Dye Lab Induction

I may want to dye my own fabrics for the garments I make.

Burn tests to identify fibres above, viscose below, to decide appropriate dyestuff and method.

 Washing cloth after weighing it, before dying.

Weighing dyestuff in the laminar flow extraction booth to prevent inhalation.

Drawing and Deconstruction

I enjoyed drawing this shirt but not deconstructing something so beautifully made.

Man's shirt, labelled The Saville Row Company, from Oxfam Chorlton.

The white stitched line on the pocket is a simple, under stated detail.

Curating 5.8 x 4.1 Exhibition

Curating an exhibition takes a lot of time and head space! In collaboration with Katie and Chloe, and in liaison with the technician responsible for Holden Gallery Cafe, below is a list of things I've been doing:

• Bid box, plinth and bid form
• Gallery signage, poster wording and printing
• Press release to Manchester Evening News and MMU
• Student sign up list of jobs for finale night
• Finale night payment and wrapping table notices, receipts
• Reorganising furniture in gallery
• Cash float
• Drinks for finale night

 We curated 160 postcards, which looked much more impressive all together and I felt very happy with the result. I used neon threads to add light to my linen postcard. (20 hours work experience)

Postcard dilemmas

The quality of some of the donated postcards e.g. smudged work, wax crayon and naive appliqué, led to a discussion with Katie and Chloe about whether some should be left out. I felt strongly that everything should be included even though we wondered if more established artists would object to having their work shown alongside such a broad ability range. We also had several mass produced artists' postcards, signed by the artist, which didn't really fulfil the original work criteria.

We decided to include everything and I tried to address these issues in the gallery poster;
The exhibition includes work by professional and self-taught artists and we have been touched by the generosity of people wanting to support us on our creative path.

Essay Research

I met with Miles Lambert Senior Manager at Platt Hall Gallery of Costume about Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto, Hussein Chalayan and Isabel Toledo. He said they all, "look beyond the constraints of fashion," and this is what interests me about their clothes.

Black stretch pleated polyester dress Issey Miyake  2001/02

 Black crepe cocktail dress Hussein Chalayan 2005/06

I also visited the pattern book archive and found a beautiful fabric sample book by Junichi Arai who co-founded Nuno Corporation with Reiko Sudo. 

One sample was folded giving a watery effect and many had metal content.

Portfolio Lecture - Contemporary Craft Practice

Interesting to hear about the MA course but if I were to do an MA 

it would be to gain further skills in my practice.

Swaddling bands

This swaddling band has a detailed, embroidered edge and the way it's laid out creates a lovely flowing line. Jesus was wrapped in linen bands at birth and in death I'm wondering if I could incorporate this idea with my flax designs.

Linen swaddling band Museum of Childhood

Hannah Leighton-Boyce - Lecture

I really loved Hannah's drawings, the raggedy lines and edges 

recording her movements as she walked, beautifully presented.

Visit to Special Collections

I especially liked the designs with a grid or fold line in the Japanese decorated papers from the Schmoller Collection and think I may try to incorporate this into my flax design. 

I'm also thinking about doing some pleat dying in the dye lab.

This one reminded me of my flax pod drawing

Below are examples of pleat dyed papers

Documenting the postcards

 We spent two hours opening the postcard work, recording the names for the artist list and images for the blog. We counted 92 so far and still quite a few more to arrive!

(2 hours)

Katie opening postcard work

Chloe photographing each postcard for the blog

Curating Holden Gallery Cafe

Assisting Deborah Barrett L5 sculpture student to display her work, deciding between alternative options.

Blends into the coloured flooring

The white background creates a clear shadow

Nearer to eye level on a plinth

(2 hours work experience)

The Glass Journey

Blue Mountain

Kirsteen Alsop's based this work on recurring dreams, which interested me as an expression of the unseen realm. The contrast between the smooth sides and the internal textures in the Blue Mountain pieces express well the drama of dreams inside a sleeping body, the blues are also stunning.

 Her working drawings and mind maps gave an overview of her plans and progression and 

I noticed some lovely Japanese papers from Special Collections that had inspired her.

I came back to the studio and started mind mapping my own work:

• Things I like - constructed fabrics, layers, lace, shimmer & sparkle, experimentation, folds.
• Processes I like - fabric manipulation, multi head, cornely, faggoting.
• Linen - qualities, purposes, types, symbolism
• Contexts of interest - Issey Miyake, Rachel Gornall.
• Where am I headed? - garments / textiles that release blessing, beautiful textiles

Tutorial with Heather

• explore concepts in linen e.g. wealth, status, symbolism.
• explore how its qualities like slubbing could be used to symbolise concepts.
• Look at tailored collars, deconstruct one.

More postcards!

Postcards are now arriving daily for the exhibition, which is a relief!

Textile Conservation - Ann French

Useful to consider issues that prolong the life of textiles as art forms.

Postcard invitations

I've contacted the remaining artists on the original list along with Creative Practice and MA students, about 35 in total, as well as speaking to the Level 5 Embroidery students at their weekly meeting.

(6 hours work experience)

Online Portfolios - Alex Russell

I am planning to have my own website so this was very useful advice.

Jill Townsley "Repetition"

Conceptually driven research creating interesting sculptural forms from everyday objects.

Spoons

Till Rolls

Collars, cuffs and seams workshop

I've signed up for the fashion workshops as I plan to make garments at some point this year.

Tutorial with Jane McKeating

• research qualities of linen as a fabric twisting, cutting, burning it etc to understand how it behaves. 
• incorporate this knowledge into my pocket samples.
• beware of using the laser cutter as it's all been done before.
• Jane to find out if Hollings offer any technology workshops for fashion students that I could join.

I love the pristine paper qualities of the holland linen 

and the light coming through the scrim in my favourite check image.

Petal Pusher 2007 Maggie Orth Fashioning Technology
Maggie Orth uses embroidery with conductive thread to create electrical circuits that allow the viewer to light the panels at a touch.