week 6

From looking at couture spring summer 2015 collections from various designers I have considered ways of creating a delicate affect in my knitting in order to translate the concept of ‘In the moment’. Alexis Mabille’s collection made me consider the uses of contrasting textures that has an interrupting moment of pattern through it. This would be relative to shadows because shadows place them selves on a surface and can change the texture and affect of the surface for a moment.

This affect could be achieved in knit through techniques such as fairilse, where the yarn quality varies from a light mercerized cotton to a heavier textured yarn. Or a plain knit in a light weight yarn with a moment of a denser technique like tuck or hooking up.

I looked at how Pringle of Scotland had interpreted the Spring/ summer 15 trends into knitwear. It appears that the garment has been knitted on loosers and tighter tensions which has given a subtle transparency on the yarment. The variable transparency could give a layered affect which would relate to the visual research I have done.

In this sample I have combined a cotton with a chenile yarn. I enlongated the stitches with the chenile and made cross over lace holes with the yarn to give the structural affect that the small bubble formations have. I am pleased with the e

week 5 Colour palette

I had selected a colour palette from the wgsn website that was intended for autumn winter 16/17 for women’s wear. However from looking at my visual research and concept I have decided that neutral colours are more appropriate. The couture fashion collections I have taken inspiration from have a very minimal colour palette. I have referred back to my photoshoped images and picked out some key colours and tones that I will later create yarn wrappings from.

From looking at the designer’s research at pitti, I realise the importance of clarifying the research that is informing the knit sampling. I need to select a few key images from my visual research that can inform my colour palette, yarn qualities and techniques. This will make me research areas of the concept in depth rather than just creating a range of imagery on the surface that doesn’t relevantly connect.

William Scott

I like the dry, matt finish to William Scott's shadow paintings, I have taken inspiration from the simplicity of the composition. The organic negative shapes would translate well into partial knit loops.

I selected my colour palette based on my emulsion paint paintings. I selected matt yarns and mohair to make a blurred distortion at the bottom of the sample. I used tonal shifts in the yarn to give the effect of shadows on the knitted loops to elaborate on the 3D effect. To improve this sample I could vary the scale of the loops and introduce a line of contrasting colour to freshen the beige.  

Pitti week 4

This week I visited Pitti fiati in Florence, Italy. The show was particularly interesting because it gave me the chance to refresh my knitting technique ideas. I spent a lot of time focusing on the way the knit samples had been composed and looked at the yarns they had used to create the techniques. From the photographs I collected I made a selection of techniques that I feel are appropriate to my project. I made mini technical samples for my sketchbook so that when I design my samples I can decide what proportion of the technique I want to use and what other techniques I might combine it with.

Chanel’s spring summer 2015 collection has an interesting use of lace like shape fabric with a similar affect of the ladder knitted shapes I have knitted this week. To push this affect to be more fitting to my concept and visual research I could use a darker shade of yarn and a bigger version of the same shape to give a more obvious representation of cast shadows.

This sample reflects my concept well because of its delicate qualities although I think it needs contrast and variation in both colour and the sizes of the ladder shapes. The bottom of the sample would make a good edge to a garment. 

This sample correlates well with the bubble formations and structures through its subtle change in hole sizes. 

Week 3

I reverted back to my earlier drawings of brain coral to make my own shadows. The concept that shadows can be a temporary form of imagery, made me create silhouettes influence by my coral drawings. I am interested in the distorted lines and shapes that drawing with lights and shadows create.

I elaborated on this further and created layers of the negative shapes along with the positive shapes in PhotoShop. These images have delicate momental affects to them as the seem although the shapes in them are scattering and merging away. I like the way that the imagery shifts from being in focus to being blurred and out of focus. This could be my starting point for when I start sampling.

This garment sample I found on the WGSN website gives thew affect of the sample distorting away but the combination of loop holes and hooking up. the loop holes create shadows through there 3D nature. I am interested in the way that the garment hangs because of the techniques used. I think that although all the yarn qualities are medium to heavy it has a delicate lookout it. This could be because the darker tones make those areas look denser. 

week 2

I used pinterest as a way of mind mapping the portention ways that I could represent my concept of things that last for a moment. Cellular imagery of bubbles made me consider different ways of recording the existence of the bubble structure. I didn't successfully draw with the large  paint bubbles that I created however I did record collections of small grouped bubbles. In PhotoShop I edited the imagery I'd captured from the bubbles and repeated and reflected the focus point of the bubble formation. 

Pinterest inspiration.

When I edited this image I considered how I could make the bubbles seem both structural and temporary. I felt that the small preportion of dark would brighten the lighter tones to give a more delicate effect. however from the colour forecasting research I have looked at for Spring 15, the colours are more tonal neutrals. This imagery still is a good source for knitting techniques, I think lace holes and ladders would translate it best.

My PhotoShop edits

This fashion image shows another way of reflecting my concept because the combination of dense enlarged knitting with the open lace holes resemble the bulked up areas of the bubble formations.

Pinterest fashion image

as another way of collecting imagery from the bubbles existence I took photographs of the shadows that they cast. I was able to manipulate the scale of the shadows. The layers of the formations are clean and clear. I am also interested in the fragments of lights that create small moments of contrasting colours in these photographs.

bubble shadows

week 1 'In the moment'

I have been looking at brain coral for some inspiration on how natural objects can seem both permanent and temporary. The coral has parts of almost transparent delicate textures which I think relates to my concept of 'In the moment'. To represent the layers of the coral, I used different medias to make a strata of weights of marks and weight qualities. 

I looked at Mondrian's tree drawings for inspiration on drawing structures that contain both weighty and delicate structural marks. I am interested in the distorted lines within the drawings because they create a depth to the painting. This style of drawings translates the qualities of layers and marks that I feel are reflective of the delicate qualities I want to show.

Mono printing is another way of creating layers that don't transfer very solidly. These combinations of soild colour layered with specelled markes make the image seem asthough it its self is fading away. I need to refine the colour palette in these drawings as they are not resembling any of the qualities that the subject has. I think that the colours could still be used but in a much smaller preportion to the nuetral colours.