Final major project

Week 1: 4.2.13 - 11.2.13 first draft of our project proposal. My project is based around tattoo design.

Live Brief Evaluation

     For this project I chose the interior design one for a couple of reasons. I was ill and missed the presentation for the Moo one, and didn't feel very comfortable making something which was to be used in a leather bag. Also I thought the interior one sounded much more interesting and I liked the artists we were suggested to research. This project jumped out at me straight away making me chose it instantly.

     For my research I spent a lot of time on the internet at first. I wanted to get books out to photocopy images and information from, but due to being ill all the best books were taken. I found one book which did have some nice images in similar to the work of William Morris. I looked at him, Charles Rennie Mackintosh and his wife. As well as this I took a photo of some leaves growing up the side of my house because they looked like the leaves in some of William Morris’ work. From this photo I drew up a design using fine liners in his style. I created many pages in my sketchbook with information on the artists and book I used. I also made two artist research sheets combining the work of all 3 artists.

     I developed the designs created by other artists into different patterns of my own. My main inspiration was William Morris. I liked his floral patterns but I wanted to create my own with fewer flowers and more block patterns. I chose to do this because I thought a simpler pattern would look better on the chair it’s designed for. I also used a few lines including curved and straight ones which were inspired by Mackintosh and his wife.

     After speaking with my client I made a few changes and was inspired more with my design. She told me blue wasn't to be used. Id used this in my visual sheets but didn't take it any further. I experimented with different colour acrylic paints on my sheets to keep them bright and interesting. However chose not to use them in my samples. Also Alison had mentioned she liked certain parts of my visual sheets which were simple but interesting and matched to what she was asking for. This helped me decide to keep my final design less crowded. When I’d done samples my client said the reds were too bright and bringing too much attention to certain parts therefore I should add some brown pigment inks to my mixtures to neutralise them a bit. This is what I’m going to do when producing the actual fabric for the chair.

I experimented onto different fabrics including white cotton, calico, cotton velvet, silk and viscose satin. I mixed my own procien dies using a measuring cup for the water and different size spoons for the black K2647. I mixed different shades of black, grey, purple, red and green pigment inks to print onto my fabrics with also. (Descriptions on the back of my samples.)

     When sampling I encountered a few problems with my screens, as some parts hadn’t exposed properly. However I didn’t have time to re do them as I’d left it too late in the project so I had to leave them as they were. Also a few times I forgot to tape up certain parts of my screens like the edges and the crosses, which lead them to print onto some of my fabrics. I eventually realised and taped my screens with masking tape.

     If I had no client constraints I think I would have used more viscose satin as it was my favourite out of the fabrics. I liked the shiny/silver effect the light grey procien dies had on it. However we were asked to use either cotton or cotton velvet as it is much more durable. I also would have liked to use different shades of blue as I think they would have looked nice alongside the grey’s I died they fabrics with.

     My final design was a mix between my inspiration from all three artists, but mostly William Morris for his simplicity and pattern work. I created two final designs for 2 sets of screens. My first one was not in repeat but a centre piece for the top of the chair. I then decided to do a repeat pattern similar to use for the bottom of the chair. This way I have tried both. I think they worked very well together and so did my customer. My final design could be easily produced because it’s not too complicated and busy. I am going to be able to re do it all again easily for the client.

My customer did influence my final design to some degree, in that she wanted something simple. This helped me avoid what the rest of the group was doing and create something without loads of lines and swirls.

     Throughout this project I used several processes. I used the kodatrace for my screens. (4 colours for non repeat, 3 for repeat.) I used to paint first which didn’t work out very well as it cracked off when dry. This led me to using the china marker and fine liners to complete the rest. I did screen printing onto my fabrics, and matched the screens up by eye, which I won’t be doing for the actual piece. I also did a heat transfer using different sheets out of my sketchbook to see what it looked like onto cotton.

     During this I had difficulties with my screen as mentioned earlier with it exposing and taping it off. My repeat pattern went very well in comparison as I did the kodatrace with different equipment. Also on this there was not thin lines meaning it all worked perfectly. I think I managed my time well, only falling behind due to having days off ill, which couldn’t be helped. I caught up by spending more time on my work at home and coming in on my days off. I used my diary throughout the process, helping me manage my time and see where I’ve done less work and need to improve. I don’t think I updated my blog when I should have but I did eventually upload photos of all my work a few weeks in.

     I enjoyed working for someone outside college because it gave me the motivation to impress someone and maybe have my work used and appreciated in someone’s home. I didn’t get to see Alison much as I was ill a couple of times she came in, but I asked others about her feedback and made sure things were on my blog for her to view. Overall I was satisfied with my work except for the samples having technical faults. I would spend more time making sure my screens were perfect before printing and maybe redo some. I have thoroughly enjoyed this project and was shocked but pleased to win and be able to reproduce my prints better and see what they are going to look like on a larger scale.