Unit X: Film and Knit Combine

With our location sorted and installation trials successful, ton Wednesday Lizzie and I took a final trip to the Northern Quarter to source some yarn. Our first stop was a cute little shop on the fringes of the Northern Quarter called Purl City Yarns. I had never heard of this place before, but thankfully I had bumped into a friend who recommended it to me. Unfortunately, when we got there it wasn't quite what we were looking for. As lovely as the shop was, the yarns in stock were much too expensive for us, especially since we were hoping to buy in bulk. For what we wanted to do, we decided that bog standard cheap yarns would do just fine! So it was off to trusty old Abakhan.

From Abakhan, we bought 3 packs of yarn in Black, Navy Blue and Moss Green. We were a little limited to the choice of colour but from what we had to choose from, we decided to keep to a dark colour scheme. The plan is to knit the colours as separate pieces but interlace them when setting up the installation so that the yarns cross over each other and allow the colours to blend in.

We put this into practice later on that the afternoon as we got knitting immediately in time to film the final scenes of the fashion film. At this stage of filming, the narrative begins to integrate the installation as a collaboration of both elements of our group project. The storyboard runs so that the protagonist (Hannah!) finds herself entangled ‘in a web of her own fears’...  it’s all a bit disturbing but that's always far more fun! To fit the mood, Racheal found a very sinister looking set of stairs somewhere around the back of her old foundation studios. Here we set up some of the arm-knit samples and were able to see for the first time how the colours and varying densities of yarn would work together.

I think we were all pleased with the results as the yarns were pulled taught to create a dense web that looked more intricate that in actually was! It has been a trying couple of days but I think we're getting there!

Unit X: Arm Knitting Part 2

Following on from our experiment with arm knitting, I took the opportunity to photograph the samples in the evening using dim directional lighting to try and capture the shadows that it cast on the wall. I think there is something quite beautiful about the intricate patterns created by the knit that is quite sinister and eerie at the same time. 

Unit X: Sampling

Following on from our meeting, this weekend I have been busy sampling with various material. My initial research looked at objects that were used in Voodoo rituals so I thought it would be a nice idea to make casts of objects, maybe those that had sentimental value, to display as part of our installation. For this I decided to keep it simple and use watered- down PVA glue to fuse various materials together in a moulded shape. Inspiration for this came from Lizzie’s research into the work of artist Anna Mortimer who uses heat fusion to mould fabric into delicate cocoon-like objects which she embroiders and puts together as beautiful globular clusters.

So I started by covering a small vase with patches of loose wool fibres (kindly donated to me by Flavia) and soaking it in watered-down PVA glue. I was quite happy to keep my layers quite uneven and haphazard as I was interested in the way light would pass through the varied densities.

Whilst that was left to dry, I repeated technique by wrapping thick string around an ink bottle and some thin yarn around another vase. Again, my aim was not to be too precise and leave random gaps in between the layers to allow for light to pass through. 

As I had really soaked the pieces I found that it took ages to dry! But as it was a nice day I was able to take some pictures of my experiments in good light. In some ways this worked better with the coloured glass as a base for the wool and string outer shells as it accentuated the light and shadows. 

Once dry, the samples weren’t quite as successful as I had hoped. I found that the samples simply didn’t hold their shape once they had been peeled off their bases. Particularly, the wool fibres began to come off in clumps once it started to peel it and would probably start to shed every time I handled it! But this might simply be down to my PVA to Water ratio. What might have been a half-success however might be the string and yarn structures. Again, these did not hold their shape properly but once removed from the base structure, it was almost as though the yarn took on a skeletal resemblance of the object that formed it. 

Unit X: Mr X Stitch

As a continuation on the road to rediscovery of my love of textiles, I thought it was appropriate to include the lecture with Jamie Chalmers, otherwise known in the world of embroidery as Mr X Stitch. Chalmers is an embroiderer, blogger and generally a very funny guy! In his lecture, he introduced us to the work of contemporary embroidery and needle work artists and a few of the exhibitions he has curated within the field. As a strong advocate of banishing feminine stereotypes, I must admit to my own preconceived ideas of the feminine connotations of embroidery and needlecraft. And so I owe the likes Jamie Chalmers thanks for bringing the traditional field into modern art and design. His blog is a testament to the exciting and ever-evolving work in the field. The link to which is here: http://www.mrxstitch.com/

I highly recommend that you take a gander!

What I loved about this lecture was Chalmers’ sheer enthusiasm he had for all the astists included in his (very extensive!) powerpoint. Here are some of the artists (for there were MANY) that stood out to me as inspiration for Unit X.

Melissa Zexter: School Girls (detail) Gelatin Silver Print, Thread

Stacy Page: Kathy, Take me with you

Maurizio Anzeri: Collaboration with Robbie Spencer and Richard Burbridge for Dazed and Confused

Diem Chau: Hair, Hand; Porcelain cup, Silk thread

Unit X: Today I am Inspired! ( Part 2: Embellisher Induction)

And lo! Like some divine intervention, this morning's lecture was followed by an induction into the embellisher in the embroidery department. I was a bit sceptical about using the embellisher, having seen some of the samples floating around the studio (one of the benefits of the new art and design building is that you get to take a peek at what the textiles students get up to!) as the result looked a little too messy and  resembled too much of crafts projects for my liking. But from today's session I can see its a great way of merging together different fabrics and fibres and I must admit, I had far too much fun doing it! Check out the samples below.

For these samples, I was interested in only embellishing portions of the stands of yarn and fabric layered on top of the base of felt. I purposely left parts of the yarns loose so that the create an extra layer to the overall fabric. I was also interested in working with different textures and densities such as the use of a solid silk fabric in contrast to loose wool fibres to see how they would work together. I love how there are many layers to the final surface as wisps of trapped fibres seem to float outwards as though in suspended motion. 

For today, we were limited to working with the fabrics and yarns that the department already had in their cut-offs box. But I can see the potential in the technique to work with both natural and synthetic fibres. I am particularly interested in layering fabrics of different densities and possibly working with alternative materials such as paper and plastics. These materials wont necessarily blend in with the base fabric because there aren't any fibres that can be felted together but nevertheless I am curious to see what happens. 

Unit X: Today I am Inspired! (Part 1: Lauren Bowker)

Following on from our lecture with Lauren Bowker, a textiles designer and innovator, I was reminded of just how much I loved Textiles in my foundation year. Having originally applied to Manchester School of Art to study Fashion Design, she did not make it to the course of her choice and was instead offered a place on the Textiles programme. In spite of this initial setback her work today is a testament to the fact that as a design student you are not limited to a set field. Now, her work spans across the board with textiles, fashion, chemistry and more recently the field of engineering.

What's most exciting about Lauren Bowker are her efforts to bridge the gap between technology and design. This pretty much began in her final year as a BA student, where she developed dyes that reacted to the level of pollution in the wearer's environment. This is something that she continues to develop in her practice in which aesthetic appeal goes hand in hand with function and innovation. With her ongoing research into thermal-chromic inks Bowker has utilised textile technology for a Fashion context. These take the form of wearable sculptural pieces for a successful Parisian fashion brand that have also been photographed by Tim Walker with Kate Moss as the model. This is encapsulated in the mantra of 'See the Unseen' in which her beautiful feathered pieces seem to take on a life of their own as a showcase of renewal and decay right before our eyes.

Learning about Lauren's practice has gotten me excited about experimenting with materials on a surface level. I have been struggling within my course when it comes to shape-making and designing and feel that I havent quite gotten the hang of it yet. I am also a little afraid that perhaps I wont be able to find my own stamp. This is why I feel elated since this lecture as it has brought back to me something that I truly enjoy- and that is working with and manipulating materials, both traditional and unconventional. From my previous course I picked up textile sampling as an effective and enjoyable way of generating ideas. I love nothing more than an afternoon of simply messing around with machine embroidery and scraps of fabric. This curiosity about fabrics and how they work together to create something new has fed into my current sketchbooks. My tutor Sarah pointed this out to me in a recent feedback tutorial as something I keep revisiting and should continue to develop through the duration of my degree. I hate to say it but I haven't quite found my flair for the designing and shape-making element of each project. Though I know there is plenty of time to figure this out, it is still a constant fear of mine that I will not have a designer's epiphany any time soon! But what I have gained from today's lecture is that it would be a shame to give up something that truly excites me in pursuit of trying to be something that I am not.

Hence why, I have decided to return to my textile background as research for this unit. What I hope to achieve is to find a way of incorporating the textile techniques that I am interested in a fashion outcome as an amalgamation of all that I love.