Trying out needlepoint!

After going around the sewing and crafts section of John Lewis, I came across some kits for needlepoint. I had never done this before so decided to pick up one of their cheaper kits, which although was aimed at kids with their design, I thought would still be good to try out. Although it is quite time consuming, I really enjoyed doing it and would definitely do it again.

Here are some photos from it:

Before starting

Tree and owl done

Finished

Personal Project - based on skull prints

Although skull prints have been around for quite some time now, I wanted to put my own stamp on them. I didn't want to go down the gothic route nor did I want to go down a route too similar to McQueen (even though I have used him as inspiration in my project). 

Here are some of my photos throughout the project:

Photos from the Catacombs in Paris

A drawing I did from one of my photos

More drawings

Using watercolour to fill in the skull

Adding colour to my work

Different ways of adding colour to my work

Looking at 'Day of the Dead' for colour and pattern inspiration

As well as looking at the skull shape, I thought it would be good to experiment with the shapes of other bones as well

Research of Alexander McQueen. Looking at the types of things he used to create patterns or add detail to using the skull shape

Using the bones and making them into a pattern within the skull. Also using the liquify took to make them less 2D

Using the image before and then creating a repeat with the skull I played around with different colour ways and scales

Same as above but using colours that seemed to reoccur throughout my sketchbook

Experimenting with the bone repeats and layering them on top of each other

Making a mood board for both fashion and interiors and looking at the types of things I could make my prints into

My 4 final skull designs (not sure why the blue one has a white circle on its head - something to do with the printer I think!)

After creating the final 4 skulls, I needed to make these into proper designs. So here are my 3 final designs:

Making Skills Technical Folder

Last technical folder for the year! This time it was for 'making skills'. In this project we learnt 22 techniques including various different types of seams, piping, making your own bias binding, darts, different types of tucks and pleats, gathering, different ways of putting a zip in and making pockets. Although I have done a few of these techniques before, it was good to go back over them and learn new ones. It is also very handy having them in a folder like this so you can refer back to any one of them at a later date if I needed to remind myself how to do something. 

Along side this project we also got taught a few of the other machines, which I have also included in this folder. The machines we got taught how to use were the embellisher, the princess pleater, the overlocker, the tufter, the Brother and Bernina industrial sewing machines, the Irish machine and the leather machine. 

Here are some of the techniques from this folder:

Back of the double topstitched seam

Back of the welt seam

Piped seam

Bias binding

Pin tucks

Inverted pleats

Gathering

Centered zips

Exposed zip

Concealed zip

Here are some photos from the other machines we learnt to use:

The embellisher

The princess pleater

The tufter

The Irish machine

Research for our Personal Projects

We were given just over a week to spend on researching for our personal project. We were given 6 titles and we had to create a pinterest board for each one. The titles were 1) Craft Skill, 2) Colour Palette, 3) Inspiration, 4) Who/What is it for?, 5) Display and then finally a concluding board including 2 pins from each of the previous boards, which will then be shown for a presentation.
Here are screenshots from each of my boards plus the links to see more of the pins on each of the boards:

Board 1 - Craft Skill

The craft skill I want to specialise in is print with a bit of embroidery along side.

http://pinterest.com/rhamiltonx/board-1-craft-skill/

Board 2 - Colour Palette

The colours I wanted to use were rich, bold colours. 

http://pinterest.com/rhamiltonx/board-2-colour-palette/

Board 3 - Inspiration

Although my inspiration was skulls I didn't want to go down a dark route with them so not only did I look at flat prints of them but also more 3D versions and sugar skulls which were often 3D or embroidered/embellished. 

http://pinterest.com/rhamiltonx/board-3-inspiration/

Board 4 - Who/What is it for?

This board was designed for what I could make my prints into and where I would like them to be sold.

http://pinterest.com/rhamiltonx/board-4-whowhat-is-it-for/

Board 5 - Display

This board was for displays I like which I could then take inspiration for to display my own work.

http://pinterest.com/rhamiltonx/board-5-display/

Board 6 - Concluding Board

This was the board I showed for my presentation which includes 2 pins off each of my previous boards, to sum up what my personal project will be. 

http://pinterest.com/rhamiltonx/board-6-concluding-board-presentation/

Indigo Dyeing

This was a one week project based on indigo dyeing which produces a lovely blue colour. Depending on how much you mix up with water and how many times you submerge the material in the dye depends on what colour the fabric will turn out. Indigo dyeing works better on natural material rather than man made as as it clings to the fibres better, however although most of the dyeing I did was with natural fabrics I did also try a couple of man made fabrics to see how well it would work. Although they did dye, the colour was not as strong as it should have been (was in the darkest dye available and was submerged many times), compared to many of the natural samples I also did along side it. Using various techniques to tie the material up, I managed to create many effects. 

Along side indigo dyeing, we were also taught batik. This is where hot wax is used to resist the dye. Although I had done this before it has been quite a while so it was good to revisit it again.
Here is my dye work pinned up in my studio space:

Tying up some material ready for dyeing 

A few of my samples in the bin dyeing

Some of my work dyed in various ways, depending on how it was tied up. The 3rd and 4th one  at the top from the left are both batik.

More examples. The 2nd one down on the left is batik.

The three pieces on the left going downwards are all batik pieces.

This was created on a machine, in which you tie it on then submerge the whole pole it was tied on. This machine is quite good for doing large pieces of material.