Continuing into making my final sample this week. I decided that the knitting worked best out of last weeks samples and that I would use it for my final A4 sample piece, incorporating manipulated organza into it as well.
I cast on 16 stitches in 0.5 gauge copper wire, creating very large loops and proceeded to do 15 rows of garter stitch which created roughly an A4 sized sample. I then placed this on top of my larger piece of organza and pulled bits of the fabric through the holes in the knitting to create a 3-dimensional surface and an interesting texture to the piece. I think that the two materials work well together, both are shiny/reflective but in slightly different ways. the copper creating a harsh sharp line and the organza being floaty and water like.
These are images of the samples shadows being projected on to the wall with a bright light. I like the contrast of the different materials, one soft and floaty, the other hard but still pliable. The way the gathers of the organza sits, reminds me of videos that I’ve seen of people doing upholstery, when they pull the fabric down into holes in the foam it creates a similar gather. I have placed them in a semi organic shape so that they aren’t totally uniform, and they naturally create lines radiating out from them that make them look a bit like stars.
I also played around with some other ideas fro my final sample that I have used as my accompanying samples instead.
Here I made an interesting discovery that when you iron some types of plastic (this was from a piece of packaging that I found in the bin) melt so much that they become like lace, with lots of holes in them, and it also translates very well into shadows. this would need to be experimented with further to make a finished piece, but it would be a nice variation from the wire.
I was really excited by how clear and defined the lines were in the shadows on my main sample and wanted to see if you could actually create imagery with it and not just a pattern. so I decided to have a go at drawing a face with the wire, which is a popular trend at the moment, continuous line drawings are being used in many different designs, in jewellery and fashion. it was harder than I thought to control the wire and make it do what I wanted, but I think this may have been because my wire is quite a thin gauge, it would be easier with a slightly thicker wire as it would stay in the position that you bent it. However, regardless of my struggles, I do like the idea and the result is intriguing, it also casts a very clear shadow.
for this sample I wanted to see if sandwiching the wire in between two layers of plastic would work, because then the wire would have more of a structural quality that would be ready to make into an object such as a lampshade. However as in my previous samples using the plastic, when it is heated up if slightly deforms and when you shine a light through it, it becomes very wishy-washy, menaing that you can’t really see the shape of the wire.
For my last sample I have some gathered organza and a small wire face which I have put together, I think they work well together, and could be adapted to show lots of different faces, shining around a room. I love that the organza looks like hair.
