Presentation

 

Due to some complications with the frame I had intended to suspend my work in, it was suggested that I make my own frame from Dexion. Luckily, a frame of similar dimentions to my plan was already constructed in the print room as a screen holder! This will serve really well as part of my exhibition set-up - Dexion has a much more industrial feel than the frame I was going to use previously, which I really like. I plan to construct a smaller, more cube-shaped frame from Dexion on Monday. This will stand apart from the larger one, and will serve as a form to drape the samples over opposed to hanging them - to demonstrate their flexibilty and similarity to a textile.

Some photos of quick experiments situating the work within the frame:

Knitted Monofilament

Machine knitting with monofilament - set into silicone...

Playing around with the scanner to produce interesting visual effects, as I find it hard to digitally replicate the true texture and appearance of this surface!!

I love the forms created within this sample and would like to perhaps expand on this further, or use this as a final piece.

Colour? Or Lack Of...

After reassessing the pieces that I have been producing over the past few weeks, I have came to the conclusion that my monocolour/black and white samples are stronger than the coloured samples. Although in smaller sample,s the colour works effectively, I feel on a larger scale this needs much more development to produce the sophisticated and professional final oucome I desire. Therefore I will now only focus on making work that will not include monoprinted remazol colours.

I do however like the flashes of colour introduced on the expantex sample, seen previously. I may bring very small elements of colour into some pieces through screenprinting - so that the colour is controlled and accented rather than the free style of the monoprints.

Expandex

Printing  with expandex binder on PVA glue - and exposing to heat in the heat-press for interesting results.

 

Results: the surface of the PVA has bubbled quite dramatically in areas where there has been a great exposure to heat -  I feel this unexpected texture adds a further dimension to the tactility - and tangibility - of the work.

Foiling and Flocking

Ideas of creating more textural surfaces lead to some initial investigations with foiling and flocking techniques today.

Unfortunatley, the flocking would not take to the silicone surfaces. This is a shame as I feel that the soft, textile quality of the flocking would be an unusual and interesting contrast against the synthetic, rubberised texture of the silicone.

Ideas to apply flocking to a PVA surface could involve: exposing a screen with a 'negative' of the intended flocking pattern, printing the negative onto a spare surface (paper/fabric... whatever), applying the flock to this surface - this would remove the negative aspects of the apttern from the flock backing, apply the flock backing then to a surface of PVA glue - the positive elements of the pattern will then be applied to this PVA glue base as the negative aspects were previously removed fromt he backing in the initial print.

Personal Reflection

After today's tutorials, I have considered some interesting potential developments for my project.
Although I am currently making my intended final pieces, I am very ahead of schedule - currently having 8 out of a planned 12 finished with 4 weeks to go. With this in mind, I am wondering if it would be beneficial to bring forward some developments from samples that were overlooked previously due to time restraints.

I quickly dismissed early samples that were hightly textured and 'rough', as I knew I wanted my pieces to be level and smooth. I spent a lot of time problem solving and tailoring my making techniques to eventually achieve this, which is where my finals samples are at now.

However, looking back to these initial explorations I am starting to see a lot of potential in the textural/3D quality of them - which at the time was overlooked.  As I have been successful in producing the intended smooth result - which I have no doubt I want to display in the show - I think that it would be itneresting to bring some of these elements into the degree show, as both a contrast and compliment to the work I have already produced.

I have budgeted my time so that next week I can produce my silicone final pieces - which will then complete my intended 12 samples and give me a further 3 weeks to continue advances within a textural/3D realm of the work.

Thoughts have also been mentioned regardingdigitally printing CAD work onto various substrates; including potential plastic, silicone and latex sufaces. Research into this may also yeild sponsorship opportunities which may help source supplies.

Touch and Feel?

Something that sticks in my mind from the Lost in Lace exhibition in Birmingham last year is the 'Touch and Feel' stations that were positioned next to every installation, inviting the viewer to experience the work on a further level.

Touching station for Michael Brennand-Woods work:

"Lace the Final Frontier"

As tangibility and tactility are driving forces within my work this term, I would like to encourage my
audience to touch and feel; creating sensory experience as well as a visual one.

I hope to that my final pieces appear intriguing, and entice the viewer to touch - however I understand that this is an impractical feature for the degree show:
a) Because a lot of my work is made from water-soluble pva glue, it is easily damaged and may be worn away with constant touching
b) As I plan to suspend my work, I do not want to promote the risk of it falling down, which may happen after constant moving and adjusting whilst the viewer is feeling
c) I would not want to unintentionally encourage the audience to handle other student's works that are displayed in the exhibition

For these reasons I have begun to wonder if it would be beneficial to create my own touching and feeling station, so that my audience can experience the tactile quality of the work as it is intended, without fear of compromising my final samples. For this I will have to produce a collection of much smaller samples; indicating the same responses and aesthetics as my larger main pieces, that will be on some form of display for interactive purposes.