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.