Refinement Week 5

This week has been an intense one as most of us had the CP2 deadline to complete; my work has lost a tiny bit of momentum this week, but is all a learning curve in managing tasks and finding a balance between responsibilities, especially approaching final year and CP3. 

Final line-up selection with Tess and Zsofi.

Selection of colour palette, most potential samples, and a rough final line-up were made, in a collective decision from Zsofi, Tess and myself. I feel we are working strongly as a team, and everything is fitting in to place. Meeting with Lucia, the director of the Cuckoo performance at the start of the week was a tiring but extremely insightful experience. Getting the opinion of someone not only without a design background, but the director with her own personal expectations and performance know-how has been imperative. She felt strongly about the costumes working as a "collective unit", which is crucial for the cohesiveness of the stage. The possibility of each of the groups incorporating an element of 'the tree' was agreed, and we have much to consider in terms of the performers movement and the possibility of the costume "distracting" from the overall performance. This is new uncharted territory for us as Textile/Fashion designers, and is a context loaded with many considerations.

Meeting with the director, insightful collaborative effort from all groups. 

   

Red on red multi-head, very pleased with this sample.

Development - Week 4

Following some advice I got from a conversation with Jane McKetting after a lecture of hers last semester, I intend to draw out all of the potential of my original 'Orphan' illustration and ethos design. Due to the time constraints of this ambitious project, I must be conscious of time management with sample development and I think continually reproducing the same design design, but with alterations in thread choice, fabric, scale and placement is most realistic for this collaboration, and more fitting to industry expectations. 

coloured mulit-head on white organza

 I am happy with the development of colour into the design, although the stitches are quite small still and therefore the illustrative detail gets lost, I intend to enlarge the design and simplify to reduce stitch count; layering of simpler designs could be much more effective.

gold multi-head on wine red dyed velvet 

White on white organza.

Going against what I feel most comfortable with (an explosion of colour) I explored the possibilities of a stripped back design, enlarged, using only white thread on white organza. This is completely different to my usual work and I am extremely pleased with the serene simplicity of the design. In discussion with the group we all feel this is a step in the right direction as it adds a narrative detail, without making the garment too busy. The layering potential of this sample is also exciting.

colour/fabric swatch 

We have also began underpinning a colour/fabric swatch selection. Developed mostly by my work in the dye lab to achieve the truest colours to our research I feel this selection captures our aesthetic effectively.

Development Week 3

Continuing from the ground work made in the past week, I have further explored through illustration with intent of developing on the multi-head.

Cuckoo / folk inspired illustration. I am fascinated by the idea of the displaced child. 

I am strongly influenced by Russian fairytales, and this is physically manifested in the samples produced on the multi-head; sticking to a single colour thread at first to perfect the digital design, the simplicity of a red or yellow line lends itself to the Russian aesthetic. From this initial Ethos session I intend to enlarge the design, and add more layers of colour to give the samples more depth. 

yellow multi-head embroidery on dyed silk organza, I like the translucent quality of the silk. 

red multi-head embroidery on dyed yellow velvet.

Following Sarah's advice to cross-pollenate our work, taking one of Zsofi's drawings I developed it through to the lazer cutter. By using dyed velvet, a continuous element in my work we cut out a grid design based on the tudor architecture of Ordsal Hall. I'm pleased with this work as an initial sample, it creates an interesting presence when layered, but as a group will we have to underpin just how it can be used.

lazer cut samples, developed by myself, inspired by Zsofi's drawing research at Ordsall Hall.