#textiles degree

16x16 cm mark making inspired by a toy giraffe

various 8x8 cm mark makings b&w

A swatch book is a place where I will have all sorts of mark makings and doodles that are created from the objects with our box. Eventually these swatches will develop into obvious styles as we progress our work in the textile area and alter our objects. It will act as another source of inspiration when sampling and designing.

The introduction of the swatch book was very experimental and started off slow as I learnt which medias were best at making certain marks. I worked a lot in pens ranging from 0.05 mm to 0.8 mm, combining varying thicknesses was really fun to create the ripples in the dried flowers and ink created the shines from the glass appropriately. I wish to create more swatches using wet materials because the paint brushes create a rough texture easier than drawing with pens. 

The sizes go the swatches vary; we started drawing 30 5x5 cm swatch square, 18 8x8 cm squares and finally 6 16x16 cm squares. I personally prefer drawing smaller swatches because they turn out more intricate because you're limited to such a small area to confine yourself to which leads to small sized, overloaded marks. I found the swatches very fun and a smart way of visually learning about your objects and there properties. Also, I was able to create designs of marks I wouldn’t initially create when drawing an object; this has made me explore ways of mark making. However, not all my swatches turned out great. My rubbing swatches didn’t always pick up the surfaces of objects exceptionally, so I would improve my rubbing mark makings and practise on different medias like oil pastels that are soft enough to pick up the surface of an object. 

I look forward to the further swatches I make and see what I am able to find in the surface of my objects that create the place I live.

A line drawing of a bottle from my box drawn in an illustrations style

Collage of several drawings

To create a piece of textiles, drawing is essential in the designing process, which is why throughout my Box Clever Project I need to keep up a book of drawings taken from the items within my box. I need to include a varying selection of drawing processes, some fine studies, line drawings, detailed drawings, tonal, blind, continues line, interpretive, silhouettes etc. this day of drawing helped us at some strategies of drawing we couldn’t commonly use, that in the end result will inspire our textile work. We started with a simple line drawing of a few objects arranged around one another, which helped us get into the flow of the form of these objects and make us familiar with there composition. I draw mainly line drawings, occasionally turning into tonal using closely aligned lines but I found this activity harder than I thought mainly based on the form of the objects, particularly the Bagpuss cat toy, as Its angle confused me a bit. To help me better my drawings I drew a flower after this activity, as I’m more confident drawing objects of nature. The difficulty continued as we had to draw a mirrored silhouette of the line drawing. I found the silhouette shapes could nicely develop into a repeatable print as we made a stencil of the shape and layered the shape across the page by blocking, striping and outlining the stencil. Through a short drawing session I developed an object into a print that could become repeatable, showing  how drawing helps the textile designer immensely in the designing process.

“Drawing is putting a line (a)round an idea” -Henri Matisse

I'm aware that it is very unlikely that anyone will read this and I may make a fool out of myself for posting it but hey... Doing this post has been on my mind for a while as I've heard that writing your thoughts/anxieties down often makes you feel better. So here goes nothing...

About a year ago, I was considering what I would do with myself after I finished my A levels... I knew I loved textiles and art, and would probably want to go down the textiles route but I wasn't sure whether to apply for the foundation course or the degree course. After lots of thinking I decided to apply to both. Even though I wasn't confident that I'd get in to the degree first time round, I thought -why not apply to both courses.

Here I am after collecting my A Level results about a month ago with grades fit for the degree course! I couldn't believe it when I logged onto UCAS that morning. I never expected to get straight onto the degree course and was preparing myself for the foundation -convinced I'd failed English. I was so shocked that it's taken the whole thing a long time to sink in; and in a week today it will have become a reality... which is absolutely terrifying.

Being an anxious person already I can't even begin to explain my nerves for starting. I'm not staying in halls as my auntie and uncle live relatively close to the uni I'm going to. So that way I'll be saving money, and also going home to familiar faces -which I'm really looking forward to. But the fact that I'm not in halls is also leaving me with a lot of worries. I'm also really not interested in clubbing or drinking to an extreme, which of course is a huge part of the university experience. I'm sure people will and are going to find that really weird -but I'd prefer to be myself and happy, rather than fit into what other people expect/want and be unhappy.

Every time I even think about starting I get so excited but also really scared. Scared I won't make friends, scared I'm not going to feel at home there, scared I'm not going to know where I'm going and get completely lost, scared people aren't going to like me, scared I'm not going to fit in... and the list goes on and on. I've also got to cycle everyday which is great because it means I'll probably be in better shape by the end of my degree but I'm not a confident cyclist in the slightest... so this should be... well... interesting. 

My bedroom is currently in the stage "I've started packing but nothing's in boxes so everything's on the floor in a pile" stage which is exciting but sad because it's beginning to hit me that I probably won't 'officially' be living at home again, I mean, not like I have done. Packing is strangely fun and satisfying though... I think it's seeing the Moroccan styled fairy lights that are going to look amazing in my room at my auntie and uncles house.

The one thing that I'm taking comfort in is that most people my age are in exactly the same position as me... So I'm hoping that things are going to turn out okay...