Context

V V  R O U L E A U X  

In terms of contextual research, I haven't been able to find a lot specifically related to woven finishings and edges, but I thought a good place to start thinking about context would be VV Rouleaux. Annabel Lewis's shop company supplies beautiful top of the range trimmings and edges, passamentarie and cords, anything you can think of. I thought it was interesting to research this as I believe for this unit my work belongs in a similar market. My work is aimed at a high end market, my designs for edges and finishings could potentially be bought and used for fashion garments. 

Where does my work fit? ...

T H O U G H T S 

Placing my samples next to various fabrics. 

Following Sally's advice, I decided to experiment placing my samples next to different fabrics. I put them next to cotton, linen, cashmere, lycra, and various other blends. I also laid them next to different patterns to enable me to see how they would work on a coloured garment. 

Direction

Where does my work fit?

American Brand Kaadi Lawn SS collection 2014

Using samples as inspiration for further design development

Trip to London

M U S E U M S 

Temari

T E M A R I    B A L L    M A K I N G  

As another collaborative task for this unit, we decided to try to continue the weaving process of of the loom. Online, Camilla found japanese woven balls, and later on we found out that they were called temari balls. We thought this would be a nice process to try collaboratively, as we would be able to meet up as a group, talk about our projects and learn a new technique together. We also thought that this task tied in nicely as the ball making originates from Japan. 

Left: First waste yarn ball, cotton covered ball, making the patterns. Right: An example of the ball we were aiming to make. 

Making these japanese balls certainly tested our patience. It was a long process which was extremely repetitive. In brief, we first made a ball out of waste yarn, then re wrapped it in a chosen yarn, and then the very tricky part was all the line making and sewing around pins. At the end of the day we had only just got to the third stage and so some of us decided we would carry on at home or maybe meet up and finish them.

In my experience, the japanese ball making worked well on a collaborative level, as we learnt a new technique which was interesting, however, in terms of my own practice, I don't think it is something which I will want to do again. I don't think making a selection of temari balls will be beneficial to my future weaving or my current project but i'm happy that I have learnt part of a new skill. 

Although I don't want to carry on with the ball making, the raised woven patterns have enabled me to think differently about my approach to hand weaving and it has helped me to think of patterns in different layers and so I may look into some stitching techniques using layers which could be applied to my project instead in order to compliment my future weaving.

Book Binding Workshop

P R E S E N T A T I O N 

As part of the independent collaborative task, I decided to set up a book binding workshop for the weavers. After discussing it last week we found that it was something we were all interested in and would like to learn to do, particularly as it would come in useful for the presentation of our work next year and possibly at the end of Unit X. The workshop was really useful and we all learnt about several processes and techniques, and learnt how to use the various machines. It was useful to do this collaboratively as we could share our ideas on how to use these processes in relation to weave and we talked about how we could present our samples. Furthermore, we were interested in book binding as it is a technique which comes from Japan, and as we had all looked at the Japanese Gardens at Tatton Park for inspiration in one way or another, we decided this would fit nicely into our projects. 

In design Workshop

I N D E S I G N 

Today we learnt how to use the software Indesign. It was a little challenging to pick up but I found it useful and it made me think differently about the best ways to lay out my work for presentation. The keys point that I learnt from the session was that the scale of an image is very important. If you have a selection of images on a page, the larger images are the central ideas, any other smaller images are of things which have helped you to reach the key image (i.e. research/inspiration). Another key thought from the session was that where possible, it is important to use lines when presenting work. Invisible lines on a page make it easy for people to look at it. The lines need to be coherent and consistent through the document. White space should never be more focal than the images themselves. Additionally, when typing on a page with images, the type face should be light and not overpowering if the images are key. Simple or grey font is ideal.