This week has been a week of visits around the Manchester area... First stop was the Manchester museum and gallery to see the works of Raqib Shaw. Although this exhibition could be seen to be a little bit offensive to some, and maybe a little bit twisted. I was particulary interested in going to see his works because of his illustrative style, but also because of the way he mixes his media from pencil drawings combined with paints and everything is outlined in a gold enamel paint. He says it took him 13 years to make the exhibition collate together, and judging by the fine detail of his work you can see why it has taken him so long. At first you were greeted by by an outside installation display of twigs/branches combined with florals and moss which wrapped itself around the gallery front. that alone was a big eyecatcher.

Once you entered the gallery you were greeted at the top of the stairs, again, by more foliage and florals, but also a huge swan that had been made holding in his wings a man/bat which was amazing.

Take a look at some of his art work that is exhibited within the gallery.

Once I had been to the Gallery, it was then onto Platt hall to look at the clothes they had on display. I had asked to see some of Vivienne Westwoods, because I am doing my main final piece around the style of her corsetted dress, this needed to be booked in advance and can take a couple of weeks to set up. I also went to the Whitworth gallery soon after. As I had been so impressed with seeing the Raqib Shaw exhibtion, I was excited to go again, which is what I have done today, as I knew that I would be in Manchester anyway to do some research around store visits to lok at the fashions and accessories that are currently out in stores.

I have just finished a couple more paintings inspired by the works of Emilou Makes, keeping within my theme, I have done some black ink drawings and added a small amount of colour from my colour pallette to them.... Take a look.

Today has been a bit of an odd day, i've not really managed to do that much drawing but I have managed to arrange a couple of visits for tommorow and in a few weeks time. I've also managed to look up some more research and take some more pictures to draw from and also been in touch with the lady who is helping me make up one of my final pieces, and, after giving her the measurements of the mannequin I am working from, I have been told that my pattern will be ready to work from and place my print into. I have been thinking of a way to illustrate onto ceramics, and as I love working with pen and ink as well as pencil illustrations, I had come across Emilou Makes, who works on ceramics and also commissions for others....

I would just like to share with you some pictures I had taken earlier this week of my work being printed out, which I had done on different fabrics to see what finish I would like for my final pieces.... I did spend all day in the print room as mentioned earlier on in the week, but whilst I was there I was able to see properly how the images were set up on the computer... The digital printer sized the cloth on the role and then this had to be transferred onto the computer before the designs could be put in place. I also had a chat on how the digital printer worked properly, this is really good information for me, rather than just handing my work to printed and leaving it for someone else to do... we went through the process properly from start to finish, from computer to printer, to the steamer, step by step, as this is something I will need to take away with me if I am going to do a lot of digital printing in the future....

  Layout on the computer

The prints being printed on the mimaki printer

I used a number of materials for my samples so I could see the finish I wanted. These are just first samples, nothing final yet.

These two prints are shown before going into the steamer, they have been pinned onto an oversized steaming cloth which will then be rolled around the inside of the steamer 

The prints going into the steamer for around 20mins.

Below are two of my designs once they had been steamed. It is interesting to see the difference in colour once they have been done, it is a lot stronger and more vibrant than I anticipated, what should have been a mauve/pink colour in the background of my swan design, turned out like a fawny brown/peach color and the colours in the rabbit design were very orangey looking. This is something that I need to take into consideration, because the colours that were there before being steamed were exactly how I wanted them to turn out. It's nice to see your images go to print on fabric though rather than paper, you can now get a feel of how things are going to look. Also something else I needed to be sure of was the process of washing the dyes from the fabric, I soon realised that I had not run the colours under the water till they had run clear, and, as a result of this the darker colours tended to bleed out slightly. This is something that I need to make sure of when it comes to printing my final pieces, as I don't want the dye running. However I was told that this could be resolved once I had gone home and left to wash with hot water, so that the dyes had run clear.....

Two

Since I last wrote my blog, I have tried to get a couple of visits in as mentioned, one to a printing factory and one to see a lady who prints in the design centre in Manchester. Lucy Gaughan, trying to compare the two between mass production of print and working within a small studio as this is something that I am interested in doing for myself, so I thought it would be beneficial to ask questions related to setting up as a freelance designer and how she had gone about it.... Unfortunately for me the two were unable to offer any assistance. The silk printing company emailed to say, due to health and safety legislation and confidentiality agreements they were unable to allow visitors into there premises and Lucy from the design centre has emailed to say that she is actually closing her studio at the end of the month, but she did advise that if, I wanted to work from a studio of my own, it would be better that quite a few went in to work together because its hard work trying to keep it going alone...... Anyway, today I took my son George into Bolton with me because he is on school holidays, so we went to the museum and there was a lovely display on a lady from Bolton who was big in the 50's called Constance Howarth, she was a textile designer who made it big in the print industry from her home town, and her work was loved over in America. All her prints were hand painted too... Here are some pictires of her work and illustrations from her sketch book. I particulary like her blue bird pattern on branches. All hand painted!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A very long day has passed but I have managed to get things done that will help me decide on the finish of one of my final pieces.... It has been a full on day with lots of help and guidance and a lot of knowledge that will help me in the future. What I thought would take a couple of hours turned out to be a full working day starting just after 9 and leaving after 6. I seem to be working a lot later in the studios at the minute concentrating on my drawings, which is obviously a good thing, but once I get home I'm finding i'm not sitting down again till at least 8:30 to pick up my work again and this is reflecting in my other on going project. I have however set myself a list of tasks needed to be completed by the beginning of next week which will see me up to date with everything and an arrangement of a couple of visits out are on the list which need to be arranged by next week also. Best keep my head down for the next couple of days!!!

Today has been a day of talking about the development of my designs. One of my main designs will be made for a dress which will hopefully be the main focus of my final display. As mentioned a couple of days ago I went to visit a lady called Jane who was more than willing to hel me make up one of my final pieces. I had discussed about the style of the dress that I wanted to make, and have talked about making it in the style of a Vivienne Westwood corsetted design, which will be boned on the bodice and the skirt to come out which will either be hooped or boned also with a tulle underneath, and will be adapted by myself at the back. This was something that I had mentioned on my blog at the beginning of the year, that I had been inspired by a poster that I had seen. This was also a vivienne Westwood dress. I had also discussed that, the new motifs I had been working on were not only for developing my ideas from last semester, but they were to be the centre piece for a range of tableware and these were to be designed with the new florals I had painted in my sketchbook. I am now off to measure my mannequin for Jane so that she can use the measurements to make the pattern. Take a look at some of the Westwood styles I have just been looking at.