3D Paper Structures

In my tutorial it was said that I could look at trying to make my paper cut outs more 3D. I've simply bent and wrapped them to into shapes.

I've even taken a net of a 3d shape and cut into it one of my patterns before forming it into it's ball shape.

Perspex Workshop

I had a perspex workshop where i went over the basics again and was introduced to bending and forming it which i haven't before. I was also looking forward to sand blasting some pieces with vinyl stickers on to leave the pattern on.

Finger Knitting

I used paper twine to fingerknit with as it holds it's shape creating this form of interlinking threads.

Experimenting With Light

I've constructed my own light box out of a lamp, black paper and a piece of perspex to test how my samples look with light shone through the webs.

Pinned Thread (Part 2)

In my tutorial it was suggested that I try to advance with my pinned thread looking to make it more structural with different levels of height. I created these structures to play with different levels but this time i've just crossed over the thread as I know it wouldn't last.

Pulled Muslin Thread

To make holes in the loose weave fabric, muslin, I pulled out groups of thread leaving a trail of ladders across the fabric.

Pinned Thread

I've tried to physically weave thin yarn upon pins to make webs but struggled keeping the tension in the string and had to stop unfinished as the string then broke causing me to tie it in place to keep it in place.

Thread Pressed Metal

I took one of my glued thread pieces to the fly press it see if I could impint the the pattern into copper but as thread is soft it was too flat to make much of a mark. I was left with this wobbly marked piece of copper.

Stitching Metal

I took one of my printed pieces of metal and took it to the metal workshop to see what I can do with it. My first thought was to drill holes into it and stitch into them. I've also attached lace ribbon with stitch to show that I can ad textile pieces to it. Once printed i'm quite limited to what i can then do with it as with any heat it could burn the print off.

Burning Fabric Holes

I visited the textile workshop to use the soldering iron to burn synthetic fabric, cutting it like I would with a scalple for my paper cuts.

I then used a heat gun to burn holes into a different piece of synthetic fabric to burn holes into. With the soldering iron I have more control of the holes I create.

Perspex & Metal Printing

Today I tried printing on a different material by printing onto metal and perspex mirror. This turned out to be quite interesting and has opened up a few more ideas and for what to do in my perspex workshop this thursday.

Print Workshop & My Own Prints

I had a print workshop where I got to explore all the different types of binders for printing a lace pattern. I already knew how to print but I've certainly gained a dictionary of types of binders to refer to with future printing. Also during the workshop I learnt how to expose a screen with an image which is awesome.

After this workshop I've been inspired to use my own cut out images to expose a screen. I've started to acumalate a few samples of my prints. For my ICP I'm most interested in printing onto translucent fabric and posssibly combinding it with stitch and knitted webs.

Stitch Webs

I used thread and glue to make these little web structures to start creating webs with different medias.

In the textile workshop I used the water soluble fabric to stitch webs into. I washed away the fabric leaving a web of stitches.

Cultural Studies: Landscape and the Natural World

Last week in Cultural Studies we had a lecture about the Myths of the Landscape and how we perceive it. Afterwards we were given the task to in groups look at what we relate to the natural world and how we'd make a creative piece about it. When we got together we started listing word and agreed that we should make something that we could do individually and then bring together to form one piece. We all chose seperate parts of the natural world (Land, Water, Sky, Plant and Air) and base a small strip of paper on it. I then stitched them together to create this one collective piece.

At the lesson we presented our piece to everyone which was agreed it is good and certainly shows the areas of the natural world. It was picked out that it also looked quite religious/biblical with the shape of the long panels and the themes that relate to 7 days of creation where God created the sea and the land.

I got the new brief for the cultural studies essay where we have to write an essay based either on Landscape and the Natural World or Travel and Tourism along side a creative piece of work which reading over it totally scares me at the moment as I have no ideas on what I'm going to be writing about, I certainly need a one on one tutorial before I can even start this.

Forging Small Metals

Today was a small metal forging workshop which to me seemed like a lesson of hitting metal with a hammer and see what we get. Obviously there is so much more you can do with it but I was unsure on how to use my hammer other than to just hit it. If I knew more about what I could do with the hammer and with alot more practice I'd probably be alot better at it. I did like the idea of creating natural forms with the metal I found it quite interesting making leaf shapes and funny curves. My samples weren't amazing so I definately haven't pick anything up from hanging around with the blacksmiths except "Hit it Hard".

Mould Making and Slip Casting

We had a workshop with Steve in the ceramics workshop we're he demonstraited to us how to make and do Mould Making and Slip Casting. It was very interesting as I've always wondered how they make their moulds. I took as many notes as possible but now I wish I had taken some picture of some of the steps.

Textile Ideas for Lace Making

I visited the textiles studio to talk to Becky about if she know anything about lace making (which was unlikely) but if not about any alternative I could use/look in to. It was suggested that if I can't make lace I could certainly make something using lace. After talking it over I was given a few ideas I'm certainly interesting in sampling. I could:

• Expose a screen with lace and print the pattern
• Use the knitting machine to create a similar effect of open weave
• Stitch into water soluble fabric
• Learn how to crochet
• Burn into fabric
• Finger knitting

All very interesting ideas to start me off on, I'm certainly thinking of attempting to stitch into the water soluble fabric and see what effect I can get from that.

Oxford University Museum of Natural History and Pitt Rivers Museum

Today I visited Oxford University Museum of Natural History and Pitt Rivers Museum. I got to look around at all the different areas and collection. There was something there for everyone to find interesting.

I think I was most excited at first by the dinosaurs skeletons as I love dinosaurs, even the dug out dino-footprints in the grass outside the building we're awesome.

When looking around I saw lots of interesting things, specifically I was trying to find things that related to my theme of lace and webs. I found one section about rope, nets and knots that were interesting a i got to see different patterns of nets and different types of rope/string material they're made of.

I also found a lot of weaved pieces around the Pitt that were also quite interesting towards my theme, showing the interlinking of materials.

One thing that was pretty cool was that I saw this thing that people used to make lace. Apparently it take two people to weave the threads between each other and around the pins that creates the pattern with each thread that is joined together between two bobbins.
I talked to another student about a lace making course in Oxford for a day during the Easter holidays but considering trying to find one closer to home. I need to still look into simpler alternatives to lace like crochet.

Paper Cut Outs

This weekend I started my first paper cut drawings for my ICP project, I took some of the pictures from my 50 images and used them as stencils to cut them out. These are the start of my drawing process, I'm planning on doing more papaer cut outs of my images. I'm going to eventually move onto making these webs out of something else.

My First Attempt at the Knitting Machine

Today I visited the textiles workshop to see if they can teach me the processes of lace making as I feel it maybe relevant for my ICP project, but they didn't have to facilities or tools to make actual lace. They attempted to show me a similar process of using the knitting machine to put holes into the material. I created this long strip of knitting whilst trying to get to grips with the basics and trying to work some patterns. I've been thinking about also looking at learning how to crochet to get similar patterns to lace. I think I'm going to return to the knitting machine soon to churn out some more individual samples of patterns and record them.