Unplanned Post

This is not the post I had hoped to make tonight - I am having irksome technical difficulties uploading photographs of my latest experiments. So instead, I decided to show some more goodies I've found laying around. On my jaunt around the factory I work in, I found some utter beauts but they were sadly too large to pocket, so for now, meet these:

Another mobile phone special, this photograph lacks in quality but I am glad that it still portrays well the warped shapes of these 'specimens'. I still enjoy the idea of cataloguing these found pieces and examining them for inspiration. I feel that shape manipulation and moulding are aspects that I would like to play around with more. Being a printer by trade I am too quick to 'make prints' and dye as opposed to physically kneading my materials and affecting their structure.

Wrapping & Rusting

Here are the latest batch of images from experiments with the contents of my latest parcel from Sara - combined with some items from previous parcels - which coincided with collecting items for a "final parcel" for Sara. The final parcel is just about complete and I am looking forward to sharing it's contents and the reasons I chose each item for Sara to work with and what ideas I have in mind for them and how that differs from Sara's initial ideas and impressions.

Washers linked with a lace trim creating a bracelet.

Worn as a bracelet.

The washer bracelet after rusting. I love the intense orange combined with the black. The coating on the washers has also corroded into some  interesting colours. I got the instructions for the linking in the bracelet online and I think that it's a nice way to integrate the metals and materials. Individually the bracelet isn't enough though, and I would like to see this idea layered up.

Bolt nuts linked in a string braid.

Again here, but rusted. The rust has only affected one nut because of the way the nuts were placed in the vinegar. Again I tried linking them into a braid with instructions for simple "craft" bracelets online, but this method was less effective as I hadn't used the right nuts. I will have to see if I can get thinner ones as the bracelet links they can create are really tough looking and would look brilliant on a large scale design.

Again taking inspiration from combining metals with fabrics I came up with the idea of wrapping nuts and washers with different materials. I like them already; before any destructive processes as they are very soft and feminine and I think they will look really striking after some experimentation. I love the mix of different shapes and fabrics so I think for a final piece, a good mix of different wrapped objects sewn together would work most effectively.

More experiments with wrapping - this time a large screw and string. However, this wasn't nearly so impressive as the other "wrappings" and I have definitely overloaded the string with rust and it is now rather sludgy. I like the marks made on the tissue with it though, so maybe it could be used as a tool for mark making. 

A Rusty Haul

We must apologise for our absence from this blog - it has been a rather busy couple of weeks for us both! In the interim, before we get our teeth back into things, we have been on a joint scavenge for rusty goodies.

The image above - and a rather poor quality image at that, (I am in the process of moving homes at the moment so have been unable to get things together to photograph properly), shows our findings from a short walk along the Riverside. Although, dark and blurry, I like this image as it reminds me of museum displays; collections of curious implements and tools. I find this a very inspiring mode of research - each of the items found tell a different story and some hold such intrigue as we pose question to what they began as at all! I hope to post better photographs soon as the gradation of the rust and the different effects of the process are aesthetically very interesting, and indeed the shapes and altered forms themselves. Some are brilliant orange and others are mottled with such a range of colour and filing, that they appear only a muddied, ruined 'thing'. I feel it was a hugely successful trip - definite food for thought in developing our project. I feel it will help me to move in a less literal manner.

Latest Items.

Here are the latest items I have received from Sara that I will be experimenting with. This will be the last parcel swap of this kind in Re-worked as we will be taking around two weeks to build up larger parcels that will signify the end of the swapping stage before starting more of a design-led stage: mini-workshops, sketching together and beginning to produce larger samples. The larger parcels will be shown differently as well as we will be choosing items that we feel will challenge or suit the other, posting pictures here before swapping parcels detailing why we have chosen the items and how we think the other could use them. I have a few ideas already for what I can send Sara so I am looking forward to this next stage.

Bolt nuts. I am interested to see how this coating is affected by experiments.

More brass washers.

Large screws. Again, another coating to experiment with.

A selection of weather-rusted characters.

Hook & eyes. Both coated and bare.

Coated snap fasteners.

String. I am thinking that wrapping items with this, 

such as the bolt nuts, could produce some interesting results.

Various trims and ribbons. Again. these could be used to wrap some of the other items. 

Latest Playthings...

Here are some of the materials Nicola has recently sent me. I am playing around with a few ideas - how to rust/affect each of them, composition, end use etc. Nicola has a great eye for delicate, lovely things...

Apologies for the darkness of the last pictures. I feel when edited, that they do not correctly represent the true colours of the handkerchiefs... They are beautifully fragile, so I am taking care in considering how to use them. I wonder who 'R' and 'E' are!?!

Will post some sketches soon! 

Fabric Samples

In response to an earlier post in which Nicola and I discussed the possibility of producing rusty prints from rubbings, I have experimented with fabric swatches. Having begun with different weighted papers I found that too smooth or dry a surface encourages the rust to simply flake away. In order to make successful prints from the rust deposits a damp surface is needed. Samples previous to the paper below were dampened before rubbing but without prolonged contact with the damp surface, produced a weak print. The paper below was left overnight in damp conditions pressed against a pre-rusted paper clip chain.

 The results, though strong in colour, lack form.

I found that fabric treated with diluted vinegar and kept in the same conditions as the above, produced a far clearer print, with the fabric moulding to shape as it dried.

I think that making literal prints such as this could be an interesting way of making printed jewellery e.g. an emulative necklace or bracelet.

Powder Puffs - Post Rusting

As expected, these have been well dyed whilst rusitng despite my vigillance with exposure to oxygen being unpredictable in the continuation of the process. Again, I find these interesting as objects but am unsure as to how these would fit in with our final collection - perhaps not sophisticated enough an outcome. The sample in the bottom image rather reminds me of a mushroom! In the flesh, it's texture is pleasing - the embossing effect having been successful. I had planned to remove the staples but seeing the samples as they are now, I fear that removing them would leave them a bit lack luster - the embedded metal adds interest to the softness of the puffs.  

Powder Puffs - Before Rusting

These powder puffs have been stapled in the hope of altering texture and shape. Again, I have been concerned with repetition - edging the puffs with staples in a regimented fashion and pinning the pearl wire rings to reflect shape. I expect that the nature of the materials will see the puffs rather saturated with rust if I am not too careful in controlling the process so I plan to monitor these closely. Despite this concern, I am eager to see the embossing effects that the staples will have against these spongey textures. I quite like these as objects in themselves though I am unsure as to how well these will work within our final collection...

Studs / Rust

I decided to make use of the butterfly clips Sara had given me by combining them with the felt circles from a previous parcel. I thought that the butterfly clips on their own through fabric would look too similar to everyday studs already used in clothing so thought the felt circles would give them something extra. I really like this outcome as I think it looks like some sort of natural growth or honey fungus. I'm interested in using the idea as small clusters on clothing combined with a completely covered section - playing on the idea of deterioration. Although I liked the look, I experimented further with vinegar and salt to induce rusting (see below) to see if it improved the look. I also like that the "wings" of the butterfly clips underneath have criss-crossed to create a sort of mesh - something I again think would make for an interesting piece - if an item of clothing was completely covered it may become malleable, like the mesh/silver wire samples I played with in an earlier post, and would be interesting in terms of weight.

I do like the effects of the rust on the butterfly clips - they succumbed to deterioration very easily - but equally feel they look great untouched so maybe a mix of the two on a single piece would be great. I have a few designs for garments sketched and one idea I had was to have a heavily embellished top section (say the bodice of a dress) which would be rusted then gradually spacing the embellishment out to create small, untouched clusters. I think that highlighting the degrees of deterioration throughout the one piece would look great and sum up Re-worked. I was also pleased to see what looks like the start of salt crystals - maybe a new direction for the project? - a welcome embellishment!

I also did a smaller, less successful (in my opinion) experiment just scrunching up the fabric & securing it with clips to see if the rust would transfer throughout the  fabric. I think I was too heavy handed on the vinegar and the fabric is now almost completely orange! I like the colour but I wasn't overly impressed. However, it did give me an idea to use the butterfly clips to create structure within fabric - maybe create bunched up sections on large areas of fabric?

Washers / Branding

"Print" left after using washer with a branding technique.

"Print" crumbling off after material was crumpled.

A washer before branding (top left), a washer after branding (top right) & branding "print".

After a slight break from the project as I was settling into my new home, (big thank you to Sara for her work on the project the last couple of weeks), I was excited to get back to experimenting with the last batch of items I received from Sara.

I mentioned before that I was eager to use the brass washers as tools for branding the wool - and I am glad I pressed on with this idea as the results are fantastic. Rather than a circular burn, as I had predicted, I was confronted with a silver coloured "print". There was obviously a coating on the washer that reacted with the heat of my torch and stuck to the surface of the wool - especially obvious as when the washer was first applied to the wool it stuck on to it - something I think would look great on a large scale piece: showing the washer still attached to the wool combined with the print. I like the idea of the washers falling off as the piece is worn, revealing the graphic print underneath. I am really excited about these results - much better than I had anticipated. I will have to try the technique out on a few other materials to see if there is a similar result. Unfortunately, the smell of singed wool was also a surprise to me, albeit an unpleasant one!! I may have to continue these experiments outside from now on!

I also did some smaller experiments just using the washers as protective elements, singeing the wool around it. This didn't prove as successful though I do like how the middle of the circle is darker than the surrounding singed material. I have discovered that, with textiles, it is hard to predict how the piece will look on a small scale. I suspect that the above singeing and even the branding "print" will look far better on larger areas of fabric, however the smell of the wool has put me off testing this out for the moment! Repetitive patterns really appeal to me for Re-worked as a whole. 

Altogether I am still really pleased with branding & especially the "print" so will continue to push this idea further & try to apply it to larger areas.

Experimenting with Ribbon

These are experiments based on Nicola's initial ideas when collecting the first lot of materials:

And compositional experiments with lengths of ribbon,silver chain and paper clips:

Both ideas combined:

I like the simplicity of these samples and the idea that each piece can be added to/have sections taken away. The pink ribbon allows for me to experiment with the softer spectrum of our materials and achieve a pretty and wearable outcome. I actually really like the silver against the pink. Being cleaner and reflective, it is a nice contrast against the grittier rusted pieces, whilst still sitting well within our collection. Although I will make similiar pieces to rust too.