Everything up until now!!!!!!!!!!!!!

To anyone who regularly used to read my blog and to myself I feel as though I have left my blog at a dead end. Therefore I felt it was time to end this blog with a positive and informational post about what has been happening since my last post. No where to start............

My last post finished with me talking about the preparation that I began to put into my end of year Exhibition; so I should rightfully end this blog with a segment of how my exhibition went and looked. Personally I was extremely proud of how my exhibition space turned out, it was one of the largest spaces given in the room and I felt it was an eye catching segment of the whole exhibition (not wanting to blow my own trumpet). As part of my exhibition I had my three hexagon pieces all with different medias; as well as some of the sheet work I created at the start of my HIVE SIDES project. Here are some images of my final exhibition:

 (excuse the selfie ;))

The night of my exhibition arrived and I was extremely happy to show all of my family my hard work; to which they were all very impressed at and to be honest this made me feel like I had accomplished a lot in my second year and that I had pulled off an excellent piece of work, to which two years ago I never thought I could of done. This 2 year course personally and academically has pushed me to huge levels of happiness and at times to breaking point; but with the support I've had off the people closet to me, it has allowed me to reach the grade I once could of only dreamed of achieving for this course..............

That's where this next bit comes in. I visited Tunisia for a week which meant I missed my classes final grades 'party'. So my wonderful tutor gave me my grades separately, this is because she wanted me to go on holiday happy and so I wasn't worrying about my grades whilst I was away. I received the final grade of DDM (DISTICNTION DISTINCTION MERIT).  To which I am ecstatic at, as this meant I unconditionally got my University place for the Fashion, Communication and Promotion course at Huddersfield University; to which I will go on and study from September 2014 until 2018. I am extremely pleased with myself for receiving this grade and I owe my tutors Kat Jackson and Kathryn Hayes a HUUUUGGGEEE thank you for all of their support and time they put into me this year. There are people I will and wont miss from my course; however I wish all of them the very best. 

So that's me.... 

This blog has been an excellent way of tracking my projects and I will always refer back to them in future. However for now its goodbye. I may or may not begin a new blog whilst at University, if I do I will link to it through this blog. 

Thank you to everyone who has read my blog this past year.

For any further information please contact me on wilkie1994@icloud.com. 

 

Lengths of Fabric. HIVE SIDES. Preparation for End of Year Show.

So then it's been a while since I last posted about my HIVE SIDES project. There are no excuses, I've just not been up to blogging recently; however I'm getting back into the swing of things. Therefore I thought I'd start back with progress I've been making towards my End of Year Show. Beside my three Hexagons which will all contain separate methods I decided to produce some lengths of fabrics of which people can openly purchase or make an order for in their own preferred colours and fabric. I also think the lengths of fabric give myself and others a view of how my design can work in different colour ways, which I was pleasantly surprised at when creating the two lengths shown in this post. 

Below are images of my first Length of fabric which I produced. I decided to use completely different colours for my Length of fabrics, therefore for this one I used the Pigments Blues (Blue B), Lime Greens (Yellow 2G and Green B) and Purples (Blue B and Pink 5BTL). The Fabric I used for these Lengths of print was Muslin Cream and the reason for this is that I really like how light and, delicate it is which I feel relates to the wings of a Honey Bee.

First Layer, printed with mixed Blue and Purple Pigments

Second Layer, Lime Green Pigment.

These next images are of my second Length of fabric of which I produced. I wanted to link my design to the garden and nature landscape where Honey Bee's are mainly found; therefore I used different shades of greens (Different mixes of Green B, Yellow 2G and Brown). Unlike the first length of fabric where I mixed the pigments for the first layer I kept this one as a plain Green print. For the second layer I wanted to add an effect to my to avoid it all being a plain straight forward print; therefore I used two different pigments one Dark Green for the edges of the hexagons and a Dark Lime Green for the centers. I think this idea worked really well and has made the print eye catching and has added a 3D factor to it. 

Overall I was really surprised at how different my print looked in these colours, but it was not a bad surprise I loved it, my design looked so different which I actually really liked. I was worried the colours wouldn't work together but in-fact I personally think they do and the floaty material 

My friend Becca helped me to print one of my Lengths of fabric as I did in return for her. This was due to our screens being on the repeat bar and them being too large to pull the pigment through ourselves.  Please feel free to check out Becca's Blog she has based her FMP on Science and Cells its amazing please follow to link to check it out. 

http://becca-leatextiles.blogspot.co.uk/

HIVE SIDES EVALUATION

What is my FMP all about?

My FMP is focused on Honeybee’s and Geometric Shapes/Patterns. A strange combination? Maybe, however to me it was logic. I have always found Bee’s specifically Honeybee’s beautiful and intellectually interesting and the reason behind choosing Geometric shapes is because I personally enjoy how when they are built up together they can make many mind boggling patterns with underlining shapes. Therefore finding a link between them was not hard it was simple, the cells Honeybee’s produce honey in are in fact Geometrically shaped and together make a Hexagonal never ending pattern.   

Research and Development. 

To back up my theme and ideas I needed to carry out research of both primary and secondary. The secondary research I carried out was mainly through the use of books and the Internet to select images and information for my sketchbook and for sheet-work such as artists research sheets and mood boards. The primary research I carried out was a little harder to complete, I had a brilliant idea to go visit a Honeybee farm however due to cost of travelling it was not possible until my mum found out a colleague of her kept Honeybee’s as a hobby therefore I was finally able to collect first hand images and videos of Honeybee’s for my Sketchbook and Blog. To read more on this primary research please click on the link below. The other part of primary research I carried out was mainly inspired by Andy Gilmore an artist I have research into for this project; as he focuses his work on Kaleidoscope inspired images I decided to download a Kaleidoscope  app and produce my own images that I later printed and attached into my sketchbook. For this project I really wanted to go to an exhibition based on Geometric shapes and patterns however again due to insufficient funds at the time I was not able to which I am disappointed at; however the Honeybee primary research made up for that loss. 

I chose to look at various Artists and Designers for this project. For the subject of Honeybee’s I looked into Alexander McQueen as there is a collection (ss13) based on the subject of bee‘s; Craig fellows as he has produced fabrics for scarves and pillows based on a Bee Print; Claire Moynihan who’s work I found truly amazing, she produces needle felted Insects to some of which are Honeybee’s therefore she was brilliant to support my own needle felting sample; and finally Eugene Alain Seguy who has been the biggest artist inspiration for Honeybee’s as I love the use of colours he used together for his prints. The detail put into his design was also amazing so intricate and realistic he really brought a print and piece of art alive; he influenced my work by the use of colours I decided to use for example keeping my samples of the same colour spectrum with a contrasting colour coming in somewhere along the line. The artists and designers I looked at to support Geometric patterns where Joseph Hoffman, simply because the historic side to research is important it is good to see how a subject has developed through the use of textiles throughout the years. The other artist I looked into was Andy Gilmore who I have really enjoyed researching into. I am so happy I came across his work, to me it appears futuristic and vibrant, which is what I wanted for my own design.  His work was so inspiring to me that when I became stuck in a brown tone sample stage during printing I decided to add vibrant oranges and pinks that reflected his work, to which I fell in love with when printed with my own design.

All of the research I carried out for this project I have developed mainly into my sketchbook and relating sheet-work. However I have also developed some of my research on my blog, for example in certain posts I have explained my choices of research and gone into detail about what it is for example my trip to Pat‘s Honeybee‘s I made a post going into detail about my visit.  I am pleased with how I have developed my research and how my sheet-work has come out based on it, I have put everything into this project and I feel it has reflected in a lot of my sheets such as my visual sheets which I am extremely proud of especially my Honeybee themed one.

Throughout my research I began to stick to certain elements which I knew I would want to take further in this project, these elements were the Honeybee’s and the Hexagonal shaped patterns of their Hive’s cells. I decided to take these elements further simply because I felt I could create something with them as a final piece/s. When I began producing certain segments of sheet-work (Honeybee themed visual sheet) I knew it was a definite choice of what I would develop further into my final design. 

A lot of different things influenced what I developed, like not getting primary research of a exhibition based on geometric shapes but being able to get excellent primary research for Honeybee’s. It was all about what was available and I felt the Honeybee side to my project was more realistic to take forward and progress further into a final design. 

Overall I am happy with the research I carried out for this project, I know personally more could have been done based on primary research; however I collected what I needed for both primary/secondary research and artists/designer to inspire my own work. 

Constraints.

The main constraints I had with this project was time and money for example:

• Money - this was a constraint during this project as due to insufficient funds I wasn’t able to travel  to any exhibitions to collect primary research. Also another constraint of money was materials, I am a student with limited employment therefore money isn’t unlimited so I have had to buy materials as and when needed and not in bulk; however this has in fact helped me avoid wasting any fabric ect. Keeping a costing sheet has let me keep up to date of what funding I have put into this project and personally if money was not a contrast I think I would of bought a lot more fabric to sample with as I wouldn’t of had to worry about the cost of fabric for my actual final piece on top of everything else. But I feel I have done plenty for what I was able to afford.    
• Time - this was a constraint I knew of form the start of the project, this is because during my previous projects we have had to extend the deadline therefore time of weeks was taken away form this project. However I have done the best I can to do as much as I can with the time iv been given. However due to these time constraints I feel I haven’t been able to do as much experimentation as I would of liked to. I feel that if I had no time constraints I would of done more experimental samples of batik, embroidery, embellishment and maybe fabric making. Also if I had no time constraints I would definitely of carried out more printing samples in a wider range of colours and on more varied fabrics such as Borsalini and found fabrics. 

Final design.

I decided on my final design by evaluating my visual and development sheets based on Honeybee’s. I decided I really liked how the smaller hexagons in repeat looked behind larger hexagons with bees imprinted in the centre on them. Therefore I came up with a simple design of what I would like my print to look like and after speaking to Kathryn about it we decided to create it through Adobe Illustrator. However I have already gone through this process in an earlier blog post so I don’t want to be repeating myself. After seeing my design develop from a little drawing on a piece of paper into a screen ready to print I am happy with my choice of design and the size of which it has been created. To me my final design links and mirrors my sheet-work really well. Also as my design is built in layers I feel it gives it a sense of depth and motion which is what I wanted to cerate and this reflects to a Honeybee’s hive. I also feel the with the use of a registration bar my design can easily be repeat, which I am pleased about.

Experimentation of Processors.

Throughout this project I tried to carry out as much experimentation as I could in the time I had. I am happy with what I carried out however if I didn’t have time constraints I would like to of done more experimental samples. My experimentation of processors are found either within my sketchbook or filed within my tech file. Some of the processes I experimented with were:

• Batik - I experimented with this process within a couple of pages in my sketchbook; however I wish I had carried out some printing samples on fabric I had batik’d onto, but unfortunately with the time I had with my screens I thought it was more important to get a range of colours printed so I can decide what I want to re create for my final piece. 
• Reverse appliqué - I carried out this sample using cotton and a cut off from my tracing that wasn’t needed. This was a process I have not before carried out, so it was interesting to use it. I really liked this technique and it is something I would think about adding to my final show and piece.
• Sewing machine - I knew from the start I wanted to add the sewing machine process to my final piece; therefore I carried out samples on un-printed cotton and on printed samples to see what threads (normal and metallic) appeared the best next to and on top of my print. I also added this process to an experimental wet felted piece I had printed onto, which I ended up really liking and have decided I will be featured in my end of year show.
• Acetate - I came across this technique when going on a University Interview and I thought it would be interesting to add it to my sketchbook. I drew and painted in a my bee template and after printing on acetate a beehive design overlapped it. I really liked the effect this process created it gave my design idea a different twist almost appearing 3D, it is definitely a technique I will experiment further with in the future. 
• Weave - I wanted to carry out a lot of weaving processes, but with having other things to keep up to date with I just carried out a single Peg Loom weave. For this technique I used cut offs from my printed samples, the reason for this was that I wanted the fabrics and fibres to link to my work. When I completed my Peg Loom weave you could see some of my print coming through which I really enjoy; I also liked all the different fibres together in one weave, the fibres included were cotton, silks, calico, felt and muslin.
• Felting - I carried out two felting samples one was wet felting were I used orange toned fibres to cerate a flat piece of felted that I would later print a section of my design onto, which when complete (printed on and sewing machine process added) I decided it would feature in my end of year show. The second felting experimentation I carried out was needle felting, using a pre manufactured felted square I needled felted a bee into it (featured in a previous blog post) I used felt, Angeline and unknown fibres to needle felt with. 
• Screen printing - I carried out a lot of print samples can be found in my previous blog post. The experimentation I carried out with screen printing was straight forward pigment printing and the process of Devore. I wanted to see how part of my design appeared when printed with Devore and well it was not to my favour I wasn’t keen on my design printed in this therefore I decided not take this technique any further in my experimental sampling. 
• Pigments - at first I did not carry out a lot of experimentation with pigment colours; however when I had a change of heart I decided to mix brighter pigments which can be see in my earlier blog post.

High and Lows I encountered and Problem Solving.

• What problem solving I had?

The main and kind of only problem I came across throughout this project was the issue with my design. I wont go into too much detail as I have previously gone through this problem  in a previous blog post. However the issue I cam across was firstly deciding to create my design on Adobe Illustrator ensuring all of the design was symmetrical and the same sizes for repeating. The next issue was putting my design from Adobe Illustrator on film (acetate), this was a problem which I had to solve as my there was only a roll of film available in A3 however I needed A2 therefore my design was printed multiple time onto single sheets of film which was then dissected and put back together in repeat. The next issue was frustrating, my screens had been exposed and too much annoyance the Bee segments ended up being the wrong size, this meant more problem solving. I had to have my Bee segments re-sized ensuring they fit into my design and have them re-exposed. Thankfully after all of this I finally had a FULL design that was ready to be printed into repeat for sampling. 

Another problem I came across was my own preference towards colour. As after printing many samples in roughly the same pigments I decided I had became bored of the colours, yes I know my work had top relate to my sheet-work; however it was all too much of the same colour tones therefore I decided to solve this by making the bold choice of taking Andy Gilmore work into preference and mix brighter and more vibrant pigments to print with which I was more open about re-creating.

• What went wrong?

The above explained. 

• What went well?

I feel that all of my experimentation of processes went well throughout this project, I also think that even though I had issues I was pleased with how well all of my samples turned out and I did not come across any major printing issues baring what’s explained above. The other area of this project that I feel went  really well was my research of all sorts (secondary, primary and artist/designer) that I developed in my sketchbook and sheet-work. Specially I feel my Honey sheet-work came out brilliantly as well as my Honeybee Primary research. 

• Would I change anything?

Overall I am happy with the work I have carried out and to avoid repeating myself there are only slight things that I would change all from maybe producing more experimental printing samples based both of various colours and the use of techniques and to carry out more primary research such as exhibition trips and sketches however time and money was not my side for that issue.

Time management.

During this project I feel I did manage my time well, as I knew what had to be done and for when. For example I managed my time for my sheet-work and sketchbook based on what I wanted to produce either good quality sheet-work or rubbish. To help mange my time I bought a small notebook too keep track of how many weeks were left and what I had produced in present  weeks, so really like a little diary. The only thing I wish I had done differently for this is set myself more goals to do experimental work of technical processes. Overall I never felt rushed and panicked which I feel is down to my time management I knew when my project deadline day was so I got what needed to be done to move forward with other things.  An example of this is making sure my tracings were handed in for exposing as soon as possible and making sure I left things to do in the time I waited for my screens to be ready, such as finishing sheet-work and sketchbook work off so I wasn't completing them when I should be do sampling with my screens.

Another factor of time management for this project was the sue of my blog, I tried to leave my blog to do when I was at home rather than taking time up at college  when I should be doing sheet-work ect. I decided to set out my blog differently for this project compared to previous ones. I set out my blog posts in weeks, based on what I had wrote down in my diary and developed it further on my blog. I am pleased I decided on this as I feel my project is time managed throughout my blog and readers know what a carried out in the weeks this project was on going. So yes personally I feel I did use my blog effectively. 

Over satisfaction and opinions.

My overall satisfaction for this project is good, really good. I am more than pleased with how I have managed this project from start all the way to dead line day. I feel my strengths throughout this projects were my sheet-work which some off it I am extremely proud of. My other strengths I feel were my time management and my blog, I am really happy with my blog throughout this project and I feel the way I have set it out is a big factor towards that. Also a strength I feel I had was going forward with the decision to change my sampling colour scheme as I knew I wanted something different therefore deciding to take ahead more vibrant colours for me was a big step and only worked due to the link toward Andy Gilmore’s work. To improve this project all I can techniques, but I have already gone through this earlier in this evaluation.

Overall I feel I did set out and do what I put on my project proposal, I’ve focused my research and ideas on both Honeybee’s and Geometric shapes and patterns and I have used most of the techniques I put down on it. I had an idea of what I wanted to do and by sticking to the subject written in my proposal I feel I have accomplished this.

If I were to do it all again what would I do differently?
Well to be honest I would not choose a different theme as I am more than happy with what I have chosen to produce and research into. But I would tell myself to create my sheet-work in more vibrant colours rather than stick to brown tones throughout. Another thing I would like to do different is to make more time and targets to carry out techniques for my sketchbook and tech file as I feel I did let that slip and forgot about setting targets for this area throughout my project. Other from these issues I am happy with what I set out to do and overall I wouldn’t change anything major about what I’ve produced.

WEEK 14 - HIVE SIDES, SAMPLES

During the past couple of weeks as I have noted on previous blog posts I have been using my screens to produce samples in the print room. I have posted images of different stages; however I wanted to produce a post where it is just focused on all of the samples I have produced explaining what fabrics have been used and what specific pigments have been mixed with binder to create each one.

Just a little reminder Screen 84 is the smaller hexagons and Screen 83 in the larger hexagons. Also Screen 57 is my Bee inserts.

Fabric: Heavy Viscoe Satin 

Screen 84: Orange G, Brown RRT and Yellow 2G

Screen 83: Orange G and Dark Brown GTM

Screen 57: Outline - Black SN-G 

                 Body - Orange G, Brown RRT and Yellow 2G

Fabric: Muslin (Cream) 

Screen 84: Orange G, Brown RRT and Yellow 2G

Screen 83: Orange G and Dark Brown GTM

Screen 57: Outline - Black SN-G 

                 Body - Orange G, Brown RRT and Yellow 2G

Fabric: Habotai Silk Heavy  

Screen 84: Orange G, Brown RRT and Yellow 2G

Screen 83: Orange G and Dark Brown GTM

Fabric: Muslin (Cream)  

Screen 84: Orange G, Brown RRT and Yellow 2G

Screen 83: Orange G and Brown RRT

Fabric: Muslin (Cream) 

Screen 84: Orange G, Brown RRT and Yellow 2G

Screen 83: Orange G and Dark Brown GTM

Fabric: Muslin (White) 

Screen 84: Orange G, Brown RRT and Yellow 2G

Screen 83: Orange G and Brown RRT

Fabric: Calico 

Screen 84: Orange G, Brown RRT and Yellow 2G

Screen 83: Orange G and Dark Brown GTM

Screen 57: Outline - Black SN-G 

                 Body - Orange G, Brown RRT and Yellow 2G

Fabric: Calico

Screen 84: Orange G, Brown RRT and Yellow 2G

Screen 83: Orange G and Brown RRT

Fabric: Calico 

Screen 84: Orange G, Brown RRT and Yellow 2G

Screen 83: Orange G and Dark Brown GTM

Fabric: Calico 

Screen 84: Orange G, Brown RRT and Yellow 2G

Only one screen has been printed here as I wanted to see how only this screen printed.

Fabric: Calico 

Screen 83: Orange G and Dark Brown GTM

I have added sewing machining to this sample as I am wanting too add this to my final piece to give my print more depth and definition.

Fabric: Cotton

Screen 84: Orange G, Brown RRT and Yellow 2G

Screen 83: Orange G and Brown RRT

Screen 57: Outline - Black SN-G 

                 Body - Orange G, Brown RRT and Yellow 2G

Fabric: Silk Viscoe  and Habotai Silk Light

Screen 84: Devore 

The Silk Viscoe does go well with Devore paste as does work however I wasn't sure if the Habotai Silk did, so I sampled it anyway and i found out, well that it doesn't work with Devore paste 

These next few are my favorite lot of samples I have produced. I love the bold and vibrant colours I feel they bring my Design to life more than the Brown tones. 

Fabric: Cotton

Screen 84: Brill Pink 5BTL and Scarlet TRL, Yellow 2G and Scarlet TRL and Orange G and Scarlet TRL

Screen 83: Yellow 2G and Scarlet TRL

Fabric: Muslin (White)

Screen 84: Brill Pink 5BTL and Scarlet TRL, Yellow 2G and Scarlet TRL and Orange G and Scarlet TRL

Screen 83: Yellow 2G and Scarlet TRL

Fabric: Muslin (White)

Screen 84: Brill Pink 5BTL and Scarlet TRL, Yellow 2G and Scarlet TRL 

Screen 83: Orange G and Scarlet TRL

Fabric: Habotai Silk Heavy 

Screen 84: Yellow 2G and Scarlet TRL 

Screen 83: Orange G and Scarlet TRL

Screen 57: Outline - Turquoise 4G and Green B

                  Body - Yellow 2G and Green b

Fabric: Habotai Silk Heavy 

Screen 84: Brill Pink 5BTL and Scarlet TRL, Yellow 2G and Scarlet TRL 

Screen 83: Orange G and Scarlet TRL

Screen 57: Outline - Turquoise 4G and Green B

                  Body - Yellow 2G and Green b

                  Wings - Gold 

Overall I am really pleased with the samples that I have produced for this project. At first there wasn't a lot of variation of colours it was all fabrics however after deciding to sample with completely different colours on a range of fabrics my opinions have changed and it has gave me more choice for my final piece and what I want it to be printed like.

Health and Safety I carried out.

Heat Press:

• Temperature of 180 Degrees - Ensure bare skin is not touching in case of burns. Also to be careful when removing fabric as it will be hot. 
• Ensure the fabric isn't exposed to the heat press when closed without being sandwiched between the brown covers. 
• Heat press is set to 20 seconds - Make sure fabric is only there for 20 second and then removed to avoid burning it. 
• When using the heat press to quickly dry fabric and pigment printed ensure the fabric isn't too wet and make sure it is placed on newsprint to avoid damage to the metal plates. Only leave it under top plate do not close it, as wet fabric causes the heat press to scream. 

Hair is to be up:

• Avoids hair being burnt by heat gun.
• Avoids hair being caught in dyes and pigment mixes.

Pressure Washer;

• To be used appropriately - This means its only to be used in wash room where water has a sink to go down.
• Pressure is at appropriate setting, not too powerful as screen can break.
• Any spills form washer outside of wash room are to be cleaned up straight away to avoid slips.

Drying Cabinet:

• Cabinet can sometimes cause the screens to be hot therefore be careful not to burns hands/skin.
• Careful not to drop screens.
• Screens are placed in cabinet flat side upwards.

Sink Area;

• Spills (water, dyes, pigments) to be cleaned up to avoid slipping.

Cleaning Tables:

• Tables are dried to avoid damage to work and spills that can cause slipping.
• Any water/pigments/dyes are removed to avoid damage to tables, clothing and spills that may cause slipping. 

WEEK 14 - HIVE SIDES

19/05/2014 

SAMPLING SAMPLING SAMPLING.

This is all that is on my mind 4 more days until hand in day. I wanted to get as much sampling I could done today to take the pressure of for thee rest of the week; which I am happy that I have done. The sampling I carried out today was to change up the fabric I was printing on by dying it to add more dimensions to my design when printed. I will post a separate blog post on all of the samples I have produced later on this week. 

20/05/2014 

At home in my own time I knew it was time to get my corporate business cards printed. I used mirrored card in a gold tone to print my details onto. Below is an image of my final corporate business cards.

21/05/2014

Today I focused on printing everything else off that was needed for my Unit 10 ready for it to be handed in on Friday. In the afternoon after speaking to Kathryn about my final piece I decided to print my deign In completely different colours as I wasn't to keen on the neutral tones; therefore by taking inspiration from Andy Gilmore (an artist I have researched into for this project) I decided to use bright and vibrant colours on the orange/yellow spectrum and it is safe to say its the best choice iv made. I feel my design has come to life on fabric and for me its something that I am going to be proud of when framed for my Exhibition. Even though the colours do not specifically match my sheet-work other pieces that will be framed will and there is nothing wrong with a bit of variety as long as there is a reason behind my choice. 

The new range of colours I have chose to use, mixed by yours truly.

Pink (bottom left) - Brill Pink 5BTL and Scarlet TRL 

Orange (top) - Orange G and Scarlet TRL

Yellow/Orange (bottom right) - Yellow 2G and Scarlet TRL

These next two images are of Screen 84 printed with the Yellow/Orange Pigment and Pink Pigment mixed together and Screen 83 printed with the Orange pigment.

In this image you can see that I have added my bee screen on the sample. the Bee outline is printed with the pigment and binder mix of Turquoise 4G and Green B and the Body is printed with a pigment mix of Yellow 2G and Green b.

I really like these samples I produced and I feel the range and contrast in colours work really well together, which I am strangely and pleasantly surprised at.

WEEK 13 EXTENDED - HIVE SIDES

12/05/2014 

Today before lunch  I worked on my Unit 10 folder for example sorting it out, making sure everything is in order and ticking off from a list what I have got in my Unit 10 and what I still need to print or create, such as my business cards and creative CV. 

In the afternoon I decided to produce some more samples for my tech folder and so that I have more to choose from when deciding what I want to re-create for my final piece. I decided to do samples on different fabrics so that I can see how my print comes out on different fibres. Again I had a pretty good afternoon in the print room, I knew what I wanted to produce and I did so. 

13/05/2014 

SEPARATE BLOG POST 

http://theawilkie.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/week-13-hive-sides-primary-research.html

14/05/2014 

Today I decided to work on my Bibliography and my Business cards (corporate). I managed to come up with a final idea for my business cards however I needed mirrored card; therefore I decided to finish them at home in my own time. 

16/05/2014 

Today I spent the whole day completing any sheet-work that was still to be done. This meant completing both of my design sheets and one more development sheet. Unfortunately I do not have any images of these sheets I produced baring from images of one design sheet as you can see below. To make this sheet look more tactile and interesting I decided to print part of my design onto it, which I feel brings the sheet to life. On this particular design sheet I have included the measurements of the 3 frames I am having made, which will frame my work for my end of year Exhibition (23/06/2014-27/06/2014). My other design sheet is of what I would like my whole Exhibition space to look like on a whole (sheet-work, final pieces, honey gift sets ect). I am extremely pleased to get the final bits of sheet-work done as it feels a massive weight has been lifted and it is one less thing to worry about.

 (Before printing onto it)

(After printing on it)

WEEK 13 - HIVE SIDES. PRIMARY RESEARCH.

13/05/2014

This subject deserves a post all to itself. By far this has been the best Primary Research I have ever carried out. I know I carried it out late in this project; however it was finding the time and a day where it was good weather, to go visit my mum's work colleague Pat who keeps Honeybee's as her hobby. I am extremely thankful that Pat allowed me to visit her Honeybee's to take photographs as well as giving me more knowledge on them. I found the whole thing fascinating and informational, it was also brilliant to get dressed up in a Beekeeping suite and to get up close to the Honeybee's themselves. The image below is of a few of her Hives she keeps within field that grows Rapeseed, which gives the Honeybee's plenty of pollen to produce Honey.

These next two images are of the frames within the Hive where the Honeybee's will produce honey. Once the Honeybee's (Worker Bee's (female)) have filled the cells they will cap them off, which you can see below to the right. Once the whole frame has been capped off Pat will remove it and extract all of the Honey.

 

These next images are of the Colony of this Hive. The cells that have been filled is not Homey it is in fact the eggs of the Queen Honeybee. Due to good luck I was able to in fact (after checking 2 other hives) witness the Queen Bee within her colony. The bottom two images contain the Queen Bee; so that Pat can spot her when checking the Hives she paint her back a bright yellow (not harmful).

 

(Painted yellow spot, Queen Bee is in middle of images)

WEEK 12 - HIVE SIDES

07/05/2014

In the first hour I researched into whether to send off for my corporate business cards or not, I looked into local businesses that can do it and as well as online businesses; I compared the prices and sent off for samples. For the rest of the morning I copied my dissected Honeybee template onto tracing paper and handed it in ready to be exposed onto screens for printing. 

08/05/2014

Sewing machine sampling. As part of my final piece to add texture and colour shading which cannot be done through a print I am going to use the sewing machine and a range of treads. To ensure this is doable I decided to produce some samples of what colour threads I could use and how I will do it for example straight/diagonal/machine effected lines. 

These 2 images below show the range of samples I have produced using different methods and threads. The fourth one along is my favourite. It does however depend on what inks I use to print with for what threads will add shading and still be noticeable on a large scale. Therefore once my screens have been exposed and are ready to print I will do further samples using the sewing machine of printed samples. 

09/05/2014

My screens are ready to be used!!!

Screen 56 - Honeybee Segments.

Screen 84 - Small background Hexagons.

Screen 83 - Large Hexagons with bee silhouettes.

Today I decided to mix the colours I want to print in and to produce a good amount of samples before the print room becomes too busy. All of which I did with hardly any problems there was just one!!!! Below are images from different angles of my screen which hold my bee segments on. They may appear ready to be printed on, which they are but with one problem they are not the right size to fit into the larger hexagons bee silhouettes. My first thoughts were ciaos! However after informing Kat and Kathryn I went to go see Paul from graphics again who was able to re size these on Illustrator to the perfect fit, which I am extremely thank full for. I then transferred the new sized bee's from paper onto tracing paper ready for Kathryn to re-expose. After this everything went smoothly in the print room.

Screen 84.

This has exposed really well however for my final piece Kathryn said she will re-expose it as the top side hasn't exposed as well as I would like. However it is fine whilst I sample colours.



Screen 85.

Exposed brilliantly. Ready to print.

My work space for today. 

 

Mixing pigments - I decided to use colours that reflected my sheet-work such as mood boards and visual sheets. Therefore any mixed pigments I used included the pigment colours Brown RRT, Orange G, Yellow 2G or/and Dark Brown GTM. Below is an image of two of the pigments I have frequently used.

 

These two images are of my mixed pigment dyes the one to the left is Brow RRT and a small amount of Orange G, mixed with binder; however as sampling went on I decided to add some Dark Brown GTM to produce a more darker brown that I was after for my design. When jotting down these colours through sampling I call this mix of pigments and binder my PMIX  for easy reference. The image to the right is of my TMIX again shortened for referencing throughout sampling. This mix of pigment and binder is made up of pigment colours Orange G and a small amount of Brown RRT however as sampling went on to produce more of a golden orange shade I added some Yellow 2G.

These next 4 images are taken of my sampling at different stages, such as the first screen 84 printed then screen 83. The 4th image is of my second screen lined up ready to be printed. As you can see for the third image I have used a different pigment mix. I have also used different fabrics to print on such as Calico, Cotton and Muslim. For sampling as my screens are so large it is ideal to tape fabric together so I can print onto them all at the same time, which allows me to produce more samples at once.

This is Screen 83 printed onto a wet felted sample I produced.

Today I really enjoyed my time in the print room and I feel I have produced  good range of samples before the print room is to get busy. The next time I'm in the print room for sampling I am going to sample colours of the opposite spectrum simply to see how my design can vary.