On Monday evening I submitted my portfolio for my second module.
This time I investigate shape and worked within the theme of Industrial.
At first I was bit daunted by the prospect of the theme. Industrial conjures images of grey, black, lifeless structures... a bit daunting for a person so obsessed with colour!
I started to think of all the places nearby I could visit that would fit the theme and the railway museum in Swindon sprung to mind. STEAM is a wonderful collection engines and information about the Great Western Railway works that once stood on the site. I had a discovered a place that fitted the theme but was full of colour - yay!
After a morning drawing engines. the Caerphilly Castle in particular, I knew I would be fine!
Here are some of the results of 9 weeks of work:
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| Primary Source Drawing |
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| Primary Source Drawing |
This front wheel of the train became to the focus of my design developments. It amazes me that it is relatively small but worked so hard!
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| Developing design ideas |
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| Working with hand stitching to create the the idea of turning motion. |
I became intrigued by the turning motion of the wheel and the pattern the centre detail of the wheel makes. It's like watching a hub cap turning when you are driving! So I wandered off into an investigation of mark making with swirls.....
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| More design developments! |
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| One of my favourite pieces in the design development! |
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| Cable Stitch |
I am learning to just then the colours I use come to me as a comfortable feeling. In this design development it was blues, purples and greys. Out came the dyes and these gorgeous purples were created!
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| Couching Stitch |
I also have to produce larger resolved pieces that use different materials:
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| The wheel centre with writing. |
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| The final resolved piece that became my experimental piece. |
During each module you pull together 5 samples of the embroidery stitches being taught during that module and then a larger experimental piece. For this I wanted to depict the things the Caerphilly Castle would have carried on it's 1 million mile journey in service.
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| Experimental piece. |
It was an interesting journey investigating different recycled materials, painting embroidery canvas with dyes and dyeing other elements of the piece. Using Feather stitch to sew the coins in place was a fun experience!
What do you think?
It such a fun journey to be on, but as a person with a mathematical mind I do find it hard to not have a definite answer! It is now time to wait for an answer from my tutor as to whether the process and final design are good enough!
