More Photography

   

P A N O R A M I C   S H O T S 

I have developed my photography for my visual research by choosing a different setting on my camera. I am now playing around with the panoramic button, and I have found the outcomes really interesting. The photos come out distorted, and it feels as if the photos are rippling and it gives a real sense of movement. The light reflections remind me of shiny yarns, when light reflects on them and the colour is removed. This also relates back to what I found when I was drawing with bleach. 

P H O T O S H O P  

To further develop my photos I chose the two best panoramic shots and played around some more on photoshop. I was trying to get a feel for what I could get my warp to look like and how I could relate it to my photography. I copied my images a few times and rotated them, and I found that from this angle they could represent my warp. After looking at this idea and having a tutorial I decided to use a brocade. I can use the brocade to move in and out of my ground cloth creating the same movement and I can also create three dimensional pleats. 

Samples with fabric

T E S T I N G 

Following on from some of my drawings, I chose to develop some of my ideas onto some cotton. I was trying to think about what the bleaching may look like on a woven sample, but I soon realised I was thinking too literally. I then thought about the texture of my weave and I want it to have three dimensional qualities. With this in mind I thought about creating some pleats on one of the samples. I did this by gathering lines of the fabric and then i stitched them with a monofilament thread. For the sample on the right, I thought about beading and how that could work in a weave sample. I hand stitched some french knots and beads onto my fabric. I have gained knowledge from this sampling, as I now know that I would like to create some pleats and so I want to incorporate this through my threading plan. I also now know that if I add beads to my samples, straight lines of beads would work better to reflect the movement I discovered through my street photography. 

Visual Research

S T R E E T   P H O T O G R A P H Y 

This week I have been focusing on street photography, capturing light through movement. I have taken these photographs in the city centre of manchester in the evenings. I found it interesting how the lights create lines and when you look at the photos and I am going to use these flashes of light later on in my weave. I think these patterns could be translated in lots of ways into my weave samples, for example  floats, flashes of colours, brocading, and using the patterns of light to draw out new peg plans. 

I have realised that most of my visual research for this project is going to come from photography. It is going to be a key part in my light brief and a key feature in my urban outfitters live brief. 

Light and Reflection / Urban Landscapes

C O L O U R    B L E N D I  N G

I am now developing my drawings through the use of thicker paints, more reactive dyes, bleach and white acrylic paint. I am now looking into the idea of colours blending and fusing together as through my previous imagery I noticed that when light reflects on water, the colours begin to fuse together to create these rippling patterns. I have experimented with dripping colours into one another, and fusing them using a piece of thick cardboard as an object to draw with. 

Light and Reflection Visual Research

U R B A N    L A N D S C A P E S

Following on from my previous post, I have begun to draw urban landscapes where light is reflected. I have been looking at secondary images for this as I haven't managed to take any photos of this myself, but I have still found them beneficial to my project. I have started to draw with reactive dye and I have used bleach to create marks where the light is coming from. I enjoyed doing this mark making/drawing and I have found using bleach quite useful to represent warm white light.

Artist Research

G R A H A M    C A L D W E L L 

Following my photographs of petrol, I discovered that I really liked the idea of using iridescent colours. I did some more artist research on iridescent and I found Graham Caldwell's work. Caldwell doesn't work with light like Bradley Basso, but he works with mirrors and glass instead. I found the outcomes of his work more inspirational than the content of it as it doesn't really relate to my brief at all. 

After pondering the thought of an iridescent colour palette, I decided to go in search of things which related to my project. I managed to find some foil and sampled some foiling onto fabrics using iridescent foil, and iron and some bondaweb.  I liked the outcome of these testers and so I think this will enable me to make decisions about what colours and yarns to use further on in the project. 

Visual Research

P E T R O L 

Today as I was walking to the bus stop I was distracted by a shiny puddle on the ground. I immediately thought this might be useful to my project as I had not thought of looking at light reflecting onto things in this way. The iridescent colours in the puddle were really vibrant and I loved the way they merged together to create a rainbow. After discovering this colour pallette I then went onto do some further research into these reflections.

These patterns occur because the oil spreads out to form a very thin film on the surface of the water, but of varying thickness. In some places it is literally a molecule thick, whilst in other places it is much thicker. When light passes through the oil some of it is reflected back off the different layers of oil, whilst some carries on and is reflected off the surface of the water lying below. Because the light waves have now travelled different distances before being reflected they mix together producing a spectrum of colours - because the thickness of the oil layer varies. 

I feel like this photography is key already within my project, as it brings together all the aspects of my project so far. Light. Urban. Colours. Edgy. 

Artist Research

B R A D L E Y   B A S S O

At first I found it hard to find artists and designers who use light in their work, but this was because I began by looking at textiles. When I ventured out I came across Bradley Basso and I absolutely loved their work. Ray Bradley and Denise Basso work in a West London glass studio. Together they design beautiful glass art for architecture. I think that the designs are stunning both compositionally and the colours from the glass are so vibrant. It is the way in which they use light in their work, which I find most inspiring though. When designing these pieces, they consider first the amount of light in the space and then the direction it shines from. Their work emphasises the intimate interaction of light, form and space, to demonstrate the boundaries between the interior and the exterior. 

Artist Research

S A R A H    T A Y L O R  

I have begun my artist research for this project by looking at Sarah Taylor's work. Taylor has worked with fibre optics since 1992 and has developed a polymer optical fibre made from a non woven paper based yarn. She uses etching to allow light loss in pre determined locations and encases the optical fibre yarn in laminated paper. The etching creates a pattern, while the paper enhances the light emission and provides a particular diffused light quality. This all sounds a bit complex to me at the moment. What I have taken though from looking at her work is inspiration. I feel inspired to create samples which can reflect light in some way, possibly using reflective and shiny yarns. She also uses a lot of monofilament which I may also try using too. 

My personal Brief

P E R S O N A L   P R O J E C T    B R I E F 

I am aiming to create a selection of woven designs which relate to my key theme of light and urban landscapes. For my visual research, I aim to look at light in different aspects, but for my starting point I would like to concentrate on ‘Urban Light’ through the use of photography. For my live project, I have chosen to explore the Urban Outfitters Brief and look more specifically at jewellery through a contemporary view point. I want my projects to be linked to one another and so I aim to use my visual research for my personal project to inspire my live project, and I want my live project outcomes to enable me to develop my personal project. I aim to look at inspirational artists such as Sarah Taylor who specialises in using optical yarns for weaving, as well as contemporary jewellery designers such as Karl Fritsch. Throughout the ‘Locating’ unit, I would like explore more three dimensional work and also incorporate new techniques into my samples. I think that this will help me to push my work on from the last project.  For this unit, I want to push my work into the unknown and try to design and make pieces which are unique and artistic, but simple enough that they could be made as a small line in the Urban Outfitters store. In terms of process, I would like to use materials which relate to my very urban theme, and so my samples may include reflective yarns, rubber, iridescent colours and even pieces of glass (possibly in a bead format). The area that my proposed work is to be designed for is accessories and adornment for a middle to high end market range. Throughout this unit I aim to critically analyse and develop my work further in order to decide where it is that I envisage myself after graduation and I will do this reflectively through the use of my blog. Finally, I aim to create and build networks with practitioners who are working towards a similar market as me, and gain as much work experience as possible. 

Urban Outfitters

L I V E     B R I E F

For our new unit 'Locating' we have been asked to choose a live brief. I have been reading through the briefs for a little while now, unable to make a decision as to what one to choose. None of them were making me particularly excited. However, at the last minute a new brief came up on Arts Thread for Urban Outfitters. This new brief feels much more flexible and I am feeling really excited about it already. The brief asks us to design/design and make one of the products on the list below. I have chosen to explore jewellery as it is something I have recently become more interested in. I feel like exploring jewellery through textiles may help me to make my work more edgy like I have wanted it to be, as well as creating more contemporary style work from traditional textile weaving. 

Manchester Art Gallery Jewellery Exhibition

D A Z Z L E 

Today I went over to Manchester Art Gallery to begin some visual research for my new project. A few of the jewellery pieces caught my eye but I didn't find any of them particularly inspirational. I liked the dip dyed necklace on the left hand side, as the colour was so rich in comparison to most of the other jewellery pieces. I also found a few of the bangles interesting, I liked the way the wires were meshed together (centre photo) and it created a tangled effect and gave the jewellery a nice texture. In the third photograph, I like the way dyes have been used on top of metal, and I thought it was interesting how the colours merged together. This has given me a little insight into what might lie ahead of me for the next 8 weeks.