Part Four: Learning Log.

PROJECT EIGHT:

Did you enjoy inventing constructed surfaces? – Yes, like a young child playing with Tic Tac Toe on an Apple tablet for the first time.

Were you surprised at the results? – Only those that didn’t end up as I had expected. Because I have had some contact in the past with working with odd materials all surprises were happy ones.

Can you see a connection between your choice of materials and the type of structures you made – regular, irregular, small or large-scale?  Having been involved in the Carpet manufacturing industry I had an immediate affinity with the weaving of Axminster and Wilton carpets (loop and cut pile). On a larger scale, my designs and  the designs created in the design room had immediate impact because of the 12′ wide runs and complexity of patterns.

Which sample worked best?  – simple repetitive designs and less than complex mixes of materials.

How accurate were you in matching all the colours in your image? – Compromise was an integral ingredient with paints and yarns/fibres so long as the shades and tones were complimentary.

PROJECT NINE:

Did you have enough variety in your collection of yarns and other materials? – No. Obviously I am going to have to search out more suppliers fora greater variety of yarns and fibres for more developed outcomes but for the work that I have just set out on I had sufficient to get a good idea of where the pieces are heading should I continue to work in this medium.

Which kinds of yarns, etc., did you use most? – Knitting and sock making yarns.

How do their characteristics affect the look and feel of each sample?  –  Much more condensed and compressed. More precise and complete in the detail of the design and smoother in their texture and softness to touch.

How did you find weaving in comparison to the other techniques you’ve tried?  – Much slower and demanding but more satisfying in that the wool and fibre textures had a sense of excitement as the pattern started to evolve. I can’t wait to get my own computer loom and acquire newer synthetic and non standard materials to work with.

How do you feel about your finished samples?  – Because I worked as ‘weave as you go samples’ rather than from my own designs, let down and disappointed in the outcomes. I need to be more resolved in my work. I will have to check but the size of my weaving frame may have been larger than the one I was asked to work on. I possibly should have been working on a smaller frame and completed more samples.

Are you happy with the relationship of the textures, proportions, colour and pattern to the finished size? – Only partially. Needs a lot more experimenting and working of other samples than I had the time available. I did succeed with plating, combining  and making non weaving objects. Was successful at using the Soumak weaving technique. Could try a lot more of these variations.

Is there any part you would want to change? – Yes I would want to change to more efficient tools of the trade rather than feeding the shuttle by hand and using cardboard for substitute bobbins. Also paper clips were not the best way to raise and lower the warp threads. Studying the basic techniques of weaving under supervision or at a workshop will help solve some of these problems.

How would you tackle this process differently another time? – Spend time studying and practicing how to join together lines of weft threads when the colours, types of yarn/fibre or contours change.

 

Part Four: Project Nine – Stage Four. Sample Two.

Making up a story board for this sample started with a brain storming session of understanding the word tranquil by way of word association. Roget’s Thesaurus helped to provide synonyms and spread the net far and wide in terms of related vocabulary.A better appreciation of the impact of the word meant that I did not become bogged down in my thinking.

Finding examples was not that easy so I confined my self to the images supplied by google when surfing the internet. I’m sure that there would be other sources such as my photo album and sketchbook. The selected images were representative of and descriptive of my choice of pictures. for the word tranquil. By default the colours produced by my printer in the final stages of using up the coloured inks were indicative of the hues that I associated with my chosen word – pale, pastels, flimsy, low value shades and tones – quiet, unassuming but leaving a warm glow inside.

I chose more images than I really wanted to but that was in order to make them smaller, less significant and certainly not to dominate the overall effect of the story board. The pictures were definitely placed in order of importance in the life cycle of the overall sense of tranquility but also to convey the impression that creation and creativity came as a causal result of the ebb and flow of water whether it be in the rivers, ponds or the sea.

Selection of fabric, threads yarns and fibres were more difficult to arrive at from my restricted sources. The fabrics with unobtrusive colours and the ‘washed about’ effect off the water-colour paints were indicative only. I tended towards choosing weaker than stronger values of colour. However I had a better feeling and affinity for the merino felting wools and had a sense of gloating as I placed them in their envelopes and attached them to the mood board.

The story and mood boards were starting to feel more in keeping with the design principles than some of my more recent work especially through the development stages. Perhaps there could have been more work in my sketchbook to aid the design process. I felt more inspired with these samples than I have done in the earlier exercises.

 

Project Seven: Theme

FAMILY VIOLENCE:

Pig Intestines: (A Happy Accident)

I thought that if I could acquire some pig intestines that I would be able to convert them by way of either weaving or crochet to some form of creative textile artistic form. I tracked them down eventually to a pig slaughter house -the staff were beside themselves with laughter and curiosity.

“THEY STINK” to high heaven. The smell alone will not allow them to be any where that requires clean air, let alone offer them as evidence of my work for assessment.

From the outset I imagined that I could dry them in some form of solution containing salt so that they would be cleansed sufficiently to be used as either a decoration or in mixed media.My first mistake was to wrap them up in tin foil so that they would dry out. Not so, but the maggots were of the larger variety.

So I had achieved some small gains for my efforts – not that that was what I was aiming for. The second mistake was surfing the internet for information on curing them. Not so but I did find that they are a delicacy in China and very helpful in how they should be prepared for the meal table YUK! I have the sense that they perhaps should have been used in their wet state and if I delve further into using them will try working with them before drying them. Any how, they dried a dark greyish colour, shrunk down to a thin rubbery string-like fibre and stunk to high heaven. The membranes did stick to the base strand of intestine forming appendages along the length of the grisly flattened out tube.

To cut along story short the moral of which is ‘start with a design from ones source material’ is to build up the evidence of how to go about resolving the final outcome before choosing the materials.

One of my themes is going to be ‘Family Violence’ and the saying that goes with it – “It’s OK to say NO”. What better way of using the dry intestines than adding gesso and acrylic paint together and dipping them in it so that they can be attached to the source material. It’s worth a try – at least the stench will convey a message that Family Violence is not OK but the green colouring gives permission to say that it is OK to say no to family violence.

 

So that I can collect paper cuttings and other material I used filing boxes to put these in until such time as I was ready to work on a particular theme.

 

Part Four: Project Nine – Stage Four. Sample One.

DEVELOPING DESIGN IDEAS INTO WEAVING

 At last source material from Part Three: Project Six, that lends itself to being woven.

Stage Two of Part Four – developing ideas suggests choosing source material that is not too complicated but has an expressive quality and rhythm. It talks about using part of the material, changing the colours, reorganising shapes and introducing plain, patterned and repeat areas.This was the subject of contention referred to by my tutor in assignment three. In this situation the source material did not require any of this development as it was perfect for being produced in woven form.

Took a short cut and had a  coloured photo copy of the sample enlarged so that it fitted within the breadth and depth of the weaving frame. Stapled the image to a piece of graph paper to represent the outcome as if I had drawn the outline of each block on to the surface of the paper and then painted in the blocks with the equivalent colours. I could have used a light box to transfer the blocks or I could have drawn a grid over the blocks and then transferred the ‘marks/outlines’ to the graph paper. All methods would have achieved the same result. The colours were vibrant with some luminosity.

 Decided to warp up the frame with the same number of strands of light weight yarn that I used for the first woven sample. Thought about changing to a different yarn type as well as variegated colours but decided to leave the variation untill a later sample. I was determined to avoid the problem of the warp threads showing above the weft threads and allow them to create the surface qualities by way of texture and type of yarn used.

Decided to try paper clips fastened to the lower warp threads and using a piece of dowel across the face of the frame so that I could simply pull the lower warp threads up above the top warp threads rather than bringing them up singly with a  ruler. So frustrating picking up each warp thread and so time-consuming every second row of weft. Have now tried using a bevelled edge  ruler and it works especially where there are a number of different colours along each row of weft.

 The design decisions were driven by the blocks of colour in the source material. Identifying and selecting the appropriate colour yarn came down to what I had available and what I could obtain from other sources. Here’s where looking at other students and artists work becomes overwhelming. You hit on an idea and then lo and behold find that some one else has got there before you. The paper clip idea  worked for me until that is I got to changing the number of colours in each row. I fell back on using my trusty ruler to pick up each warp thread. It did have bevelled edges so that they slipped easily under each thread. Not so a blunt ended shed stick or bobbin. For this sample I used mainly knitting wools and frankly the constant back and forwards of the loaded bobbin was very satisfying. But trying to ‘but’ the ends of each colour alongside each other in a row was a nightmare. Ended up getting a book on tapestry weaving out of the local library. This proved to be very detailed but also very helpful because of its clear step-by-step approach. “Tapestry Weaving” by Nancy Harvey published by Interweave Press in 1991. The piece of work in the above photo took me two hours plus setting up time. So on the basis of the size of the frame there is another six or so hours to finish the piece.

In the book the calculations of how much yarn would be needed for any given piece of weaving were very precise and were much help in working out how much yarn would be needed to complete a piece of tapestry. My calculations were as per the formulas but my usage was anything but. Had something to do with the variables of skeinage and weight of yarns/fibres. Finding the volume of any given ‘object’ in the source material was questionable also. Another variable was the tension of any row of weaving especially when changing from one colour to another. Gaps started to appear between each warp thread and had to be basted together. Not sure how this will end up though when the piece of tapestry is cut from the frame.My samples in the beginning were looped alternatively around each warp before changing direction. I will be working to solve this problem as I weave further up the frame. Reverse weaving (unpicking) was my speciality at the beginning – but how else does one learn – only be correcting ones mistakes.

I have no intentions of changing the basic design only persevering with the weaving and correcting my mistakes. As the notes in the lesson suggest – you can only make a fair judgement when the design is completed – whenever that will be.

 This sample is quickly become a case of perseverance and technique  perfecting. Visually it can be seen where the matching and joining of colours could be improved as well as the tensions being equalised. Saying that the variation in the tensions are allowing for the creation of different textures as does the use of varying weights and types of woollen yarns. The time factor alone has led to being clearer in my mind as to a daily/weekly timetable in order to progress other parts of the lesson and keep the due dates for work and assignment presentation on course.

 

Part Four: Project Nine – Stage Three.

EXPERIMENTING WITH DIFFERENT STRUCTURES

Just in case I forget here is the back side of the first sample of textile weaving.

The materials were vast and varied as were the outcomes. As mentioned previously the warp threads are obvious and I need to work out how to make them more invisible and the finished piece needs further work on how to finish off the hanging weft threads. There is a combination of materials making for an interesting texture and finish to the piece. Primary colours are predominant and lift the visual impression where they are in a greater proportion to the secondary colours.Placing the weft through the shed with the fingers was not used as much as a threaded sack needle when appropriate that is the material was too thick to go through the eye of the needle. Loft and heighth was achieved with un cut pile and thick cord knotted around the warp threads.