAZING.

So i haven't really had a lot of time to blog recently, as my project has really taken into full swing and by the time i get home i am shattered so i just sleep. So i have taken some time this weekend to do a little catching up.

This morning wasn't great, had a bit of a melt down with my project. Just complete inspirational block, didn't like what i had done, couldn't visualise an outcome, couldn't see where to take it to make it interesting and something which excites people. This project has had its obstacles, once you tackle one it always seems that there is another one to come.

So i have finally calmed down, put my work into perspective, i know what i need to do the time scale which is has to be done in. So hopefully now i won't freak out. When i panic and stress i can't visualise anything or do anything with my work. So BREATHE. CALM, everything will work out.

I love what i do and need to realise that anything is possible, you have to see the bigger picture.

I need a tutorial so settle my mind.

From Miss Daisy Azis With Love.
I miss you
x

Sketch up VS Sketch book.

My Elective.
Still not sure really what to think of it.
When it came to choosing electives I wanted to do something different, which could inspire my creative route a different way, bringing our more expressional ideas and experiments. This elective has not been what I thought at all. Its very much computer based, but also interior and spatial designed. Which you would have thought would have benefitted me being on a textiles course. Not quite. We have looked into some of the strangest ways of thinking and exploring, which don't really excite me or interest me.
Yesterday was based on perspective drawing, which was interesting to watch and learn about this guest lecturer who designs formula 1 car, but not necessarily the type of thing which could benefit my work.

The one thing I do enjoy and thought would be more off, if working my sketch book. I like to produce contemporary, neat look book style sketchbooks. Which are more though out than an every day doodling.

Maybe its something i will relaise has had a posotive affect on the way i think about drawing and sketching at the end when it maybe comes into practice in my work.

On the 9th December i am off to Frankfurt with Miss J and Mr T.
I cannot wait. I love big german christmas markets, their christmas spirit os so enchanting and inspiring. Just a quick weekend trip after our exhibition, will be exactly what i need. It has been said to be one of the top Christmas markets in Europe.

The magical setting of Frankfurt's Christmas market, one of Germany's oldest and most popular markets, is adorned by an enormous, twinkling fir tree at Römerberg, in the heart of the Old Town.