Week Two. 25th February.

I wanted to get into the print room as soon as possible, and as I was aiming to continue with the direct prining, I was able to go to the print room very early. I started mixing Acid dyes, as this colour pallette was very different, and much more diverse than the last this was not easy. As opposed to natural dyes (which i very much like working with, but are not suitable to this technique), Acid dyes do not have a fantastic depth of colour naturally, and it is quite difficult to achieve a good tone and depth of colour without the colours looking very artificial and flat. For the first colours I used:

ratio 1:100 dye to water.

1. M Blue BT
2. Turquoise (AN) & Black 2B
3. Orange II & Bordeaux RL
4. M Yellow R & Black LB

ratio <0.5:100 dye to water

1. Rose 2G

I printed a few samples with these dyes using this image as a reference point:



By turning the image on its side I could viualise it as a pattern rather than an image of a landscape, it changes the image entirely. I used this image for a starting point because I thought the colours and patterns would translate very well into a print, especially using this technique.

The dyes that I used however, were too bright, with too many green tones, and did not give a satisfactory print.

I scanned these prints, aiming to use a technique I had towards the end of the last project, or taking a small area of pleated, and scanned fabric and creating repeat pattern. However, I did not iron the pleats in because I had discovered that the more irregular the pleats, the more interesting pattern is achieved.



Here are some of the designs I created:







I was not happy with these, neither colour nor form, although I still want to pursue this technique.

From my drawings I bagan to experiment with possible repeat pattern ideas, wanting to combine direct printing with a more structered pattern, to make it less random.

Week One. 18th February 2008.

To start this project I went on a visit to Scarborough to collect imagery and objects for initial inspiration. This was very sucessful and gave me a great grounding for the continuation of this work.









I started drawing using a variety of media.

Using my images and found objects I began to create a colour pallette. Although I liked the colours I used in my last project, they were not quite exciting enough, or had enough contrast to create really interesting combinations.
I created this colour pallete, but was not convinced, although there is a broad range of colours that work well together, I did not feel happy.



Revisting my images I collected more greens to add.



I printed all of these colours out and using tabs I began to experiment with which colours sat together and worked together, further chagning and refining the colour pallette.

Project Proposal.

BA (Hons) Printed Textiles and Surface Pattern Design
Design & Realisation PT302
Design Proposal

For this module I will be designing for fashion fabrics. I will be continuing the theme form the last module, which was mainly based upon seashells. I will be altering the theme slightly and working upon it to give it more depth and substance. I will broaden the base idea to a more general topic of coastlines which will give me an excellent starting point for image collecting, a vast range of colours and textures to work from, from which I can then choose and work down into a varied, yet succinct palette to work with. By changing my theme slightly, by broadening it, I hope to overcome problems encountered in my last project.

Visual research is key to the success of this work and so I will be drawing from a wide range of imagery, for example harbours/ ports, seaweed, barnacles, lobster pots, fishing nets…there are many unexpected points of interest in this area and this will provide some exciting visual research. I wish to use a varied palette of drawing media, such as pencil, ink, watercolour, collage and Photography will be a key element in image collecting, and also I will collect articles found on the shore to draw from and use for inspiration.



The spring/summer ’08 designs from Zac Posen bears some similarities to the work I produced in my last module: Prints focusing on the use of colour and placement in a ‘painterly’ fashion. This is a large trend for the upcoming season, and whilst I could have explored more avenues in my last project, I would like to have the opportunity to continue this ‘painterly print’ style (through using direct printing with acid dyes and digital printing) but combined with more structured patterns and shapes, using both digital media and print techniques.

One of the pieces I produced in the last module.


Zac Posen S/S '08



There is a heavy nautical/ marine influence this season in several areas of design, eg, interiors, fashion and greeting cards. This theme is often used sparingly to avoid overkill; inspiration being drawn generally from shapes, for example, Sprout Home’s brass urchin candleholders, or Michele Oka Doner’s reef glass bowl:



Often with this marine/coastal theme, colours tend to be dark blue, red and white. Fred Flares pin buttons are a good example of this:




Whilst these are catchy and are so connoted to this theme that they instantly, simply, call out, I want to avoid these colours. I wish to explore my own colour palette thoroughly. For me, colours are a large part of the design process, they are very important. It is key to success, choosing and working with colours that are right. Also, with this colour scheme, designs tend to be ‘naïve’, I wish to create a more sophisticated collection, with less blatant associations.

Coastal towns such as Scarborough, Filey, and Redcar will be invaluable venues for research. The beauty of visiting such venues for primary research is that on any given day, there will be a multitude of textures, colours and patterns to explore, and these will change from minute to minute, giving an unending and limitless supply of research and influence.

Books such as Ernst Haeckel’s ‘Art Forms From the Ocean’ will be useful for reference and inspiration, as will online blogs such as DesignSponge and the Print & Pattern blog. Magazines such as Vogue are invaluable for trend updates and catwalk shows.

I would like to continue to explore, where appropriate, with the direct form of printing using acid dyes that I used in the last module. I would like to combine this though, with digital media, to accomplish a more structured and solid design. The use of laser cutting could very well be an appropriate technique to explore in this work. I began experimenting with fabric manipulation within my last work, this is an idea I would like to continue. I was working primarily with pleating fabric, and I feel that this could be developed much further, along with other manipulation techniques, to create tactile, creative, and striking fabrics. Shelley Fox is a designer/artist who utilises fabric manipulation techniques to create innovative textiles:



I aim to design fashion fabrics, aimed more towards a luxury market rather than perhaps, high street. I do not anticipate that these fabrics will be suitable for everyday wear. The context in which these fabrics will be used is yet undecided, eg, whether for clothing- dress, skirt etc, or accessories, eg scarves, bags etc.
Janet Stoyel is a textile artist who uses innovative technology and techniques to create fabrics, which she then creates into scarves. An idea from my last project was how the colours and patterns were affected by different positions, and movements, so the idea of creating scarves with my fabric is appealing, due to the fact they will be open to a variety of changing positions, which will in turn, affect the colours and patterns.

Week Eleven. 3rd December.

After using the dirct acid printing sucessfully, I was keen to push these designs forward, but was, unfortunatley running out if time. I had been wanting to experiment with CAD, aware that some techniques could help create more structure and depth in my work.

I scanned of my pleated prints and using photoshop I created a repeat pattern. I was very happy with this because it created a pattern which stayed true to my wtarecolour illustrations and prints, containing colour and texture, but also had a sense of structure within them that was lacking in the direct prints.



Using this idea I played around with scale and experimented with a few other repeat print ideas.







I printed these designs digitally on the reactive printer onto silk habotai. Unfortunatley though, despite my use of a colour atlas and colour matching, the colours came out very dull, and were not satisfactory.

For my final pieces I created four large printed lengths.


Week Ten. 26th November.

Continuing with direct printing this week, working onto the four different fabrics I tested on. I Started to think about fabric manipulation and how this could affect my designs. To experiment, I pleated one of my earlier designs.



This worked very well on the first designs I had done, completely transforming them, so I pleated some more of the recent prints I had done.



The effect depended on the size and regularity of the pleats, and created some very interesting effects.

I carried out natural dyes samples of Bilberry, these created some interesting colours which I would not have expected from natural dyes.

As I had carried out so many natural dye samples, with intentions of using them, I was not keen to completely discount them. I wondered wheter I could use the direct printing style with natural dyes. I made a mordant printing paste to replace the indalca mix, unfortunatley Tin and Alum mordants were not available to me so I used Iron and Copper.
The mix was:
1:2 Iron/Copper with cream of tartar.

30g Iron/Copper to 60g Cream of Tartar
50g Indalca.

The prints worked well, and I left them for as long as possible to let the mordant work, but I was unsure how to fix them.
I carried out a few samples of: unsteamed & unwashed, washed & unsteamed, unwashed & steamed, and washed & steamed. unfortunatley the samples had to be fixed in some way, and when steamed and washed they lost their colour, turning slightly brown.

Week Nine. 19th November.

This week I pushed on with the direct printing I had been experimenting with. I carried out testers to ensure the colours were correct, on four different fabrics: Silk Habotai, Silk Taffetta, Sand Habotai, and Silk Slub.



The method for this technique on silk (or any protein fibre) is as follows: I found after experiment that the best dye ratio was 2g:200ml water. This produces a medium dye shade that is easy to control, and for this work, was not too bright, as I was aiming for subtle colours with depth. Weigh out 2g of chose dye, if mixing dyes to create your own colour then testing must be done prior to finalising your dyes. Dilute the dye powder with 200ml warm water until the powder is dissolved. (Note: acid dyes are poisonous, always use suitable PPE.).

Using a clean, dry screen, paint your chosen design directly onto the front of the screen. When this is dry, print the design onto your chosen fabric using a clear paste. I used a paste made from 200g Indalca with 20g Urea.
Once the fabric has dried, steam for one hour, and then wash by hand in cool water until the indalca has washed out.

After completing several sucessful prints working from my watercolour illustrations, I realised that the most sucessful aspects of the prints were not the image itself, but the effect of the dye upon the fabric. Particularly the areas where the dye stopped, creating an interesting contrast between the dye and the fabric, so I began to focus my designs on these edges.
This project had always focused heavily on colour use and placement and so this fit in well with the work I had done previously.

Week Eight. 12th November.

To visualise my illustrations as fashion fabrics, I used photoshop to 'drape' my images into designs that would suit the image. This worked well, it helped me to see how my images could be used, and how I could take them further, as at this point I was unsure of where to take the project.







This led me to explore direct printing with Acid dyes. I had struggled with how to continue this project onto fabric, and this technique was a fantastic solution. By recreating a watercolour image on fabric, I avoided the issue of repeat patterns of literal shells, which was something that was worrying me, and something I could not see past.



I also continued experimenting with natural dyes, exploring Blackberry and Black Cherry.