exploring the orange

Immediately from my research, I am drawn to: the ORANGE.
...powdery orange dirt, red-orange brick, earthy orange tones mixed with vibrant splats of plum - never before have I been so excited about orange!

So I started painting and pasteling up some paper from my imagery, trying to mix the oranges.
and thinking back to how in Tanzania, I was fascinated by all the paper beads made and sold by the local people; I chopped up some of my painted paper into strips to make my own 'beads', as a way of exploring the range of orange colour...

Here's my box of research photos I took in Tanzania- lots of orange to explore here!

here's some of the paper bead necklaces I brought while in Tanzania. The local people make them using strips of magazines/newspapers/leaflets, cut into strips, carefully rolled, then varnished with PVA...I think this coating makes the colours so rich and beautiful (note to self- maybe explore varnishing/adding shine to surfaces as a development to this initial exploration sometime soon...!)

an example strip. I found that cutting the paper at different angles results in different shaped beads, altering the proportions of colour within the strip that are visible in the final bead- could be something to play around further with...

 on a roll here making my beads- literally

 some close ups of one type of my painted paper sheets. Here I am exploring the mottled, dusty, powdery texture of the orange earth. I began with a base of orange oil, then mixed up various shades of gouache to brush over the top, creating a resist against the original vibrant oil. These photos were taken when the paint was still wet, so it has a shine. It could be interesting to take other colours and see how they work against this orange now...

Weaving away

Back on the loom, I've been experimenting and working up to my final samples for the block. In the last day or two I suddenly felt like weaving made much more sense. Initially, I'd found the mathematical side of the lifting plans a little restrictive, and although the weave patterns are all beautiful, I wanted to create something that wasn't so flat! However, once I started exploring looping, adding in contrasting yarns and combining the patterns I was using, it all became much more freeing and alive.

looking back to research drawings and windings for inspiration 

exploring looping with jelly cord and shredded metallic paper

using lurex against warp yarns to create a shine!

playing with patterns and textures

a pile of design ideas and yarn cuttings for final samples!

When we cut all our samples off the loom at the end of the week, it was such an amazing feeling to spread all our collective work over the workshop floor- it was like we'd created some kind of giant rug! 

The process of weaving has a very satisfying end result- I am still amazed that I have physically woven together my own fabric samples from 3 meters of warp yarns, that, a week and a half ago was still just a load of threads on a big spool. When I visited Leighton House Museum yesterday, there was a video clip about the restoration and recreation of the fabrics that would have furnished the house in the 19th century. It showed a workshop with a lady hand-weaving silk braiding for one of the upper rooms, and I thought- wow, now I've had an experience of this wonderful process too! Images of my final samples are to come….

expressive drawing

It was fun to really loosen up this drawing week and create more artwork inspired by my objects to inform ideas for the rest of the technical blocks. 

my homemade paintbrushes

using my paintbrushes to explore the shape of the squishy ball from my box!

progressively looser studies of whistle

drawing from imagination from each others drawings 

 I enjoyed working on a big sheet of lining paper on thursday- we had to make a series of studies of one object, but had progressively less time for each one, and had to make it twice the size of the previous drawing. I found that mine became very big with loose brush stokes and a real feeling of movement. We also started work on colour studies: really looking at each object and trying to figure out the proportions of colours and the exact shades. This should be useful for making yarn choices in my upcoming 'Weave' block! 

Inspiration & Knit sample making

The other day I walked through the children's section of John Lewis. Another great bit of inspiration for the shapes, colours and textures of my sample making- just look at all these exciting things to play with! 

Looking at my drawings I made some rough sketches for how I want my final samples to turn out, as well as trying to figure out the more technical side of things, like how many stitches need to be in each row, and where to start e-wrapping a yarn to create a pattern!

drawings from my objects to inspire final knit samples

some initial design sketches- then time to get knitting!

 final samples in progress...

knit development

I found this great book in the library by Mitchell Beazley. It was written in 1979, and some of the ideas inside are pretty fun and quirky, as you can probably guess from the title- 'Wild Knitting'! Seeing as I'm experimenting towards my final knit samples based on my collection of things to play with, I really enjoyed flicking through this for some inspiration (and laughs!)

I like the way lots of the ideas in the book are quite 3D and very textural. Continuing to look at and draw from my objects, I experimented a bit further with small scale samples to inform what to make for my final samples. I tried incorporating wire to add structure, inspired by the coiled shape of the slinky I have in my box. I love the effect of lots of tightly e-wrapped bits of iridescent thread to get the idea of the plasticy, synthetic shine of many of my objects. 

drawing from rubber band shapes- aimed to create a similar busy, mesh-like
 feel to knit samples above

drawing from slinky and bubble blower- informed wire expermentation below