Texel Loom

On my Texel loom I have been creating many different designs, some which are more textual and some that are more graphic. I have been using similar yarn colours to those I have used on the jacquard as then I feel that my designs will match more. The idea behind my hand loom designs is that they will be washed, pressed and ready to be made into cushion fronts; this is coming along nicely and I have about 15 designs ready to choose from to make some final pieces for the degree show at the end of this academic year. 

Soon the warp that I am using at the minute, which is a double cloth to make thicker materials, will run out and I will have to create a new one, I have decided to use the same yarns and same threading structure but to make the warp wider so that I can weave bigger pieces out of it and create hand woven blankets for the final degree show.

Below are some of my hand woven designs in progress on the loom.

Ottoman

I am currently working on transforming a few pieces of furniture as you can see from previous posts. One the the pieces that I am re-upholstering is an old ottoman that has been passed down through the female generations of my family. I have woven this design below to go onto the ottoman.

The colours that I have woven it in are slightly different to those shown here on the screen, they are a copenhagen style blue ( to match the chair paint ) a dusky pink and a navy. They all contain wool, the navy being 100% woolen and the other two are wool/cotton blends. I really liked the design once it was woven and can't wait to wash and cut it ready to re-upholster this classic style piece.

Visualisations

I have drawn and digitally edited some designs of my chair and Ottoman to create visualisations of what they may look like when they are complete. I intend to keep the designs quite simple with the use of two of three yarn colours.

Below are the chair designs. I have actually painted the chair the Copenhagen blue heritage colour which is the colour the design on the right hand side is. I have further to explore with my design and material ideas so the fabric for this is yet to be chosen. 

Below now are the designs for my ottoman, I think that the variations show that It may look different depending on how much pattern I want within the final fabric used. I think that I need to incorporate the Copenhagen blue colour into the yarn choice for my ottoman so that the furniture pieces match.

Starting transformation

Slowly I am beginning the transformation of my Lloyd loom style chair, I decided that I wanted to keep the heritage look of the chair and so I have chosen a blue paint from Dulux heritage collection called Copenhagen blue. There were many colours to choose from but I wanted to lighten and brighten the chair up so I chose a classic colour but not too dark. 

My reasoning for painting the chair before deciding what woven material I want to use for the upholstery is that I wanted to know what colour exactly the chair turned out to be. This is so I can then try out dark and light fabrics to see which works the best. I might also decide to alter the chair colour around the plaited trims to adapt the finished design of the piece as a whole.

Below is the chair painted in Heritage - Copenhagen blue.

Upholstery idea

For my final degree show I want to display the idea that my weaving designs are for interior fabrics and furnishings. I have come up with the idea or upholstering a few objects to display alongside blankets and cushions. 

The items that I will be upholstering will be pieces that would mainly be used in a bedroom collection and they will have character. The furniture won't be new modern designs. This Lloyd loom style chair is one of the items I hope to alter and create new from old.

I want my collection to work in my degree show as a whole collection and look like it belongs together, to do this I will have to collaborate simple and technical designs onto different designs so that they look good together as one. 

Lace repeat designs

As a part of my project I will be including repeat patterns into my designs, I love working on Photoshop to edit and create these designs from something so simple to something beautiful and unique. Some of my designs are going to be felted and made into blankets which I will then laser cut. I want to introduce different ideas into this by using simple and also details designs As a Variation.

Below is me designing on Photoshop, the imagery for this design came from a drawing from a photo of a railing in Paris.

This design below is a finished repeat design that I will weave on the jacquard loom. The inspiration came from spirals and swirls of architecture mixed with the idea of lace holes.

Paris inspiration

So this weekend I got back from a trip to Paris which I went on with the University to go to Premier Vision and other areas of Paris that may have inspired me and given me some useful information and influences to design from. 

Below are two images that I took in a haberdashery where we went on the first evening in Paris, The colours within the images suit my colour palette 'to a tee'. The only separation of the colours in these images is that I will be adding a hint of pink to brighten and highlight my designs. I will also be using cream and grey tones as bases of my designs.

 Paris really inspired me, not just through the colours I found in this shop but through the delicate patterns within their architecture that reminded me of lace and also how different their culture is to ours even though they aren't that far from England.

I took many photos within my time in Paris and I will be looking into these with depth to pull out shapes and patterns that I can draw from and create designs of my own that work within my project title. The colour palette is just the beginning. 

Below is a colour mood-board that I designed for my final project, I will be using a lot of blue tones with creams and greys for my designs. Blue is very in fashion for the interior market at the minute as it is not seen as being forwarded to just the feminine market. So therefore, masculine home owners will also be interested in buying interiors for their homes and these colours will suit all. 

I have chosen to add in a dash of coral and rich pink here and there to adapt my designs to their needs. To find all my colours I have used imagery and created tonal boards like the one below to fit all the colours together to make sure they match and work with each other.

Nature from a different perspective

Below are a few previous designs from my project 'Nature from a different perspective'. I liked the idea that nature is a very known inspiration but I wanted my work to be a little different. With this idea I decided that I didn't always want my designs to be perceived straight away as drawings from flowers or leaves, so I edited my ideas to create patterns with a unique design look. Most of this imagery below is from my monochrome palette that I used in comparison to a pastel palette.

This design below is one of the ones from when I started to add colour. For this project I chose a colour palette of pastel tones with monochrome highlights.

Cutout lace work

Below is a design that is from my current project, I plan to weave this on the jacquard though the imagery is taken from my texel loom work.

As my current project is based around lace, I have decided to do a lot of cut out work and incorporate this into my designs. I will be felting some of my woven work and then laser tutting into it to create lace edges. Below are two cutout designs by hand.

This design below is one of my first texel loom designs. The twisting and tieing of the yarns does take time but I am very pleased with the results.