Weeks 7 and 8

I feel that in the final two weeks of the Floral Geometry project my work has started to come together and form a more cohesive collection. I didn’t start sampling properly until the start of week seven, any samples done before this were just tests, so I really felt the pressure to produce my final ones by this point. However, I think this pressure stifled me a bit at first. I wasn’t sure quite what designs I wanted to do on my samples, and I think the time constraint left me feeling a bit baffled as to what to do. In the end, I found that doing rough plans of what I thought I might like to do for my final samples helped the most. Instead of planning every little detail, I had an idea of what techniques and materials to use and then let myself adapt as I went along. The biggest thing I found was that this encouraged me to try more new techniques, as I felt I had the freedom to change my designs as I went.

 

Continuing with the felting and dyeing wool and fabric, I also branched into laser cutting and digital printing, which allowed me to start thinking in more textural, layered terms. Again, this helped with my sample development. I find it quite hard to visualise all the components of a sample before I start making it, so being able to change things as I go through the processes is important to me.



Laser cutting into a felted sample.

 

Another thing I found challenging in week seven was visualising a context for my designs. Initially, I had intended to work towards interior outcomes, but the introduction of laser cutting and stitching led me to think about more fashion-based ones.The weekly group crit also helped define my context. I went into the feedback session feeling quite overwhelmed and unsure of where to go with my sampling, but after discussing fashion I felt much more inspired, and started to consider menswear as a possible context for my work.

 

Continuing with mono-printing.

 

As well as this, I started to think about accessories and embellishments such as leather fastenings. Although I have no experience of working with leather, I decided to mock up some very basic leather samples. I also dyed the leather I used to tie in with my practice of dyeing all my wool for felting. I feel this was a positive route to explore. Despite my leather pieces being quite rudimentary, I think they help contextualise the whole collection, and are more of a hint of how the ideas stimulated by this project could be carried forward into future projects. I hope to be able to create some more accomplished leather samples in the next unit, and I plan to carry on experimenting with different textures and materials.

Dyeing leather.
 

 Something that I experimented more with over week eight was stitching and embellishment. In the last week I have spent more time in doing embroidery than screen-printing which has been unusual for me, but a refreshing change. I love print, but I hadn’t realised how exciting it can be to cross disciplines and combine techniques.

 

Embellishing on a felted sample.

Overall, I have enjoyed these last two weeks the most out of the whole project. Although they have been the busiest and most hectic, I think that I have made the most progress and have considered the outcomes as well as the processes. I have had a lot of fun this unit being more hands on with my designs and taking risks just to see what might happen, so I’ll definitely be doing more of this in the future.