Patches

Little digital print silk patches, appliqued onto 'Visible Mending'. I feel the contrast of textures works well with these but still think there is work to be done. However time is evaporating fast; decisions and stitches need to speed up.

New ideas and reflection on feedback

I have lots of new thoughts to reconcile following my first assessment feedback. There is too much to write about in one go but I will try to outline the key areas to clarify things in my own mind.

One of the main things I have been encouraged to explore is the subject of process and recording my processes as a thing in it's own right. Melanie is quite keen for me to explore film as a method of doing this. I think this could be interesting but I am worried about whether I can do it well.

I also want to explore process by examining hand / digital making. I think this might sit rather well with the ideas of rural / urban and the quiet/busy subjects I have already started exploring. There is the possibility of looking at the slow movement in relation to these ideas. There is significant discussion about this on the academic agenda at the moment. Craftspace are developing an exhibition and research around the subject of slow craft  and various other academics, artists and designers are already looking at this (more on this another time).

Another area that hasn't been raised in my feedback but is really a gut instinct is a yearning to explore material surfaces, tactile and sensory qualities. I know this is a massive subject but perhaps it is something I can start as a side project?

I am interested in sensory and emotional responses to environments and perhaps this can start to come together with the idea of video projections. I think I may be getting very ahead of myself and I should probably just experiment as I have been.

Today I came across a couple of things that I think are really interesting in terms of using light and space with audio visual new media. Norimichi Hirakawa uses digital media to create the most amazing interactive installations. I can't exactly understand what is going on but it looks mesmerising. Viv Mousdell has created this tranquil piece based on waves and breath. I think what struck me about both artists was the depth of feeling I had in response to just viewing them on a small computer screen - I wonder what it would be like to experience the work in person?

Such a lot to think about...

Fast fabrics; digital embroidery onto digital prints

These are the first pieces I have done using my digital images printed onto textile and then embroidered using the multi-head ZSK.

Considering this is a first attempt I am quite pleased with the results. There are lots of things that could be improved with more time, both technical and aesthetic. Digital print seems to have a rather unpredictable effect on colour and I think I could develop the designs so that the separate elements work much better together. I would also like to experiment with the scale of the embroidery by enlarging the motifs and stitch sizes.

I am looking forward to getting some feedback from assessment to advise me where to take this from here.

Layering imagery and making connections

This week I started to see connections between the different processes I have been working with and how different kinds of images might be combined together. One of my new cyanotypes on a sheer fabric was layered over a digital print based on digital print and manipulation and I noticed how the little coloured marks showed through the leaf shapes. I really like how the different kinds of images are starting to work together and I think layering might be a really useful way to work.

The other connection involved my first attempt at pinhole Polaroid photography. The first image I tried using this method was unsuccessful and the result was just a load of squidgy marks, but then I noticed the connection with the wet, dirty marks in my digital images.

More digital embroidery experiments

During another session of stitching-out designs on the digital multi-head at MMU I have created a good little group of samples. I have been using the ZSK machine, which is rather old but works really well.

The smaller, simpler designs are working particularly well and I was very pleased that the design below worked so well as it was quite tricky to get the text as holes in the embroidery. I have experimented a bit with metallic threads and found that some work well while others are not suitable for use on the multi-head.

Melanie has suggested I consider filming some of my processes and I think this could be really interesting. I have already taken photographs to record the multi-head embroidery and cyanotype processes but it would be interesting to compare the relative speeds of these techniques.

Digital embroidery experiment

My first experiment with using the multihead embroidery machine at MMU. I was fascinated watching the machine work, it is a bit like watching someone drawing frantically.

The design was taken from a drawing in my 'busy book' and I feel I have captured the sketchy qualities from the original drawing.  Although there are a lot of things I would like to improve and try, I was fairly pleased with this for a first attempt. I would like to try using multihead embroidery on top of digital prints on silk.