Mushrooms Gills and Forest Lights.
In this, the development and experimentation of my final major project, I was inspired by the beauty of mushrooms I foraged from Hampstead Health. Using high twist wool yarns and a combination of natural bast fibers, I wove pieces that could be pleated and manipulated to resemble the gills of mushrooms.
To the left is a test using a tool specially made to paint the threads of the warp. By creating patterns, interactions and showing my woven samples digitally I do loose the sense and interaction of the threads and fibers which were so essential to my design process. However as I continued my development and research to show my work digitally I considered how important viewer interaction is in my work. Creating a space accessible and uniquely interactive to my viewer including sound, movement and texture.
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As I reflect on my woven samples I made before half term, I can see a transparency emerge from my Kasuri samples as the warp threads were spread apart more than another warp would usually be. When placed in front of light, it gives the effect of looking through mushroom gills. The colour from the painted warp intertwined with the weft is interesting and has an almost watercolour softness. Its almost as if its an illusion, something theres but not quite, verging on the line of disappearing altogether. I really like this affect as it appears in my primary research and explorations in Hampstead Health, as the sunlight filtering through the trees or the light coming through the gills of mushrooms.
Painting shadows on the warp
Experiments in alpaca, ramie and silk using techniques to create textured weavings that recreate the textures and gills of mushrooms. Using different patterns in the weave as well as finishing techniques and high twist yarns I intend to make textiles that create ridges and different shapes and textures. I want to create beautiful textiles that the user can interact with and be intrigued with how the textile feels and moves. Focusing primarily on movements in the weaving, such as puckering, pleats and the colour and material of the textile.
Pattern book, Please swipe through
Repair of the 21st shaft with hag stones from the Norfolk coast.
I changed my warp 3 times to accommodate different weaving patterns and pleats as I experimented and developed how I woven my woven mushroom collection. The warp was made out of bleached Japanese ramie. In the beginning, I began off with 3 inches of silk and 4 of ramie to see which fiber pleated and reacted best when I experimented with my finishing techniques. The first loom I used was connected to the weave point computer program which gave me the ability to easily and quickly complete small pattern experiments without having to enter the pattern into the arm loom computer. When I began my second warp on the 24 shaft arm loom, I used 100% ramie warp as I preferred the papery feel of the bast fibre to the more malleable feel of the silk. When a more shiny, watery texture was needed for my samples I could use silk or tencel in the weft which I explored in my windings I made. As I was struggling with the size of my pleats, I choose to spread out the warp threads and change the overall size of my samples. The width of the warp changed from 8 inches to around 12 despite the total ends remaining the same. This meant all of my samples vary in size. However in samples that are designed to shrink and change, the size didn't change as much as I desired.
When I began experimented painting and adding colour to the warp I used a mixture of dyestuff mixed with a printing gum to thicken the mixture to stick to the warp threads. Finding the correct mixture between gum and dye stuff was quite difficult, as the more gum produced a more transparent watercolour effect and if too much was added the warp would become brittle and hard to work with. When experimenting with my houndstooth grey oyster mushroom pattern, I choose to leave the warp to naturally dye and keep adding layers of black to the warp slowly to make sure the warp would not break as it was being woven.
Knots, Lamps and overgrown weeds. Research collected in Kyoto at Kawashima Textile School, down a small road somewhere and an antique lamp shop found in Downtown Kyoto ( Please scroll through.)
Furthering my research into environments and ideas of curating my work I came across an antique light shop I visited in Kyoto, Japan. Each lamp had an attached note from the previous owner which detailed its story and past. This idea of an object’s past history only serves to add beauty to the object. For curating my final pieces, I proposed an idea of weaving lamps and when the viewer looked up, it was as though the viewer is looking up into a mushroom. This would connect the viewer with a feeling of surrealism and wonder. Much of this imagery is reminiscent of literary work like Alice in Wonderland or fantasy, like seen in the exhibition “Mushooms: The Art, Design and Future of Fungi.” at Somerset house. Creating woven lamp that hangs above the user or is emerging from the wall so when the viewer examines the lamp its like looking up into the gills of the mushroom. Even if it is impossible to create a complete a full ring due to time restraints or lack of material, perhaps draping or digital visualization could be created instead.
