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