Marie Patterson
It's all well and good being assigned projects, but Skills Passport has allowed me to set aside time to develop my abilities independently of these. By building the foundations of both construction and design, my subsequent projects have grown in quality and creativity, exploding with a love for what I do.
Skills Passport
17/10/22 - Millinery
An introduction to basic millinery through the creation of pillbox hats. I chose to venture away from the typical shape to create something with a little more fun involved, a strawberry-based hat with gold-button seeds and felt leaves, with a lace trim to give it dimension. The core was made of simple card, with much of the fabric held on by glue and a simple hand stitch.
31/10/22 - Millinery
For our final millinery session, we worked with millinery wire in order to achieve rigid shapes. We learned about the varying thicknesses and methods of shaping and binding the wire using nylon-tip pliers, and superglue and thread. We could then cover the wire base with lace, fabric, practically anything, in order to achieve almost any aesthetic.
7/11/22 - Mixed Materials
This session we worked with a new thermoplastic - plastozote, a white rigid foam material that can be used to make the base of armour and small props. It can be heat-shaped, primed, painted and glued with contact cement in much the same way as EVA foam.
24/10/22 - Millinery
Developing on the basic skills we learned last week - using patterns to create measurement perfect soft hats in a range of styles. I chose to make a comically oversized newsboy's cap with starkly alternating fabric and a lace trim. This was a good exercise in breaking the habit of following the cut line when sewing seams, an instead following the stitch line which can be rapidly repeated using carbon paper and a pattern wheel.
07/11/22 - Graphic Design
Today's lesson was centered around CAD for fabric design - more specifically using adobe Photoshop and Illustrator to design lace based on a butterfly drawn in marker pen on paper, scanned in. By creating a vector path and uniting it with a repeating hex lace pattern, it was possible to create a file that can be used to lasercut fabric.
14/11/22 - Print/Dye
In this class we were introduced to lino printing as a method of creating patterns. By carving into a rubber block and rolling ink over it, it is possible to create repeating patterns.
17/10/22 - Millinery
An introduction to basic millinery through the creation of pillbox hats. I chose to venture away from the typical shape to create something with a little more fun involved, a strawberry-based hat with gold-button seeds and felt leaves, with a lace trim to give it dimension. The core was made of simple card, with much of the fabric held on by glue and a simple hand stitch.
31/10/22 - Millinery
For our final millinery session, we worked with millinery wire in order to achieve rigid shapes. We learned about the varying thicknesses and methods of shaping and binding the wire using nylon-tip pliers, and superglue and thread. We could then cover the wire base with lace, fabric, practically anything, in order to achieve almost any aesthetic.
7/11/22 - Mixed Materials
This session we worked with a new thermoplastic - plastozote, a white rigid foam material that can be used to make the base of armour and small props. It can be heat-shaped, primed, painted and glued with contact cement in much the same way as EVA foam.
24/10/22 - Millinery
Developing on the basic skills we learned last week - using patterns to create measurement perfect soft hats in a range of styles. I chose to make a comically oversized newsboy's cap with starkly alternating fabric and a lace trim. This was a good exercise in breaking the habit of following the cut line when sewing seams, an instead following the stitch line which can be rapidly repeated using carbon paper and a pattern wheel.
07/11/22 - Graphic Design
Today's lesson was centered around CAD for fabric design - more specifically using adobe Photoshop and Illustrator to design lace based on a butterfly drawn in marker pen on paper, scanned in. By creating a vector path and uniting it with a repeating hex lace pattern, it was possible to create a file that can be used to lasercut fabric.
14/11/22 - Print/Dye
In this class we were introduced to lino printing as a method of creating patterns. By carving into a rubber block and rolling ink over it, it is possible to create repeating patterns.
21/11/22
Accompanying the print class was a dye class that instructed us on how to utilise synthetic dyes to create block and gradient colours, as well as combining colours in different ratios to make our own colour combinations, as well as how to achieve the most effective, clean result through adding salt and using a stove.
28/11/22 - Print/Dye
For the Dye session, we worked with natural dyes such as onionskin, madder root, turmeric, and red cabbage to achieve muted yellows, reds, blues and pinks. These colours could then be altered by applying either an alkaline or acidic mixture to them. Alkaline solution would turn colours more blue/pink, whereas acid would create vibrant yellow.
12/12/22 - Mixed Materials
This session focussed on working with Worbla - a lightweight thermoplastic that can be infinitely reworked into rigid shapes once heat has been applied. I chose to make some large goggles. Whilst it doesn't require primer, I find it better to apply it anyway when painting to achieve a brighter and longer-lasting finish.
28/11/22
This week for the Print class we focussed on mono-printing - by laying an acetate sheet over an image we could loosely trace that image in ink, then press fabric/paper onto it to create an image on fabric. I chose to make a purple Pallas' cat. It is vital to only do one layer/section at a time to prevent the ink drying on the slab.
05/12/22 - Print/Dye
For the dye session, we worked with rust dyes. and ways of creating texture on fabric - when iron objects are placed on fabric, sprayed with vinegar and steamed, they can create vibrant red and orange pigment on natural fibres. When a flour paste is applied, it dries to create a worn-leather effect.
12/12/22 - Print/Dye
This class, we performed sublimation printing - by using heat-reactive ink on paper and drawing a certain image, that could then be ironed on to fabric to copy that image over. The colours can significantly differ during this process and bleed into each other, but with careful application it is possible to create highly detailed images.