My Designs in Context

This unit we were advised as to how to present our designs in a more professional way. Below are examples of my screen printed and digitally produced context images.

Making a Simple Book

To make a small catalogue of my digital designs, I turned to youtube. An easy to follow tutorial on Saddle stitching a book together was very helpful and soon I had a book!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWHkY5jOoqM

I trimmed the pages to size (when folded) before bookmaking, so that they would line up evenly.

All you need is something to make holes with (an awn is recommended) thread, a needle and a ruler and pencil for marking out points for the holes. It was quick, fun, satisfying, and gives good results, so I will definitely try making my own books again.

Final Digital Designs

I went through my Photoshop designs ad narrowed them down to ten, to create a final collection. I tried to include a variety of colours and motifs. The prints are equally busy, which ties them together, and they share a colour palette. I have given each of them a unique reference number to refer back to in future.

SINVIN D01                            SINVIN D02

SINVIN D03                            SINVIN D04

SINVIN D05                            SINVIN D06

SINVIN D07                            SINVIN D08

SINVIN D09                            SINVIN D10

Final Print Room Samples

Now that I have finished in print room, I narrowed down my samples down to ten for presentation as a final collection. Below I have shown these ten, with a few extra images to show pieces of detail. I took photographs of this first sample as it was too large to capture the whole surface by scanning; also the yellow silk/viscose layered with the poly suede was photographed. The rest of the samples were scanned.

I have given my designs unique reference numbers to refer back to in future.

SINVIN P01

 

SINVIN P02                                        SINVIN P03

 

SINVIN P04                                        SINVIN P05

 

SINVIN P06                                       SINVIN P07

 

SINVIN P08                                        SINVIN P09

 

SINVIN P10

These last two designs are shown together, with the light yellow silk viscose layered over the orange poly suede. The sections burned away by devoré reveal the goggles and parachute motifs underneath. I have also layered the rest of the devoré samples but with the pattern on the silk/viscose layer, and a plain section of the poly suede underneath. I will present the 2 layers in a single header, so that the designs can be appreciated together and separately.

Daniel Heath talks to us at Manchester School of Art

I was really excited for Daniel Heath's talk today; it is the first time a screen printer has come to speak to textiles students since I came to Manchester School of Art, and I really like his work. I had looked at his website earlier this week, 

http://www.danielheath.co.uk/ 

and emailed about the chance of getting some work experience with him. It was great to hear from someone in my field about the way they work, opportunities encountered, different collaborations, how to get started, preparing images for press and lessons to be learned along the way. One important thing to take away was that sometimes a project may not be financially lucrative, but the press, publicity and experience may be worth the effort, and may lead to bigger things.

From danielheath.co.uk, his new range of cushions for Heal's. I love the mix of bold colour and detailing. It shows that when tone is used well it can be highly effective and sophisticated; this might be something I could experiment with in future.

He is very clear and positive about his work, which is another important thing to take on board - you need to be confident to sell your ideas and designs. He stressed that finding suppliers you trust is a huge help, and producing pieces that are affordable and appeal to a wide audience (such as cushions) may lead to larger commissions. A lot of mileage can be gained from a few motifs, and running out of, say a certain fabric or material can be a good trigger to make new motifs. He stayed to talk to a group of us and answer our questions about working as a freelancer, building a network and finally the chance of work experience and was very helpful and willing to take time to give useful answers. In the summer he may need some help preparing for London Design Festival, so nearer the time I will get back in touch to see if something can be arranged.

Hopefully there will be many more talks by inspiring print designers in future!

Print Room

For my final 2 days in the print room for Locating, I decided to analyse some earlier samples to see what could be added to improve them. Even one motif added in the right place and colour made a huge difference.

I had tried to create a worn look with the red/brown motif above, and printed with pigment left on the screen after printing another sample. This looked messy and detracted from the design. I went back over it, with a normal amount of pigment and it now works much better, and the 'V' shape formed between it and the devoré motif on the left gives movement to the design.

This sample seemed washed out, so I added a second blue motif in the top left corner which again added movement and much needed colour.

One of my samples looked better on the back than the front; an embellished effect was created ( I had pulled the pigment through the screen too many times in an attempt to get a light colour to show up well) which looked perfectly faded. I recreated this on purpose using the original composition and am pleased with the results:

While considering these earlier samples, I realised that because my samples this week will just involve pigment, I could use fabric I had at home to try out a few different designs. I used a cooler colour palette to push the range of my samples and alter the mood of my samples.

While printing I used blotting paper to protect some of my samples from the overlapping screen; I printed a shape onto the blotting paper just as part of this process, but really liked the result:

As part of Unit X I would like to try screen printing onto paper, as I have never attempted it before, and I'm sure it will present its own challenges.

Shortlisted for Tigerprint 'Everyday Surface Pattern' Competition

After submitting my entry for February's Tigerprint competition, I checked to see if any of my designs made the shortlist for January's one, and one of my designs has been chosen!

This was probably the simplest, quickest to make, and most colourful of the designs I submitted. I made 'stripes' using motifs from my previous project, in this project's colours.

I really enjoyed producing it, and the fast pace contrasts well with my print room work; I can see myself working this way in future, with a mixture of digital designs on paper and hand printed designs on fabric.

As old motifs were used in this design, I decided to update it with one of my current ones, and a slightly more muted background as it is more suited to the feel of my Locating project.

Tutorial and Tigerprint Competition #2

This week we were talking about presentation for assessment.

Alex had asked if I was going to print my digital designs onto fabric, and I hadn't intended to. I didn't feel the need, but I had never really analysed why this was. When I tried to imagine my digital designs as curtains or cushions, it didn't really fit. I felt that they would look better on paper and wouldn't gain anything by being printed digitally onto fabric. Because I screen print onto fabric, I assumed that my digital designs should be on fabric as well, and never properly thought about it. I now think that they would fit better as stationary products. I enjoy working on a small scale, and have always enjoyed interesting, colourful stationary. I can imagine my designs on cards, notebooks and an associated range. Since making the decision to present my digital designs in a stationary context I have felt much better about them, and feel more confident about where my practice might fit.

Paperchase is a well known, established high street stationers that appeals to me. They produce collections and individual items, aimed at men and women, with a range of colours and themes. When I entered the Tigerprint competition, I worked on photoshop quickly to produce a handful of simple designs that I was happy with; this gave me an idea of how my colours could work together and helped my print room work to move forward. 

I decided to enter February's Tigerprint Competition, 'Colour of Love'. They wanted a reimagining of the colours of love, or a new way to use pink and red. This time I tried to make my designs more commercial, simpler and with paler colours. I used my buckle motif to illustrate the idea of being 'better together', and my parachutes (here, hot air balloons) for to represent 'fly away with me'.

 

6th feb Print Room

I eventually managed to scrub the rest of the burnt devoré fibres from the jersey cotton, using a toothbrush and scourer. I couldn't totally remove all of the brown pieces, so this added to the aged look of the fabric. I decided not to try and clear the 'flower gun' motifs, as I liked the look of the sample as it is and it would be extremely time consuming.

I then added pigment to the other samples. I tried to give them a vintage feel, though the motifs are based on objects of war. I also created some 'stripes' using the epaulette motif. They now look like pieces of rope. After printing the motif onto the fabric I laid the screen down in the bottom right corner, and used the back of a plastic spoon to push any remaining pigment on the underside of the screen onto the fabric. This successfully resulted in a faded motif, and a worn, aged effect.

motif on the backing cloth