Textiles - week 3

This week in my textile workshop I learnt another two processes. These processes were both screen printing but one was normal printing and the other one was printing with puff binder. 

Instruments used for screen printing

For normal screen printing you need a screen, a squeegee, ink and pieces of material (could be paper, cotton, linen etc.) to print onto. The material you are using could already have a background that has been made when doing other processes. The screen that will print your design is made of fine mesh material that is fixed to a wooden frame. You put this on top of your material ready to print.  A stencil with a design is then placed under the screen and ink forced through the stencil with a squeegee onto the material that is below leaving you with a perfect print when the screen is removed from the material. You can print on the material more than once and use different colours or multiple colours to print with. This process is best for blocks of colour and in my opinion it is best to use for the art movement pop art as it uses block images. 

Screen printing

Once you have printed on your material you have to leave it on a drying rack to dry. Then you take the screen into a wet room and hose the ink off and wipe it down with a sponge. Then put it into a drying cupboard. Only wash it if you are changing colours and don't want them to mix or if you have left the screen for 5 minutes because the ink will dry and block the screen and you don't want that to happen.

I haven't photographed any of my prints because I am waiting for them to dry but I think they will be quite successful. I have done this process before along with other processes when doing my work experience and I think it helped that I knew the process better. I will post some examples later on.

Puff binding

Puff binding is pretty much the same as normal screen printing but instead of using ink to print your design you use puff binder. Puff binder is used when you want a puffed up design, you can add normal inks with it to change the colour of it but it gives it more texture.

Puff binding

 You print it the same as in normal screen printing but then you have to heat it up using a heat gun. When using the heat gun you cannot point it at yourself or other people as it would harm them and you should keep your hands out of the way. You put the heat gun on the orange setting and hold it about 2 inches away from your print and keep moving it around. You should be able to see it start to puff up and when its all puffed it is done. It doesn't have to dry afterwards as it is already dry from heating it up so it is finished once it's been heated.

My puff binding samples

The above picture is of my own puff binding samples that I have made. They were all printed onto a background that I had made in a previous week because I thought it would look nice to have some other colours than the white puff binder I was using. I very much like the one in the top right corner as it looks quite modern and funky. I had a lot of fun experimenting with screen printing although it is very messy. I will do better samples later on but I really think they look good and are a success. x

Textile/nature

This week while doing my nature project I took a trip down to textiles to learn how to do a new technique called heat transfer printing. For this process I would be using a hot press to transfer my image onto a piece of cotton material.

Hot press

The hot press I would be using gets really warm and so we had to be aware when near it for health and safety. We could not touch the underside of the press as that is the bit that gets hot and we had to have our hair tied back.

Transfer image and cotton sheet

 First for this process I had to photocopy one of my visual sheets onto some transfer paper and get a sheet of cotton to transfer it onto. After that I put the cotton onto the press bed of the hot press and laid the transfer sheet with my design on face down on top of the cotton sheet.

Hot press starting transfer

Next you put a heat sheet on top of your transfer sheet and swing the press around with the side handle until it's over the press bed.

Heat transfer

 Then at the side of the big handle there is a safety catch that you have to pull to be able to put the handle down which will then put the press on top of your work. After that you have to wait for about 8 seconds and then pull the safety catch and lift the handle back up which will also lift the press. Then you swing the press back around and away from your work and then if it's not too hot you can take off the heat sheet. After this quickly peal the transfer sheet off of the cotton and it will leave your design on the cotton sheet. Then if you wish you can work back into it I will be doing this next week.

My transfer

This is my transfer that I produced and I rather like it. The only problem I had was that I couldn't take the transfer sheet off straight away as it was too hot and when I did start to take off the transfer it got stuck and took a bit off the print off. I had to re-heat it to finish pulling the transfer off and thankfully it doesn't look too bad. I will be working back into the sheet and hopefully it will look great once it's finished.  

Repeat printing

During this lesson I learnt about what repeat patterns are and how to make them. We started off with a quick exercise.

Simple pattern

This first pattern was quite simple to make it easy. We had to cut the pattern which was already a square into 4 equally sized squares and label the pieces A, B, C, D. Then I had to swap the pieces A, D and B, C with each other to show the pattern stays the same even though I swapped the pieces. After that I had to put my pieces together with everyone else on my table. Then I had to do the same with another two more complex patterns.

Complex pattern 1

Complex pattern 2

Then I had to have a go at doing my own quick repeat pattern. So getting a piece of paper I folded the corner over until it made a square, then I cut the bottom off of the paper so I was left with the square. Then I folded the paper into 4 and drew a design on the paper. After that I cut it into 4 and labeled them A, B, C, D and swapped them like the other patterns and taped them together. This was my final result:

My repeat pattern

I then photocopied my pattern to see if it would work on a larger scale and this is the result:

Repeat pattern on a large scale

Its not a very good design because it was a quick exercise to learn how to make repeat patterns myself. It did work though and i'm glad I was able to get the hang of it. It was a very informative exercise and I will have to use this knowledge for my final piece as I have to make my own repeat pattern. Hopefully I will come up with some great ideas.

Thanks for reading x

Textiles - week 2

In my second lesson of textiles I learnt another two techniques, wet felting and paper making. These techniques are quite messy but it made it even more enjoyable in my opinion.

Wet felting 

Wet felting is where you interlock and compact wool fibers together with water and soap to make pieces of felt that have your own designs on them. First you need to get some dried wool, a towel, bubble wrap, coloured wool, netting and soapy water (water with washing up liquid in it). Then lay the towel onto a table and put the bubble wrap on top of it. Then pull tuffs of wool off a big chunk of wool and start to lay it horizontally on top of the bubble wrap making sure the pieces overlap. Once you have done that and have the shape and size you want you have to do the same but lay the pieces vertically. After that you lay the netting over the top and pour some soapy water on the top, then take the netting off. You can then put your design on by putting some coloured tuffs of wool on top of the white wool. After this put the netting back on and pour more soapy water on making sure it is all wet by pressing down on it. Next you roll it up in the bubble wrap and start doing a rolling motion, you should do this for about 15 minutes and keep moving the felt 90 degrees clockwise to make sure the wool interlocks together in both directions. You do this so that the wool fuses together and doesn't fall apart. You can also rub the surface instead of doing the rolling motion, just make sure the felt doesn't crinkle and make sure to keep it wet so it fuses together. Finally you rinse the felt in boiling water for 1 minute and then cold water and let it dry then its finished.

Wet felting designs

Mine still need to dry but the above picture are of the designs I put on them. It is a fun process and they should look good once they have had time to dry.

Tools for paper making 

First for paper making you need a tray with water in it, paper pulp (mushed up paper), a sponge, a frame ( a wooden frame with netting stretched onto it) and a long thin cloth. Then put some paper pulp into the tray of water after this you can start. You put the frame into the water and move it till you have a layer of paper pulp covering the frame. After this take it out the water and run your finger along the sides, then lay the cloth on the table and put he frame face down on the cloth. Take the sponge and get rid of the excess water on the paper and peal the frame from the paper leaving it on the cloth. You can then chose to make marks on the paper or put string on it and then another layer of paper to make it wavy. Then you leave it to dry and there's your own homemade paper. You can also change the colour of the paper by putting dye into the water.

Paper that I made

I am still waiting for my paper to dry but I made them with patterns and marks and did them in different shapes and sizes. It is awesome to make your own paper I just have to wait and see if it's a success once its dried. 

Textiles - week 1

This was the first week in the textile workshop where I learnt a new technique and made some experimental mark making sheets. The images on this post are of the sheets I made throughout the lesson but they are not all finished as they are either preparation for a later lesson or just incomplete.

Textile work 1

Batik is the main technique that I learnt during this lesson and it is a good technique to use when experimenting with design ideas. Batik is a method of dyeing patterns on fabrics or materials by waxing certain areas so that they remain uncoloured. This can be done multiple times to change the colour of the designs or make realistically coloured images. The wax design is drawn on with a xjanting tool and then the material is painted on with dye (I used brush-o inks). Below I have a video of the technique from YouTube that explains the process better and the health and safety for the instruments you would use.

  

YouTube video - How to do batik by Lindy Zubairy

I like this technique because it makes it easy to dye your own designs onto material and experiment ideas. The designs I have done myself are ok but I need more practice to make more detailed designs. 

Textile work 2

The other technique I used was mark making where I used anything I could find to make marks with paint on paper and cotton pieces. I used things like bubble wrap, straws, sticks, sponges and printing tools to make the marks. It was all inspired by nature and I tried to come up with ideas representing it. 

   

Textile work 3

In the lesson I also made some sheets with just backgrounds on them to use in another lesson where I will be doing screen printing. I can't wait to do this technique because I have already tried it when I did work experience. I have enjoyed textiles so far and hope you like this post :)

Observational drawing of bedroom

This week for my independent study I had to draw a corner of my bedroom in perspective in biro pen. This was quite different and so I did a quick sketch in pencil first and then did the biro on top.

Corner of bedroom

This is the corner I decided to draw as it was easy to see the perspective. I found it complicated at first but then I got the hand of it and it became easier. It has lots of little details but I managed to draw them. 

Biro drawing

This is the finished drawing, I didn't know if I should shade it or not so I did anyway and I think it made it realistic. It looks to be drawn in proportion and I'm happy the effort I put into it payed off. 

Nature designs

This is my work I have done this week for the nature project it is a page on pattern and design that has been inspired by my research sheets. It is mostly themed on bees and what they are connected to appart from the animal patterns on the leafs. 

Pattern/design sheet

The background has been done using brush o inks and it is the first time I have used them and it turned out well and keeps in with the bee theme. The designs are all painted in acrylic to make the sheet come to life. I will be doing another one this week and then my final piece.

Ceramics - week 4

This week in ceramics I got all my work back that had been put in the kiln and fired so that I could learn a new process called glazing.  Below are two images of my fired ceramics work.

Fired ceramics work - Birds eye view

Fired ceramics work - from front

After being fired all the work was fine apart from the bee that I made because the antler and one of the legs broke off. That probably happened because they were not thick enough to support them self's so I will have to glue them back together after the next process. 

  

Glazed ceramics work

The above image shows you what my work looked like after applying the glaze but it has not yet been re-fired. Glazing is the process where a layer or coating of a vitreous substance (powdered or liquid glass) is fused to a ceramic object through firing. Glazing can colour, decorate, strengthen or waterproof a object. There were two ways we were shown to glaze our ceramic pieces the first one is where you paint a under glaze onto your ceramic piece and then fire it. The other way is to paint on metal oxides and colorants such as iron oxide or copper carbonate then paint on the liquid glass and then fire it. It is a really cool process and you can experiment with the colours and oxides to get nice effects.

Clay spider done with under glaze 

I kept the glaze simple on the spider and kept to the common colours. In my opinion it looks rather good and I cant wait to see what it looks like when it has been fired again. To improve it next time I could have tried to tone it in some places.

Buttons done in under glaze

These buttons turned out the best I think because even though they look simple the colours brighten them up and make them modern. These are my favorites because they look funky and would appeal to the younger generation.

Bee done in under glaze

The colours for the bee are contrasting and in reality they would be more bland but I was not going for a realistic look. Once fired the antler and leg will be put back on but it still looks great without them.

Tiles done in under glaze

The tiles are nice as well and I personally prefer the one on the right because of the simplicity it has. The colours are not too realistic but it looks better this way as it makes it unique. I have had an enjoyable time in the ceramic workshop and am satisfied with all the work I have produced. I hope everyone likes my work as much as me x

Ceramics - week 3

This week in the ceramics workshop we were told that we were going to make clay tiles. So before I did the class I made a few quick sketches of ideas I could use to decorate the tiles.

Sketches

The sketches are not that good as I did them quickly and I have changed the ideas on the tiles. These did help me brainstorm a few ideas for the tiles that I would do in lesson.

 

To make the tiles I had to first roll out the clay with a rolling pin in between two wooden sticks to make sure the clay was level. Next I had to cut out the tile with a square template and smooth the edges down I did this with my hands. Then I had to decorate the tiles that I cut out. While decorating I used many tools to create cool textures and designs. For example I used my fingers to press in some designs, I used some shape cutters/molds and textured materials to stick and press designs onto the clay and I used small knives and detailing sticks to create me own unique design/pattern. The tiles will then be fired in the kiln and glazed.

Tile 1

This is my first tile I made and I admit it doesn't look as appealing as some of the other things I have made. I hope that when it is fired and coloured it will look better but I don't really like it much. I don't think I had a clear idea of what I wanted it to look like so I improvised and made it up as I went along. It is inspired by bees and beehives but it just didn't turn out as nice as I would have liked it to.

Tile 2

This is the second tile I made and this one turned out a lot better than the first one. I like all aspects of this tile and I think the background is really nice and doesn't blend in. I found this tile quite easy to make as well because it is simple but beautiful. I definitely like this one more.

Both tiles together

Next week I will be putting some colour on all my ceramics work that I have made in the workshop and I will be learning a new process that I cannot wait to learn. Until then goodbye x

Observational drawing

This week for my observational drawing project we were asked to do a drawing/collage of a pile of clothes. We could choose what clothes we wanted and how it was set up as long as the bottom of the picture was a collage and then merged into a coloured pencil study at the top.

  

Pile of clothes

The above image is the set up of clothes I decided to draw. I made sure to get a variety of patterned and plain clothes in the set up and some that were straight and some with folded or rippled areas. I liked the way this was set up and thought it would look great as a observational drawing.

Collage/coloured pencil study

This is a picture of the finished observational drawing and I think it looks rather nice. It took me about 3 maybe 4 hours to do and I am really proud of the final outcome. I do think I could have blended some of the collaged and coloured areas together a bit better but altogether it looks fabulous! I especially love the striped area on the right hand side it took up the most time to do.

Nature - observational drawings

At the beginning of my course we did a session on observational drawing where we had to draw a still life set up from different aspects in different media and weird ways.

Drawing in biro

This drawing was done in biro pen and was drawn using my left hand. It was fun to do because it is a interesting way to draw in observation. We had a time limit to do it in and I think we had about 5 minutes. It isn't a great drawing but that is to be expected when using the opposite hand.

Drawing in HB pencil

For this picture I had to do a line drawing in a HB pencil. We had 15 minutes to draw as much of the set up as we could. I didn't finish my drawing but the bit that I did draw is ok but I would have preferred to finish it.

Soft pastel drawing

This drawing is done in soft white pastel and we had 15 minutes to do this. I don't use this media much and I need more practice using it to get better at drawing with it. I like the effect it gives the drawing but it could be better.

Black felt pen drawing on paper and tape

For this piece we had to first prep the paper. We did this by sticking strips of masking tape on the paper and then screwing it into a ball. After that I unrolled the paper and started drawing the set up. The reason I did that to the paper was so that I was drawing on texture thus giving my drawing a more 3D look. I enjoyed doing this drawing the most because I learnt a new way to put a cool perspective on my work. 

Nature project

For the last few weeks for my nature project I have been doing lots of A2 research sheets on Artists, primary research, secondary research and ceramics ideas. These have helped me to develop my ideas for the workshops so my work becomes more refined. 

Sheet on textile designer Laura Ashley 

This sheet is on a well know textile designer called Laura Ashley who designs patterns for everything from curtains to cups. Her designs are inspired by nature and most of them are quite floral. I like her work because it is feminine and girly and something I would buy myself.

Ceramics ideas

This page is on some ideas that I used in ceramics. I thought it would be a good idea to make this to show that I have researched all the insects or flowers that I might have used in my clay work. It isn't the best page I have made but it is good enough to show that I have put work and effort into making and designing my ceramics work.

Sheet on primary research NO.1

This is my first sheet on primary research that is focused on Giraffes and Flamingos. The pictures were took by me when I visited Whipsnade Zoo in London. I love that I took close ups of the Giraffe while I was there and then was able to collage them together to make two Giraffes. I really enjoyed making this page and I find it very attractive and detailed.

Sheet on primary research NO.2

This is the second sheet on primary research that is full of critical studies done in pencil (HB, 2B etc.) and coloured pencil. I am pleased with the page because of the realistic looking studies of the animals they turned out amazingly well it is really effective.

Sheet on Animal textiles

This sheet is on animal textiles that show different animal skins on textured paper. I did this page by picking up papers with animal skins on them up from shops and around the house. I thought it would look good to show I have explored prints that other people have made.

A4 sheet spider diagram

I also made a spider diagram at the beginning of the project to brainstorm ideas about nature. There are many aspects of nature to look at and these are just a few I have put onto paper.