Sampling for Place settings.

After going through my design process I realised that my plate print would look better as a separate piece of material like a place mat. It would stand out more and you would be able to see my other print more and id be able to work into the place settings.

When sampling I worked into different ones adding heat transfer, embroidery, quilting, union jack back ground and multiple prints. I feel doing these as place mats was a great idea as I can make them all individual. Some of the sampling didn’t work as well as I had hoped such as the multiple print and others worked amazingly such as the union jack back ground. 

Sampling for cushions.

I decided for my final piece I wanted to make some cushions which would reflect my theme.

I sampled my prints on my favourite rainbow colour samples using different coloured pigment and different prints. I also made a toile of a cushion to see how it would be made. I personally love all samples but I could only choose 3. I feel made up as a cushion they will look brilliant.  

(All samples evaluated.)

Needle felted sandwiches.

After researching tea parties, sandwiches were a key part of the catering so I decided as well as cupcakes I would create some sandwiches.

To create the sandwiches I needle felted wool into a triangle shape adding more and more to make it thick, I then added a dark brown to the end to look like crust and red round the middle to look like jam.

I feel these look great but no matter how much wool I added they didn’t seem to be getting any thicker. When creating these again ill use sponges in the centre so it makes them thicker and it helps hold the form. Other than them not being thick enough I feel these look fabulous. 

Needle felted Cupcakes.

As I used a lot of cupcakes within my visual sheets I wanted to experiment making them with needle felting.

To create the cupcakes I first got a ball of wool and needle felted it till it became firm, I then shaped it into the wrapper of the cupcake and added line details. I then got a whisper of brown wool and needle felted it became a firm sausage shape which I then added around the wrapper shape to represent the cake part. It was then time to make the frosting, to create this I got a ball of wool and needle felted it until it was a firm ball shape which I then added it to the wrapper shape above the cake part. Once it was attached I could shape it into the frosting, I then made a ball of red wool which was then added to the top for the cherry topping.

I am so happy with the outcome of this as i wasn’t sure what to expect and i feel it really looks like a cupcake, as it was simple shapes it was so much easier to do then the teapot, this is only on a small scale so when creating these for my final piece i will be doing them much larger, i will also be using the colours used through my project to bring it all together. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sampling with prints.

Once my screen had been exposed I started sampling with different coloured prints and materials, the most used material was cotton but I did experiment with calico and devore materials.  I used many different coloured procians to dye the materials and different pigments to print with. Once I did some sampling I furthered them by quilting them and using embroidery to add details. I found this helped me see what potential this print had. All samples are evaluated on the back including pigments and procians used and techniques used.

Needle felted teapot.

As I tried to make a felt tea pot out rolling method and I felt it didn’t work I attempted to create one with needle felting and it was so incredibly to get the shape but once complete I feel it worked so much better then  sewing rolled felt together.

To start with I needle felted a flat piece of felt until it was starting to firm together. I then cut 2 pieces of sponge into a circular shape and glued them together so I could used that to start felting together the shape of the teapot, this was hard as the sponge was a different texture and strength to the foam so it wasn’t pulling the fibres together properly. Once I had a shape I could work with I removed it from the sponge and started to make the shape by holding it between my thumb and finger, this worked a lot better as I was able to create tension. This was very time consuming. Once the shape of the body was as firm as I could get it I added extra felt inside which had been rolled just to make it stronger. This really helped with keeping the shape firm. For the spout of the tea pot I used a pipe cleaner as the frame and then wrapped wool around it and needle felted it together and I continued doing this until the shape had been formed, I then attached this. I also used this method to create the handle. I had a problem with the spout standing up as the felt was weighing the pipe cleaner down, to overcome this I will need to use a stronger wire, such as milliners wire or florist wire. Once I had attached the spout and handle to the body it was time to create the lid, to do this I twisted wool into a circle shape until it was the size I needed. I then felted this together trying the keep the shape; I turned it over many of times so I had good consistency of the fibres. Once the lid was starting to firm I created a dip in the centre and a lip round the sides to give the lid the right look, I then felted a small ball and connected that to the top of the lid, once I put them all together I had a fully formed teapot.

Although this process is extremely time consuming I feel it works so much better then rolling felt and sewing it together, I did have a problem with getting it firm but either stuffing or adding extra felt stops this. I used un-dyed wool for this sample as I didn’t know how much wool it would use up and I didn’t want to run out of colours I would use in my final piece. Over all I happy with this sample. 

Alternative screen.

As well as a screen which showed my development of a tea party I also created a screen which was taken from my development of the knife and fork and plates on my second visual sheet, it’s very stripped back from the sheet but I feel it will look great as a print as it will look like there is a plate on the table.  I want to put these onto my table cloth to create the effect.