Evaluation

At first I had to decided what to do as my focus for my project; I knew I wanted to do look at some kind of natural forms. Something I would be instantly drawn towards is flowers and although that would provide me with a wide spectrum of things to look at, I felt it is something that has been done so many times, that it could be difficult to come up with original ideas. But something I have been interested in for a very long time is natural phenomenon’s, at first it was just a passing idea I had that I wasn’t taking too seriously, as I thought it would be difficult to research. However as I had a lack of other ideas I started looking at images of natural phenomenon’s, they were so beautiful that I decided that I would after all like to focus on Natural Phenomenon’s.

I started using www.pinterest.com to collect research that I have found on the Internet. Pinterest is a great tool that allowed me find helpful images that had any relevance to my project, the image link takes you straight back to the original site where you found the image, it also allows you to write any notes under the image that you may need.

This gave me the opportunity to find lots of different natural phenomenon’s, which I could then choose from and research further. For example, I originally wanted to look at the northern lights and light pillars separately, but after researching I found out that the light pillars are the version of the Aurora phenomenons. My research ranged from looked at phenomenon’s that are caused by microscopic plankton, to nebula's and supernovas. 

I was also able to find designers and collections that relate to phenomenons. For instance, I looked at different types of cloud formations, such as nacreous clouds (clouds that differ in colouration, to look like mother of pearl when the sun is several degrees below the horizon) as well as mammatus clouds (these are sometimes referred to as breast clouds because of the pockets of water that form). A designer/collection I found that related to this research is the collection “last breathe” by Robert Wun. Although this collection was inspiration by the biblical history of the death of Jesus, the amazing design definitely represent air and clouds, Wun says his piece “visualises how his last breathe condensed and paused in his body as if constructing the complicated blood veins with air.” Although this piece was not inspired by directly by cloud formations, there is definitely a link between the two.

While  I was still researching we were also doing workshops to create work, the most successful of which was mono printing. The process was to cover a surface in ink, place a piece of paper over the top and then draw on to the back of the paper to create a line drawing in the ink. Instead of “drew” directly into the ink, drew being a loose term; I used a piece of hessian to scratch flowing patterns into the ink. Because of the small holes in the fabric, it created some very fine lines, although it was just an experiment, for me it represents the northern lights nicely, which is one of my favourite natural phenomenons. I was very fortunate to find a designer who created a collection inspired by the Northern Lights. . The collection consisted mostly of evening gowns, most of which were embellished with a variety of coloured Swarovski crystals. What I like most about this collection is that he hasn’t used the obvious colours associated with the Auroras Borealis, the greens and yellows that occur most commonly. Instead the gowns are mostly black with dashes of colours showing the rarity of the phenomenon’s, as well as using colours that occur only in the rarest incidences.  Also because the colours are created with crystals when the light catches them they will shimmer, also creating the illusion of the northern lights.

One of things I was worried about when choosing natural phenomenons as my focus is that it would be difficult to collect. In terms of research I visited the Liverpool World Museum, looking at the astrology section as well as going to one of the 30 minutes presentations have in the planetarium, which was very interesting, but didn’t really provide anything useful, I also visited the Walker Art Gallery as well, to look at the collection of “viral landscapes” by Helen Chadwick. In terms of other primary research I created my own light trail photographs. These also developed, as the equipment I used got more sophisticated, and my method changed. At first I had to start by just moving around the camera, capturing static lights, because I couldn’t change the exposure time on my camera, then I got hold of a more complicated camera, but the maximum I could change the exposure length to was 30 seconds, so I wouldn’t be able to create star trails, but it was ideal for these light trails. My last attempts were my favourites; I changed the location that I look my photos, as well as combining two different light sources to create a contrast, as well as using colour filters. The last of the three image I have included of the light trails is my favourite, I love the contrast of the blue glow and the delicate purple lines.

As well as continuing to develop my light trail photographs, I had also started working on some samples. At first I was a little bit too clueless as how I could make the best use of the heat press and transfer dyes in relation to my theme. But after speaking to my tutors, we came up with the idea of layering up wool with colour sheets of transfer dyes; representing the lines of the light trail photographs I had created. I did quite a few samples of these, developing them from single layers of colours, to more intricate designs, using different thicknesses of wools and more colour layers. However the more layers you put on the more unpredictable it can be, as you never know what shade the “black” layer would come out as.

I also wanted to try using silkscreen printing to create some samples, but again I wasn’t sure how I could achieve what I wanted, I’d previously done some research on discharging with bleach, but I was just going to attempt at creating patterns on already coloured fabric, however unless the fabric was already patterned it wouldn’t be very visually interesting and as I wanted the inspiration for these samples to be my research on the northern lights and my mono print experiments. At first the experiments were rather blurry, as I was trying to work out the best way to apply the bleach, if too much is put on the screen, it takes away too much of the colour, so I had to be very careful and had to refine my process. These two images were done when I had refined my process as much as I could, but one of them has colour put over the bleach. I used our facebook page to get my peers opinions on which is better for when I was deciding on which method would be better for my final sample.

I decided on this method over the transfer dye process, because I wanted my garments to be inspired by a natural phenomenon, instead of just my light trail photographs. It would also be extremely difficult to create the light trail samples on a large scale because of all of the continuous lines and all the layers of colour.

Once I had decided on the method for my fabric, I started working on the construction for my garment. I started  with the pattern or a simple strapless bodice, however it wasn’t the shape I wanted to I had to begin altering it. I had to have a couple of attempts at this before I thought I had got it right. But even once it was made out of my final piece fabric, it still needed altering as I wanted the dresses to be fitted and the girls modelling the dresses are different sizes so, they had to be measured and altered against them individually. I also had to change the way that I was going to make the skirt of the dress, although parts of the process remained the same. I had planned on creating the skirt by pleating my fabric very closely, so that it would still have the effect of vast amounts of fabric at the bottom, however it would have been too frumpy around the bodice, so I had to work out a new way to do it. So I decided to create a sample skirt using panel and godets to create a flowing effect at the bottom of the skirt, as well as making the dresses look generally more structured, I did manage to incorporate my transfer samples into the design; for one of the godets I used netting to create a more couture look, and used the transfer dyes on the top layer. Doing the alterations for the dresses caused a couple of problems, I purposely made the dresses a little big so that they would definitely fit the models, however I thought this wouldn’t be a problem as I hadn’t sewn together the back panels, so that I could put zips in, thinking that I could reduce the size enough to fit, however I over measured slightly, so that I would need to put a couple of pleats at the back to reduce the size, I’ve also had to put a couple of darts in the bodice to make them fit more effectively. However when it came to the photos shoot, it turned out that the dresses still weren’t fitted enough, so we had to pin the straps tighter, by winding them together in the middle, so the look like cross over straps.

If I were to improve my collection, I would like to change the design of the top half of the dress, first of all by using a different fabric, so that I could create a long sleeved fitted top, possibly still with a low back, I just feel it would have more of a couture look. And although I really like the effect of the skirt, I would like to be able to develop my method further so that the lines wouldn’t appear where the screens overlap, or at least a way to make them nearly unnoticeable, so that it would look more professional. If I was going to expand my collection, I think I’d want to use some different forms of embellishment, such as crystals like Wang Peiyi, along some of the colour overlays to capture the light, or perhaps lace in some places to create contrast.

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