a level textiles | how I’m getting on

Some of you seem to like my artsy craftsy posts, so here’s a bit of a step away from my usual ones!  I mentioned on twitter a while ago about sharing how I’m getting on with AS textiles so far, and a few people said they’d be interested in reading.  Most of these pages pictured are unfinished, so I know they’re looking kinda blank!  There’s always gonna be some works-in-progress though until the minute before the deadline so no point hanging fire til it’s ‘done’.

My journal doesn’t look particularly scrapbook-y, I know!  Before I started I’d assumed that we’d be going all out arty with our books – doodles everywhere, fancy handwriting, jaunty angles, that kind of thing.  Nope!  We have to be super precise about everything and keep our pages fairly ‘clean’ looking.  We’re supposed to use word processing for all titles and annotations and whatnot, but I basically nagged my teacher enough until she let me handwrite them instead.  I ensured her it would take me twice as long to mess around achieving exactly the perfect sized text boxes, and that I promised I’d write neat enough. 😛  The shades of white paper didn’t match otherwise and that seriously bothered me haha!  Ok so that maybe makes me sound OCD but I think it looks better handwritten anyway.

Now that we’ve been working in our books a little while I’m really thankful we’re not going OTT arty on every page (I can’t think of a better word than arty but you know what I mean, right?) because the whole thing takes enough time as it is already.  Much easier to have a finished looking page this way.

This one’s probably my favourite sample page so far; we’re working on corsets now and my front panel will be something like this.  It’s not too obvious in the photo that the lines are wire couched into place, which was actually pretty quick and easy to do.  I like how it looks and it holds the whole thing together well, which is always a bonues.  In my final piece I’ll maybe do it in a different colour palette though, seeing as I’m sensing too many Laura Ashley curtains circa 1999 similarities with the middle greens.  Not too sure.  I’m always gonna be picking holes, never satisfied.

One of my first samples!  Can see how much I’ve improved already.  We just kind of got stuck in without any planning or thought, so it’s a bit all over the place, going back to different sections here and there.  Yeah that’s not technically how you’re meant to do it, but unless the examiner reads my blog (if so, please be generous) then they’re never gonna know.

Need more drawings in my book definitely.  Our course is an Art Textiles one, so it’s not all about the fabric stuff, which is what I’m best at.  Our current theme is ‘pattern in nature’ and mine’s focused on garden, forest, leaves, trees and that kind of thing, if you hadn’t noticed already!  It’s been quite an easy brief to work with for my first one, but I’m hoping for something a bit more edgy for our next unit.

Some pages I wouldn’t consider my best work, but they’re good for showing a starting point at least.  Not a mega fan of this painted bondaweb one. :/  I’m making the most of already knowing how to knit and crochet and using it where I can, knitted wire leaves for example.  They’re quite effective for the amount of time they take, and it’s something different that I can bring to my book.  Examiners like that stuff. 😛  Beady eyed knitters might recognise the Norah Gaughan pictures in the top right – I’m using designers that I’ve already heard of as inspirations as well as ones that I find on Google.

Plenty yarn around in our house for this kind of thing.  Handstitch/counching looks good but takes bloody ages to do!  This one’s meant to be inspired by closeup images of dandelions, hence the fluffy stuff.

Today’s post might not interest everyone, but I hope one or two of you liked seeing what other crafty stuff I’ve been up to!  Anybody who’s studied textiles or any other art subject and has any advice – especially anything you wish you knew at this point – give me a shout!  Will be much appreciated. 🙂

lily kate x
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