Textile and mixed media: repeated diamonds.

 I have been looking at Polly Binns and Ealish Wilson, who both use a technique similar to smocking, but on a very large scale. Wilson uses various methods of securing her fabric, including cable ties and different threads.

 I tried out the same method, using embroidery thread to secure my calico. I knotted each piece of thread and left the tails long for added decoration.

 I then thought about possibly adding pieces to the textile backing, in the holes, so that there are smaller pieces of pattern, inside the textile.

 I have decided I would like to try to make quite a large wall hanging, so I wanted quite a few diamonds, to put in various places in the textile piece. I made diamonds from both clay and metal, using punches, enamel, pewter casting and reticulation to make the brass crumple and make a texture. I also used stamps to decorate some of the clay ones. I then used seed beads to weave one.

Wire work with ceramics and textiles

I wanted to include a textile element in one of my ceramic pieces, and also use metal to create a mixed media piece.I decided to use brass wire, and I made the wire frame curved, so as to be a statement necklace. I made the frame so the textile element could be woven through and sewn on to the wire. I used the large ceramic piece as the centre piece, and had two smaller ones on each side. I kept the colour scheme neutral so the ceramic pieces stand out and are the focal point. I pleated and stitched parts of the ribbon to add detail without taking the focus away from the ceramic pieces. I may add further textile parts to it at a later date, but I don't want to make it too busy and spoil the subtlety of it.

Fashion: 3D modelling

 In fashion, we were looking at shape, rather than trying to make a garment that fits to the body. To create the shapes, I used a pattern piece for a sleeve, and drew around it, then overlapped the same shape over the top, and kept slitting the piece and pulling it out, to create interesting patterns and shapes. I used the photocopier to make some of the shapes bigger, to make them have more visual impact when I pinned them on the mannequin. I think some of the best designs came from when I experimented pinning the shapes in places that weren't obvious, so not to make a garment, but put them in more unexpected places. I found this gave more interesting results.

Textiles: monoprinting

Mono printing was one of the ways we looked at to apply pattern. I also used collage under the mono prints  For this one I used red and grey ink, over the top of a collage basic fish shape. I also used masking tape to create voids in the lines of ink

For my next one, I used scrap paper to block off the llama shape from the red and grey ink. I think I used too much ink on the plate because it printed onto the parts that I hadn't drawn onto, but I think this was a good effect because it made random shapes in the background.

I then made one using red, orange and grey, and it had quite a patterned design. my favourite part of this one is where I have used red ink after the grey to fill the gaps in the grey pattern.

My last one was more simple, I used less ink so the background would be plain, and just used red and orange so it wouldn't be too busy. I think this is very illustrative, and I like the simplicity of just having lines, with no shading or tone.

Overall, I really enjoyed the mono printing, but it was difficult because I wanted to lean on the paper, but this would have transferred onto the design, so I had to be very careful.

Textiles: Surface pattern.

In textiles, we focused on surface pattern and colour, rather than fabric or garments. I liked experimenting with mixed media and texture such as masking tape and stitching, and I liked the methods we used to get interesting patterns. on the first strip of paper, we chose a part of the still life in front of us, and used ink to draw the negative spaces. We then turned the strip upside down, and drew the same part of the still life. I liked this because the ink created very interesting shapes, and they did not match up with the drawing on top. In this piece, I used ink, oil pastel, emulsion paint, chalk pastel, netting and thread. I also sprayed on bleach, to change the colour of the ink.

On my second piece, I was focusing on just one object. I started with a masking tape outline, then turned the paper by 90 degrees and used a chalk pastel to draw the object bigger. I carried on turning the paper around and changing media, And I think this gives a very good effect, capturing the object without just drawing it. I think this worked well because the object I chose had a very patterned texture, so the finished work has very detailed patterns and interesting lines. I think these could both be made into a repeating pattern, to use as something like wall paper or wrapping paper, or a fabric print to use on a garment.

 I then moved on to smaller pieces, and made a collage background from different papers, and part of a photocopy of one of my larger pieces. I then stitched a strip of ink dipped fabric on, using pink stitches. I stitched it so the fabric went from the top to the bottom of the paper, and the stitches went across. I then added more thread, in a wavy line, and some pleated paper.

 After I had done the pink stitching on my first small piece, I noticed the back had some very interesting marks, so I photocopied it and made it the background for my second small piece. I then used parts photocopied from one of my bigger pieces, and stitched onto the background with yellow, green and blue thread. I used all different sized stitches, then glued down the long ends of the thread down.

I really liked the bold stripes on the paper, so I put it with the inside of an envelope, so the large stripes contrast with the small repetitive pattern. I used a strip of fabric going diagonally across, and different stitches on top. I tried to stick to a fairly limited colour palette so it wasn't too over-complicated.