Learning Log: Assignment 4: Textile Structures

Interlude: Analysing Colour, Texture and Proportion.

I found this exercise harder to get to grips with than I had expected.

It took a while to find an image I was happy with that had both a range of colours and texture: a lot of my material had great colour but little texture or vice versa. But when I found a suitable image things got moving.

I used my gouache colours as I find these easier to blend than watercolours.

The broken colours were hardest to match – here I tried to match the predominant colour and then overlay it  - eg mustard overlain with white for the rush seat.

I’m not sure how well I did with the proportions : I started with estimates of the bigger blocks of colour and then worked into the detail of the smaller blocks. 

It was sometimes hard to get an exact match in the yarns so I got as close as possible. This threw up some surprises – a dark green yarn was a better match for the cats fur than a black yarn.

I also chose textured yarns to mimic texture in the image eg for some of the cat’s fur and for the broken colour in the background wall.

Project 8

Stage 1 : Collecting Yarn  and Exploring its Qualities

I’ve set up a small yarn booklet based on the yarns I’ve collected split into two sections – natural ( total or predominantly) and synthetic. I expect to add to this as I go along.

 I haven’t included recycled yarns I use in projects eg strips of paper, bubblewrap, torn voile curtain ( a la my cat spots a bluebottle), scrap silk , old socks etc. I might set these up in a second booklet.

It’s interesting to touch and compare how the yarns look and feel but I really learn most when I actually use them for something specific eg thicker strong yarns made more dramatic ropes than wispy ones – where the structure just got lost, while in weaving, brown paper and voile buckled the piece while masses of textured yarns were too distracting for the mood I was trying to create in my final piece “Solstice”.

Stage 2 : Experimenting with Structures

I enjoyed this stage and in the case of the rope making found it very relaxing.

I was very surprised at the results :

 Paper Weaving

• Simply weaving two strong colours together was very effective
• I loved the curvature when using soft tissue woven into harder paper – would be interesting to overprint this with a definite image
• I also loved the look of the woven drink pouch (silver side)- see above. I was very temped to heat this to see what effect it would have but was afraid I’d poison myself.
• Using strips of bright colours woven with plain was very pleasing and I loved the effect when there was a space between the strips 

Ropes

Found the feel of the yarns very relaxing but results weren’t so great

• Loved the results from weaving the cordyline leaves and the plantain – thought these worked best – simple and dramatic. Would like to later try bleaching and  dying some cordaline leaves to see what effect this will have on the results. 

• Found it easier to see the structure when using thicker / more rigid materials
• Probably too focused on getting the technique right and not experimental enough
• Couldn’t really see where I’d use ropes but having done the weaving section now appreciate how they could really add depth to a piece.

Shape and Grid

·       Loved these, though again probably should have pushed the boundaries more. Really liked the idea of looking through ( one of my favourite things) and  shapes within shapes.

·       In the Shape exercise I just wound threads to create the shadow and light and the structure

·       In the Grid  I stretched some mesh across the structure which reminded me of fishing nets…maybe should have made a little fish to put in there….or a bicycle wheel or shopping trolley (more woven structures). I also made a grid within the grid which gave this an extra dimension.

 Project 9 Woven Structures.

 I was dreading this (had previously done a small bit of weaving with a spectacular lack of success) but once I managed to get warped up and going I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

The first piece was painfully slow….it took days -  but once I got the hang of it things got better and better.

• Variety of Yarns : I found it difficult to track down weaving yarns – none of the yarn shops in Cork had a selection. So I used the wools that I had bought along with yarns I made myself. I tried a variety of materials : plain, textured ,multicoloured  and metallic wools of varying thicknesses and recycled yarns (strips of silk, paper, bubblewrap, torn voile curtain,  old socks (which had great “give”).  In the first 2 pieces I was keen to experiment and learn,so some things worked wonderfully eg loved curved wefts and the effects from the different yarns especially multicoloureds , silk strips and bubblewrap, while others were less successful – using paper and voile and using knots.

In the final sample I used mainly multicoloured and textured yarns and silk strips. I used some yarns which had metallics threaded through: in the lower section to denote the rich life that is throbbing beneath the surface even when the world seems to be asleep, and in the sky section I used orange and golds to emphasis the sacredness of the solstice.

• Once I got going I really loved the weaving, both the feel of the yarn and the ping of the warp and how the piece grows before your eyes. I’ve been working with coloured pencils in Start Drawing and learning to stand back to review my work and found this really helpful in the final piece “Solstice”. I didn’t mind that it was a slow process (though it took a lot longer than I had allowed for) and I put on some lovely music and wove away contentedly….I practically purred at times.

• Final Sample: I’m happy with the overall effect and feel it captures the mood from my story board. This was my first time doing one of these so I’m not sure whether I did it correctly.(note added later..my tutor has suggested using printed text in future) 

This is in Assessment Submission

•  I had chosen yarns for the piece but when I wove a small sample to test them I found the blocks of textured yarns distracted from the powerful impact I wanted to achieve so I broke them and mixed them through plain yarns. I’m generally happy with the the colour and texture. I’m not so sure about the proportions : I wanted to have a streaming sky and when I used the yarns I’d picked in the storyboard and sample, they were too insipid and just didn’t work. So I went with more silk yarns and couldn’t figure out how to fade these out without losing impact. I also removed some weaving at the edge and I’m not sure if this is what buckled the piece .  Finally, I’m not sure how to finish and mount the piece – eg do you cut off the warp strings and how do you fix the piece to a mount board as it’s too heavy for the double sided tape I use. 

• I enjoyed the design process and found the storyboard really helpful. I was surprised to find that I seemed to respond more to the words I’d chosen than to the images I’d picked when it came to the weaving. I think in future I would 
• do a mock up of the final image – maybe a collage so that I could see how the colours and proportions worked
•  work up a small sample based on this to see what works and doesn’t and whether I am happy with the overall effect. 
•  use pure wool yarns . 

This piece was done post project but is in Assessment Submission 

• I enjoyed putting colours together intuitively as this makes it a more fluid and organic experience.. I  love seeing how light, form and movement evolve in the piece and responding to that. I’m not very attracted to rigid forms or patterns in weaving and would find it very difficult to make it a mathematical exercise plotting everything exactly before I start.   

• I enjoyed the process so much I wove this small piece for my husband at Christmas. Also using some of my lessons on aerial perspective from my Drawing Skills course , with the warmer more detailed foreground receding to cooler less distinct background.

Tutor's Report