Tie Dye

I needed to start developing a colour palette for my body of work to develop for my final piece I first thought about using bright brash colours such as golds and shimmering reds. After creating one sample with that idea I felt it was all too brash I wanted something a bit subtler. I went back to thinking about what I comes to mind when I think of fair grounds etc. I had the idea of cotton candy and I thought about how I could get that look onto fabric.

First Samples

My first samples I did were just developing some of the techniques that we had already learned from our class sessions. I first wanted to carry on with the kantha stitching so I just worked on from what I had already learned.The image here on the left hand side I really like I hadn't thought about the thread I was using but the white thread blends into the background which makes it look as if it's just a texture material. 

The second image is a lot simpler than the first but I was thinking about the coloured thread I was using.I wanted the colour to to gradually blend into each it made the pattern much bolder.This has shown the impact colour choice can have.

Inspiration & brief

I took inspiration from a campaign by PETA agianst the cruelty of performing animals in circus's etc. It was the clash of the face paints on the animals face that really caught my attention and i wanted to replicate that within my own work. I work with the imagry I already as I think the images are strong especially my jumbled up circus creatures.  

 

Kantha has been a main point of inspiration for me after learning about it within class I wanted to try and find somewhere exhibitioning Kantha work but there wasn't anywhere for me too see. What it is that attracts me to it is all the hand work and the imagry that is shown through the works and the fact they almost tell a little story. I will be developing samples within Kantha trying to take these aspects on board.

 We have also now learned what it is that will be creating for our final out comes we have been told to create a "hot water bottle cover" we can take that In any way we can. Right now I'm thinking of keeping with a traditional hot water bottle design as I've never had any problems with it and why change something when nothings wrong? I've already been experimenting with the Kantha stitching so Im thinking about coming up with motif to go onto the front. I've already been measuring up a hot water bottle that I have which is slightly smaller but I like the size. The next stage is to to think about the appearance of it which will involve in more sampling.

Boro

We were told about a exhibition at Somerset House showing Japanese textile work "Boro" simply means rags in English. Boro is technique the poor people in the rural parts of of Japan would use. They would turn old scraps of material and clothing to create the final out come often bedding or clothing. I really like the aesthetics of boro but I find the history of it much more interesting. I learned that the poor population of Japan were actually banned from wearing bright clothes they wore brown blacks and blues, boro work reflects this. What I didn't like about the exhibition was learning about the prices of them people were making these pieces to survive basically and now people are selling them at extortionate prices, I just found it slightly disheartening that people making these pieces would never see that kind of money.  

Movement drawings

The video above Is of a drawinqs that I created and turned into a filp book I move the movement that comes with the drawings. This has really given me a foot to work from I think trying to get the movement into my piece is going to be to hard within the time I have left. I like it cause you can see the creatures evolving into something completly different. If I had more time I would want to get the changing movement into my work but its something I have really started thinking about how to bring movement into textile work.

Circus animals

I had the idea of looking into circus animals its something I've always been interested in and always hated the idea of making animals perform for our entertainment. They're normally treated horrifically or use to be years ago.  I want to combine the idea of child hood memories not specifically of my own but of children seeing performing animals in moving circus's or at a show or fairground. 

I got the idea from the talk of Belle Vue about them discussing maharaja the Elephant they talked about children queuing to ride and take pictures with the mammal. They talked about how people had such fond memories of all the fun they had there and then we had another talk discussing how the park was shut down due to the conditions in which the animals lived in.