Yesterday I finally worked larger in the print room. I decided to ease in gently and work on half a metre of cotton using procion and pigment binder. I found it difficult to be loose and experimental like I was in my drawings. I felt as if i was being too controlled and tight with the way i was laying colour down and making marks. This was because of the scale- working on a white blank canvas made things difficult for me initially. I soon loosened up though and painted pigment binder on the fabric in loose marks from my drawings along side the contrasting shapes. Once I had finished I realised that there was too much white and even though this was similar too the drawings, this was emphasised because of the increase in scale. I also reasoned that i probably needed to increase the size of the shapes and marks so they are more varied in my print. I need to be more daring and less precious next time.

Today I coloured tested further as i wasn't completely happy with my chosen colours from last night. This wasn't entirely successful as i ran out of time and i ended up with a few spillages. This evening I decided to try dyeing some cotton so that the white wasn't as prominent. I aimed for a warm taupe shade and after a few testers I dyed a whole metre of fabric. This wasn't particularly successful either but I felt as if i learnt a lot from it. The colour didn't come out how I aimed- it was much paler than I hoped and there were some marks on the fabric from the bucket. Luckily this can be covered when I come to printing.

I feel like this week has been a real learning experience for me as I have been in regularly and using the print room - creating new work and reflecting on this and working out how I can improve things. Positive feedback from Nick on tuesday has encouraged and reassured me.