2.2.12 Unit Evaluation

This unit for me has been a huge learning curve; with the tight deadlines, working towards a refined live brief, and learning new techniques all at once. Time management has been the most important skill throughout the enquiries, for me balancing both the projects side by side was near impossible so I chose instead to work on each one individually. By working on each individually I was given tighter times on each project, I feel that by giving myself sub goals at the end of every week, and working on the train and coming in early every morning I was able to keep on top of the workload reasonably well. As I gave myself a shorter time to work on each project I found myself developing much of my work and designs independently, after completing these projects I feel a lot more confident in my own decision making as the risks I took proved to be well spent. Such as using monofilament as the seersucker section of my warp.

As I have stated before this project has been tight, time wise, and decision making and development has been quick and concise. Within the Wallace and Sewell project I found my self leaning a new technique, as there was not much time I found myself thinking very critically towards my samples extracting the successful areas and disregarding the “failures”. Within the Wallace and Sewell project especially I found myself developing every sample until I found the “perfect” technique for my final collection. I undertook the same thinking during my Self initiated brief, once again I was using a new technique and had little time. However instead of using my sampling as a means to developing and refining I used Photoshop heavily; creating compositions that I know would be successful or need little development once woven.

Working with an external brief has been a pleasant eye-opener, working to such specific requirements while keeping your own style is a challenge and I have been enthused by the prospect. I feel that by taking part in this live brief I have begun to develop designs differently, I have become more aware of the end use of my samples and I'm beginning to take this into account when I begin the project not just once the samples are made; considering yarns, structures and finishing techniques from initiation to completion.

As is shown throughout my blog, sketchbook, and samples I have experimented and tested different techniques constantly. Within my first brief I chose to dye all my yarns as my colour pallet was very specific, I then went onto make a double cloth warp, of which I have never done before, within the double cloth I attempted my different structures and tested all of the different combinations of alternating the cloth its self. I also attempted to felt the sample as I had initially desired to cut into theme but as I dyed my yarns the ability to felt was lost. For my Self initiated brief “The Face” I once again experimented with my warp by using monofilament as my seersucker sections, as I was informed by my tutor this has not been tested before and there was not granite that it would work. The technique was successful and the risk paid off as the seersucker sample I produced went into my final collection.

Naturally when making the Wallace and Sewell collection from the very beginning I was considering yarns and technique, making sure it was suitable for their fashion line. I used 100% pure wool as my yarn throughout, as they only use natural yarn, and worked hard on my finishing technique a I know they value the finish of there products. When I was designing my warp I also took into account scale as I knew my sample was intended to be a scarf I made it quite wide and all my samples long in order to give to scale proportions, I also used Photoshop to make visualizations that displayed the length of the scarf and the overall proportions. For me the self imitated brief wad harder to pin down, to being with I wanted the collection be be very different from that of my live brief and I chose to make it in a gallery style. Thus my choice of yarns and techniques didn't need to be suitable for manufacture or fashion they simply need to respond to my brief “The Face”. As my project developed I began to see, assisted by my tutor, other areas where my samples would be well suited for; blinds and room dividers. Although my samples were not initially intended for this outcome I used Photoshop to create visualizations that transformed my samples into the large scale pieces they would need to be to fulfil this new end use.

Thinking contextually has been very important to me within this unit, naturally as I have undertaken a live brief that requires you to thoroughly consider the final outcome of your design, and as I am trying to see which area of the weaving world I see my work and myself settling into. I haven tried to keep myself aware of designers though the contextualization of my projects, and I feel I have done this very successfully in the face that my samples work well for their intended use and, as my self initiated project displays, other end uses too. An area I know I can begin to develop upon is the end users of my products, thinking about the exact audience I want to work for and not just the area.

2.2.11 (SELF) Final Samples and Contextual Visualizations

Final Collection

My final collection for this project, the self initiated “The Face”, consists of 5 samples. During this project I have been able to develop my skills in designing compositions which has lead to me designing compositions that are effective enough to immediately make my final collection. I have also found within this project I have become more aware of the context of my work, seeing the potential for other areas not just what initial thought. At the beginning of “The Face” I had intended to make pieces for gallery exhibit, but the more samples I made the more I began to see the potential in other areas (blinds and dividers). 

Gallery Visualizations

As I had initially set out to make gallery pieces I have made visualizations for that context, thy are very simple, as had been intended. If I were to create these pieces for real I would like to exhibit them in public or outside, as the work of Sotirova's shows it is far more effective due to light and invertible moment. The compositions I have selected are influenced by Osterkamp's, with the small areas of intense patterning and the large expanses of clear. The techniques I chose to develop into the gallery pieces were chosen due to their strong relations to my initial image and key development images. If I was to make these pieces for real I would like to take it a step further and perhaps begin to join them to make either a sculpture or large overall piece, the robust structure they embody would be well suited to this kind of design.

Salt

The area I saw more potential in for my work was blinds and room dividers, after researching other designers such as Salt and Creation Baumann my eyes were opened to the potential my fabrics had. 

Creation Baumann

Elements that made my samples particularly good for the job were the transparent monofilament and lurex, the stable structure of the fabrics, and its lightweight appearance. After looking at Creation Baumann's blinds and curtains, with their translucent designs and cut out patterns I could see how suitable my designs can be. After researching Salt's work I felt the same way with the face that my yarns were well suited and the structures I was using were attractive in the way they carried light and shadows. The visualizations I have made for these products are large scale and thus the detail of my designs are lost but the overall effect is still positive with plenty of light still available and a subtle texture covering the space. If I was to develop this collection further I would like to experiment more with incorporating Creation Baumann's techniques such as cutting away and the large scale design they use.

Visualizations

2.2.10 (SELF) Composition Development

Composition Designs

Within this project all the compositions I create are done though photoshop, I’ve been developing the skills I used in the Wallace and Sewell project but in a different manner. Instead of focusing on colour I've been producing patterns through reflection and repetition. Although I can not recreate the exact pattern on my loom the basic proportions of structure and colour is easily translated, I feel like this method of working is something I would like to implement in future design work due to its speed and easy ability to edit, far quicker and accurate than drawing patterning or structures.

Samples in Need of Development

So far I have made a few samples, my new method of composition design has proved to be effective as most of the samples are concise and perfect for my final collection. My sample have however began to evolve into there own, they not longer do I see then in a gallery context but now I am beginning to see them commercially, as room dividers or something along them lines. I plan to research the possible areas that my transparent structured design will be well suited. The samples that do need development (below) are due to yarn choice and slight unbalanced proportions. The left sample lacks space and the heavy leather cord over weighs the designs; in this sample I introduced cotton and lurex weft, the cotton however brakes up the flow of the sample and naturally reduces it transparent quality. In the rest of my samples I have chosen to use only clear and black lurex as they are fine and light, perfect in reflecting my Photoshop compositions. The right sample again suffers from being too busy, the sections of structures are unbalanced and in my develop sample I plan to correct this imperfection.

2.2.9 (SELF) Introducing Colour and Warp Design

Colour Work

After researching David Szauder's work and realising colour would be an interesting element to my work I sourced this image of skin (above left), I chose this particular image as It had many colours, tones, highlights, and lowlights and thus gave me plenty of options when designing. I broke the image down and extracted the predominant colours and made colour strips, from this I moved on to add colour to my initial image. I have chosen to keep hints of clear space and black as that was my starting point and it has proved to be very successful thus far.

Coloured Initial Image

Upon establishing my colours I went on to design my warp, unfortunately I was unable to dye my own yarns and as a result the colours selected differ slightly from those I extracted directly from the colour image. My warp contains fifteen different mercerised 2/16's cotton, also after the research into Liliya Sotirova's pieces I have chosen to use Monofilament for my seersucker warp sections (appearing white on the plan below). Using monofilament for the seersucker section is an experiment itself as its not conclusive that it will work, I have selected the finest monofilament yarn in the hope that it will react the same as natural yarn but testing is the only way I will find out if this technique will work.

Final Warp

2.2.8 (SELF) Weaving inspiration

Liliya Sotirova

Sotirova have influenced me in this choice. Although both of there work done not inspire fully there are strong elements that I am keen to incorporate and consider while making my samples, for example Osterkamp's use of proportions is delightful (Below). I am fond of the way she uses concentrated sections of texture which is balanced by even larger sections of plain weave. When making my samples I would like to focus on this textured “busy” section and then add the plain section during the visualization process.

Liliya Sotirova's work its self dose not appeal to me, what dose makes her work so inspiring is her use of yarns and most importantly her presentation. The way she uses monofilament and thin fine yarns to make the most of her samples is truly amazing (Above). Exhibiting most of her pieces is a natural environment, the fine yarns makes them seem almost part of the surroundings yet foreign at the same time. The piece that stood out most for me was "Whenever" as its constant interaction with the atmosphere makes a new piece appear almost every moment, this interaction with surroundings through either placement or simply yarn is something I would like to explore within my own sampling.

Peggy Osterkamp

2.2.7 (SELF) The Face

Initial Image

When beginning the self initiated project it was recommended that we create connections to the live brief (Wallace and Sewell). The connections I have made a quite subtle; firstly I have chosen “The Face” as my theme, inspired by the small figures in Feininger's painting and secondly I plan to use a single image to fuel my entire project. The image I have chosen is one of my own, a simple line drawing of an emotive face.

Luke Dixon (far left), My Inspired Image and strips (all others)

After settling on my main image, my next task has been to dissect it; I have begun this by researching artist that studied the face, and then impose there style on my initial image. As my drawing consists heavily of line elements I first found Luke Dixon, an artists that used line in a different way his work was much more textural than that of my own. I began my response by producing numerous mark making strips and then Photoshoped them onto my original image. The image that had been created by this editing was one I could relate easily to weave. To help me analyze this image further I cut it up revealing only small segments, which gave me an even greater indication to possible structures and weaves.

My Inspired Image and strips (all others), David Szauder (far right)

The next artist I researched was David Szauder, his work starts with realistic images that have then been distorted by code. Although I could not distort mine with code, Photoshop worked very well, I morphed and stretched the image and used a technique that burred the image in a coded fashion. Once again to help me break down the new images I cut them up, the resulting fragments have inspire me to incorporate warp distortion weaving and texture creating techniques such as seersucker into my samples. Also after studying his work I have decided to introduce colour some how, probably through the warp, as I believe this will create stronger visual connections to the face.

2.2.6 (LIVE) Final Samples

Final Samples

Within my final collection, consisting of three samples, for the Wallace Sewell brief I have responded sensitively to colour, structure, and composition in order to create my own original designs while maintaining enough of Wallace Sewell style to be incorporated with there other collections. While keeping a connection to Wallace and Sewell's work I have also managed to relate to the initial painting Barfuesserkirche I (1924) by Lyonel Feininger. I feel that the success of this collection is thanks to, firstly, my use of colour that I rigorously developed at the being of the project and, secondly, the assemblage of simple structures and Compositions that I incorporated into my work through research into Wallace Sewell, “Barfuesserkirche”, and other designs such as Nancy Middlebrook.

As I designed this collection for Wallace Sewell's fashion range I have created a visualization of my design as a scarf. By doing this I am able to sow how the design changes throughout the main body of the scarf.

Photoshop products

2.2.5 (LIVE) Composition and Sample Development

Composition Designs

When designing my compositions for this project I have put more emphasis on Photoshop, as it gives a clear indication of colour and how the warp and weft will react with one another. Within this project I have been focusing on colour and colour merging (such as the Wallace Sewell silk scarf's) Photoshop had been essential in the investigating and experimenting process. For the overall composition and proportions I have found it easier to simply work on graph paper. By using these two new methods I have been able to create compositions quickly and with accuracy. I would like to develop this use of Photoshop into my next project and see if it helps in other ways to create designs.

Although I am happy with the current range of samples that I have is still development that can be done. The colours need some reworking, looking back at Wallace Sewell's work and rereading the brief I will, in my final samples, increase my weft colours to the maximum of eight. The dominant colour I have been using so far I brown but after researching I have decided to change it for brighter colours such as blue or green as this will match much better to other collections by Wallace Sewell. In the tutorial it was highlighted to me that I need to start thinking contextually, thus I will make my final samples bigger in order to give a better projection of, not just the bordered of the scarf as I have at the moment, but the rest of the scarf too. 

Developed Samples

Another factor that I have experimented with is the finishing of my samples. Initially I wanted to felt all my samples but as I dyed all my own yarn my attempts were fruitless. I then moved on to simply pressing, then washing and pressing but still the finish was not quite right. After a tutorial I was recommended to pin dry, this technique has worked very well as it keep the sample tight and thus helps to stop shrinking distortion. Next I chose to brush all my samples as this gave them an overall subtle soft feel, that makes it feel like a fashion fabric especially a scarf.

2.2.4 (LIVE) Initial Samples and Research

Initial Samples

The first stage of weaving for me has been to lean how double cloth works and to test different four shaft structures, the results have been interesting; I have learnt that less is more, as too many structures combine with the complex warp give a haphazard and messy look to the design. I have also learnt the different ways of alternating the warp, horizontally, vertically and the alternate patterns the warp can be brought up in. In conclusion to my testing I have decided to use only plain and twill weave while making my samples and experiment with the combinations of double cloth to add an element of complexity.

Nancy Middlebrook

To help me design my samples and stretch the technique of double cloth I have researched a number of artists and designers; two of which stand out for me are Nancy Middlebrook and Melintre Gwynt. I really like how, in both their work, the general structure of the fabric is very simple and the detail is created though the use of colour and proportions. The way both the designers use kind of geometric/ block patterns link back wonderfully to my initial painting and inspiration source (Lyonel Feininger's Barfuesserkirche I). I am eager to interoperate Middlebrook's use of graduating blocks into my designs and Melintre Gwynt's use of odd yet patterned blocks.

Melintre Gwynt

2.2.3 (LIVE) Creating The Warp

Inspiration for my Warp

When designing my warp I reviewed all my research so far, contemplating both Wallace Sewell's samples alongside the colour strips I had created from Feininger's painting. One Wallace Sewell warp that I was particularly inspired by was one from there silk square collection, the random accumulation of stripes differing in width constantly alongside blocks of colour. The advantage of this complex pattern, as shown by Wallace Sewell, is that only simple weft colours are needed, large blocks of colour are overpowered and embellished by the warp. 

A Painted Plan and Yarn Wrap of my Final Warp

My final warp plan (above), I feel has embodied all the elements I highlighted. There is an uneven yet controlled variation of stripes, the colours appear random yet are carefully planned to relate directly back to Feininger's Barfuesserkirche I and Wallace Sewell's use of highlights, lowlights, and tones. To get these perfect colours I have chosen to dye all my yarn, the yarn I have selected is Pure Wool 2/36's as it is natural and its fine quality. After studying Wallace Sewell's threading and taking Barfuesserkirche I's use of blocks into account I have chosen to make my warp double cloth, and thread up on straight blocks (below). 

Threading and Warp Plan

2.2.2 (LIVE) Lyonel Feininger

Lyonel Feininger, Barfuesserkirche I, 1924

Following Wallace Sewell's brief I searched out a painting, I settled on this one, (above) Barfuesserkirche I by Lyonel Feininger. I chose this specific painting as it has many appealing properties, its use of highlights, lowlights, and tonal shades harmonised perfectly with that of Wallace Sewell's pallet while maintaining interdependence. I found it also held great colour combinations the way they were placed together and the proportions was something I am keen to extract. Also the dominating straight lines and sectioned composition of this painting are features I can see easily and effectively translating into a woven sample.

Colour Strips

To help me analyse this painting and pull out all of its colour combinations as well as its proportions I decided to paint numerous colour strips. I cut a printout of the painting up; lengthways, widthways, and diagonally, to gain different perspectives of colour. The result of this undertaking has been very fruitful as I now have ample amounts of colour work to inspire both my warp and weft.

2.2.1 (LIVE) Wallace Sewell

The Wallace Sewell Brief

We all began this project with a trip to Wallace Sewell’s studio and Shop, in London. This visit give us the opportunity to experience the fabrics first hand, feeling the finish and observing the structure up close. From this visit, I found myself particularly attracted to the London Underground collection mainly due to its felted finish, something I would like to explore within my own work. Another collection I was attracted to was the double cloth wool throws, simple in appearance yet complex through construction. The silk single cloth made up of satin and sateen also caught my attention, its ability to create extra colours by mixing the warp and weft yarns was truly inspiring.

Wallace Sewell Collections

To gain a better understanding of their work I chose create painted copies, by using this method I was able to identify the warp and weft colours and proportions. Alongside making the colours present in the warp and weft, I also mixed hues generating new colours that appeared when different yarns overlapped. This ability to create new colours from existing yarns is something I am keen to develop into my own weaving, both with end on end placement and weaving structures such as twill, crepe, and plain weave.

Images of my artist copies

2.1.7 Final Collection and Evaluation

Final Collection

This project has been a huge learning curve for me, being my first fully dedicated unit to weave. Learning to use the Scotweave and the loom itself has been as much a part of my project as designing the composition and patterns themselves. Now that this unit is over and I have had time to reflect, I now feel more confident with choosing weave as my speciality. Also with the research I have undertaken into weaving designers I have a clearing goal for the future of my career and practise.

Throughout this project my aim has been to develop a collection that, naturally, relates to my initial visual research yet shows considered development. I wanted each piece to embody detail, texture and space in there own way while relating harmoniously as a collection. I feel I have meet these specifications with my final collection.

Composition Design Plans

I have thoroughly enjoyed this projected with both my brief, future past, and weaving. Constantly experimenting from the very beginning with the visual research, I attempted to use different media for every study in order to create different textures that I could then develop into weave. I continued this exploration of media while designing compositions as I was unsure how to tackle composition design, it took a number of different strategies before I found a method that worked for me, but by exploring them all I felt more and more confident with my personal design process. I feel there is still more experimenting that can be done to improve this area, I would like to find a method that is fluid to me and allows me to design with little thinking or effort, as I believe this is the best and natural may to work.

Margo Selby

Research has also been vital in this unit; as this has been my first sole weave project finding designers that work in a way I would like to has been key in creating my collection. Building up my knowledge of weavers will be a continuous ongoing project, the more I find out the better I can place myself within the weaving world and direct my designs. Initially, for this project, I was working towards a soft furnishings outcome, by using wools and creating compositions that would suit products such as blankets, as borders or all over designs. However after my collection was finished I found there were some pieces that would be well suited to fashion, due to there dense and soft qualities, Ideal for coats and scarf’s.

As there was a range of suitability within my designs I found a connection forming to, my favourite weave designer, Margo Selby. This connection is not due to the designs of the fabric itself but to the wide range of potential end products, Selby as I have said in a previous post has designed fabrics for nearly everything from shoes to scarf’s and quilt covers to carpets. I am very happy with this connection, as I am only just staring to weave seriously and the only direction I had for my work at the beginning of this project was for it to be commercial, a connection to both soft furnishings and fashion is a success.

Potential Products

I would in the next and future projects like to develop my understanding of weave; both in technical construction and knowledge of requirements for commercial fabrics. After a visiting a number of mills with MMU peers I was fascinated with the factors designers had to consider while creating fabrics, elements such as colour, yarn and pattern have to be suitable for a specific purpose.

2.1.6 Design Developments and Artist Influences

Design Plans

At first when designing compositions I struggled, I was unable to embody both the intricate detail and space of my drawings. After discussing this problem with one of my peers we found a way to create quick designs using blocks of patterns from throughout my visual research. By constantly flicking through the pages and jotting down simple ideas, compositions came to me much quicker, and there was less pressure to draw a design that would need to be used within my weaving. Also by drawing many designs on one page it gave me better insight into a collection, how certain shapes and patterns could be extracted to link all the pieces together.  

Jan Shenton

Another aspect of my weaving that I was struggling with was my colours, not the pallet but the way they were applied within my weaving. In my initial studies there was lots of gradients and mixtures of colours, whereas my first samples contained only block colours contradicting all my visual research. After looking at samples from Jan Shenton I saw how complex colours colours could be; with constant changing in every weft, using highlights and lowlights, and subtle gradients.

My new samples I feel reflect my research, exploring detail, pattern, space and colour. I am very happy with the outcome, but there are still areas I would like to develop; I would like to investigate different ways to use my pique, both as a main feature and combine with my base.  

Developed Samples

2.1.5 Initial Samples

Initial Samples (felted, shrunken, hand washed)

For my initial samples I chose to purely experiment, playing with both pattern and texture, I did not consider composition as I found it to be a distraction while trying to learn to use the floor loom and Scotweave. Within my first sample I have tested different ways to use and combine my pique warp, the result has been an accumulation of floats and figuring. Once I cut off my sample I wanted to experiment with finishing techniques; thus I washed all the samples, shrinking one and felting another. The felting was not very successful as a lot of the detail was lost, the shrinking was also unsuccessful as the long floats did not produce enough texture.

Eleanor Pritchard

From this weeks tutorial session, I gained a lot of guidance in relation to how I should tackle composition. My tutor highlighted to me the weaver Eleanor Pritchard as her work contains high amounts of figuring yet keeps a sense of space, factors that were evident in my earlier drawings. While developing pattern and focusing on shapes for my weaving, I had begun to loose elements of my initial visual research. From this tutorial I have been reminded to look back to early work as a means of inspiration, I am keen to develop new composition utilizing the figuring I have mastered though my initial samples. I am also eager to develop new weaving patterns that capture the texture of my drawings and interoperate Pritchard's sense of space.

Previous Drawings

2.1.4 Defining Colour

Initial Colour Pallets

To being my colour refinement I made a number of yarn wraps inspired by my drawings and Photoshops, I considered proportions, texture, and pattern. My initial selection of colours was rather bright, and during a tutorial it was highlighted to me that more subdued and earthy colours would reflect my theme of natural texture better. My final colour pallet contains a mixture of calm natural colours alongside a few brighter more vibrant hues. This resolved pallet has been made from lambswool yarn due to its speckled multi-tonal appearance, this appearance also matches my visual research with high amounts of tonal change and constant subtle texture. During my weaving however I would like to incorporate mercerised cottons or shiny synthetics to brighten certain sections and to add depth to my work.

Final Colour Pallet

Warp Yarn Wraps

Feedback from my tutorial has also guided my in my warp design; as there was lots of clear space and multiple varying colours in my visual research I was recommended to develop a plain warp. Once again using lambswool I develop a number of different warp compositions, but settled on a consistent pinstripe half and half warp (bottom image). I feel that this slight amount of colour will be very effective and give subtle pattern to all my woven pieces.

2.1.3 Pattern

Hand Drawn Patterns

As I have chosen to specialize in weave pattern will be an important element within my fabrics. Inspired by the intricate simplicity of the Downing Archive and MMU Special Collection printed fabrics I have produced some of my own patterns. I have simplified chosen forms and naturally reoccurring patterns from visual research studies, in accordance with those of the achieve prints. These patterns I believe can be translated into my weaving though a combination of floats and traditional weaving structures. Some will take more time to develop than others, but I am confident that by the end of this project I will have successfully designed my own weaving pattern and incorporated it into a sample.

Digital Pattern Designs

Another way I have attempted to derive pattern from my studies is with the use of Photoshop. In the past I have found repeating and altering the scale of a drawing can completely change the way it is seen and can highlight consistent elements that may otherwise go unseen. I have constructed these patterns (above) by tiling a single image that has been reflected, both horizontally and vertically. To experiment more with my studies I have cropped down or selected interesting areas and as a result it has given me many different patterns and forms to work with.  

Developed Digital Designs

My final means of experimenting and creating pattern have been to combine designs; during this process I have altered the hue and saturation, giving me vibrant colour ways that I am keen to use in my wefts, and I have begun layering designs. By layering and utilizing filters while editing my digital patterns it has widened my colour range while also providing me with possible warp layouts. I have also integrated my hand drawn designs, by doing so I have gained a better understanding on how to construct them and, naturally, how to use then within samples.  

As my colour range has now grown rather large and I have begun to consider warp and weft layouts my next area of inquiry will be to solve this; to find a defined colour scheme and to develop a suitable warp. I would also like to further develop my patterns; by working with my digital designs and extracting shapes from them, alongside more visual research delving into the idea of natural texture. By doing this I can create more individual and original patterns.

2.1.2 Archive Research

Manchester Museum Pieces

For me this week has been a defining week; I have been able to develop and refine my concept and gather ample amounts of visual research. At first I was confused by my chosen brief, 'Future Past', and was unsure how I should integrate my summer work, after discussing with a tutor I was informed that the main focus of this brief was to use archive and historic collections as starting points to fuel the ongoing project.

As I've begun to direct my work towards nature and the natural world I chose to visit the Manchester Museum and its multitude of collections. My visit was rewarded with many areas of possible enquiry; I am particularly spellbound by the minerals, rocks, and fossils on display. The variety of colours, forms, and patterns is overwhelming, and after I produced some fist-hand observations I see potential for translations into weave through both pattern and texture.

Observational Drawings

Along side my visit to the Manchester Museum I have also been researching natural textures with the help of the library and the internet. The books 'Fossils in Colour' by J. F. Kirkaldy, 'Fossils: The Key to the Past' by R. Fortey, and 'Rocks, Minerals & Gemstones' by W. Schumann have been tremendously helpful in both the scientific identification and presentation of natural objects. I have also found the website of the Natural History Museum, London to be a useful tool in discovering the ways in which rocks and minerals were recorded in the late 18^th to early 19^th century. All this research has influenced my work though the use of media, grounds, and compositions.

Artefacts from the Downing Archives and Special Collections

During this week I have visited a couple of specifically textile related archives, the samples of which I am highlighting are from the Downing Archive and the MMU Library Special Collections. Even though my project has evolved into a rock, mineral, and fossil focused venture I was still intrigued by the archives. Seeing all the different patterns; with unique colours, compositions, and textures was truly exciting, I plan to use my favourites as guidelines when designing my own patterns once I enter weave and as starting points for further visual research.

2.1.1 Inspirations Workshop

Summer Drawings

I found the peer review I received in response to my summer work the be highly formative, key themes and direction was highlighted in my work and many possible areas of exploration. I was told there was a good variety of techniques within my drawings, but areas to develop and venture into could be; experimenting with different grounds, combining techniques, and producing some drawings on illustrator or photoshop with focus on line. Also exploring different scales when I draw was recommended, zooming into past drawings really changed the feel of the piece and displayed new textures, colours balances, and gradients, all aspects that could be redeveloped into my work.

Form in Nature and Life, A. Feininger

The most important feedback I received, I feel, was direction on my overall concept. Even though I had centred on Stacking for my summer work I did not feel confident enough to continue with it, my peers upon assessing my work felt that my nature inspired drawings were the most successful, containing the most colour, pattern, and texture. Guided by this new subject I went to the library to discover more about the possibilities and found 'Form in Nature and Life' by A, Feininger, a book filled with nearly all the artistic elements from nature. This book alongside my new Pinterest boards has inspired a new line of enquiry for my oncoming project.  

http://www.pinterest.com/brontemorgangeo/natural-texture/

http://www.pinterest.com/brontemorgangeo/aerial-nature/