Floral Geometry Evaluation

Intentions Unit Evaluation

 

Throughout this unit, I have learnt and discovered more about the process of decaying, the difference in shape and colour of the flowers from the start of the cycle, where the flowers are bright and blooming to the end of the cycle where they are dull, drooping and shrivelled. This informed my practice because I used bright, light colours against the contrast of dull, dark colours, along with the use of strong, stiff, thick materials and very easily fraying, thin fabric.

 

I feel like I engaged with my primary research because I used the photographs I took during summer throughout the whole of the unit, which showed the process of the flowers in my home and garden decaying. I used them within different processes like sublimation printing, weaving with the prints, shredding and cutting them up; this was the technique I developed the most. I used many of the techniques I learnt from workshops throughout the unit such as pin tucking, hair pinning, foiling, flocking, and puff binding because I thought that they worked well with my theme due to the textures and layouts they produced.

 

The artists I looked at were mainly because of the materials or textures they used; I used these as inspiration in small parts of my work whether that be through drawing, collaging or sampling using artists such as Marit Fujiwara and Pauline Verrinder. From a contextual understanding, I looked at a couple of fashion inspirations but interior was my main inspiration due to textures and shape that linked to my work.   

 

I tried to take on board the advice and constructive criticism I was given during tutorials and felt as if they really helped me to develop my work, especially when things weren’t going as planned and I was stuck. I felt like I got some helpful advice from the peer review yet took on board getting a definite colour palette too much. Then realised in the one to one, when my samples were all laid out together that my photographs make the colour palette, so didn’t need to pin it down completely because I had a very broad colour palette that worked.

 

I feel like I should have improved on developing more of the techniques I had used like sewing the paper onto the fabric and cutting out the shapes, instead of experimenting so much and leading myself away from them so much, because they produced outcomes that represented my theme very well, although I found other relevant techniques by doing this. Taking this on board, for the next unit, I will try not to get too carried away with experimenting with too many techniques every time I learn a new one.

 

I feel like once I had experimented which fabrics worked best when sublimating my photographs, I used a range of them throughout the unit at different times depending on what technique I was using it for. The fabrics I used throughout were polyester micro-fibre white fleece, polyester crepe backed satin, polyester lining, polyester canvas Albany, polyester koshibo cream and polyester lining lightweight, which allowed the photographs to sublimate really well and show the exact colour of the photographs with very accurate pigmentation. I think my choices of processes worked well with my theme and different techniques worked well together; I enjoy experimenting with different techniques so I felt like this was very helpful in the development of this project.

 

From the research of decaying I felt it allowed me to go in many directions when working with textures and colour which was helpful because I was able to be broad when testing. I feel that one technique led to another and was conducted at the right time for how I was working; I would have liked more time with each technique but glad I was able to test each one.

 

I learnt many embroidery, print and software techniques during this unit such as pin tucking, princess pleating, multi head (ethos), hair pinning, tailor tacking, tufting (cut pile and loop pile), InDesign, pigment printing, foiling, flocking, puff binding, reactive printing and devore. Learning these helped me to broaden my knowledge in embroidery, print and mixed media, which allowed me to experiment at great depth and always have something new to work with.

 

Doing new workshops each week motivated me throughout this unit as I enjoy looking at new techniques, playing around and testing them. I also feel the Monday drawing motivated me in this project because it wasn’t always linked to the project but was helpful when it was, even when it wasn’t, it still sparked ideas for the project that I could incorporate in some kind of way. The theme gave me many pathways to go in and let me experiment with materials and techniques; it kept me interested throughout and I never felt uninspired. I will take this on board when choosing a theme for the next unit as it helps me to produce work that I feel like I have been able to put through a process.

 

I am happy with my final samples, as I have used a range of techniques with the base always being a sublimation print of my photographs but using them in range of different ways. To some extent this represents the process of decaying with some samples being tidy and pristine to some being rough and frayed; this is presented by mounting them on headers and boards.