Origins Evaluation

I think the strongest developments in my work were during the machine embroidery tasks. The large workload set pushed me to come up with ideas fast. I found that each sample would inspire the next, developing my ideas as I went. This is a good way of working for me. I don’t think I made connections between practice and research as I ended up keeping the embroidery work separate to the journeys project. On the next project I am going to integrate all areas of my work.

From the weekly group critiques and tutorials I made decisions on what elements of my work were successful and what was not. I then took these qualities into the next body of work to explore further, such as use of delicate lines and sheer or lightweight fabrics.

I am continuously making self-discoveries from my work and this is how I move forward. During this project I have reaffirmed my attention to detail and realised how methodical I am in the way I work. I think this at times has held me back, especially in the journeys work as I would try to find meaning in my work and felt the need to have a polished idea before I could actually create. In the next project I plan to start with materials and sampling, letting my work speak to me and take me on a journey.

My greatest achievement during this project is gaining confidence on the machines. I now feel very comfortable to use them and will continue to practice on them.

The contextual studies pushed me to think more carefully about my choice of materials, how different textures, weight of fabrics, thickness of thread etc. will effect the outcome and how those elements will be perceived.

By the end of the project I felt a lot more focused and was using to workshops a lot more effectively than at the start of the project. I feel this unit has made me realise how important it is to be using the facilities in my own time as well as when timetabled as I produced a lot more work than I would have at home.

I think I confused myself a lot during most of this project, I think in the next project I need to take a step back from trying to give everything meaning and just create, see where the work takes me and come up with ideas along the way.

Pin-Tuck Foot 12th-16th November

This week we learnt how to use the pin-tuck foot. I really like this foot. It takes a while and requires patience but I am very pleases with the results. It need a lot of precision too. I experimented with different weights of fabric and the 3 sizes of foot. I like using the middle foot with a light weight linen. 

So that's the end of Embroidery. I have really enjoyed the last 3 weeks on the machines. I have learnt new skills and techniques that I will definitely revisit. I have also enjoyed learning about different fabrics and am keen to learn more. I also liked learning about the different stitches in hand which I will also carry on in my work. Next term I will be doing 'Construct' which I am really looking forward too.

UTENSIL - Current Approaches to Tableware

Whilst visiting my Dad in Co.Carlow, Ireland, we visited the National Craft Gallery in Kilkenny. The exhibition was called UTENSIL- Current approaches to tableware. Over 20 artists and designers had contributed with there take on tableware.

Cathy Miles

Wiebke Meurer

Simon Ten Hompel

Jennifer Slattery

Sharon Blakey and Ismini Samanidou

I really enjoyed the exibition and got to use my new camera which was a bonus. I liked the meeting of craft, design and conceptual art. After we visited the cafe which had the biggest brownies ever...obviously I had to have one! 

Amy Senogles Workshop 1st Nov

Amy Senogles is a graduate from MMU Embroidery and she came in to give us a talk and a workshop. It was good to hear what she did on her degree, the themes in her work and what she has been doing since. She focused more on textiles for fashion and brought in her 3rd year work. She used mainly reclaimed fabrics in her work which is something I am very interested in. She also used the embroidery on vintage hankies and table clothes as inspiration for her embroidery and even worked over the top.

She then did a workshop with us on couching, which is a technique that fastens yarn or other materials to a ground fabric. Here are the samples I produced.

Taylor tack and embellisher samples

I really enjoyed doing these samples. I really pushed myself with the time aloud for each so that I did not spend too long on them, trying to perfect them as this held me back last time from being experimental. I am pleased with the results. It also meant that each one inspired the next. I also tried to keep them more simple as Nigel advised in the critique, not using too many techniques per sample.

Taylor tack and Embellisher 6th-9th Nov

This week we were shown how to use the Taylor Tack foot 

and the Embellisher machine. 

This works best using fabrics that are very fibrous for the needles to pull on.

We then had to produce another 18 square samples in black and white using the new techniques.

Tues 6th Critique

Today we had a group critique for the 12 samples we had completed over the past week. It was good to see others had used the machines and interpreted the brief. Nigel said I need to iron my fabrics better to make my work look more finished and professional so I will definitely be ironing everything from now on. He also said to kepp the samples more simple, as quite a few of us had a bit to much going on on some of our samples. I felt that a few of my samples were to neat and that I had spent too much time on the tiny details instead of pushing myself and being more experimental.

Introduction to machine embroidery 29th-2nd Nov

This week we had a group critique with the machine embroidery group before swapping over. It was interesting to see the amount of work machine had done compared to hand. I do feel that I  haven't been motivated enough in the past 3 weeks and haven't produced nearly enough work. \I have found the self directed study difficult and have not been disciplined enough, but I am looking forward to starting on the machines and can see by the other groups work there will be a lot more directed study to do and feel motivated to get stuck in.

We were shown by Nigel how to use the embroidery foot in the machine room, how to do satin stitch and cording. We were then asked to produce 12 black and white samples from the 15 squares we did in September.  

Fly Stitch 22nd-26th Oct

We were given the task of finding out how to do fly stitch and then completeting 2 samples. One using a light weight fabric and the other using heavy weight. I found some yellow sheer fabric and plum denim in the scrap bins. We were also told to use 3-4 different weights of thread. 

French Knots 18th Oct

We were given the task of going away and finding out how to do a French know. I found a tutorial on Youtube and did 2 black and white samples. This was tricky at forst as the knots kept tightening too soon but once I got the hang of keeping the threat taught right until the end it became easier.

We

Hand stitch basics 15th-19th Oct

This week we learnt the basics of hand stitch. I had done a bit of hand stitch before, but just straight running stitch. We did a sample piece of straight stitch, ladder stitch and chain stitch. At first I found it a bit tedious, but after a while I began to find it relaxing. We then had to go away and do the same 3 stitches on 6 different fabrics of our choice. I wanted to incorporate colour as this is what I am looking at in the Journeys project.

 

Multiples Workshop 16th Oct

 Over the weekend we were asked to visit the poundshop and spend no more than £5 on multiples of something. I bought 5 bags of makeup sponges. In the workshop we experimented with our materials in as many ways possible using different adjectives for inspiration.

Photos from my journey home 12th Oct

Today I decided to walk my 3 mile journey home from uni instead of cycling so that I could take some photos for primary research. I wanted to focus on colour and inanimate objects that would otherwise go unnoticed. I took over 130 photos and printed 90.

Embroidery Induction 8th-12th Oct

 This week were were put into our textile world option groups. I have chosen embroidery and for the next 3 weeks I will be doing hand embroidery. We were asked to make a paper collage using the colours from the gouache colour studies last week. After our inductions in the machine room we were shown how to use Bondaweb and then made fabric collages inspired by the paper collage.