Tex styles Knitting....

Knitting is something I have never really been that interested in, as a child my Gran taught me how to knit, however after constantly forgetting my stitch number I eventually gave up, Knitting in the Textiles and Surface Design Department at the Art School is on a completely different level to my grandmothers sitting room.
But does that change my opinion?

Well first of all, its machine knitting not hand Knitting. These machines consist of 200 needles and can be very unpredictable. You  have to by hand manipulate the needles adapt the knit and depending on what you do changes the knit completely.

Knitwear is something which as you will most likely know has became very popular this Autumn/Winter with some fantastic knits and creations across the board and this helped me plow ahead and keep at the knitting. Unfortunately after our third day of our technician taking us through the basics she got stranded in the snow..and that was the end of our teaching time. The Snow which had been steadily getting worse in Aberdeen reached a peak, temperatures reaching -22 and eventually our knitting was put on hold, I decided to keep on going and with the help of a few others and my knit manual I managed to keep on and make the most of what I knew.

I did however manage to make some knitwear for myself to keep cosy and make the most out of the mad snow....take a look at my knitted collar scarf and fingerless gloves.

The Knit Project is due to be completed on our return, if the weather persists that is. I have to admit that I much preferred the printing project due to the freedom of what you create and I have had a steady love for printing over the past few years since my master-class at the Glasgow Print Studio, but I wont dismiss the knitting just yet....

To be continued.....

Tex styles Printing....continued

As I spoke in my previous post I was doing my printing project where I had to create 10 Professionally finished samples. As part of this I designed headers to go along with this which had the title on the front and info on how the were created on the reverse.

• 2 Devore Prints

"Devore"  is when a material which is made from both natural and man made fibres, has a paste printed on top of it and the paste burns the natural fibre from it leaving the man made material behind, this is particularly effective on Devore Velvet, which you will see below

    Devore Velvet

 Devore material with printed material behind  

• 2 Binder Prints
  

Binder Printing is when block colour which has to be premixed is applied to separate screens to create a print of many colours.

 

ABOVE: Presentation example of how my samples look....

ABOVE: Close up of Binder Print 1

 ABOVE: Close up of Binder Print 2

• 2 Dyed Fabrics

These are various dyed fabrics which I have dyed either Solid Colour or dip dyed the fabric to create a fading transition effect

 ABOVE: Dyed Fabric with puff feature.

 ABOVE: Dip Dyed Fabric

• 2 Metallic Binder,

Metallic binder is a particular binder (printing ink) which has a shine or metallic effect for my prints I did one gold and one silver.

 Above: Silver Metallic Binder full presentation & close up.

 Gold Binder with discharge and puff feature.

• Puff Binder, 

Puff binder and the Devore have to be my two favourites, Puff is a particular substance which you print with and is then immediately put into the Oven to heat, the heat then to the areas which have been printed, embosses them and makes a totally 3D print, this is also very textural and stands out from the material, colour can also be added to the puff to create a colour raised effect.

• Discharge Printing.

Discharge printing is when a material is dyed then discharge paste is applied through your exposed screen (with the pattern on it) The dicharge paste essentially bleaches the colour from the material, however unlike bleaching it can replace the colour with another.

  Dyed black material with discharged pattern, embellished print and hand sewn bead work.

 Dyed blue material with discharged pink pattern and embellished organza.

 To enhance many of these prints I embellished them with smaller printed features and organza on some. I also applied some bead work to finish off the looks that I desired for the fabric.


I defiantly feel like the printing is something which I would like to take further, I feel as though there is so many different ways in which you can take it and expand and experiment. I am looking forward to taking these new found skills further in my future designs and fabrics...Look out 2011!

M xxx

Lack of blogging...... Apologies winter has arrived.

Up here in Aberdeen we have had a pretty hectic winter, with the madness of the snow and temperatures reaching as low as -22 its been pretty crazy.

 Apologies for not blogging very often this past month however I have lots to update you about.

• At the end of November CARi and myself had a stand at the Country Living Christmas Fair, which was a massive success, our Collars being especially popular with the cold winter approaching.
• I completed  my print project at Art School, which you can see one of the pictures from my previous post of me printing away happily. This project consisted of me making 10 professionally designed and finished printed materials which I managed to do successfully and recieved an A for my results.  I shall post some photographs for you to have a look.
• I then moved onto my Knit project, This consisted of me learning how to use the knitting machines and create a simialr ten samples to go along with that of the print. I shall also post some photographs for this...however due to the Art School eventually getting closed due to the intense snow and our knit technician getting stuck down in Edinburgh the project was cut short and we have to catch up after Christmas with our knitting.
• I have also been working with CARi at various Christmas Fairs across Scotland where we have received great Feedback for our Collar Scarves....so been pretty busy to say the least.

So once again I apologise for not being on here that often recently but I promise to get back to normal before the New Year (tomorrow) and update you in further detail of my latest goings on.

M xxx

Tex styles Printing....

Started our printing workshops now.... and sooo excited.

I couldn't believe all the different ways material can be manipulated simply through printing...I feel like I am being told all the secrets of the materials and I cant believe I am going to be able to do all these wonderful processes.

Our end result is to create ten different professionally finished printed materials...cant wait to show you all the results. The dyes take hours to make and mix however the end result is worth it...

12 hour days doesn't really show the true stereotype of an student does it now...

Steptoes Junk Yard!

Visited Steptoes Junk Yard with the textiles department as part of our drawing project.

During the visit we took various drawings and rubbbings discovering the wonders and hidden corners or the yard and house which was filled with more little tresures.

Part of our project was to take photos recording colours, textures and patterns....I was in my glory! haha

These are just a few of the photos I have chosen to use...

If you are interested in visiting Steptoes CLICK HERE

Movement.

I have been interested in movement recently and have been putting some thought into ways movement can be expressed...one way I particularly like is long exposure.

Sometimes I felt as though long exposure never really showed the full extent of the motion so I decided to emphasise this by using flour to leave a track.

This is a few of the flour motion photos I took. :)

This one below is one of me blowing the flour..I really liked the contrast of colours and distortion of this image by my face not being visible.

Motif -ated

Back into full swing of things at Art School again...feels like I have never left.

We have began making motifs that I plan to use for printing onto materials, there is eleven different ways to organise a repeat print - completely changing the way the motif looks each time.

For this project we  have to complete (due 18th October):

•  2 Colour Story Boards (one Autumn/Winter and one Spring/Summer).
• 11 A3 repeat structures in full Spring/Summer colours.
• 11 A3 repeat structures in full Autumn/Winter colours.
• All of the above has to be spray mounted on A3 white mount board.
• Presentation is very important

Below is the a few of the motifs that I have chosen to use for my repeat pattern ...

I took these prints and patterns from drawings that I completed for my summer project.

 

This is only a few that I have completed but it gives you an idea of the patterns and colours that I am using. 

Had an induction for the print studio -where we will be printing the our materials -I have to admit I got SOO excited to get back printing again...something I haven't done since I completed my master-class at the Glasgow Print Studio a couple years back...Cant wait!

Textiles & Surface Design Year Two

I've just started back at Grays School of Art, Robert Gordon University.

I'm currently starting my second year and SOO excited to get back into the swing of things after having a busy summer working.

Received an A for my Summer Project so pretty chuffed - I have included some photos of the work that I produced for this below

We are using this Summer Project as the basis for the next projects, I'm currently developing these drawings into a motif which I am arranging into various types of printing methods (various patterns of sorts) Below is the image I am planning on using...in some sort of form.

I've also began a Daily Drawing Sketchbook which I have to maintain until mid December...suppose this can go along with my Daily photograph! You can still follow my Daily Photo which is on its 130th Day so far....to View todays and previous  Click Here

Paris Premier Vision Trip

Visited for a few days to Paris for Premier Vision to buy the new materials for next years collection, but obviously we took in some other stops along the way...