Moo.

I visited the MOO shop when we were set our breif to get a feel of the colours they used and the kind of patterns i could put in their bags! I took some photos of their bags, and also their clothes, and these will also go towards my Primary Research.

I really like the colour scheme used in MOO and am happy to work for MOO and use these in my designs.

Evaluation

For this project we were asked to create a bag using a nature theme. We were asked to chose a theme to research an put into our designs. I chose Autumn as we were in Autumn at the time so there was plenty of primary research and also I liked the colour sheme that goes with Autumn.
When looking into my chosen season, I looked at leaves, flowers, wildlife and how this season affected them, also the colour scheme so browns, dark greens, reds and oranges.
We experimented with three different woven techniques as one of the panels on our bag had to be woven. We looked at weaving on a peg loom, a cardboard loom and a loom. We also looked at felting and knitting. I preferred the weaving on the loom, as it looked the best on my final outcome, but I also liked the knitting as i enjoyed doing it and found it easy. As my woven panel on my bag was going to be a pocket, I picked knitting to use as it would look the best on my bag as a pocket! I really disliked the felting as it took quite a while to do, and when I added colour it all smudged and you couldn't tell what my images on the felt were. This was really disappointing.
I think that my time management was poor in this project, which resulted in a poor outcome of a bag. I wish I would of created a better design on my bag, and also made my bag a little bit bigger as it looks really small now its been sewn together. My screen print was very plain, and because I didnt manage my time correctly I ended up making a tote bag instead of a slouch bag which I origibally planned to make.
I did 8 bag designs, but in the end I decided I liked the background colour on one and the pattern from another. This was part of my design development. I did lots of samples on different materials using different colours to see which went best together, and decided in the end to use cotton, as the colours dyed the fabric well.
If I were given time to do this again, I would look more deeply into the season an look at different patterns and designs. I would also leave myself more time to create a slouch bag and would put a lining in my bag to make it a little stronger.
Overall I am not happy with my final outcome but this is only down to my own faults.

Cardboard Loom

I did two weaves on the cardboard loom as I found it quite easy and I liked the turn out of my first one. I did a plain one in a light blue coloured wool, which was quite a thick wool so didn't take me that long to finish but unfortunately it did not match with my colour scheme for my Autumn theme. Therefore, I did another weave using reds and browns to match my theme, although I could not find any thick wools to do this with so had to ise thinner wool, which didn't look as good and was a little flimsy when I took it off the cardboard. The colours look nice together though, and I liked the turnout.

Cardboard Loom

We also used a cardboard loom to do a weave, by wrapping yarn around the cardboard in the slots at the top and bottom. We then used pieces of wool to weave over and under the yarn to create a weave. We kept going all the way to the bottom, then cut the yarn at the back and tied it to keep the weave together.

Peg Loom

This is the outcome of my peg weave. I didn't like this final outcome and found it very difficult taking it off the pegs and tying it to keep it together. If I were given time to do it again I would use a different colour wool, and would also make my yarn longer so i would be easier to tie at the end to keep it together.

Peg Loom

We experimented weaving using a peg loom. It took quite a while to set the pegs up with the yarn, but when I got started I enjoyed the technique. It was quick and the wool seemed to look good.

Weaving with Paper

I decided to use 2 of the same photo, slice it vertical and horizontal, and weave them together to create this effect. I liked the final outcome, as it looked kind of like the original but with a little bit of surrealism.

Primary Research

For our second project we were to research nature, with the outcome of creating a bag. I took this picture for my primary research because the colours and the layout inspired me, and I thought the colours were very pretty together.

Final Piece

For my final piece I used an A3 piece of Devore Silk Viscose. I did my print firstly in Devore Paste, using it to create a repeat pattern. The only problem with this was the Devore paste didnt show up very well on the fabric so it was hard to line it up, but I got it near enough. I then left it to dry, pressed it and rinsed it. While wet I dyed the fabric with watered down Procion Red MX5B and Turquoise MXG. I left this to dry, then printed my design again but slighty to the side of the other one in Pigment Violet blue 2BTL, again repeating the pattern, this was easier as the Violet Blue showed up more making it easier to line up the pattern to make it a repeat. I was very happy with my final outcome, but if given chance to do it again I would try and line up the designs more evenly so they are more clear to see.

Experiment 9 - Devore Silk Viscose & Puff Binder

I decided to combine my two favourite results together and see what the outcome was. So using Devore Silk Viscose, I firstly printed my design using the Devore Paste. I then let to dry, heat pressed to fix, and rinsed out all the fibres. Then, whilst the fabric was still wet, I used the watered down Procion Red MX5B and Turquoise MXG to spot around the fabric. I then left it to dry. After it had dried, I printed my design again, using Pigment Violet Blue 2BTL, but a little to the side creating my 3D effect! I then washed my screen and printed again on the top but to the side using puff binder! After heating it with the heat gun I wasnt very sure of this design as I thought there was a little too much going off on the fabric! But i really did like it without the puff binder, so I decided to use this for my final piece!

Experiment 8 - White Muslin

I tried the same effect, with the pigment and the puff binder, but this time on White Muslin to see if it made any difference to the mucky look on the other Muslin! The print turned out better quality, but looked a little plain with the white puff binder on white fabric! I liked the design, but not on this fabric.

Experiment 7 - Muslin

I printed my design using Pigment Violet Blue 2BTL on to Muslin fabric! After I'd done this I thought it looked a little plain, so I experimented with puff binder, but by placing it a little bit off the other design to create a 3D effect! I really liked this design, apart from when using the heat gun, I accidentally burnt the fabric. I wasn't happy about this as I thought it ruined my piece, but afterwards I realised it added extra effect to the piece and made it look quite good! This was also one of my favourite pieces!

Experiment 6 - Devore Silk Viscose

I did the Devore sample again but this time on Devore Silk Viscose. After washing the fibres out, i dyed the fabric with Procion Red MX5B and Turquoise MXG, watered down to make them paler! This was my favourite design as the colours mixed together looked really good, and I also enjoyed working with this fabric!

Experiment 5 - Azeta & Devore

For this method, it was the same as the Devore method before, but this time on Azeta. After washing the fibres out of the fabric, whilst still wet, I applied Procion Dye Turqouise MXG. This was watered down to make it a paler colour. I liked this one as the fabric was very thin, and I also liked the colour. It is a little bit plain though, so if I were to do it again I would probably use brighter colours so the print was more visable.

Experiment 4 - Devore

For this one, we used Devore Silk Velvet. We pulled Devore paste through our screens to make our design, and then left it to dry naturally. Once it was dry, we heat pressed the fabric to fix it, an then rinsed it to wash out the fibres! This took out the fibres where our design was, an looks kind of see through when held up to the light! I left this one plain as I didn't really like it and I didn't like the fabric, it was too thick and didn't show the design very well.

Experiment 3 - Puff Binder & Procion Dye.

The procion dyes in the print room are really bright and bold, so to make them paler for my design I mixed them with water, then tested them on scrap bits of material until they became the colours that I wanted. I used Procion Red MX5B an Turquoise MXG, an splashed them on to my fabric, which in this case was cotton! I really liked this colour scheme as when the colours mixed on the fabrics they made a purple as well! I then printed my design on top using puff binder. This was one of my favourite designs.

Experiment 2 - Puff Binder

For my second one, i used Puff Binder on Cotton. I mixed Pigment Pink 5BTL with the Puff binder, to make the puff binder pink! When I first pulled it through on to the fabric it was quite a dark pink, but after using the heat gun to make it puff it turned out a paler pink! I liked this effect, because of the colours and the puff.

Experiment 1 - Viscose Satin

I did my first screen print on fabric on to the Heavy Viscose Satin! I used a mixture of pigments, Pink 5BTL and also Violet Blue 2BTL. I pulled both the inks through together to create a fading effect, from one colour to the other across the fabric! I liked this screen print as I liked the fabric and the colours together.

Second Screen Print

I had a second attempt on paper to see if I could line it up more accurately, but this time using Pigment Green B! I did not wash my screen from the first time, so when I pulled the ink through, tiny bits of the Orange pigment came through too! This was not meant to happen but I kind of liked the effect afterwards of the two contrasting colours.

First Screen Print

My first attempt at my screen print was done on paper. Using pigment ink Orange OL, I screen printed my design on the paper. I then used it to create a repeat pattern as the paper was A3! I couldn't quite get the pattern lined up properly, but it was not noticeable! I also like the colour of the orange on the paper! It was bright, an made my design stand out.

Tracing

I created my tracing taking the information i had put on my visual sheets! We designed them on to paper first, then they were photocopied ready to be put on our screens. I quite liked the turn out of my tracing, although it could of been fuller.

Visual Sheets

We created visual sheets from the work an information we had collected in our sketchbooks!
My first visual sheet consisted of information from clothes and magazines such as receipts, clothes tags an labels, logos and pictures and cut outs from magazines!
I went a little bit broader with my second visual sheet by adding information such as road signs, clocks, money, tickets and music! I also made my own tape measure and stuck that on there too!
I liked the turn out of my visual sheets but would probably add more things to them if given time to do them again.