The end of the Semester

After completing the weave rotation for this final semester I discovered that I really enjoyed weave and felt my artistic skills really developed in the hand loom samples.  I thought the samples were really creative and full of detail from the usage of different fabrics, yarn, string, beads and lace.

The colour palette I used was very interesting with very natural brown and crème colours and bright dark contrasting purples and blues. They’re not colours you would associate with lace but they worked really well and I was able to use really nice lace that worked well with the colours.

I wanted my samples to be really interesting and not just plain weaving, so I mixed certain weave patterns and also altered the weft loom by tying knots in the yarn breaking up the weft and the samples.

I want to specialise in weave because I have fun in creating the samples and want to learn more on the machines especially the Jacquard weave, as I only started to learn a few things in this rotation on the computer software called Jacquard designer.  I need more practise on it to get my samples just right by using the right weave techniques and the right kind of design suitable to develop into a woven fabric.

Below is a link to Flickr with some photos of my final weave samples:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/70067575@N03/

Portfolio presentation assessment

I had my portfolio presentation this week and it was one of those things that put me out of my comfort zone.  I don’t like speaking in front of people as I get very nervous and talk quite fast and quiet, and even if I’ve prepared a speech I end up messing it up.

I enjoyed preparing my portfolio and as I put my best and favourite samples in from Print, Knit and Weave and I was able to see my samples all together in a collection, I’ve noticed my work improve over the year and was able to discover that weave was my strongest work because it was full of creativity and detail because of the added work into the actual sample piece. I have enjoyed weave this year as I'm not restricting myself with experimenting and I really like the final samples so far.

I put some silhouette designs from Print into my portfolio I really liked how the samples looked in the silhouettes and below is a picture of the designs.

The presentation went well I think. I walked in calmly and just was myself as I knew I had to be myself because that’s who people want to see – someone with artistic skills and a passion for what they do. I enjoyed talking through my work and I was able to understand my work myself through talking to someone else about it. It’s given me more experience and practise for future job interviews.

Weave...

Now I'm on Weave in the final rotation of Textiles for this term. We will be using the Jacquard looms to create very quick detailed weaves as well as doing about 4 hand woven samples.

This time in weave we had to learn to thread up the weave loom in the colours that we wanted to use related to our new project on lace.  The picture below shows the kind of colours I decided to use.  To make the threading up the loom easier we were put into pairs so we would be able to work as a team.  It was nice to learn teamwork and find out which way is easier and quicker to thread up the loom.  We chose light crème and brown colours which were very suited to lace.  We had to choose yarns that were strong and were very hard to break which was tricky as we would find the right colours but the yarn wouldn’t have been suitable.

In order to get all these new samples completed I must go in and work on my hand loom during my free time as well as my tutorial classes.  I am sketching interesting patterns and designs to create on the hand loom and I can’t wait to start experimenting with the looms.

3rd year Design Seminars

I really found the 3rd year seminar that I watched very interesting.  There was such a range of themes such as; tribal, cocktails, nature, mystic, romantic, light in the darkness, hope, architecture and much more. There was a lot of print students in this seminar so I did find it a bit repetitive and would have liked to have seen more knitters and weavers.  I learnt new things about how to present my work and also what the tutors where looking for. I got new ideas for my own work like more mark making and different types of medias for my visual studies.  Market research is a huge thing to focus on so I am going to look at WGSN as a lot of the students had researched this company. I want to use everything in my inspiration and the 3rd year students even used postcards and jewellery as inspiration. Because I will be focusing on a product field I need to choose something that has a big product selling point, and my theme must stand out and the colours must work for people to go wow!

Lost in Lace

For visual studies we were asked to visit Birmingham to look at the "Lost in Lace" Exhibition.  Because I am moving on to Weave rotation next week I was looking at patterns and lines that could be used in my weave designs.  I found swirls, circles and flower images were very strong in lace so I will focus on this kind of style and create my woven samples related to the lace theme.

I found the Exhibition very inspiring for myself as I love lace and detail. The exhibition was small and very laid out full of space to walk around and look everywhere.  I could touch little samples of the full scale displays which allowed me to discover the fabric and texture.  I could walk through huge walls of lace and see a computerised structure of lace that changed colour on a timer, the colours used were neon and I really liked this effect so it could be useful for my own work.

Below is a link to a slide show of some of the photos I took on my trip to Birmingham

http://www.flickr.com//photos/70067575@N03/sets/72157628054989143/show/

Fireworks!!

I really like fireworks; the colours the patterns and the bright lights.  But I'm not too keen on the noise but I wasnt close to them this year which was good for me.  The display was in Markeaton Park.  The park had a fun fair set up and then a Bon fire, then at 6pm the fireworks started.  I recorded the display on my camera but it still needs a few tweeks before I can post it up here hopefully by this week.  I really enjoyed the display and I could sense my creativeness kicking in as I seen the fireworks spilling out and creating interesting patterns.  I could see some of the patterns on dresses and so this put me in a customising dress mood.  But i am going to wait till after I get my coursework completed and assessments over with so I can relax and have fun with the garments rather than stress about coursework.

Information Exchange Evening

On Wednesday evening there was an information exchange event at university.   The 3rd year fashion students displayed their work placements that they had done in the 2^nd year and I was able to ask questions and discuss with them if the placement was suitable for my own degree.  I am currently thinking of work placements for the summer so I found this event very useful.  After wandering around and picking a few interesting placements that suited my degree and my own interests in textiles, I discovered that I should focus on small businesses or freelance designers for work placements.  I think I am more suited to these kind of companies as I would get more information and experience on a one to one basis instead of a busy business where I would feel pressured to not ask them questions about what I would be working with as I would feel I was keeping them back from their deadlines.