Leeds Museum

Today I went to look round Leeds Museum, looking especially at the dead butterflies and birds that were on the display. I was drawn to these because of the especially bright and attractive colours of the animals. Although I am not yet sure if these images will be relevant to my project, it was good to have a look round anyway. 

Priceless or Worthless finished piece

I am pleased with the result of my design after it's been cut out as the image is bold and looks attractive, whilst still portraying the idea behind the exhibition.

Priceless or Worthless

Priceless or Worthless is the title of an exhibition which my course is holding, to explore the idea of up-cycling; turning a plain piece of paper into something new and priceless. 

For my piece I have decided to create a cut out silhouette of a tree growing from the word 'worthless', with the word 'priceless' entwined within the branches. I hope this will represent how something worthless can grow to become something priceless and beautiful.

I began by cutting out half a tree template, then drawing round it twice onto black card to create a whole tree which is symmetrical. 

I then cut out the letters needed for the words worthless and priceless, and drew round them onto the tree design. The words had to be drawn on backwards, so that after I have cut the whole image out I can flip it over, and the words will be the right way round.

Initial drawings

For some initial research and quick drawings for the start of my second project I have decided to focus on trees, as I like the different shapes and silhouettes they create. I have done several pen and pencil sketches based on trees around Leeds, which I will develop more throughout the project.

 

 

Life in the Fast Lane

Life in the Fast Lane is the title of my new brief. As the module title for this brief is Design for Digital, throughout this project I will undertake a series of digital workshops, including CAD, laser cutting, digital printing and reprographics. I will then be expected to take elements from these workshops and apply them to my chosen theme, whilst still developing this within a context of geometrical and Art Deco design.

Final piece

My final headscarf design

Final week of first project!

I started off by cutting out different paper shapes and laying them out on a 50cm square piece of paper, as this is how big the headscarf design must be. After plying around with different layouts I then decided to start drawing the actual design based around these shapes.

 

 

I then screen printed this design, to create my final piece.

Disperse dying

Disperse dye is a cold dye which allows you to pattern a piece of synthetic fabric. You first create a design using specialized paper or paint, then place this over the fabric and heat press until the design has transferred on to the fabric. I like this process as the results can be quite unpredictable so it was interesting just getting to play around creating different designs.

Paper manipulation

To start building up images that could be used in my final piece, I began cutting out paper shapes based around some of my previous drawings. Some of these I then layered up, to see what sort of effects the different shapes would create. I think that some of these have worked quite well and so will continue to develop these in more depth.

Marks & Spencer archive

Today I went to visit the Marks and Spencer archive in Leeds Uni, which is a collections of Marks and Spencer products ranging from when they first opened to products which are sold now. Some of the garments were from the 1950s and so I looked more closely at the prints and style of these, to try and draw inspiration for my current project.

Second Week

During the second week I was set a series of drawing tasks, with a range of flowers and plants as the objects to draw. These challenges included drawing with your eyes shut, drawing with your wrong hand, and continuous line drawing.