Dashing Tweeds

Dashing Tweeds is Britain’s latest tweed textile and mens wear company. We are using all the best British mills and workshops to create a truely original British brand. Opening up a contemporary arena for classic quality fabric we have created a range of tweeds, accessories and clothing for the 21st century.


http://www.dashingtweeds.co.uk/company-info/about-us/


AIM: To design a menswear suiting / outerwear fabric, should be modern luxury/ travel / sportswear

REFERENCE: Dashing Tweeds use the urban landscape for inspiration, you can use this or broadened this out to use a primary research topic of your own choice

INPIRATION AW 2013-
We are looking at texture and contrast for men. Moving away from too much heritage reference and looking towards modernity/ functionality and sportswear reference. Industrial materials/ technical materials combined with British wools. Surprise textures and finishes. Boucles, slub, textured yarn in contrast with smooth surfaces. Waxed and rubbersied finishes. Shades of neutral, greys, dark inky navy, aubergine, deep green with the odd bright. Matt/ shine. Micro structures and small scale geometrics.

Please look on the Dashing Tweed website to gain an understanding and sense of what they produce and where they market their products. Look at their manufacturing base and philosophy.

STARTING POINT:
Put together a mood board to help you clarify the above, this should clearly indicate your colour palette and inspirational references with some suggestions of yarn choice.

 

OUTCOME: There will be the opportunity to present your work to Dashing Tweeds and there will be a placement opportunity for the collection that has answered the brief most successfully

PRESENTATION: 3 x A2 boards as well as a sketchbook, the boards will document the theme, research and final samples.

 

Locating

 Learning Outcome 1:

Demonstrate independent thinking and time management through

the authorship of a self initiated brief.

Learning Outcome 2:

Demonstrate the ability to explore, critically analyse and develop

practice.

Learning Outcome 3:

Illustrate that they can build and use networks and contacts as a

career development resource.

Learning Outcome 4:

Demonstrate evidence of testing and presenting individual practice

within a professional textiles context.

Learning Outcome 5: Manage own professional development reflectively.

Lichen

As many of my primary photographs are of lichen, I decided to have a look in the library for some books on lichen, with images of other lichens that I probably won't find in Manchester.

 

I found this book in the science section of the library, it has been really helpful as there are some more exotic (if you can call lichen exotic) lichens, the book has opened my eyes to lots of colour and more textures and tactile qualities that lichens can possess.

 

I just thought I would post this image because I find it very striking, the hot coloured lichen in the stripes interest me the most, even though they aren't miles away from the warmness of the brown bark. I would like to take these colours into the weave room, but use them against a cold coloured background instead.

 

Another great image found in this book is this one:

 

 





This is a very interesting looking lichen, called map lichen, found in Glacier National Park, USA.

 

 

Whilst looking for imagery of lichens, I have found out some interesting facts about lichen too. One of the most intriguing facts about lichen was that they are very sensitive to air pollution, in particular sulphur dioxide, and is used by scientists to indicate polluted areas. Bushy lichens will need to have clear air to grow, leafy lichens can survive a small amount of air pollution and crusty lichens can survive with more polluted air. If there is a large amount of sulphur dioxide in an area, no lichen will grow.

 

I think this is an interesting thing to bear in mind, how the environment defines the type of lichen, in colour and texture. I could consider how environmental factors could change my work, such as hot/cold, (maybe trying to find some heat reactive dyes or pigments to experiement with) light/dark, (glow in the dark fibres etc?) dry/wet (colours that change when wet?) or even by using something that changes colour/texture over time? These are all interesting things to bear in mind when I am producing my collection of weave samples.



 

More Paper

I went to see the paper exhibition at Manchester Art Gallery that opened on Friday. Here are some images of the work I saw:


Wonder Forest by Manabu Hangai. He uses recycled materials in his work. These branches are suspended a couple of inches above the ground, and rotate freely and naturally in a slow and almost eerie way. It is very peacful to see them move, they are around 10 or 11 ft tall and you can walk through the forest and look at the leaves very closely. They are mixed media, primarily made of seawead, with other materials added for texture and colour. Hangai was there at the exhibition as it was the first day that the public could view the work, and he spoke about his work with a lot of passion, which inspired me greatly.

 

 

 

Here are some more photographs from the exhibition:

 

Laura Cooperman

 

 

 

Mia Pearlman

 

 

Rob Ryan

 

 

 



 

 

Su Blackwell

 

Béatrice Coron

 

 

 

Paper Continued

Following on from my last blog post I will show the progress of my paper making, and it isn't going well.
This is an image of my first attempt of making paper;

 

As you can see it has fallen apart, I think that the main error was that I didn't tear the paper up small emough, even though I soaked the paper for a long time.

 

These are my shredded newspaper samples:

 

                        

The top image is a sample made just of newspaper, and the bottom image has a bit of the pulp mixed in with it. These newspaper samples seem to be knitted together quite well, and once they are dry I think they will hold together quite well. You can't see any glitter in the samples yet, but I will inspect then once they are dry.

This is my tissue paper sample:

 

 

This sample is now dry. As you can see the blue pigment has dried quite a bit lighter than the colour it was when wet. This shows I need to use a lot more pigment for a brighter colour, something to bear in mind for next time. The tissue paper seems to have worked really well as a whole, the paper itself has held together really well, probably due to the thinness of the original tissue and the absorbancy.

 

 

I have prepped some more of the pulp that came with my paper making kit, here is an image:

 

 

I took a lot longer this time ensuring that the paper was shredded finely and poured boiling water instead of warm water to soak it in. I am going to leave that for a few hours, maybe even over night and then will add some pigments and maybe even some sequins or glitter to the mixture. Aready it looks like it may work better than my first attempt, and if so I will experiemnt with the original pulp some more.

 

After this experimentation I have come to the conclusion that paper making is not my strongest practice, however practice does makes perfect. These samples don't relate to my theme but I am hoping to produce some that do link to my work once I have found the best technique for paper making. 

 



Whilst taking this photograph I noticed the quality of shadow in the image. I took a photograph of just the shadow:

 

 

Although there is not an element of opposite in small proportion that I am looking at, I thought that the shadow looked very interesting. The three "shades" of colour in the shadow work well together and I was thinking that I could try manipulating this image in photoshop.. 

Paper

In response to my tutorial I went to the Fred Aldos shop and bought a paper making kit. I have made a start at making some paper from the kit...

However I found the instructions to this kit very confusing, they didn't explain exactly what to do and the materials seemed low quality. This is currently drying out but I am doubting that the pulp is even knitted together enough to hold together as a piece of paper.

I decided as this wasn't a great outcome to try this process out with different materials, so I have got some different pulps soaking in some water so I can mould them later. I have tried it out with some shredded newspaper:

 



This is the shredded newspaper soaking in water,  I am going to leave it for a few hours to see if it will disintergrate at all in the water. I have put a bit of glitter in there too, I am unsure what will happen but it's worth a try!

I have also got some tissue paper soaking in some water, and I have added some of the blue dye provided from the kit:

 

I am thinking that the tissue paper might work out quite well as it seems to absorb the water and ink really well. The tissue may even disintergrate a bit more to produce a more "pulpy" pulp. I will go back to these in a few hours and see if I can make something that resembles paper a bit more! 

Weave Workshop

Today was the sign up for the workshops, and I am very happy to say I got my place on the Weave Workshop! So now is the time that I will start to think about my warp, and I have a few ideas. I went into the weave workshop after the sign up to have a quick look at some of the yarns there, and I produced these three colour wraps.

I made these with the view that they would be doubled up. I am happy with these first three colour wraps, however I will still make more and decide from a larger group of colour wraps which one I will actually use. I will definitely use just one strand of the bright colour in my warp as I think this looks great and links perfectly to my concept.

Tutorial 1st Oct

Following from my tutorial I am very happy with my progress during the first week. I have now began to think about some new materials to bear in mind, maybe to start looking at glitter, sequins and beads. These are things that catch the light and would work great against something very dull. During the weave workshop (if I get a place) I could use these marials in conjunction with wools or very fluffy yarns.
I may even try out making my own papers to experiment with media, I think this could show my ideas quite well.
My concept has an element of "surprise" or "the unexpected", these could be introduced more toroughly through weave once I begin the workshop.

Ideas for Weave

As I am hoping to get a place in the weave workshop for my specialist area, I have began to think about researching some weavers that work in a similar way to which I would eventually like to work. I found some great examples and thought I would post on here a couple of the ones that I thought also were producing work that linked to my current concept.

Catharine Ellis

 

Hiroko Takeda

 

Ismini Samandou

 

Pat Mink

 

Pauline Verbeek

 

 

 

Visual Research

During week one I have started to gather my initial visual research, I began this by taking some photographs. As it would not be practical to upload every photograph that I have taken, these are a few of my favourites.

 

From my photographs I feel that I have decided upon my colour palette for my work, I will use a mass of dark, "dull", mundane colours (greys, browns etc) and will introduce an impacting green or orange to contrast with these. For now my idea is to create some drawings from these photographs using paint, inks, and using mark making. I may even decide to edit my photographs slightly on photoshop with layering and excentuating colours to experiement with them.

Visual Research

I had a look through some more of my photographs from my summer project to see if there were any more that were relevant to my concept. I found quite a few, here are my favourite.

 

I took these photos whilst I was in Cornwall over the summer, the colours really inspire me and I believe that they are perfect to include in my visual research. I will use these photographs to inspire me to find more sources closer to home to photograph.

Developing a concept..

This is my first draft of my concept:

Proportion and Opposites

This project will explore opposites in small proportions. This may be small amounts of intense colour against a mass of mundane tones. Reflective vs non-reflective and light vs dark will also be considered as ongoing themes. The main idea for the initial visual research is the extremity  of the proportion of the “opposite”. Research sources will mainly be natural but could also be from my surrounding man-made environment. Visual research will consist of drawings (mark making, collage, paint etc) and photographs.

Initial ideas will be transferred from visual research into the weave workshop, focusing on composition and tactile qualities, exploration of colour, texture and experimenting with non-traditional “yarns” or objects to be included in weave samples. Initial ideas:

·         Mirrors and beads

·         Trapped objects and the use of pockets

·         Lights or glow in the dark fibres/paints/dyes

·         Combining varying weights of yarns

·         Including my digital skills from first year by either scanning/photographing samples and manipulating/weaving back into samples.

·         Loops in weft threads to create textures surfaces or tying threads onto weft threads

·         Treating the fabric once it has been taken off the loom e.g. “woven shibori”

Samples will be made with the view of an exhibition or interior context, still unsure.

I will add to this draft throughout the project as my work develops, and I may even reconsider the title depending on how my work turns out. However, I feel that I have described my ideas thoroughly at this point in time.

Starting Point

I chose this photograph from my summer project as my starting point for Intentions.

From this photograph I began to list the main things I like about it which were:

• The tactile qualities
• Colour palette
• Natural source
• The small quantities of the lichen
• The contrast of the colour of the lichen against the stone

From this I decided that these would be running themes for my concept. The main idea that I came to was the ratio of lichen to stone, this difference in proportion really interests me. I came to the conclusion that this would drive my work, not necessarily just looking at lichen, but any source that shows this extreme proportion of opposites.

Bodies Revealed

Over the summer I visited a number of exhibitions and one that will resinate with me for quite some time was in Liverpool called "Bodies Revealed". Although I am a textiles student, I am very interested in human anatomy and the science involved with our inner workings. I would like to incorporate this genuine interest in some of my future work. I was very dissapointed to be told that photography was strictly prohibited, therefore images I have included in this post have been found on the internet, however they are the same specimens displayed at the exhibition.

The exhibition was comprised of over 200 human body specimens, whole and partial preserved through the revolutionary technique called polymer preservation. This technique replaces all bodily fluids with a silicone based substance, permenantly preserving the body. When asked by a curious young girl, one of the tour guides described the muscles of a preserved body to feel like "the rubber tyres of a car". The extraordinary and educational anatomical journey allows you to explore the intricate functions deep inside the human body. Accompanying the exhibits, a thorough explanation of the workings of all systems of the human body; Skeletal, muscular, nervous, respiratory, digestive, urinary, reproductive, endocrine, and circulatory.

"Bodies Revealed " offers an intimate and informative view into the human body. As well as offering a stimulating and inspiring insight into how the human body works, the exhibition also promotes healthy life choices by demonstrating the effects of desease and unhealthy lifestyles on the human body. These examples can be seen throughout the exhibition, one that resinnated in my mind was the juxstaposition of a healthy lung next to a smoker's lung. You can see cancer and liver desease in their true form, as well as looking at the inside of human bones and see the nervous system before your very eyes.

 

 

 

I was overwhelmed by the exhibition which was both shocking and macabre, yet at the same time thought provoking. At the time of viewing the exhibition it was easy to lose sight of the fact that the "specimens" were once people with families, friends and futures; yet here they were stripped bare. These people have donated their bodies to science allowing future generations to learn. It was quite difficult to digest the fact that in all honesty, this is all we humans are, bone, muscle and miscellaneous tissue, vunerable to the way we lead our lives. Although these human artefacts were in every sense 'real' it quickly became apparent to me that they held no essence of what really makes us human. 

Start of 2nd Year

I am eagerly anticipating the start of my second year of university. Slightly worried that my organisation skills will slip however confident that I will improve my basics and push myself further than last year.

Reflecting on my summer project, I have most probably left it a little bit late (oops) but I feel that my research has really left me inspired for the oncoming year! Today I thought I would post a couple of the most inspiring images that I have found over the summer that I have not been as confident with working from in my sketchbook.

Firstly I would like to show this image:

 

 

I found this image whilst browsing the internet, they were an idea for halloween decorations found on a blog (inspiringpretty.com) but I love this image not just for halloween. I like the transparency of the "ghost dresses" and the way that you can see the folds in "fabric" even though they are made from chicken wire. There is a great contrast between what you see and what it is actually made of. The "ghist dresses" in the background look particularly soft even though we know they aren't. This image has inspired me to think about branching out on materials rather than sticking to fabrics every time.

 

Here are some more thought provoking images that have me raring to go for future work of my own:

 

 

 

Just a small sample of some of the images from my research file. Looking forward to Monday 17th and finding out what we will do with this research!