Weaving

My 2nd technical block was Weaving. I have been exposed to weaving before and I own a mini hand weaving loom which I actually have never used and several weave designers' books. I began this technical block feeling optimistic it seemed very therapeutic methodological.

We started by creating a wind of our 2 chosen base colours, derived from our research from rough guide.

3 days into Weaving I still hadn't begun to make an actual weave! The process threading and setting up your loom took forever. The steps were pretty straight forward, but you had to concentrate constantly or you'd mess up the pattern-it's all very specific. We were in partners so I'd imagine it would be a lot worse doing it alone.

We got given weave pattern sheets with 20 basic examples of the kind of patterns we could use, then we got experimenting. I followed the pattens with ease but the repetitive steps had me "zoning out" and I didn't feel completely engaged in what I was actually doing. Once I began experimenting with colour and exploring the effect colours have on one another I became more absorbed in creating my samples.

Below are my weave samples

This is my particular favourite sample, I love how the use of 2 threads at once completely alter the pattern and allow me to essentially create 2 separate patterns and colour combinations in one go. I tried to contrast the autumn tones found in my box clever with the greens captured from the surfaces of plants in Kew Gardens.

After my 2 weeks of experience I have come to the conclusion that weaving isn't for me. The various patterns and colours can create stunning pieces if given enough time but I feel that the process is too mundane.

Drawing Week 1

A few weeks ago we had a drawing week, every day we were using different drawing techniques to draw certain objects from our Box Clever boxes.

The First day was all about the different techniques and how the way you hold or the movement you make determines the outcome of your drawings. We first had to draw just the outline of all the objects in our box.

Then we were told to draw in response to key words such as wet, smoky, dotty etc. I used one of the leaves from my box as I thought the silhouette would be a good way to show the different techniques.

The next day was focussing on Winding and Wapping. Winding is essentially winding different materials around an object to create a pattern of vertical stripes. Wapping is the same but with horizontal stripes. This is a common technique used by textile designers as it is a quick and easy way to determine how certain colours work alongside each other and if a particular pattern/design is feasible.

I used a colour palette from the items from my Box, which was Autumnal themed.

I found this technique really relaxing and enjoyed playing around with different colours and materials and finding out how different colours interact with one another.

The third day was focussed on details, we had 15 minutes to draw one of our objects in as much detail as possible. Then were told to hide the object and the image and draw it from memory.

 This is the first image

The image from memory

I'm very impressed with my memory skills.

The Last day we were concentrating on mark making, we had to isolate parts of our objects and just draw the details we see, picking up any patterns and markings. These are a couple of my swatches.

I really enjoyed the drawing week and I definitely feel a lot more confident in my drawing ability then I used too.