Textile Curtains

For the last few months I've been creating these three linear 3m long curtains each describing a process I've looked very closely at within my project. This idea is branched from when I created shadows with with maps because i'm intending to shine light through these three curtains to make shadows; creating an installation piece.

Paper:

I started this project cutting out maps from Karen O'leary and I've already used cut out maps to make shadows so cutting out a map from paper seemed an obvious start. Tord Boontje's work inically inspired me to create my curtains starting with cut out curtains with his 'Screen/Streamer' from his Wednesday collection, Until Dawn Curtain and Fallen Flowers Curtain/Screen.

While making this I had to hand cut it all out so like Tord I folded the paper to get a repetitive pattern that also links the the roads together creating one whole strip of map that is cut out.

Print:
One of the ways I created shadows before was from shining light through screen printing onto translucent fabric. From this it seemed obvious to do it again but on a much larger scale. ust one repetitive print was too simple and not as appealing so i printed another thinner map over the top. I tested different colour combinations stcking to the colour schemes within my sketch book.

Strips:
Looking through my sketch book my imitation of Sandra Meech strip pieces was something i looked quite deeply at and was the most adaptable from my other work to this.
Using this technique wouldn't give much light through but i could use different tranlucent fabric in the spaces inbetween. I tested four different types of translucent fabric, looking at: cotton scrim, netting, unbleached muslin and a looser weave bleeched muslin. I chose to use the cotton scrim and unbleached muslin because it didn't ruffle up when i sewn over them.

To make this i've used loads of different materials for strips all with natural colours like cream and brown, I used maps, route cards, squared paper, parcel paper, hand made paper, lino printed paper, textured wallpaper, old book pages, dress patterns, dress making pages and lace ribbon.
I intended for my curtain to be hanging up as an installation piece i needed to cover the back of this curtain. So I used cocoon stripping on the back for it's cream and natural colour and texture.

Felt Maps: Jeanette Appleton

I've recently learnt how to felt and with my first attempt I tried to make blue roads with thick pieces of felt. This didn't give me the effect I was hoping as it didn't look greatly like roads but at the edges of the blue felt were little strands coming off gave me the idea to finer strands. I tried felting pieces of map into my own and I even attempted sewing into felt pieces that I made.

After this I was introduced to a piece by Jeanette Appleton. In the exhibition 'Through The Surface' Jeanette Appleton is paired with Japanese textile artist, Naoko Yoshimoto for their similar concerns with the notion of memory and the transformation of substances from one state to another. Appleton produced a 45 meter length of needle felt for her exhibition piece showing along the length of the felted fabric the journey overtaken in this project and felting in pieces like cloths tags, water bottle labels, drawings and other things that she picked up on her journey with Yoshimoto.

I like how she created a long piece to demonstraight a journey stretched along a piece of fabric and will be something I'll consider for continuing on.

Through The Surface: Jeanette Appleton & Naoko Yoshimoto 

Monika Jarg and Transparent House

Monika Jarg a textile designer creates "carpets of wood" by drilling holes into panels of wood and weaving directly into them with fibers. I've found this an interesting to decorate something as simple as the floorboads beneith you. I surely hope that when I have my own house with floorboards I would try this out. This idea reminds me of some of Claire Coles work where she'd drill into tea cups and sew flowers or messages into them, creating these sentimental and delicate tea sets.
http://www.tekstiilruumis.ee/indexeng.html

While I'm looking at floors I've also found this, this beautiful new concrete flooring from san francisco’s trasnparent house team. They’ve created a way to add these soft floral patterns to polished concrete flooring either doing the pouring or after the concrete has set. I think it's absolutely beautiful how they've added detail to the flooring without taking away from the simplicity of the style, also how something so eatheral as nature is forever inprinted in an industrial styled concrete floor. Ok floorboads are quite uncommon in mondern houses, so this will be what I want instead.

Printing & Sewing with Maps

From cut out maps I began to look at printing through cut out maps and after collage I thought this could be a good point to persist with looking at various types of backgrounds. I've tried using cellulose thinner on fabrics and multiple ways I can use a variety of materials together. I also tested printing on to translucent fabric, that work pretty well and i'm intending on using these again. I tried out two types of patterns to print; the first is of a cut out map and the other of a pattern that is related to maps like a pirate map.

I've sewn into a couple of my printed pieces and I liked how I sewn along the roads of one that it gave me the idea to make a quilt doing the same.

I loved how my quilted piece turned out I wanted to do more with this idea that I tried sewing into maps. After sewing along the roads didn't make much of an effect on the map I tried sewing along the contour lines of a map. After a whole day at the sewing machine I was amazed how beautiful the pattern created was. I'd like to copy this further but I all them lines are too complicated to translate without having the map with the line work into.