Less is More

Following advice from my tutor and the group feedback session I have reviewed my work so far and worked on selecting the best bits to develop. I went back to my research for fresh ideas and to remind myself of the direction i wanted to take.

(ink, fine liner and pastel)

This is one of the drawings that i have been working from, i feel it was one of my stronger starting points and has interesting qualities to develop.

(pfaff embroidery layered over pleated and dyed silk) 

I wanted to capture the different heaviness of line and pick out the patterns from the structure of my drawing. The embroidery sits really well on the pleated silk, I think layering different textures would give a greater richness to my work as it feels a little flat still. 

I have found some of the most successful samples are where I have used a more limited selection of colour and techniques, this has allowed me to be more creative. I refined my colour palette as well working mostly with blues and red, adding touches of arsenical green and fawn here and there. I think this has let the structure and pattern come through better and just feels cleaner and more confident.

Working from earlier sketches i have been considering compositions, cutting and collaging to generate ideas. Continuing this process in my sampling, I was surprised how sensitive placement of stitch and layering fabrics could be so effective; less is definatley more.

(left- satin stitch with wire and appliqué, right- pleated with pfaff and appliqué)

I have had many complements on this 'teddy bear' yarn, it is very tactile and peculiar; i think it adds the right amount of oddness to my work.

I am much clearer about what i want to achieve now and am heading in the right direction. I feel the two techniques with the most scope are pleating and pfaff embroidery so i will concentrate on exploiting these in the final week to really push what i can achieve.

Refined pinterest board: http://www.pinterest.com/bphippswardle/unit-x-fairground-frippery/