Practice - Week 1

Creating presentation boards helped me think about the direction of my work. The separation allowed the required criteria become clearer. I found it difficult to visually explain my concept, because my idea regarding floral symbology is too vague. I need to revisit and improve my concept.

Inspirational Board 

I tend to use neutrals because I struggle to identify colour, so I challenged myself by focusing on vivid colours of flowers. I extracted colours using the Adobe Photoshop eye-dropper tool. This informed my colour proportion paintings, achieving accurate colour compared to my previous work. Successful aspects of my summer work are the patterns and blends of pastels, which contrast against striking glimmers of bold colour.


I was advised to continue drawing, focusing on specific areas of flowers, because there is too much information to digest otherwise. 
The contrast of my delicate pencil drawings in comparison to my richly textured expressive drawings are something I intend to explore with differing densities of fabric and stitch. These include calico for structure, silk for luxurious quality and overlaying organza to mute colours. Possibilities for embroidery include the embellisher, cornely moss and braid machines.

I digitally developed my floral drawings, to potentially produce prints of and embroider onto. I was advised to focus on the flower segments, exploring the textured surfaces with embroidery to create small-scale jewellery, then produce separate digital prints from floral motifs instead. This approach is more successful because it enables me to focus on both macro and micro aspects of my floral subjects. 

My digital design

Summer Project Evaluation

I challenged myself to experiment with brighter, bolder colours, because I have a tendency to only use a neutral colour palette. I initiated this by photographing the flowers in my garden, as they had flamboyant colours. I found their textures and patterns interesting, which inspired me to focus on incorporating stitch. I struggle to identify multiple colours, so I extracted colours using the eye-dropper tool, and also pixelated my floral images in Adobe Photoshop. I found this helpful to inform painting my colour proportions and achieving accurate colour in comparison to my previous work.

I attended the MMU Degree Show where I discovered Emily Murphy, whose work related to mine in terms of floral aesthetics. My extracted colour palette related to Jennifer Duckett’s and I was fond of her composition. I found Alexandra Jordan’s marbling technique and multi-head embroidery interesting and something I could potentially explore.

I recognised that I had an array of flowers, which flowed into one another colour-wise. Certain drawings were influenced by Megan Jean Mole, as I focused on mark-making. I produced a large amount of drawings, achieving different results; I found that the acrylic paint enabled me to create rich texture and mark making, whilst the inks created interesting results as they bled, and the pencils gave control, so that I could accurately capture pattern.

My drawings

I had originally planned to create passementerie structured weaves incorporating embroidery techniques, hence my translation of colour and yarn, however, I agreed with my tutors that embroidery was the most appropriate area to specialise in, as I found weaving too restrictive. This will be challenging because I specialised in weave during level 5 and will need to be inducted on the embroidery machines, however, in embroidery I will be able to achieve small-scale, delicate and detailed outcomes that would have been difficult in weave.

I found further inspiration for my project whilst attending my Uncle’s funeral, when I realised flowers could have symbolic meanings and represent different occasions in life. I had originally planned to produce a table-runner for special event décor, but since my switch to embroidery, I can focus on intricate jewellery pieces. I found Heidi Leeming’s drawings unusual and inspiring to illustrate the placement of my potential wearables. Alexandra Jordan’s physical wearable application was also helpful.

Reflective Review

Megan Jean Mole

This series of work created by Megan Jean Mole is a combination of digital printing and embroidery. It abides by the theme of ‘random on purpose’, which plays with the idea of finding order and pattern through seemingly random mark making processes. I find this approach to be liberating in contrast to my usual method. I will utilise this process to help myself eliminate the anxiety of drawing. I think I will enjoy the freedom this will give me and  it may help develop the composition of my work.

'Random on Purpose' - Megan Jean Mole
( MMU Degree Show)

'Random on Purpose' - Megan Jean Mole
( MMU Degree Show)

Megan focused on the interplay between colour and shape, and I am fond of her playful, vivid aesthetic. I would like to incorporate a similar colour palette to challenge myself. I will push myself outside of my comfort zone regarding my usual neutral colour choices. I also want to experiment with a variety of media that she incorporates with her digital printing. I could do this by manipulating the surface of my weaves with paint, bleach, laser-cutting and embroidery.

Emily Murphy

Emily Murphy is a print and embroidery designer who produces surface textured prints for interior contexts. This collection of work was inspired by the patterns and surfaces of flowering cacti. I find her organic colour scheme compliments the collection beautifully.

Emily Murphy (MMU Degree Show)

The simplistic bold patterns printed on the fabric successfully translate the aesthetics of the cactus in an abstract manner. This provides a successful background to layer her delicate floral motifs on, which were created by multihead embroidery. These contrasting structures are something I would like to develop within my own specialism of weave, experimenting with ratios of pattern, yarn qualities and colour composition. I would also like to embellish the surface of my fabric with embroidery or crochet to reinforce the alteration of structure.

Alexandra Jordan

I discovered that Alexandra Jordan is inspired by naturally occurring forms, which links strongly to my inspirational sources. She focused on fungi, bark, crystals, plant cells and reptile skin in this collection. Alexandra expresses these metamorphic elements with embellishment, puff binder and tufting processes, which I would like to emulate in my own work.

'Tactile Embroidery' - Alexandra Jordan
(MMU Degree Show)

Her drawings have a paisley design essence, which are intricate and rich in colour. I am fond of the way she translated these drawings when dying her fabrics. Her use of marbling techniques have inspired me to experiment with a similar process of foiling, to create more interest on the surface of my weaves. The three-dimensional beadwork contrasts successfully against the fabric and helps achieve a high quality finish.

'Tactile Biology' - Alexandra Jordan
(Alexandra Jordan Design)

I think Alexandra’s context relates strongly to my interest in fashion and her work has helped inform my direction. I aim to produce wearable textiles within my specialism of weave, focusing on creating bespoke fashion accessories such as neckpieces and edges of garments. This would be achieved with a passementerie structure, consisting of a long, narrow width warp.