Am printing and can't stop

Am currently taking a course in Illustrator, Photoshop and PadSystems. The course is intended for people working in fashion, so it's all about making technical drawings and patterns for printing fabric. On the school they have this textile printer, and let me say it is fabulous. (something that I don't usually say, but really, it is!) It is only money that keeps me from printing and printing and printing. 
(For those of you who don't realize it, I want to point your attention to the fact that our clothes are usually not printed in this way, but in the old school silk-screen-printing way like Andy Warhol's images. It is not a printer but a person, - just the more reason to be impressed and apprecciate the work.)

I made this print, the first one that I finished, which you see being printed as the picture was taken. 

The inspiration is from water crystals, microscopic constellations in water which shape is decided depending on which thoughts are directed toward the water. You can see on the crystals how positive thoughts create completely different constellations that negative thoughts. (so be good to yourself, you are mostly water)
After a long designproces where I basically dissected pictures of water crystals I finally decided on this print. 


It will soon become a dress - well actually I plan on making two dresses, one in a sharp clean and minimalistic cut with a deep back and one to wear on top, if you feel like more adventure, which will be a much more extravagant, flowing draped dress.

 

Free again

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Done. With my exam. After two weeks of hard work the project was due today and I turned in the result at noon. I don't know if it went well or not. One moment I have a really good feeling about it and the next I think it's shit. We'll see in... hmm June I think.

I lowered my expectations to myself and the 24 hour day; it will never become any longer than 24 hours, not even if I want it to. 

Maybe I should explain a little bit about an assignment like this. (I chose to take my exam in testile printing; finishing this course in stead of embroidery) From a given theme we had to create an idea which should work as decoration on clothing. Then make alot of samples (not a finished product) and in the assignment we argue, with the hypothetical product in mind, why one sample is better than another based on knowledge of materials, colours and techniques and showing the samples next to the text.

So the "sub"-theme is a sea anenome, nothing more nothing less. I've already posted pics of my ornament, so here comes some pics of the process and samples and and..

 The kind of print I thought worked best with my ornament is iris print. Above is a picture of how to put the colours on the silkscreen - It's hard to see, though, because of the colours I've been using (remazol), they're kinda transparent.

Above is an illustration of how I imagine the summerdress the fabric is hypothetically meant for. I wish I had time to actually make it.

 My finished project. I can't take credit for the great accordion-inspired idea of how to put it together, but a friend from my school, Elisabet Flejsborg.
This way you can choose to look through it like a book or open it up if you need to look at four pages at once.

Examinating Sea Life

I am at the moment in the middle of my textile print exam. The course I chose to end and instead get in touch with my inner embroiderress.

The subject of this exam is "life of the sea" - Some find that this is full of inspration other find it kind of unambiguous. I had high expectations and ambitious, extensive ideas, wich I think I'll have shelf. I wanted to print a coralreef with lots of life and then somehow illustrate how trawling destroys these beautiful reefs and killing hundreds of spieces. I still don't know how I can possibly do that, and for the record I have until next Friday to make samples and write an assignment arguing why I choose this sample over that one. Might sound easy, but it take much longer to put together an assignment like that with samples and inspiration.

So far I have made the screen ready for two prints. It will become an print; an anenomone (Nemo-reference) In two layers though. Can't decide if I should go further with the idea from before, or leave it at this.. Though choice. And what about time...

The ornament I'm printing - Imagine it woth two colors.

Inspiration pics will follow and I'll post pictures of the results.

Screen print project

This is my last project from school. We learned some new techniques in textile printing, wich I completely feel in love with. Both were very popular in the 90's and have since been forgotten. Now, though, it seems they are making a come back along with velvet.

I will start by saying that these fabrics were ice white to begin with.  

 With this piece of fabric I plan on creating a jacket.

And this may become a pillow some day, nothing is yet decided...

Using certain chemicals that only destroy the vegetable fiber, you can make the ornament you print on the fabric transparent. This is especially suitable for velvet, but you can also use it on lighter fabrics such as voile or satin when the right fibers are mixed.

The other technique is preferably used with the previous mentioned technique. With that one you can see the top of the fabric wich is a vegetable fiber and where the chemicals have destroyed this fiber, you can see the base of the fabric fx silk. Now, with this technique you can color the vegetable fiber in one color and the animal fiber another. It's all chemicals that bind one color to one fiber. Didn't know I liked playing with chemicals before being able to create beautiful fabrics with it.

Screen printing with - yes another chemical - not a new technique for us, though. This one withdraws the color from the fiber so it almost becomes white, depending on wich kind of colors you ahve used for the fabric.

These fabrics are all velvet so you can see the pink colored silk fiber under the viscose fiber.

And the (quick) design process. 

When just seeing the ornament it could be anything, depending on who you are. Guess it's like looking at the clouds and seeing different animals...

I looked through some books and magazines and just knowing that I wanted to use feathers in some way. I ended up also being inspired by a gas mask though.