jan'stextileblog: Part 1 Surface Distortion Project 1 Folding and Crumpling Exercise 5

Exercise 5 Basic crumpling technique

For this exercise I used an A3 size heavy weight tissue paper. I followed the instructions at the beginning of the exercise regarding the repeated crumping and part opening of the tissue. I really liked the way the paper began to give and became very soft and pliable.

I created a single rib and was surprised at how the paper kept the shape. I then made a series of ribs along the length of the paper. This gave it an interesting texture because of the soft valleys and mountains formed by the ribs along with the creasing from the crumpling earlier.

I then made ribs from a central point. This again gave an interesting structure and kept its shape well although made from tissue paper. I think that the crumpling at the beginning of the exercise seemed to give structure to the paper although overall it has a very soft delicate feel.

The paper was moulded over a flower shaped paint pallet. This made a very good surface creating lots of undulating edges and dips.

I then crumpled the paper again and folded it over at intervals over a cone that held knitting ribbon. This gave more height to the surface but not as firm a structure and collapsed in places.

I then rolled the paper at intervals over a roll of thread and created sausage shaped ridges over the length of the tissue. This was a good surface texture but not as interesting as the surface created with the paint pallet.

Next a pin cushion was used to mold the tissue over at interevals. This made a very successful series of rounded shapes but again I felt not as interesting or exciting as the one I created using the paint pallet.

During the exercise I drew the results into my sketchbook using different media.
I found it difficult at first to draw the crumpled tissue because of the many edges, lines and shadows created by the crumpling. I remembered then that I could break the drawing down into mark making and not get bogged down with trying to replicate the paper exactly. This made me free up in my drawing and I really liked to use the soft tipped fibre pen. I feel this helped me to get the essence of the lines of the paper and some shadow.

I also found that using different papers for collage helped me to create the texture I wanted to show from the crumpled tissue and then the added wash of ink to add some shadowing.

I enjoyed this exercise. I think because I like texture and can see that this can be created by working and re-working a material t get different effects.