After looking at my previous samples from the past two projects and choosing the woven wire and organza samples to move forward, I have started making new samples. Exploring these techniques and looking into them at a deeper level, I have created a series of mood-boards that follow this process.

My research into trending colour palettes and themes in home decor on the WGSN website, informed me that the public are spending more time and money on making their homes warm, homely environments, and specifically focusing on interiors because of the amount of time everyone is spending in their homes because of COVID. It talks about using warm earthy tones that connect people with nature, but also drawing inspiration from the past, giving items an old fashioned retro look. -see first mood-board below.

I then started doing quick visualisation sketches of textures and colours that link in with the copper wire, but also this idea of warmth and looking at the past.

From there I started making samples, I decided that I wanted the copper wire to be more visible than in previous woven samples, so I played with weaving with strips of plastic pvc. This failed quite drastically, in that there was no structure to the piece and when shining a light through it the shadows weren’t very aesthetically pleasing to look at. I think that the type of plastic I have is the wrong kind for creating shadows as it blurs the lines of the wire and makes the shadow much less pronounced. However it was a useful experiment, because I realised that the wire works really well when it is visible rather than hidden under the wool weft threads. I think partly the strips of plastic didn’t work because they were so wide, it would be interesting to weave with a plastic clear thread so that the weft threads could be more densely packed, meaning it would possibly have more structure and hold itself up. The idea of projecting the pattern of a loosely structured textile fascinates me, and I wanted to explore this further, although going further away from my previous woven samples, I decided to have a go at knitting the wire. the worked exceptionally well, the shadows cast were clear and defined and create a wonderful texture on the wall. because the wire has a structure of its own, the loops in the knitting aren’t all the same shape, and although it is uniform in a way, it has a really interesting organic shape, I can totally envision this as a lampshade, covering my room in a wonderful knit pattern.

In this board I was playing with the shadows and how it would look on different light bulbs. To create the shadows you have to have a very bright bulb, or spotlight, however I also have a large very orange light bulb in my room that isn’t very bright, and I actually really like the look of the copper against it. although it doesn’t create the shadows, the copper reflects nicely in the light and gleams in a way that makes me think of old fashioned street gas lamps.

For my organza sample, I shirred around in a circle on the fabric to create a more three-dimensional form and then started playing with the shadows. where the organza is gathered, it creates these beautiful darker shadows because there are several layers of fabric. The way that the different layers cast shadows reminds me of an X-ray or perhaps a jellyfish in the sea. it has this really wonderful ethereal quality and would make your room look like it was underwater if it was translated into a light-shade.

Going forward into making my final samples I will combine the knitting with wire and the organza manipulations into a finished sample that will consider the end usage and shadow manipulation.