MAKING

Experiments and things I have made so far..




Printing with flowers

I did my initial research and experimentation for this project over the summer. I spent a lot of time with family, in particular my parents in their beautiful garden with an abundance of beautiful flowers. As lots of lace design was influenced by botanicals this seemed a good place to start.using what was around me, thinking about craft and nature and sustainability.

I wanted to take different aspects of lace making and lace design and deconstruct and unpick the threads and follow where that leads to.

I tried eco printing with the flowers








My first experiment of flower dyes was inspired by a process I saw online of rolling the flowers and the leaves on wet fabric and then binding them really tightly until they dry .When you unroll the dried fabric there should be an imprint this was not a particularly dark in my print so I wanted to try a different and more instant technique.



A more instant and controllable technique was to tape the flowers down onto fabric and literally pummel them from the opposite side with a stone or a hammer until the colour seeps into the fabric and leaves a print this is best done with natural fabrics like cotton, linen or silk. Some flowers also work better than others the greenery from the sweet peas and garden peas made a really recognisable impression with their curling tendrils clearly visible in the print.





Printing with lace.

I used block prints ink painted directly onto a piece of lace and applied pressure via the printing press to create some lace prints, a very simple way to transfer the design straight onto paper.





















Ceramics.

I made a small slab pot which I decorated by pressing lace directly onto the wet clay.Its earthenware glaze. I love the way the colours melt through this glaze, the lacebpattern is very subtle but gives it an interesting texture and influences the flow of the glaze.


As the Seasons change during the project I collected these autumn leaves, all from the same tree I think the range of colour is it's really beautiful.



Some floral postcards I found in an antique shop in Matlock. Included as inspiration for my floral work. I love how, when you look closely these photographs, you can see they were likely taken in black and white with a colour added on afterwards. the colour doesn't seem natural, I like the effect it creates.







Mushroom.

I made a print of a large field mushrooms I found. I removed its stalk and placed the mushroom on watercolour paper then applied a lot of weight on top and left it for a couple of days. It made a subtle, muted, abstract type print. A little different to the decorative , floral prints. it got me interested in what else would work as a print in this way and reminded me of being a kid when I would spend time making paint from flowers and just mess around with mud and worms and collect stones. I love how art takes you back to childlike play, its very beneficial.
Dried lavender with sketch

more direct flower prints



I also preserved flowers by pressing them between paper inside a heavy book to use later in the project. I did quite a lot of sketching of flowers and leaves and floral design.

I also preserved flowers by pressing them between paper inside a heavy book to use later in the project. I did quite a lot of sketching of flowers and leaves and floral design.




Pressed Nasturtium leaves



Pressed flowers and leaves


Addition notes on the flower prints are that they face very quickly with day to day exposure to natural light, this s the sweet pea print that was originally a vivid greet with purple flower is now almost vanished. if i was to use this technique with an intention of longevity, as an art work I would neen to research an experiment with preserving process.