Monday 4th November Tutorial

This week we were encouraged to go through all of our work from the start of the project, and select some pieces that may be suitable for final designs.

Also we need to choose some contexts for our designs (providing our own photographs of these or drawings) and start putting our images into them. I had thought about relating the reflective nature of my work to the context it is presented in by displaying it in a sleek kitchen, with shiny surfaces or as something related to light like a lampshade or blind. 

If using curtains or layered pieces to showcase photoshop designs we should provide samples of the material that we would have them printed onto to indicate the desired feel of the finished product. For something like wallpaper, it is enough to research people who produce their work in a similar way.

The mixing of processes in the print room is starting to work really well; discharge, pigment and foil printing give a good range of textures and colours on dark backgrounds. Where illuminating discharge was used, the edges of the motifs seem pixelated and the colour sits perfectly within the shape. It looks quite clean-cut. As a result of fabric shrinkage with the normal discharge process, the pigment can't sit exactly on top of the dye-stripped area and so a stepped effect results. I like both approaches, so will (time allowing) use more illuminating and plain discharge dye. 

Layering images up in the print room works well but is very time consuming even when working on several samples at once; in future I might group more images together on screen, so that I could still print with them individually if necessary, but when used in groups the printing process would be faster and I might be more productive.  

To Do:

Go through all print room samples, order them

Cut them to roughly A4 size with sellotaped edges

Write print room notes next to them

Go through photoshop work, order them

Print photoshop samples

Write photoshop notes next to them

Scan print room work into photoshop to extract colours

Produce further photoshop samples, ? try out repeat

Produce context images

Insert selected work into them

Research artists working in that context

Produce further print samples - discharge, discharge illuminating, foil, pigment, can paint in discharged areas with reactive, flock. 

Use foil outlines, try them with fabric glue and press onto fabric

Find a textured fabric similar to purple one - nice effect

Select out final designs, present for assessment - Card holder for fabric, Print out photoshop designs, put technical notes in an ordered folder.