Final samples

For my final 6 samples I created a series of textile pieces inspired by nature and the illustrations I had created. I developed several hand drawn illustrations in batik, machine stitch and handmade fabric techniques.

1.  Machine stitch in handmade felt.

For this piece I please a photo copy of my own hand drawn illustration over the top of a piece of hand made white felt. I then used a sewing machine with an embroidery foot and black cotton to stitch the details and outlines of the illustration I had created. This allowed me to create a textile illustration exploring the use of machine stitch. I decided to use my illustration of a cicada as I felt it would fill as much of the felt as possible but would also make for an interesting stitched price due to the intricacy of the wings and details of the body.

I am pleased with the way this piece turned out as the black cotton contrast well again the White handmade felt allowing the viewer to be able to see the illustration clearly without it being too busy. The illustration worked well with the soft texture of the felt giving a smoothe finish to the piece. I'll,e the image itself when being used for stitch as it allowed me to create the same transparency I created when drawing the original illustration. The delicate wings worked well with the gentle and subtle stitching I had created.

When creating this piece I found it very difficult to stop the felt from getting caught under the embroidery foot because felt is a very fibrous fabric. Dying the fabric making process I tried to roll the fabric through the bamboo Matt for as long as possible to get the smoothest finish I could on the felt itself (see felt making blog post for details) this limited the speed I could see my piece, and so I had to take time to ensure this wouldn't happen.

2. Machine stitch on handmade felt with added felt fibres. 

I used the same technique to create this stitched piece but to develop my idea further I wanted to add further texture and colour.  For this I added needle felted felt fibres in the same colour as my original illustration. For this piece I chose my illustration or a bumblebee as I thought it would work sell with the texture of the felt fibres as they would act as the fur/hairs found on the bumblebee itself.
I started by machine stitching the illustration onto the felt fibres like in the previous sample and used a felting needle to poke the fibres through the felt sample allowing some of them to poke through the surface. I layered the felt fibres until the piece because padded and almost three dimensional and I thought it would give s better impression of a bumble bee. Once I had a sufficient amount of fibres into the felt I then used the felting needle to neaten up the edges.
I liked the way this turned out as it added a different texture to my felt samples as I felt it gave a similar texture to a realistic bumble bee. I like the way the colours are well separated to allow definition to each block of colour.
I like the contrast between the needle felted fibres and the illustration itself as the illustration I created used hard stitching in a smooth surface whereas the needle felted fibres had a much rougher texture much like the texture you would find on a real specimen.
When creating this piece I found it difficult not to felt over the original lines of the illustration below. Because of this I decided that I would needle felt over the wings of the piece. If I was creating a much larger piece this would have been easily avoided but the illustration below would not have been seen. I could however have re-stitched over the needle felting with white thread by hand to add the wings in again but this could be very difficult due to the thickness if the fabric and felted sample.

3. Detailed machine stitch on handmade felt.
Like my other two machine stitch and felt samples I used the sam technique to apply my illustration but this time I decided to use much thicker lines and more detail to make the piece more representational of what I was trying to achieve. I made the lefts and body of the specimen much more detailed.
I like the way this illustration turned out as the lines are very strong but are also quite expressive due to the way the lines are places onto the sample. I would have liked to add more to this sample ask feel if is lacking detail and further techniques to make this piece more aesthetic. But I found that when I was stitching the piece the felt sample I had used was very thick and well structured making it difficult to pass both machine needle and hand sewn needle through the fabric, limiting me to the amount of embellishing I could do.If I were to re-create this piece I would use a thinner felt sample to allow me to embellish it accordingly using hand stitch and appliqué to make my piece further more representational.

4. Machine stitch on handmade silk paper.
I decided to develop one of my hand drawn illustrations further by using a series of different textile techniques to see what textures they would create. I started by photo copying the original pencil study and placed this photo copy onto apiece of hand made silk paper. I then stitched over this with machine embroidery. I decided to sitch the main outlines of the piece to allow the silk papers colour and texture to add to enhance the illustration.
After stitching the whole piece I started to remove the paper from underneath the stitch but found it difficult to remove as it began to tear the silk paper itself. I decided to prevent this I souls turn the piece back to front so that the illustration itself was reversed. If I were to recreate it I would reverse the illustration before I start stitching into the piece. This would allow the illustration to face the right way when I reverse the stitched piece. 

I like the way my silk paper illustration turned out as the silk paper itself gave a used appearance. Almost like the way Mr Finch uses used fabric to create his pieces. The flecks the silk cocoons create in the fabric act as the feathers on the bird. 

I also like the way the black stitch stands out against the handmade paper as there is a nice contrast between the two textures. Once appears rough even though it is smooth and easy to stitch on whilst the other is hard and strong allowing it to stand out against the paper background. 

 I came across some limitations whilst creating this piece. Due to the nature if the silk paper it is not very strong. This would mean a lot of machine stitch may cause damage to the paper itself which could cause the illustration to be damaged as well. I attempted to create thicker pieces of silk papers, but whilst doing this the fibres would not bind together due to the lack of moisture and heat in the middle of the paper sample. This would mean I would not be able to make thicker and stronger pieces of silk paper to work upon. 

5. Batik on fabric with added machine stitch.

For this piece I first traced my design onto a piece of fabric (bird illustration). I then used the batik method of dying to draw the design in wax. This would then allow me to dye the piece without allowing colours to bleed into one another and allow me to sepperately dye specific areas as well as adding line work to the piece (see batik post for more details) once I had drawn on the design using the wax technique I then used the batik dyes like water colour paints to paint in the non-waxed areas of the design avoiding the background of the piece. I used a similar colour scheme to the specimen I was inspired by this included blacks and browns which I mixed with the primary colours in the dye and a black. I used these in the darker areas and water to blend the colours out to give an impression of shadow and form. I then left my piece to dry. 

Once the batik piece was dry I then removed the wax by applying heat to the area. To do this I placed sugar paper over the top of the piece and used an iron to draw out the wax. 

After all the wax was removed from my piece I then enhanced the sample with machine stitch with loose threads. I used black cotton as I thought the dark edges would allow me to define certain areas of the piece and make it more recognisable. 

I am pleased with the result of my batik piece as the colours work well for a representational batik design. I also feel they are relevant to my chosen image an allow me explore their texture through the use of added water. 

I also like the way the was resisted the dye leaving white borders around the dyed areas which I then outlined with stitch. 

I am pleased with the way my machine stitch turned out as it added further texture to the work and has allowed me to explore the effect machine stitch has on different materials and designs.

Over all I am pleased with my batik piece as the design works well with these processes and has allowed me to create a nice sample. 

When creating this piece I struggled to get the machine stitch perfect. Unlike other machine stitched pieces this piece was not a continuous line which made if very difficult to stitch as every area had to be stitched one by one. This limited the amount of stitching I could place on the piece. 

I also found that when I placed my piece in an embroidery hoop for machine stitch the fabric became very taught causing the needle to break. This is very dangerous and so I decided to remove it from the embroidery hoop all together.  After taking it out of the embroidery hoop it became easier to stitch but also loosened the tension making slight loops throughout the piece of work. I would need to tighten the tension to allow me to continue working with machine.

6. Machine and hand stitch 

For this piece I used he same piece of imagery and the same technique to apply this to the fabric but I decided to create a more representational piece.  I used large amounts of machine stitch and a series of threads to  create a basic line drawing and begin to fill it in using heavy machine sitting. 

Whilst creating my piece I had placed it into an embroidery hoop. The more I stitched the more taught it became till eventually the sewing machine needle snapped. Due to this I decided to constitute working into the piece using hand stitch in a similar method to the way I was sewing my machine stitch.

I used a variety of different colours similar to the way Chloe Giordano creates her Work blending the colours together and highlighting important areas. 

I am very pleased with the way my machine embroidery piece turned it out as I like the texture of the different stitches and the effect they had on the over all piece. I like the way the machine embroidery stands out well against the white fabric. The colours I used compliment bed each over and give a good impression of the specimen I was inspired by.

I like the direction of the stitch and they way this effect the texture and structure of the sample. I tried to sew in the same gradient as the feathers in the actual specimen so when I were finished with my hand stitch if would almost look like feathers on the bird. 

I like the way the piece on a while stands out against the white of the fabric and the way the textures constant against each other If I could improve my piece I would ensure I would take more care when sewing into the piece and remove the embroidery hoops to prevent it from snapping further needles as the piece was placed in an embroidery good forcing the fabric to become very tight and taught which would not allow the sewing machine needle to pass through without it snapping. 

If I could not do this I would place the piece onto a bigger piece of fabric and therefore use a larger embroidery good to creae less tension whilst stitching.

Pamela Sunday and Gabrielle Baecille

Pamela Sunday and Gabrielle Baecille are doth ceramic artists who specialise in hand build ceramic forms based on natural forms and textures. Both artists are inspired by nature and science and can be both abstract and representational.
Pamela Sunday is especially inspired by illustration artist Ernst Haeckel who specialises in scientific illustrations showing the forms and their contours.

Sunday's pieces can constrastquite dramatically; sometimes they will have a Matt finish giving a worn look like coral or rock and sometimes they will have a very strong metallic glaze which is very striking giving a completely different agenda making her pieces appear mechanical or manmade.

Her pieces almost always start from an orb or circular shape and like Gabrielle baecille can sometimes resemble stone, coral and crustaceans.
Like Pamela Sunday Gabrielle Baecille is also inspired by crustaceans, sponges and other natural forms. Her pieces are more oval in shape and normally consist of more than one form joined together.

She is sometimes inspired by the natural process of germination making her pieces look like something may have been living inside like an egg or cocoon.  Her pieces are more linear in shape to Pamela Sunday's as Pamela's work resolves around one main shape where as Bascilles work can be made several different shapes and are often pierces full of holes where Sunday only does this on certain pieces of work.

Both artists pieces are very organic and consist of joined components otherwise known as s composite piece and are often pierced to add texture. They are also often rounded as they are inspired by natural forms which are often rounded in themselves. Both artistsuse a similar colour scheme in some of their works, these will be very organic colours such as reds, browns and greys similar to the colours of coral.

I have been inspired by both artists to create my own ceramic pieces exploring texture and the effect of glazes based on natural forms like Pamela Sunday and Gabrielle Baecille. I could use a similar technique to joins pieces together to eventually create a ceramic composite peace using a similar glaze and texture technique. 

Christine Farmer

Christine Farmer is a British artist and illustrator living in Stourbridge who is inspired by nature. She created hand drawn illustration often with a dip pen and ink inspired by insects, plants and animals.

After graduating from university with a degree in archaeology she decided to go into teaching,she soon found she much preferred drawing and photography. She now works full time as an illustrator working from home. 

She very rarely creates illustrations of animals and wild creatures outside of her local surroundings, for the most part she draws subjects found in her garden. She often creates detailed illustrations of leaf cutter bees as well as lichen and plant life. They are often very intricate using small strokes and marks to create the details and small hairs that can be found on the bees she often draws. 

I have been inspired by Christine Farmer to create my own natural illustrations which could be developed further into textile based illustration and print work.

Chloe Giordano

Chloe Giordano is a British based illustrator who creates hand drawn illustration but most notably hand stitched embroidery.

Giordano lives and works in Buckinghamshire surrounded by the countryside that inspires her work. In 2011 she graduated from university with a degree in illustration kick starting her career as an illustrator and textile artist.
She is heavily inspired by nature creating small stitched illustrations of animals such as rabbits and deer. These are very detailed and use a variety of colours to create a gradient in the colour of the illustration giving the impression of shading and tone.

She uses myriad cotton and simple coloured fabric in an embroidery hoops to create her work.
Her pieces are extremely small, sometimes as small as a thimble, making her pieces very impressive and dainty.  Using intricate stitching she is able to create charming textiles illustrations that appear as though they come alive.

I have been inspired by Chloe Giordano to develop my own natural illustrations into textile samples including both machine and hand embroidery in a similar style to Giordanos work. 

Impasto Painting and Colour Mixing

Impasto painting -
Impasto is a painting technique which uses thick layers of paint to add texture and tone to a piece of work. Artists examples of impasto painting can include Lucien Freud and Rembrandt. Mostly using opaque paints such as oils and acrylics impasto painting has a very sculptural 3-dimensional effect to it meaning it can take years of work to apply the correct amount of layers.
I created my own impasto painting using a sharp tipped knife. For this I had to apply layers of paint to a sheet of canvas fabric to create a textured effect. I started by drawing out my image, I decided to do an observational study of a pepper as it has many different raised areas that I felt would work well with the impasto effect. I then began by mixing the darkest areas and shadows with acrylic paint and applied them to the appropriate areas I then worked my was up through the shades insuring I was mixing my colours as accurate as possible, till I eventually got to the highlighted areas which I added with white. 

I also added a shadow to give my piece a sense of purpose and give a more three dimensional feel, for this I mixed an exquisite amount of red and yellow and a slightly larger amount of blue to create a blue/grey tone which I applied lightly and scraped with a scalpel to remove the harsh edges.
I had to take care when mixing the colours for my painted pepper to ensure the pepper could look as realistic as possible. All colours can be mixed from the primary colours red, blue and yellow as well as white. For example to create a darker shade of red to use in my red pepper painting I could add small amount of blue and yellow to darken the colour slightly. Dark colours such as black can be made with continuous work by adding equal amounts of each colour until it becomes dark enough to be classed as black. When mixing my own colour I used the palette knife to thoroughly mix the different colours together this would ensure there would be no streaks of colour throughout the paint as it is applied to the piece.
To create neutral colours the primary colours can be mixed to create greys and Browns, more blue can be added to create a grey and more yellow to create a brown. Whites could be added to make neutral pastel colours.

Lino and intaglio on fabric

To create my print work on fabric I first found imagery to base my prints on. My themes for the project 'truth to materials' are natural and texture. I decided to chose imagery of poppy seed pods. For my intaglio piece I found an image of a series of poppy seeds with different colours and tone on each of them and for my Lino cut I used a singular image of a poppy seed pod showing the texture of the pod itself.
For my intaglio piece I placed the image underneath the sheet if Perspex and used an etching tool to draw into the Perspex. Wherever I carved into the Perspex it would create a line when it was inked up. I wanted to explore how the marks would leave texture on the final print. The deeper I carved into the Perspex the darker the line it would create and the more compact the marks the darker the shading would become. I used the intaglio tool to draw the outline of the pods and used cross hatching to shade and contour the pods.
When printing my intaglio prints I used a series of different fabrics including plain calico, hand dyed calico and hand dyed cotton. To dye my fabric I used Indian inks in autumnal and natural colours including sienna, yellow, yellow ochre and deep red. I inked my plate using Caligo etching inks and scrim. After dying my fabric I allowed them to dry slightly and placed my inked up plate over the top of the dyed fabric and put it through the printing press.
For my non dye piece of fabric I first wet the fabric using a spray bottle. Once the fabric as wet enough I removed any excess water and also placed this through the printing press. I then left my prints to dry.
For my lino cut piece I first drew a basic line drawing of my chosen image onto my piece of Linoleum and used a Lino cutting tool to remove all the areas I wanted to be White, whatever bits I wanted to print black I would leave uncarved.
After I had finished carveing my Lino cut I then inked up the piece with relief ink using a roller. I placed an piece of calico over the top of my Lino cut and rolled over the top of the fabric to remove the ink from the plate placing it into the fabric.
I also used the same technique to print onto a piece of polyester.
When creating my prints I realised that the images I had chose were printed backwards, this did not effect the quality of the prints but would need to be reversed if it was important for the image to be the correct way round. To do this I could trace the image and reverse it before etching or carving my plates.

Equipment list-
Linoleum
Etching ink
Relief ink
Lino cutting tool
Etching tool
Fabric - polyester, calico, cotton
Indian inks
Perspex etching plate
Scrim snd tissue paper
Printing press
Spray bottle and water
Roller

HEALTH AND SAFETY
- When using the printing press care must be taken to ensure no harm comes to the user. Long hair must be tied back to avoid contact with the press and hands must be kept away from the roller at all times.
- Hands must be kept away from both the etching tool and Lino cutter as there may be a risk of damage to the users hands.
- The inks I used when printing are non toxic, but care must be taken when choosing inks to use as some may not be safe to use.
- Water must be kept away from electrical items at all times care must be taken when using the spray bottle to keep the water away from electrical devices.

Mr Finch and Yumi Okita comparison

Mr Finch and Yumi Okita are both textile sculptors who are inspired by nature. They both use a similar set of materials including fabric, wire and embroidery floss. They also both use similar techniques which include hand stitch, machine embroidery and fabric dying. 

Yumi Okita bases her pieces predominantly on moths and butterfly's but also creates other insects where Mr Finch creates a wide variety of creatures, animals and flora.

Although both inspired by nature, Mr Finch is mostly inspired by folk stories and children's books; creating surrealist sculptures of animals in human clothing and characters which you would expect to find in a fairy tale. 

Yumi Okitas pieces are very textural and are made up of different layers of textile processes. Her pieces are often sculpted with wire and built up, often using faux fur for the main body of her creations and hand dyed fabric with machine and hand embroidery for the wings. Mr finch's pieces are more padded almost like that of a children's toy, stitched and stuffed transforming a simple piece of old fabric into a sculpture. Yumi creates very precise sculptures with accurate details on the wings especially in her moths and butterfly's to ensure they look like the real specimens she is inspired by, however Mr Finch creates loosely based sculptures adding floral elements and clothing giving his work that surrealist twist he specialises in. Yumis pieces are very ristructed in size mostly up to a foot wide she has not create any extremely large textile works, where Mr Finch's pieces come in a variety of shapes and sizes some of which can be several feet long. 

Unlike Mr Finch Yumi uses a very vibrant colour scheme mostly made from her embroidery giving her insects an exotic feel according to the part of world they come from, where Mr Finch used a muted colour scheme and layers of ruffles and appliqué to add detail giving his pieces a more vintage look, almost like they have been well used or hidden in a storage space for some time. 

Yumi will often dye and create her own fabric for her work but unlike Yumi Mr Finch will look for used clothing and scraps of fabric in vintage stores and charity shops to use in his pieces to give his work a charm and add character which works very well. 

I like both artists work as they are both very skill full and  both artists clearly put a lot of time and effort into their works. It is clear to see both artists love of their work through the care and attention to detail in their pieces. I like the way they are both inspired by nature and admire the way they can create realistic sculptures when using textiles with a great deal of character. 

I have been inspired by both artists to create my own textile sculptures based on my themes texture and nature to create similar style samples which could eventually be developed into a final textile sculpture.