Part 4 - Experimenting with structures Exercise 4

This exercise was to make a grid of any size.  After working with the flimsy lavender stalks for the last exercise I decided go with more rigid and used wooden kebab sticks.  I still found it very fiddly to tie the sticks together and eventually used craft wire.  I used silk tops, wire, paper, raffia, knitting wool of various thicknesses and torn fabric to weave areas of the grid.  I like two areas of weaving the first is the middle section that is turquoise and green is knitting wool and has been tightly woven.  I like the solid look also it looks neat but has some texture because the wool was one that had thick nubs in parts.  The second area I like is bottom left of the grid where I used wire, silk tops and torn fabrics.  I like it because of the colours and it is a much freer bit than the first area I like giving a nice contrast.  I like the piece overall because of the colours I have but as a whole piece I think it is too messy.  Again I was not sure whether this was what I was supposed to do but went with my instincts and feel pleased about that. 

• Did you enjoy inventing constructed surfaces?  Were you surprised at the results?  Can you see a connection between your choice of materials and types of structures you made - regular, irregular, small or large scale?  Which samples worked best - and why?

I enjoyed making constructed surfaces particularly the hand-twisted ropes and braids.  I feel that I have experimented more with this exercise.  I found the results interesting when I used extremes of materials such as a thick knitting yarn with wider torn strips of fabric.  I like this because they turned out larger and you could see the structure very well.  The machined cords worked very well especially the machining of old tights.  I like the way these cords can be manipulated and sewn into quite a robust structure like the small bowl I made. 

At first I did not enjoy the grid making exercises as much as the braid making because I found them quite fiddly and I was really unsure as to whether I was doing the correct thing.  Once I began to play around with the materials I liked the thought processing.  When tying the structures and it wasn't working I enjoyed trying to come up with other ideas on how to get around this.  I enjoyed exercise 4 more than the previous one and perhaps this was because having gone through the previous exercise and its difficulties I was more able to find solutions.  

I think the grid in exercise 4 worked better than the triangular structures in exercise 3.  I chose to flimsy a material to outline the shape of the triangle.  The grid worked better because the structure was more solid and I chose more varied materials which I think give more of an interest to the piece.  I also think the colour scheme is more attractive.  Though I do wish now that I had dyed the kebab sticks.

• How accurate were you in matching all the colours in your postcard:

with paints?
with yarns/other material?

I was pleased with the matching of the colours in paint from my choice of postcard.  I used designer gouache and find these really good for mixing to the colour I need.

I was also pleased with the yarn wrappings I did from the postcard and magazine cutting.  I feel both were successful but I like the way I interpreted the texture of the water in the magazine picture.  I think looking back at the pieces I could have used some other materials such as torn strips of fabric.