More Realizations

Degree show.

Below are photographs that I have taken of my degree show.

Finalised prints for the degree show

These are the Photoshop images of the digital prints that I will include in my degree show.

Business card image ideas

In preparation for my degree show I will be designing a set of business cards to have printed. here are some ideas of the images I want to include.

Texilac Experiments

Texilac binder screen printed on the back of silk in geometric dot design.

Printing using texilac in this particular design on the back of silk gave a ruched effect. This was an unexpected outcome. Although this is interesting, it's not something that I want to use in my collection.

I then printed with texilac binder in a hexagon design on the back of digitally printed velvet. It had the desired effect in terms of having a strong line quality and very little ruching, however the fabric did gather at the edges.

The next stage of my experimentation with texilac was to produce a screen of heaxagons which are gradually decreasing in size, with much thinner lines than my previous screen to prevent ruching) 

From left: Decreasing by three quarters, decreasing by half then three quarters.

The fabric on the left is the effect that I want to achieve. The next stage will be a case of enlarging the design so that it can be printed on my 140cm by 1m digitally printed velvet without changing the size of the lines. 

Go big!

As I'm starting to finalize my ideas and come to decisions about fabrics for my collection,  I decided to face my fear of producing large fabrics and produce something really big (1m by 140m). It made sense to produce my final fabrics sooner rather than later as I intend to incorporate heavy embellishment into my fabrics which will be a very lengthy process.

I have produced two samples with the same print - one in velvet, the other in silk viscose. Originally I intended to lazer cut a geometric shape out of the velvet, and glue sheet this onto the silk viscose. This would be applique, but with exquisite line quality. True to form, I have had a change of plan since then.

Embellishment Development!

My early embellishments are shown above.

1. The very first embellished piece that I created - Hand printed silk sewn onto organza, embellished with synthetic yarns and heat pressed sequins.

2 & 3. Further development of embellishment - Layered up sample of digitally printed silk viscose (bottom layer) and organza sewn onto acid dyed silk viscose with devore and discharge technique, embellished with lambs wool and synthetic yarns.

Throughout the duration of my project, the key embellishment ideas have been as follows: 

- Layered fabrics
- Contrasting textures
-Transition from one fabric to another 
-Dense areas fading to nothing


As shown below, my prints and colour palette have developed since the early stages of my project. I have also adopted the use of indigo dye with the intention of creating a blue as rich as possible. I have acid dyed the wool so that it fits in with my colour palette. I intend to recreate the fabric below (with some slight changes) to use as one of my collection pieces.

Photoshop image of digital print and digitally printed silk viscose with devore technique, indigo dip dyed and sewn onto indigo dyed organza with heavy acid dyed wool embellishment and sequins heat pressed and folded in half to give three dimensional effect.

Visualizations - Women's wear Fashion

Above are visualizations of how my fabrics would look is they were used in a fashion context. I feel that simple silhouettes are best suited to my fabrics as the fabrics themselves are very bold. 

Above I have chosen a simple silhouette again and used Adobe Photoshop to get an idea of how my fabrics would look if they were layered on top of each other. The top left image shows how organza with a geometric pattern lazer cut  into it would look if it was layered on top of my printed fabric. 

Marble Inspiration and Technique

Above is a double page from my sketchbook with the work of artist Pete Layton and samples in which I have achieved marble effect. The one on the left has been acid dyed a luminous green colour, before being being rolled around bubble wrap and tied using string. I then acid dyed the fabric black, leaving a resist pattern. 

The second sample, I placed on the edge of the sink whilst wet and dripped dye from the indigo vat onto it.

Geometry Research Continued...

Research into irregular geometric patterns found within nature

Rock formations, cells and peeling bark. 

Geometry within Nature.

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I wanted to introduce a contrasting element to the organic textures that I have been working with. Staying within the theme of natural textures, I started to look at geometry within nature. My initial research, which came from honeycomb is shown on the right.

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The fabrics to the left have been digitally printed on silk viscose using MX reactive dyes. I then screen printed them using devore which burnt away the viscose leaving just silk. After the devore process, I screen printed on the back of the fabric using acid dye, a dye which only reacts to silk. I feel that the contrast between shiny and sheer works well, as does that between organic, fluid lines and geometric shapes. I intend develop these samples further with the use of embellishment and continue to experiment  with geometric patterns that occur within nature. maybe an irregular pattern would be more effective...

Valentino: A Master of Couture: Somerset House

As embellishment has become a key element of my work, I felt that it would be beneficial for me to visit the Valentino exhibition at somerset house. 

Some of the key ideas are as follows:

-Heavy beading on sheer fabrics.

-Embellishment fading to nothing.

-Embellished details such as cuffs and collars.

-Fading from a heavily embellished area to nothing.

-The transition from a sequinned area to something contrasting, for example tubes of chiffon woven together. 

Photoshop Developments for the Mimaki

Half drop repeat. I used Photoshop for little more than to create a repeat pattern and tamper with the saturation so that the colours are more luminous. 

Sketchbook Developments

Here are a selection of drawn images which I developed from my natural textures research. The colours that I have used have been inspired by my neon light research.

Mark making of pealing tree bark with natural colours. 

Textures Within Nature Inspiration

Key Ideas...

Textures found within tree bark such as Pealing bark, Bark layers , discolouration, and moss growth.

Mood board of bark textures.

Embroidery Inspiration from mould...

Spores influence brightly coloured beading, textures from mould are created using furry yarns.