Length Project

So its done. The length project has been handed in! I've really enjoyed this project and felt that I really wanted to share it. I've done alot more digital printing in this project and really expanded my technical ability in this area. It so far has been the best project yet!

Here is my final presentation of my whole project. My length and cushions and also my samples in the far left corner.

My length had two differently coloured flowers with black leaves. I made two cushions and seeing them sat together with my length proves that they work really well as a collection.

A closer look at my length.

A proven match of my collection!



Here is my cushions that I made. I wanted to make them to show my ideas of how I want them to be used. On the back is my very simple leaf print that you can see below.

I wanted to keep some of the designs simple to keep the whole theme working well together.

My collection has a few more complex and detailed prints in it. I have done a bit of digital experimentation before but this time I've had more time to play around and learn simple yet effective techniques, that in turn have been very successful for this project.

Here are my digital prints -

This is my favourtie print that I have done.

This is one of my simplier designs that uses a few of my other flowers.

On this one I really like the way the black leaves at the back really are striking. I think the contrast works well and brings in my fine linear effect.

To create this effect I just use the paint button on photo shop and played around with the tolerance, which means that if I change it to a low number then it would only pick up little bits and colour them or if it was a high number then it would colour a lot of the same image. The effect is dramatic and works really well.

This I tried to combine lots of different styles together which I think worked well. The big pink flower was one of the original line drawings and that I just coloured it in. I used the paint button and then the eraser. I used the eraser to rub out bits of the block colour and then used my skill with the tolerance to fill it back in like I did on my flowers.

I have really enjoyed this project and I actually think that it shows! 

New pages!

I have added some new pages to the left hand side of this post. It has lots of my different work that I have done over the past year. It has a variety of the techniques that I have learnt and now am skilled at.

Length Printing

Over the past few weeks I have been learning how to print a length.

To create a length I had to take my drawings and turn them into a print idea. I have to use acetate and tracing paper to get the pattern into repeat. I wanted all the flowers the same but in a slightly different arrangment, which made making a repeat pattern a little harder to create.

I had to cut my repeat in a wave shape so that I could fit it on my screen so that I didnt lose any of my pattern. I also had to re-draw my leaf shapes so that it would be easier to match up.

Here is a closer view of my work.



I wanted to print my lenght in three different colours. I didn't realise how much work went into getting it to match up, but now I feel that I could confidently create another repeat.

Here is some pictures of my final outcome.

A view of my final outcome. The print is done in three colours. I had to print the leaves first and then the flowers. I had to do it one step at a time and mask off lots of areas to get the required effect.

To get the leaves printed I had to cut stencils of the flower shapes to cover the flowers up whilst I printed the leaves.

To print the flowers I kept the outer stencils of the flowers and used them as the stencils to cover up the leaves.

I wanted to print the flowers in two different colours. I realised that this could take some time and some serious stencil cutting, so I decided to print the same colours at the same time. My pattern is in repeat so I put the colours in a diagonal so that when it was repeated it would repeat diagonally and go pink purple pink purple, like the image.

To print it I had to carefully pull one colour over the image, each colour at a time but without washing the screen. So I would pull the pink first and then pull the purple, trying to not mix the colours together.

I really enjoyed my print and I think that it has worked really well.

My print has been inspired by Cole & Son, the textile company. My trend idea was to make something traditional but with a modern twist. I call it modern Heritage. I have re-vamped some of the colours to give it that modern twist and slightly more feminin. I feel that once I have completed my other samples I think that the whole modern heritage trend will work well together as a collection.

Watercolours.

I recently discovered that I had an underlying passion for watercolours. I came across it researching for a technique. My main inspiration came from Elizabeth Blackadder. She paints flowers using watercolours. Her technique is very free and fluid and that was what I really liked about it. I had a lot of fun experimenting with it and used my drawings and her inspiration to inspire a trends book that I put together. By creating the trends book I discoverd a new way to present my work and alo a new love for painting.

Watery bloom trend book :

I used my flower drawings to create a front cover for my trend book. I have been learning photoshop which has helped improved my design ideas by using a selection of my drawings and creating patterns.

My pattern ideas

I used my pattern ideas and put them onto fashion ideas. I used photoshop to do this. I tweeked the colours and then used shadows and shading to make it look realistic. 

I will hopefully re-visit this technique possible for my final major project in the next year. I really enjoyed it and created some good design ideas.