It's Easter Sunday, and I'm off to a good start!

Today is Easter Sunday.  It's about 10am.  I've already cycled 30 minutes to the pool, swum 1200m, and cycled back.  I'm starting to get ideas for my History of Art essay about how art has represented feminism, and post-feminism and whether narcissism has influenced the feminist movement.  Lots of reading and thought required before I start writing!  I'm also full of ideas about my textile project.

While swimming up and down the pool, I was thinking about all the different design projects I could do when I get back to the UK.  I have so much inspiration from my time here, that I could create a whole series of Australian inspired designs, for fabrics for different uses.  I have been thinking about projects to design fabric for swimwear, casual clothing, garden furniture, and interior furnishings, and how to create a series of fabrics for each function.  There is so much potential, but I need to save these ideas for my return to the UK.  I have enough to be getting on with here.

I've also been thinking about the environmental aspects of textile design - largely because I have spoilt two attempts to emulse and expose my most recent silkscreen - which is wasteful of expensive, and unenvironmentally friendly materials.  I can't live in a totally environmentally friendly way, but I can limit my impact.  So if I want to experiment with different spot designs, and print 8m lengths, it would be wasteful to prepare a large silkscreen (c8 feet by 5 feet) for each different spot design.  Particularly if I decide to only create one 8m length.  So I've been thinking about creating a single spot motif and use it in a variety of ways.  This means I need to work out how to mark the repeat on cloth, without the marking system being permanent, so that I can create several different fabrics, with minimal use of emulsion for the silkscreen and electricity for the exposure light.

Repeating spot designs, where the direction of the motif changes.
3 spot, 4 spot and 5 spot designs.

I think that a good way of creating temporary markings along a 8m fabric length, would be to use coloured sticky dots.  I don't want to use chalk - does not remove easily enough; or stitch - too laborious.  If I create a paper matrix, based on the layout shown above, I can punch a hole at each corner of the space for each motif to be printed.  Then if I place it on the fabric, and put a sticky dot at each hole, and repeat it down the cloth, I will be able to see where to place the prints.  Then I will only need enough emulsing fluid to coat a 12" screen, and will be able to work up spot prints for 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 spot designs, without needing to create huge silkscreens for each variation.

So today's task is to create a single motif ready to expose on my small silkscreen.

Tired students make silly mistakes

Yesterday I had a day of ups and downs.  I had a screen ready to expose, and a class to attend.  It all looked very easy.  But when I exposed the design on the screen, it was a murky exposure and when I washed the unexposed residue from the screen, I had to use high pressure water, which damaged the rest of it.  Designs need to be really black to make a good exposure, and this one was not black enough when held up to the light (it had looked ok when on the table).  So back to the drawing board - clean the screen, and leave to dry, so I can come in on Good Friday, to re-emulse the screen.  What a waste of time!.  Just shows that I need to keep practising, because otherwise I forget little bits of technique that give good results first time! 

Then I had a really interesting History of Art class about the male gaze in film making which gave me a lot to think about, that had not occurred to me before.  (I am not a film fan, so I had not seen any of the films discussed).  I rushed home from class, thinking about my History of Art essay, where I need to decide on my subject, and start the background reading.  The rushing was a mistake.  When I got home, I realised I had left my glasses behind.  At the last class before Easter break!  If I could not get them back, I could not read over Easter.  Big problem.  And if they are really lost, new glasses would cost a fortune.  And realising just how little script I can see, without my glasses, made me feel really old!  Old and grumpy. Not a good way to start Easter! 

So this morning, Good Friday, I jumped on the bike (no buses to Curtin on bank holidays), and pedalled up there, like a thing possessed.  My student card allows auto-entry to my textile block, but not to the lecture theatre.  Fortunately a very helpful man in Security came down with a key, and opened the door, and there were my glasses, waiting for me.  I was so appreciative to the Security man  for being at work on the Bank Holiday and for opening the room for me! 

While I was at class, I re-emulsed my silkscreen, very, very carefully.  I got a lovely thin, even coating, and left it in the dark room to dry.  I went home and redrew the design, this time working on a good dark photocopy, and also blacked in the design on the reverse, so that when held to a light window, it looked evenly black all over.  This time the design should expose perfectly.  Once I've exposed the screen again, I'll let you know how it went.  I always work better when I'm not in a rush.

Thoughts from the Swimming Pool

I have just had a very good swim - 1200m - where my stamina is markedly improving.  500 front crawl, 100 back crawl, twice.  I'm now managing 500m in 9.45 minutes, which is a fraction under a minute per 50m length.  Now I am averaging 2-3 swims per week I'm getting stronger in the water.

During my swim, I was thinking about my textile class from yesterday. My tutor, Eva, is happy with progress on the banksia theme and development to date.  But I was expressing concern that my vision is for traditional furnishing fabrics, and not some modern innovative 3D application of cloth to alter a "habitable space".  We then went on to discuss my reasoning of being environmentally friendly, leading to me working with natural fibres, because of the way they break down naturally when spent.  We were having a bit of a laugh and joke about how I've put various spent craft fibres (Jacob fleece cardings from feltmaking) on the compost heap, and I've also put spent curtains on there as well.  (My Great-Aunt May was the person who started me on that idea!).  Then I suggested making time-expired curtains into a compost cosy, to keep the compost heap warm enough to look after my worms, and keep the compost rotting during the English winter.  Eva thought this was a great idea, that I could work up in Semester 2, for a final piece.  I explained that I go home to England at the beginning of June, as my student exchange will be complete.

But this thought exercised my mind, while I exercised my body in the pool.  I've been thinking about Reduce, Reuse, Recycle - an English environmentalist phrase.  I want to work with natural fabrics, to reduce use of man-made fibres, which are often cheap and nasty imports. Animal and plant fibres break down naturally and this is means replacement is driven by the life of the fabric, and thereby making fashion a secondary, rather than primary driver.  If I were to re-use curtains as a compost cosy, it would be a minimally labour intensive application for them.  No-one wants to put a lot of time and energy into spent objects, do they? I could see the curtain tape tightly gathered, so that it formed a wigwam like shape over the top of our conical compost bin.  And when the fabric got really tatty, it could be used as a lining for the compost heap, so that it started to break down with the garden waste, thereby recycling the cotton/silk/wool fibres into compost.    I can see the avant-garde theorists getting really excited about an artist creation having one function for the original curtains, used by people; another form to make an habitable space for worms as a compost cosy; and a final formation to make a habitable space for bacteria and plants once incorporated into the soil!  I think there is an argument to make, that my course could lead to students getting the reputation for being eccentric! Not that this has ever bothered me!

Refining my thoughts about my textile project

I've had a successful morning working on my Aboriginal Art homework, and now have time to reflect on the Banksia project for my textile module.

I'm glad I've made the decision to focus on print and stitch.  I'm looking forward to working hand stitch into the prints.  I can visualise different types of stitch worked into banksia motifs.  Themes to experiment with are how to place the stitched motifs - into a voided area, or across several prints.  What scale to stitch - same size or larger.  Also I wondered about whether to work the stitching after an object had been made up.  I would not want to cut across hand stitched areas so if the fabric were to be used for curtaining or clothing, it would be best to stitch after construction to enable optimum placement of time consuming hand stitch. 

Also it might be worth experimenting with some manual machine embroidery.  With the advent of fully computerised machine embroidery, I am not sure how to explain concisely that I am competent at machine embroidery, done by my own fair hand.  This could also be done within the printed motifs, or layered across several. 

Perhaps if I am focussing on my work being "simpler" it might be worth restricting myself to stitching within a motif at first, before making it more complex.  Even within one motif, I can work with different colour and density.  And there is plenty of scope for experimention with a variety of fabrics and print media.  Just from basic workshop stores, I have sourced silk organza, cotton muslin, felt, calico, linen, cotton/silk and silk velvet.  I can work into these with translucent binder, and devore on the last two.  I will also buy some simple polycotton and use devore on this too.

I am working up several different patterns to explore presence/absence to work out how to move the focal point.  If I have 6 different fabrics, and 6 different patterns, with a variety of colours and print techniques, it will make a considerable print portfolio.  If I then add in different ways of embellishing with stitch I could end up with 100 samples! Then I will choose the best to make a 6-8m repeat print.  Really in my heart of hearts, I'd like to do a long repeat print using devore silk velvet, but I'd need to be really confident of the pattern to put the resources into the fabric and print paste.  But if you don't have a vision, you don't aim for the stars.

I've also formed the view that I want to work mostly with natural fibres.  I am moderately green in my environmental stance and want to make a low impact carbon footprint.  If I use man-made fabrics, they do not degrade.  If I use natural fibres for household objects, they naturally degrade, and when spent, can be put on the compost heap to rot, then be incorporated into the earth.  Dyestuffs are not carbon free but unless I want to work with uncoloured materials, need to be used in limited quantities.  I definitely challenge the western materialistic culture, although I like nice things.  I think I focus on having fewer beautiful things that I really value, rather than lots of cheap, replaceable, high carbon footprint, tatt.  And I want to incorporate this philosophy in my work.  I'm going back to the slow art principle. 

Getting into my stride as a student

I'm starting to feel more in control of the workload now.  We are into week 5, the expectations in most classes are clear and I've mentally defined the requirements for each class and visualised how to pace myself for the assorted assessments. 

Having delivered my presentation for History of Art, I realised I had completely forgotten the essay for Indigneous Studies which is due on Good Friday - about 10 days hence.  So on Wednesday I got a good book from the library and spent a large part of Thursday doing the background reading, and wrote about a third of the wordcount for the essay.  I can't say I wrote a third of the essay, as it is first draft, but I'm starting to get my thoughts in order.  I will spend most of this weekend working on it, and hopefully will be done by Sunday night.  I'm looking at the relevance of traditional Aboriginal art, its connection with Indigeneous identity, their land, belief systems and how it functions as a cultural literacy.

I have refined my plans for my textile module.  I am focussing on textile print, having dropped the idea of working with acrylic.  I have worked up a repeat border design that will fit on a print screen (the first ones were too large!).  I emulsed my screen, exposed it, washed it off - and discovered there was something wrong because the emulsion shed from the screen.  It was the first time I had used the screen so maybe the screen was greasy, or I had not dry wiped it properly so the emulsion was too thick to fix properly.  Anyway it failed!  So back to the beginning.  I asked Mark, the technician, for a bucket of emulsion, opened it, and gave it a good stir.  There was something wrong.  It should have a thick, syrupy, smooth consistency.  This was like jelly on the point of setting. Lumpy, granular and elastic.  A bit like very wet bread dough.  I called Mark, and he was horrified, because he said it had been exposed and was unusable.  The bucket of emulsion costs about $300!  Although the bucket was "new", the plastic seal had been removed when it was given to me, and looked like a tiny amount had been used.  He was appalled at the waste.  I could only imagine that someone has emulsed their screen, then left the open bucket in the studio, and not left it in the screen room, where where we work with a safe light that does not expose the emulsion.  Fortunately I am working early, so the delay while more emulsion is ordered is of no concern to me.

Yesterday, Friday, I received my feedback for my History of Art presentation.  Elizabeth, our tutor, said I did really well, handed my written feedback over and I discovered I scored 68%.  I am puzzled that I think the feedback is completely fair and accurate, yet I am disappointed.  The scores and rationale are exactly what I would have said and are completely fair comment, but are considerably lower than last year, when I scored much higher (and said clearly that I thought the scoring was over-generous!).  As usual I dropped points on depth of analysis (because I covered a lot of ground), use of abbreviations (I've worked in an environment where we used abbreviations and jargon all the time) and not enough quotes from other informed writers.  I achieved 10/10 for personal presentation style, and also scored highly for having an informed personal opinion and taking a clear stance for my argument.  So it was pretty typical for me - I know the things I do well, and I'm making small improvements in the things I find difficult.  I'm better at the broad brush coverage of a subject, than micro analysis and fiddling about with the details.  I do try, but I just hate fiddling about with silly little details.

More angst about my Banksia project

I've struggled all weekend about my Banksia project.  I've read my project proposal, and evaluated the work I did on Friday regarding laser cutting into acrylic.  I loathe laser cut acrylic.  For the following reasons.  It is hard, sharp-edged, plasticky, unnatural, and unmalleable.  I have thought long and hard about how to incorporate it into my project and have concluded that I don't want to waste my life working with materials that I intensely dislike.  Decision made!

So what to do instead?  I have decided to continue working in pattern, in positive and negative, but to focus wholly on printing onto fabric.  My work is hand made.  I do not want to be a computer operator, or a computerised-machine operator.  I've debated more about how to link my homesickness for England with the banksia motif, and how to incorporate my specifically English textile skills with what I have learned in Aus.  After much thought, I've realised I want to use my embroidery skills in stitch.  I am working with a very long evolved Australian plant, and I want to match this with a long evolved English embroidery technique - maybe blackwork, pulled thread work or simple line stitches such as stem chain stitch. 

I've been working up some textile designs, which are laborious to produce, but I love creating them manually.  I think hand techniques are my forte.  Soft materials are also my forte.  I can see them made up in silk velvet and polycotton (for devore print), and on pure cotton and linen (for simple colour prints).  I would love to be able to dye into the silk velvet as well. I can also see experimentation with foil combined with devore.  Quite a few will be embellished with hand stitch.  I think some of my feelings of homesickness will be assuaged if I can sit and stitch for a while.

Banksia repeat border design

Interestingly, while a few of us were in the textile studio, talking to Jessie, our technician, some of the management team came into the studio.  They did not notice Jess talking to us, and they were quite obviously discussing the removal of the two large print tables with the repeat printer.  The Textile Major is being phased out, with remaining students finishing their textile specific modules as electives.  From the behaviour of these managers, it is obvious that the textile tables will be removed soon.  I will be really upset if the 8m print tables are removed before the end of semester.  The managers were quite surprised when Jess turned around and asked how she could help them.  It really looked as if they had sneaked in to plan their intentions for the textile studio, without keeping the current staff informed of planned changes to teaching facilities.

Tired after a busy day

Today, I feel as if I have been on the go, all day long. 

The plan was to find a computer with Adobe Illustrator and work out how to draw motifs on this package; go to my History of Art tutorial and give my presentation; and then meet with Lauren and Mollie to do some laser cutting of acrylic. 

The first part of the plan fell apart, because I could not find a vacant computer at university, that had a scanner available, and the Illustrator package.  I went back to the textile workshop, and fortuitously, found a copy of the Cloth & Habitable Space specification, left lying around.  I spent an hour reading the assessment specification, reflecting on my project and working out sensible questions that arose from the assessment schedule. 

- Conduct experimental work that explores textile processes in innovative way.
I'm worried about laser cutting - because of my limited computer skills in this package, access to computers and laser cutter, access to materials.

However, Mollie showed me how to draw an image in Illustrator, and I might be able to run with the single banksia leaf that she demonstrated, just by adjusting scale, and repeating in different forms.  Also, later, the technician had some good ideas how I could apply my ideas, and make them work on acrylic. 

To make the experimental work innovative, I might combine laser cutting and print; laser and stitch; stitch and print; or maybe use stitch to create a screen print.  Or maybe print on acrylic/acetate.  Lots to be innovative there.

- Translate practical and theoretical knowledge of textile histories from different cultural contexts into innovative contemporary outcomes and ideas.
Which cultures use laser cutting, devore, print and stitch? What is the history of these respective techniques? 

- Synthesize ideas and theories from other practitioners to inform own practice
Find out banksia leaf symbolism/textiles; and oak leaf symbolism/textiles
Look up laser cutting artists and installations
Find Selvedge and Textile Journal of Cloth & Culture.

- Reflect and respond to critical feedback from peers
Feedback received has been helpful.  "Stronger concept required; focus on one idea; research more laster cutting artists/installations; consider use of key word 'simplicity'". 
So, concept has developed into "homesickness".  Valuing the differences of being here in Aus, but missing home.  Want to make positive work about Aus, while including a symbol of home.  Maybe link Banksia leaves with an oak leaf from home (UK). 
Drop 'simplicity' completely.  Or change to 'simpler'. 
Work in monochrome.  Or use a pattern with a single motif.

As we need to document our work clearly, and research and experiment extensively, I need to set up some files to create order for my research.  I think the research listed above will give me plenty to be thinking about this weekend. 

I then moved on to my History of Art tutorial.  I was the first to give my presentation to the group, on the subject of Representation of Women in Art.  I burn a lot of nervous energy, and prefer to get presentations over and done with.  Miraculously, I was spot on with the timing - 20 minutes precisely, and I think it went ok.  The whole group provide written feedback, give their notes to Elizabeth, our tutor, and she reviews them and adds any further points they have missed.  This is the first time feedback received has included written details from the tutor, and I think this is excellent.  Peers tend to be quite gentle with feedback, and Elizabeth seemed to write a lot during my presentation.  I receive the full written feedback next week. I hope I met all the criteria.

Then I moved on to the wood workshop, where Mollie and Lauren had got started on their laser cutting.  Mollie had some lovely flower shapes cut out, and Lauren had created a page of laser cut beads for her fashion project.  The technician, Nick, used my banksia leaf to try out, and it cut perfectly. He also told me how to use a border design to wrap around a perspex box so that the border wrapped over the sides onto the top. He also had suggestions for how to etch the design, as opposed to cut it, which gave me another range of ideas to explore.  The only limiting factor is my computer skills.  The techs only set up the laser cutter to work - they don't do the design stage for you (unfortunately).  I have lots of ideas but very limited computer design skills. 

But at least I have a range of ideas for exploration.  Having done all this, I came home, Jim met me at the bus stop, and I collapsed with exhaustion into a chair.