Abbotsford 2



I continued on with the Abbotsford screens, I decided to dye the warps to create backgrounds more similar to the original fabrics. Different shades of Procion brown were used to create this warp and the colourway remained the same so that comparision was easy.

The Power of Making

While on a recent trip to London , I visited the Victoria and Albert Museum to see the Power of Making exhibition which was run by The Crafts Council. It was full of mesmerising videos and inspiring work however the space was small and it was often difficult to see the work at busy periods. The show celebrated the skill, pleasure and beauty of the making process and the importance of hand craft. Work in the exhibition included giant gorilla made from wire coathangers, a lifesize crochet bear and a dress made using pins.

David Mach

Shauna Richardson

susie macmurray

For more information on the exhibition, you can check out this the webiste;
http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/p/powerofmaking/

TRIP

In November,we gave a short presentation at the TRIP conference in Loughborough. TRIP stands for Textile Research in Process so it was quite an appopriate event based on the nature of the Shadow Tissues project.

Other people speaking at the symposium included Emma Henderson, an embroiderer from Matthew Williamson.

.

Margo Selby, a woven textiles designer.

And Bradley Quinn, a writer and critic who contributes to Style magazines, books and publications worldwide.

For more information on this event along with the full list of speakers, here is the website;

http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/sota/trip/trip_homepage.html

Abbotsford

We were finally sent the screens for Abbottsford. There were 14 separations and using an old image we had been sent we decided on a colourway of shades of red, blue, green and brown. Setting up, threading, printing, then threading and weaving again was time consuming but using a historical image really helped the project more forward and create fabric that in some way resembled those created by Turnbull and Stockdale in the 1920's.

Devore

I decided to do some Devore tests by weaving different fibres and yarns together. This was to create a visual/technical record of what yarns burnt and what combinations worked. This technique could be partnered with warp printing to create some really interesting and experimental fabrics.

Cotton warps and a range of wefts

Printing/Drying

                                         

Washing the cotton away reveals some lovely floating threads of lurex,copper, steel and wool.



Going Digital

I tried running the warps through the digital printer. It is something that requires alot more development as head height and ink droppage both had an impact on how the print looked at the end. Perhaps the thread was too thick as sometimes the pattern wasn't visable or else the ink did not penetrate the whole way through the yarn.

Pre Weave

In order to get the patterns to stop slipping, I decided to add pre woven bands. This required threading up the warp, weaving sections, taking this off, printing the unwoven sections, then putting the warp back on the loom.

               Pre woven warp is rolled out on table and screen printed.

              It is then rolled up and threaded back onto the loom.

These sections are then cut out to allow weaving to commence.

Results are successful as pattern slippage is greatly reduced.