I have finished my prints and washed/ironed them all so they are ready to be hung on my rail put into my context illustrations.
Overall I am happy with what I have achieved but I have so much more I would love to do- luckily I can continue working after deadline so that I am making more for TexPrint, degree show and maybe new designers????
I wanted to continue my style in my visualisations and ensure that I am still using the wood as an accent- also using some collaged cut out pieces from my drawings to subtly fill areas such as the plant pot and chair is successful and playful!

Some initial context illustrations:

Today I have been adjusting and adding to older pieces after looking at them all together in one place. Using post it notes has helped me decide where I need to add to and what I should alter/ cover. I also wanted to add some more of the burnt caramel/orange shade to the prints so they wordked better together.

I added to a couple of the prints with posca pen and graphite to add to areas and to fill in some shapes- i couldnt do this whilst printing as the graphite fades too much. I tested permanent marker the other day and this stays throughout the steaming and printing process- Something to think about after deadline for degree show???

(adding to the faded areas as this was the one that wasnt steamed- overall the colours dont look too bad considering!!)

the print that was stained blue!! (before)

adding to the print to distract from the blue tint! (after)

blue flock added with some areas of dark pigment

Had a tutorial with nick, going through the last things I need to do before hand in.. Im not going to magic tape samples as this gives me the opportunity to work on them after hand in.

After researching even further into mid century modern colours of project 4/ wallpaper project I decided that actually these colours could work for my project 3. Initially the colours were inspired by the classic colours of pink and green- using olives, teals and peaches to try to represent the contrast between nature and urban space - inspired by the Batsford Prize competition- Interpreting Nature.

Completing wallpaper> wanted to get it sent to large format quickly before the wait time was too long- I wanted to potentially get these printed in lengths- or do I wait until degree show so ic an make alterations if they need it

My designs have changed and developed, now focusing more on scribbles and markings, made into forms in some areas?I really like the looseness of these.

After looking at my blue print style secondary print on a screen print onto a length of lining paper- this has inspired me to use a n inky blue after looking at mid century modern colours

Tried mid century modern colours, using the deep blue and flamingo pink??
Using limited colours with tonal variation to create a strong collection.

Completing the blind competition has enabled me talk about my work, telling a story and creating a narrative!

Washed my two samples from the other day- unfortunately they bottle green/blue bled and made my prints blue. I washed these a couple of times more on a cold machine wash but this made them worse!!

I’m really upset about this as this was probably my fault when hand washing- i must take more care next time. I have to seethes as a positive, it might bring other opportunities and has made me resale I’m just thoroughly wash out my fabrics.

Previously thought about using discharge and maybe try to mask off shapes to create a bold coloured background> this might be a good way to cover up the blue tint left on the prints that went wrong????

I have booked in next week for printing now> i’m glad I left myself enough time for mistakes to happen. I originally left all of next week for context boards and finalising so now printing for the first 3 days- hopefully will get my designs finished to a standard that I am pleased with.

Slow start today...
I wanted to finalise wallpaper designs- this took longer than planned as I ended up changing designs- thinking about scribbles vs cut outs?

I also used the mover tool in ava to help clean up to begin with- overall had a better finish> i tried a different approach which had an overall cleaner simpler feel

I altered my colours by studying mid- century modern colours to inspire so i could combine with my existing palette. Using avocado, tangerine, granite grey, mustard and rich caramel hues.

I tried using less colours after colour speration > more commercial and simpler feel? the repeat isn't as obvious too?

Washed out my fabrics> still not 100% happy with them, think they need to be a little darker?? try tomorrow and create a piece I'm really happy with
-line in the background worked better? drawing straight onto fabric?

Tomorrow print off wallpapers at Guntons> print a length of fav wallpaper on monday? 3 metre???

I came to the crit not 100% sure what I wanted to know or gain from it- I feel like i am fairly on track and just need to finish off final fabric designs- decide on the wallpaper finals and put things in to context. I aim to get the work for the Direct Blinds competition finished this week too.

notes from before and after crit

 

trying polychromatic technique (left)

trend concept boards- final boards

wish i did this sooner to help me focus more? but sometimes it is helpful to not restrict your self when making work and to just make and see where the work takes you.

working back into project 1> grid structures inspired by signage and street art
using what I have learnt throughout to improve these and develop them> should I have these as final designs with context? - fashion? fashion illustrations for these> portfolio



Must think about blind competition!!!

In comparison to yesterday, today was a success! I managed to clean up/ neaten up my wallpaper designs in AVA whilst I was waiting for the print room to free up. I also created more designs as I wasn't 100% sure on some compositions and I still need to fully decide on the colour ways and designs- I colour separated all the successful ones and am trying to understand what makes these successful. I am finding it hard to visualise them in a much larger scale.

Adding some more line and hand drawn aspects into the wallpaper designs has helped it flow a bit more and cover the design evenly so that the design doesn't look as disjointed and as if it's "floating".

By tomorrow evening I am going to have my wallpaper designs finalised and hopefully sent off to be printed over in Guntons on the large format printer.
I aim to have 4 final designs- this includes the 2 that I will submit for two categories for the Idott competition.

design with added lines and markings- behind

Repeating in length only. This would be  approx 1.5 m. I am unsure if this is too small- or if i should alter the large coloured shapes  so that the repeat is more subtle?

I applied my three neutrals to the 1 metre pieces of cotton this evening and I now have 5 pieces that are ready to be printed on tomorrow and next week.  I used the new screen that I created yesterday to add some pale background textures and details- over laying the pale colours over the other pale colours created an interesting tonal effect which should work well once I add darker colours and larger shapes and lines.

I came across a few issues yesterday and still encountered some today but overcame them by taking my time and not rushing and then making silly mistakes. Today I didn't use a screen to print not he background and this worked much better than yesterday. The open screen was blocked yesterday which gave me texture and marks on the fabric and also meant that the colour was much richer and deeper (which is not what I had planned). I had tested pulling these colours through the screen on a smaller scale as I knew that the shade would change by doing this- but I was happy with the results. I think that the change in shade occurred when I scaled up the dye recipe. Because I am using such a small amount of dye- normally about 0.01 grams of each colour per 200g, this means that the scales do not normally recognise the dye.  So when doubling/ tripling up the amounts of the dye, it wasn't accurate and then made the shade much darker.

NEW SCREEN!!

Pale background with initial pale markings as the background

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Today I have had an unproductive, unsuccessful day but I am trying not to let this dishearten me. When things aren’t going right i must try to stay positive and make use of my time as it is precious!

I also need to make now that i must learn  when to stop as this will make me understand how this affects the quality of my work.

Today I found out I have been selected for an application for TEXPRINT - this is a massive positive of today and has given me confidence and reassurance.

I am feeling much more positive after todays meeting with Nick about careers and my future. I have been updating my CV, website and gathering pieces for my digital portfolio as well as researching job roles to see what I would be more suitable for. I found many print design jobs which sounded good but I feel like maybe I would prefer to work for my self and have my own brand but I was unsure about this as I feel like it's hard to get your foot in the door and maybe I would need experience?? (or maybe this is good that I lack some experience?) Nick was encouraging and made me think of many opportunities- I am going to research art consultants and art agents whilst also researching designers/artists/ brands that I would love to work for, then work out how I could make that become a reality. I feel like having this meeting has made me research further and think about life after graduation, figuring out what I want from life and what kind of lifestyle I would like to lead. I want to think bigger and maybe look at jobs outside the UK, I want to travel after graduating so this might be a perfect opportunity??