Project Update.

This past week/end I've not posted much on here, mostly because I've not been very well and also because I've only been doing the finishing touches to my final pieces and that would be boring to blog about. I've been rather poorly, like I said, I'm pretty sure it's because of stress due to my final major project and because of student finance and finding somewhere to live when I go to uni. However I am all better now and feel much more organised and productive, Today I printed up 2 more scarf's which makes 5 all together and then my big exhibition scarf which I have been finishing off today - hand sewing the angelina fibers and needle feltings on to it. Tomorrow I am going to be a very busy bee as I'm going to buy some jars for my exhibition for my business cards, Both creative and corporate, my needle felted brain, and jewelry I shall be selling. As well as doing more needle felting rings and maybe more sewing onto my big scarf. It's all finally coming together now and I couldn't be happier. The next post on here will probably be my exhibition post which shall be next Tuesday morning or so as I shall be extremely busy with finishing touches and putting my exhibition up and I don't want to blog about it and give the ending away. However if you follow me on instagram there might be a few cheeky pictures. I just want to say I am so happy with my final major project and I know how hard I have worked and the challenges I have set my self. I really hope you have all loved following my journey through my final major project through my blog. Everyone in the art, design and fashion department has worked really hard and put so much effort into their exhibition piece's It's all going to look fantastic. I would like to say, Thank you so much to my tutor and print room instructor for challenging me and pushing me to do better and better though out every project and for teaching me skills which will form my career (hopefully!). 

Sorry for not posting on here much, See you all next week for my exhibition blog post (I'm so excited!!) 

Thank you for reading!! x 

A Day In The Life - Dying Up Fabric

Today's blog post is a new series of blog posts which will lead up to my exhibition, Everyday I shall post 'A Day In The Life' which will give you an insight in my life every day up until the big exhibition day! Today's day in the life consists of new Tumblr posts and dying up my fabric for my big exhibition piece scarf... enjoy!

This morning I had a thought to my self, I decided that as my final major project is now over and all is left is to print my exhibition piece's, So I decided to make my tumblr blog a little more personal and not completely textile's based, This means I shall be posting non textiles post's and using it for inspiration for fashion and other things not just textiles. With this in mind I decided to change my URL from tthreadsforthought to threadsanddaisies.

Above is a little snippet of what my tumblr will be like from now on but don't be worried I shall still be posting many textiles based things. Follow me at threadsanddaisies 

This afternoon I went to use the print room to dye my fabric for my big exhibition piece scarf, The fabric I am using for this is white musin and it is the length of the big printing table in our print room which is 4.5 meter long. I had already kept my procian dye's from my samples so I was all set. The only problem I experienced at first was how I would wet that amount of fabric as I like to wet my fabric then splodge the dye onto it so it bleeds and smudges and gives an Klari Reis (artist) effect on my material. Soaking it in a bucket would mean a lot of water which would be a safety issue so I decided to paint the water on my fabric. I had help with this from the print room instructor Kathryn, She painted water onto my fabric while I followed her splodging the dye onto my fabric. I used the sample colours as I did my samples but instead of keeping them all at a strong colour I made a diluted version of them aswell. Here are a few photo's from today's print room activities...

These picture's above show me cutting the fabric, I cut it to the length of the table then cut it down a little bit so it was just the width of my print. I then got some water ready and started painting on my water then Kathryn took over as I followed her with dye.

As you can see here I used the dye's to dye the fabric by moving around the table doing one side at a time, I tried to equalize the colours out too. To put the dye on the fabric I used different methods such as just tapping it onto the fabric, flicking it and splodging it onto the fabric. This might seem like a bunch of made up words but if you've ever painted or anything like that you will understand what I mean. I also tried leaving a a few white part's as I did not want it all to be covered. 

As you can see on this picture I layered up the dyes putting one on at a time, Being careful of what colours I put on top of what as they can mix and make different colour's, This did work in my favour as I created beautiful purples and greens. 

 This is the finished outcome in the picture above. I am really happy to how it has come out. Although when it has been pressed and washed it will look more faded and blurred but this will prepare my fabric to be printed on to. I have really enjoyed doing this and I am glad I am making progress for my exhibition. 

After today I had a chat with Kathryn (Instuctor) and she said to make my money back from my fmp I should make lot's of things and sell them, such as earings and rings with my needle felted (smaller) creations on. So i've hopped on ebay and bought some plain rings and earings for jewelry making and tomorrow will be filled with all sorts of needle felting fun which I shall blog about in tomorrows 'A Day In The Life' blog post.

I hope you enjoyed reading my first a day in the life, I hope you have all had a lovely day. Come back tomorrow!!

The Science Of Textiles - Final Design Sheets

These are my final design sheet's. The purpose of these sheets are to show or explain what I want to create for my final piece/s. For one of these sheets I wanted to screen print on to it but with me having big screens and little time I thought it would be a better idea to photocopy some of my samples to show my design instead. The first picture (Top) shows that I am planing on making scarfs for my final piece. To do this sheet I used berol and water and collaged a photocopy of my sample to make it look like a scarf. I also used holographic heat transfer to add detail in the sunglasses and earrings. The second final design sheet (Bottom) is more informative including measurements for my big exhibition scarf, a swatch of fabric which I will be using and the sample I photocopied and featured on this sheet is the sample I am re creating for my big final piece. If you have been following my journey through my final major project on this blog then you will know that I am also creating a few smaller silk scarfs which I shall hopefully sell. I have not talked about them on my final design sheet as my main focus is my big scarf I am creating. 

As I plan on using tactile techniques on my exhibition scarf I have also shown them on my final design sheet. Dissolvable fabric to look like cells through a microscope and needle felted bacterial petri dishes which will have Angelina fibers on.

I hope you all enjoyed my journey through my final major project, My next post will be my evaluation. This is the end guys! All thats left to do is to produce my final piece before my exhibition in a months time. So watch out for more blog post's about that!
Thanks for reading x 

Needle Felted Petri Dishes - Tactile Sampling

It has been decided that my main scarf I shall be making which will be purely for my exhibition will be as tactile as can be. Taking this into consideration I had an idea of sewing some needle felted creations onto samples I had already created to see how it would hold and look like. I took one of the needle felted petri dishes I made a few week back and hand sewn it onto a silk printed sample. 

This is what the outcome looks like. I really really like it and I shall make some more of these petri dishes enough to put out for my exhibition and to sew onto my scarf. I hope you all like it and if you have any other ideas for my exhibition please comment! 
Thankyou for reading x