PE Task 2

During sampling I've had the chance to explore different types of print in the print room and digitally all revolving around the theme of data. Throughout the project I've been looking into different artists and designers that have influenced my practice. These 3 separate designers that have influenced me in the print room, digital sessions and also creating collages for hand designs. 

Madame Gilles 

Madame Gilles really stood out for me. A lot of her work is influenced by Pop art and Andy Warhol and from her collages you can really see those elements coming through. Madame Gilles' use of collage and layering has influenced my hand designs. I also think that her work has an urban feel to it and has been seen on lamp posts in New York and having her collages on 3D objects in a city environment has encouraged me to use my surroundings when thinking about composition and presentation. I've tried to use different weights of materials when producing my hand designs to bring more depth to my work as my prints from working in the print room and my digital prints are all flat and I want that variation in my work.

Basso & Brook

I have really admired Basso & Brooks' digital design for a while but have never been able to interpret this in my work as I didn't know how to work Photoshop and Illustrator. As with Madame Gilles, Basso & Brook's use of layering has inspired me especially in my digital designs. Now I know some techniques in Photoshop and Illustrator I feel it has push my designs further and has given me that extra boost to work digitally. When designing my digital designs I looked at how the composition of each image has been manipulated in some of Basso & Brooks' designs and attempted to do this in a few of my digital designs as well. I feel that it worked with a few designs but it didn't reflect my colour mood/image as well as I thought it would. I had to be selective when picking my final samples and some of the digital designs didn't make the cut as I feel they didn't fit with the majority. 

I have learnt something new every week within print and have thoroughly enjoyed it. One process that really stood out for me was the discharge printing. Unfortunately I didn't manage to get into the print room after my digital designs were ready to use the illuminating discharge dye on my digital prints as I felt some need stripping back to work with the rest of the collection. The other designer I looked into was Ivana Helsinki and their S/S 2012 collection. I'm not entirely sure if some of the prints we're done using the discharge technique but I can see the elements of it in the prints. From viewing the catwalk show I saw different fabrics used in the collection and I wanted to try the discharge technique on the range of fabrics I had already printed on to see how each one would turn out.

Ivana Helsinki

Overall I believe that research is an important aspect of any project and can influence you tremendously and move your work and projects forward. I have learnt that inspiration comes from anywhere and not just in your area of study. Realizing this, for future projects I want to do more research outside of the box as this can expand my research and practice

   

Print - Week 8

This is the last week of print and have been trying to make the most of my time. I sent some digital prints to be printed out on Cotton Satin and Habotai. There is was quite a queue in the digital print room so not expecting the prints till the end of the week but this still leaves enough time for me to bonderweb the edges so they don't fray. I also managed to get some time in the print room which I was please about. This gave me the chance to try more of the different techniques from previous weeks print room sessions as I wanted to develop my designs further onto dip and tie dyed backgrounds as a feel it fits in with my colour pallet better rather than a plain white background because they look quite simple in my sketch book. I tried to experiment with the discharge printing by doing it onto a dip dyed background to see what the outcome was. On one I used my motifs and other I used one of the ready exposed screen with dots one which still fit well with my project and motifs.

My digital print came out really well and am chuffed to bits with the end results. I'm going to have to be selective when picking my final samples as I don't think all of them go together or compliment my colour pallet.

Once my digital prints have been processed and steamed I gathered all my hand and digital designs together to see what worked well with each other and if any stood out. I narrowed my samples down to ones which i think compliment each other and work well as a final collection of samples. Over all I am happy with my designs, but some of the digital ones the colour came out slightly different. 

Artist Research - Ivana Helsinki

I came across this fashion designer a few years ago and this particular collection has really stuck in my head. The Ivana Helsinki Spring/ Summer 2012 collection. Founded in 1998 by Paola Suhonen and her sister Pirjo Suhonen their fashion line uses high quality materials, bright colours and bold unusual patterns and print designs. In September 2010, Ivana Helsinki showed its first collection Copper Chain at New York Fashion Week. After seeing the catwalk show online it was nice to see how the patterns flowed nicely on the fabrics. From what I could see there were weights of fabric and it was a subtle yet characteristic contrast between the fabrics. 

In this particular collection I can picture the prints being done by a the Illuminating discharge technique I tried in the print room. I would like to develop this technique further in the print rooms (if there's space) on different fabrics to see what works best and if I could use them in my final samples.

http://www.ivanahelsinki.com/collections/ss-2012-collection-indian-summer/

Print - Week 7

From the peer review that introduced the start of week 7 really helped with seeing what other people were developing and the range of different colour pallets people were working from. The review also encouraged me to try and get into the print room as often as I could. Its proven rather difficult to have full days booked in the print room but when people haven't turned up for booked sessions I took the opportunity. 

Screen printing with illuminating discharge dye was the technique in the print room this week. This dyes bleached away the background colour and replaced it with an illuminating colour. At first I didn't quite sink in into how it was going to turn pink as it just looked clear on the black fabric. But once the fabric had been steamed it released the colour. Prior to to steaming I mixed half the illuminating paste with glycerine which created what looked like a halo around the motifs. I only added a small amount of this so evidently I only ended up with a slight 'halo'. 

Without glycerine

With glycerine

I took took the opportunity this week to try out different techniques in the print room I believe I wanted to expand more. I want to take more risks in my printing as this can lead to better designs and practice.

Print - Week 6

I've been developing my initial design ideas onto a larger scale and really thinking about composition and the though process behind them. The first ones are quick sketches of potential designs I can progress onto into either the print room or digitally. I tried to have a equal amount of different types of compositions such a ribbon, posy and cascade. Thinking about designing them in my sketch book first will also help me in the print room as I will know exactly where I want the motifs instead of just going with the flow and wasting time. 

. I planning to do some hand designs in paint and collage to accompany the fabric designs but do these on paper so I have a assorted range of samples. I've also seen that the print room is fully booked for a while so this means I might not be able to get done what I wanted to do like discharge printing onto my digital designs as I feel some of them need the colour taking out of them so they fit in better with my other samples. If this is the case I'm going to try and show these through hand designs. 

This week  also tried screen printing with reactive dyes. This works best on lighter fabrics.

Artist Research - Basso&Brooke

Basso & Brooke are a British and Brazilian duo fashion design company. They specialize in digital prints but mix digital and photographic elements in their designs. Their designs are manipulated to create a abstract imagery. I love their use of layering and the use of different types of imagery and has showed me potential techniques I could see if I can figure how to do on Photoshop. I also admire their use of of colour in their designs and feel I can relate this to my practice as my colour stripe has a range of rich colours. 

They have collaborated with companies such as Swarovski, Cambridge Satchel Company, Havaianas and Harrods. 

 

www.bassoandbrooke.com/