Project 2 Wrapping Recording outcomes

I have put photographs and explanations for the samples from each exercise under different posts each with the relevant exercise heading. 

I began by wrapping the wooden spoon freely with chenille thread leaving arts of the spoon showing. I then wrapped areas more densely in parts. 

Next I wrapped the spoon with strips of silk fabric again leaving space between the wrapping fabric.  I then wrapped it more densely along the handle.

I then used sari thread and paper thread to wrap tightly and densely along the spoon.  The sari thread changes of colour make bands of colour especially on the spoon head.  The tight dense wrapping gives the spoon a very tactile surface and the shine of the silk contrasts well against the matt of the paper thread.

I next wrapped with pieces of braid I had made from torn strips of fabric.  This gave a heavier looking surface.  

I decided to wrap the spoon with thick strips of scrim.  I then wrapped this first with paper thread which I pulled tightly so that the twists of the scrim stood out.  Next I wrapped the scrim with ribbon which I did with an even tension.  The purple ribbon stands out against the scrim I think because of the contrast of its colour against the colour of the scrim.  

I then wrapped the wooden spoon with a silk cap covering it all over and wrapped this with jewellery making wire.  I chose the colour of the wire so that it would stand out against the orange silk.  I wrapped quite tightly so that the fibres would stand out to make a tactile surface.  This works well I think because the wire is thin and easily manipulated against the thick softness of the fibres.  

Lastly, I wrapped the spoon with knitting yarn finishing the edge along the head of the spoon with very loose buttonhole stitch.  This does not show up very well unless looked at very closely where the yarn loops along one of the edges. Around the handle I wrapped with strips of wool slip knotting them onto the handle with the addition of strips of orange coloured scrim.  These were slip knotted onto the handle.  The orange scrim stands out well against the yarn because of the contrasting colours and the weave of the fabric as against the twist of the yarn.

For this exercise I decided to wrap a mug with different materials and threads.  The threads enabled me to change the tension whilst wrapping but I found this harder to do with the pipe cleaners.  I like the tissue and chenille thread wrapping because the tissue paper give the piece a delicate look although it is actually hard and quite heavy.

The wrapping with scrim and ratstail thread has been successful I think because I have been able to retain the shape as I did with the tissue paper but it has a lovely surface texture.  I think I wrapped the thread in a better way than the chenille thread because the crossing of the thread has given different sized sections of the scrim from tiny squares to larger ones in the middle.  I think this piece asks to be picked up and touched because of the softness of the scrim. The contrast of the thread against the scrim makes this softness stand out.

I wrapped the mug with kitchen roll that I had used to wipe paintbrushes.  The paper was not as manageable as the tissue paper and scrim.  This did not allow me to hold the shape of the mug as much.  Wrapping the kitchen roll with pipe cleaners was difficult because they would not stay in place.  It became easier once I had a few pieces of the pipecleaners attached to each other.  I am not as pleased with this wrapping.  I do not think it is attractive although the pipecleaners have made an interesting pattern.  This is mainly because of the way I had to fix them together so that the paper would not become undone rather than me actually thinking where to place them.  Perhaps this has been a success then in that it was more intuitive.

I began by wrapping an ornament with strips of torn silk fabric.  I tried to wrap as freely as I could but found myself trying to neaten everything as it just looked like a jumble of fabric.  I felt uncomfortable with this way of working.  I tried sewing across the gaps I had made with thread.  I didn't find this successful.  I do not think the thread adds to the piece and actually preferred it without.

In the course book it suggested that an object with protrusions was used so I decided to wrap a small teddy bear that had been made many years ago for me by a friend.  I met this friend at college so we have known each other for a very long time and although we live at other ends of the country we are in touch at least once a week and our friendship means an awful lot to me.  Therefore anything made for me by my friend also means a lot to me.  I began wrapping this bear with some trepidation.  I had read about Judith Scott's work and how she wrapped objects that had meaning only to her.  I thought of this as I wrapped the bear.

The first wrapping was with torn muslin.  I used two colours rather than one so that there would be more interest and perhaps this would detract from the shape slightly.  Not sure this worked.  However I carried on and began to wrap with gimp in another colour that was brighter and stood out well.  I wrapped this densely in parts and more freely in others.  This gave areas of interest with the bright gimp against the muslin.

The bear still just looked like a bear wrapped in fabric and thread.  I then wrapped with trapunto wool.  This began to change the shape and my bear was becoming hidden.  Again I liked areas of the wrapping because of the patterns it had made.  I was becoming more free with the wrapping but still felt uncomfortable that I was hiding away something I cherished.

Next I covered it with strips of left over cotton wadding.  I added a small plastic pot to one side to add to the shape. To keep these together I then wrapped with cotton thread.  I pulled this quite tight as I wrapped.  It was changing shape.  I wrapped sari silk thread in places and then did weaving in areas with the silk thread to make interesting sections.  Then I wrapped with thread.  Where threads crossed one another I knotted pieces of sari silk thread arond them leaving the ends free.  This started to add texture to the piece.  I needed to do something else to it.  I decided to stitch on some of the areas between the threads and used silk thread to stitch cretan stitch and running stitch to make points of interest.

I left the wrapped bear for a few days and kept coming back to it to see if I needed or wanted to added anything more.  I felt I didn't.  I still felt uncomfortable with it thought knowing that this wrapped shape was hiding an item that meant something to me.  I had to unwrap it.  All the while I did this exercise I thought of Judith Scott and wondered how she felt when working on her pieces.  I wondered if she needed to hide the things that meant something to her and perhaps these things were not treasured as my bear is.  I had wondered how and when she knew she was finished with a piece.  I think this is something that is very hard to explain for anyone.  I realised this when I just knew I had gone far enough and could not and did not want to add anymore.

I did feel I needed to wrap something else and chose a fir cone I had collected.  I wrapped it with strips of muslin in two colours.  I wrapped it with cotton thread.  I did not want to add to this because I liked the way the cotton thread gathered together in places and the spaces left had different appearances depending on how tightly I pulled the cotton.  I liked the small raised areas where the cotton is pulled very tightly. This is because of the feel of those areas when I rub my fingers over them.  I also like the feel of the piece as a whole because of the lightness of its weight and its shape.  It can be moved around in my hands easily.

                                                 

• Did you feel comfortable with the exercises?

I felt the most comfortable with the straight wrapping exercise (exercise 1).  I think this was because I had more control over this.  I felt comfortable with wrapping with materials and threads (exercise 2) althought not as much as the first exercise.  I think this was because I was not in control as much and although I tried hard I could not see a satisfactory outcome to the exercise for me.  

I was uncomfortable doing exercise 3 especially when I was wrapping the bear.  I think this was because I was hiding something I treasured and it did not feel right somehow to me.  I have thought hard about this and have found it very hard to explain.  The only thing I can say is that when I wrapped the pine cone, for which I had no particular attachment other than it was something I had collected because I found it interesting, I did not feel as uncomfortable.  

• Were there particular materials and techniques you enjoyed working with?

I enjoyed working exercise 1 where I wrapped the wooden spoon.  I liked the control of this and the finished textures from each of the wrapped materials particularly the sari silk thread.

• How did your various materials respond to the two techniques?

I think the materials I chose to work with worked well as a whole.  Some were not easy to manipulate for example the pipe cleaners around the kitchen roll that was wrapped around the mug.  

• Were you able to achieve interesting textures and colours in your samples?

As I am writing this it has occurred to me that these questions are supposed to be applied to the joining exercises and not just the wrapping ones.  I am therefore going to answer with thought to both the joining and wrapping exercises.  

I think the most successful use of materials was in my joining exercises.  I was able to use very different textured materials along side one another for example silk paper and lutrador with dried lavender sticks.  Colour is something I think about first and foremost when working my samples.  It is something that first attracts me to a piece of work.  Texture is next and I think that I have been able to achieve some interesting textures and colour combinations.  I think the sample where I used painted tissue paper applied to Tyvek in the joining exercises made a very interesting colour and texture combination.

• Which outcomes were successful?  Which were less so - and why?

I think in Project 1 Joining the overlapping edges were the most successful because I was able to uses different textured materials that could be joined together with success.  I think the curved edges exercise was less successful as I found it more difficult.  I think this was because of the choice of materials I made.

In Project 2 wrapping I think the wooden spoon wrappings were the most successful.  I felt in control of the wrapping with this exercise and liked the effect this gave with regard to texture and colour.  The most unsuccessful was the uneven wrapping exercise where I wrapped the ornament, bear and pine cone.  I think this was because I felt uncomfortable with this exercise and could not feel settled enough to experiment more.

• What are your thoughts on the artists, designers and makers you've researched in Part Two?

I enjoyed researching for this section of the course and in particular the work of Pippa Andrews.  I particularly like the vessels that are made using basket making methods and have an outer shell of felt part way up them. 

I found researching Judith Scott very interesting.  I find her work intriguing although it is not to my taste.  I think the intrigue in her pieces partly comes from the background story of her life and when and how she began her art work.  I think it was a very sad but amazing story.

• How did the research you carried out inform your own work?

I think that in particular the information and work I found about Judith Scott had an influence on the way I looked at and worked on the samples in exercise 3 of the wrapping exercises.  It made me think more about what effect working the sample was having on me.  It made me think about how I know when a piece is finished.  I know these were samples and can be carried on into future work but often it is hard to know when enough is enough with even a sample.  I found that I have a gut feeling and want to learn to listen to this more.