Project 5 finished!!!!!

In the last post I showed images of the final samples I had woven on my table loom. Since then I have woven and created 3 bags using these samples as inspiration. I asked 2 good friends of mine, who fit my customer type, if they could model for me using Bradford City Park as a backdrop. Unfortunately the fountains were not on that evening, which would have looked lovely all lit up in the background.

Project 5 samples finished!!!!

Ok so all 6 of my samples are now finished and hung up ready for presentation. The last 3 samples are quite different from the first 3. There is no felting used in any of these samples. The first of these 3 is a fabric using elastic within the warp. I put an elastic thread in every inch across a 10 inch warp. 

The second of these 3 samples was done on a new warp with a lighter red on the bottom layer. This sample has warp floats floating over the bottom fabric.

 

The last of my 6 samples has floats in the weft instead of the warp. I also used fishing wire within the weft to show more of the bottom fabric underneath. The floats were created by removing sections of warp after weaving and before finishing. 

I'm really pleased with the way my samples have turned out and have picked which ones I will be using for my final bag fabric. Fingers crossed that it works!!!!!

Creative Day

I've been full of cold this week, again! This is the third one in 2 months. The first one never really went away and came back with a vengeance, that one was caught off the students at work, this one has been kindly given to me as a gift from the boyfriend. I should never complain he never gives me anything!!!

Anyway today has been a very creative day, I made a name plaque out of clay, with some entry level students, which I'm very proud of! I just hope it doesn't crack in the kiln when it's fired. I can't wait to glaze it.

This afternoon, after I finished work, I did another fabric sample. It's definitely different to the other ones in the collection which I'm pleased about. 

Happy days!

Had a very good tutorial with my contextual studies tutor. Made a great start with my research and I'm not so daunted by the word count, in fact I'm worried I'm going to go over! I hate to admit this but I'm actually enjoying reading around the politics of Soviet Russia and Communism. I'm such a sadist!!!!!!

WARPING AND WEAVING

I'M HALF WAY THROUGH!!!!....... Well kind of 3 fabric samples done, 3 to go then the final item. I've been looking at peeling paint and rust, trying to get the effect of paint lifting off the surface and crinkled textures. I looked at the Victorian iron railings outside my house as inspiration for the textures and the colour palette. 

 I decided on a double cloth weave for this project, putting a dark red layer on the bottom to represent the rust, and a black layer on the top to represent the paint. The warp yarn I'm using is very fine so it's added up to 480 ends in total which has taken a total of 3 days to warp! 

I've felted the first 3 samples so i can cut into the top layer and 'peel' the sections back to expose the bottom layer. This is the first time I have ever tried felting a sample and I must admit I was a little nervous, but I have really enjoyed the felting process and it has come up with some very interesting results.

For the next sample I am wanting to play around with swapping some warp threads for elastic to see if I can get a crinkled effect....