ATV5 Project 3 Experimenting and Taking Risks

 I knew I wanted to focus on natural dyeing as part of this project. I came to this decision after trying to dye with the mushrooms in the previous project and even trying to make paper, which turned out to be a disaster. But it did give me inspiration for this project. My main focus for many of these samples was the texture of the mushrooms, inspired by the work of Sue Hotchkis and how she captured nature in textile form.

I spent some time gathering my ideas in my sketchbook.

I began by gathering together a collection of materials and yarns. Using natural and synthetic fabrics to see which ones would take the dye better. I began by using tea to dye with as it was readily available, using it beads wrapped in the fabric during the dyeing process to manipulate the fabric. I also used a tie dye technique to create circles on the fabric.

There was one fabric that worked better than the others, which was the thinner calico. When unwrapping the beads the crease lines reminded me of the gills of a mushroom. The dye had also created different tones across the fabric, helping to achieve a natural tonal colour. 

I had intended to add stitch to this sample but on reflection, I think leaving it in a simple form was the most effective and developing this on to create a larger sample with different size beads. I have also purchased a book The Craft of Natural Dyeing by Jenny Dean. I would also like to experiment with other natural colours for my larger piece. 

For my next piece I took lengths of fabrics, in the colour palette of mushroom. Taking fabrics that would fray easily and attaching them to a base fabric, which if I was develop further would be dyed with a natural dye. 

The machine embroidered lines inspired by Amanda Cobbetts work, stitching in a cotton that kept to the colour palette and stitched onto dissolvable fabric. This turned out to be a happy accident I had intended for it to be a more solid line but as I dissolved the fabric it began to unravel, creating texturally interesting strips of cotton. The dissolved fabric also created stiff strips which helped them to keep there shape.

My next sample went on a similar theme to the previous sample. Using fabrics from the mushroom colour palette, including fabric I had naturally dyed from a project from my Foundation course. Cutting shapes to replicate the gills of the mushroom, layering the fabrics and stitching them into place. 

To develop this idea further I could add stitching in different style or the machine embroidery stitched strips like the previous sample.

Taking lengths of yarn including some of the yarn which was dyed in the tea. Stitching in a circular shape. 

Then taking the next step, I wanted to use a soldering iron but I did not have one to hand. Instead I using s skewer heated up and place on the wool. Like Amanda Cobbett did with her mushroom, although this process was rather smelly it created a really visually interesting effect. 

To finish off this sample I added some burnt fabric to frame the mushroom like the outer casing of the mushroom, as I had in my paper sample. I do not think this adds anything to the piece and would probably remove it if I decided to take this sample further. 

Whilst creating this sample, it got me thinking if I had more time to develop more samples. I would have liked to try weaving in a circular form. This is one to park for a later date. 

My next sample was created as I needed a mindful day, I have looked into slow stitch and the link between sewing and improving mental health. Using a loosely woven fabric and completing stitches around the mushroom. This sample is different to the other types of samples I have created, it helped me with some mindfulness time that was needed but I does not fit the textured pieces I was hoping to achieve.  

From this sample and creating knots at the end of the stitches, it made me think about the little bunch of mushrooms and the beaded yarn I created. I then had the idea to create a yarn made up with ball knots, unfortunately this was unsuccessful and due to time constraints I could not spend anymore time on trying to develop that sample.

My next sample was based on a similar shape to the previous sample, except this time it there was more texture to the piece. As I wanted to focus on texture, I went to book I had called Layered Cloth The Art of Fabric Manipulation by Ann Small. This led me to this sample, layering and slashing into the layer to expose the fabric underneath and creating frayed edges from the top layer. 

To develop this sample further I would use more layers and make the slashes closer together creating a more textured effect. 

The next sample was also inspired from the Layered Cloth book, as soon as I saw the layered stack technique I instantly thought of the mushroom gills. Creating a curved stack, fraying the edges to help add to the texture. 

I would like to develop this piece further, creating this in a larger scale, dyeing the fabric used to make the stack. And using a soft base fabric to base the stack on the resemble the soft outer part of the mushroom.

  

Taking the fabric I used a tie dye effect on as I base, I created a machine embroidery mushroom shape like Amanda Cobbett. Well that's what I intended to do, but it did not come out the way I thought it would. Similar to the machine stitched strips I don't think I did enough layers which meant that it did not hold in place completely when the fabric was dissolved. Perhaps if I had done the stitching directly onto the fabric a better effect would have been achieved.

My next sample was a development on from the yarn sample with the macramé. This time focusing just on the circles from the yarn. Instead of using wooden rings which would limit it me to size and would also be costly. Instead I chose to use wire sourced from the local DIY store. This enabled me to choose the size of the rings I was creating. Then attaching the rings together to create a single piece out of the many rings. 

I think this would look amazing on a larger scale with varying size rings.

With this sample, I had wanted to try from a previous sample how the machine embroidery would work on fabric rather than dissolvable fabric. This was more successful then my previous attempt at machine embroidery, also using a mixture colour to produce a mushroom. I still think it would work better on dissolvable fabric. I need to try it again and create more layers to the thread. 

My final sample was a last minute addition I came across the twisted flower in the layered cloth book. I thought I could adapt the technique to make an oyster mushroom. This would look fantastic enlarged and dyed with natural dyes. 

I now have a variety of ideas to develop further in to a capsule collection, the difficult task is now which ones to pick. I want to research more into natural dye and see what colours I can make to match the colour palette of the mushrooms.