ATV4.4 Deconstructing colour as yarn
Brief: Using the watercolour stripe designs from Exercise 3.3 develop ideas towards material selection and then apply methods of deconstruction and reduction to capture the lightness, colour, energy and particular qualities of your watercolour-painted stripes in a small series of yarn designs and concepts. Aim to design 5 fully developed yarn designs or concepts.
I am thinking plastic, bubble wrap, sequins, tracing paper, opaque materials. In terms of processes I am thinking diluting, melting, warping, tearing, shredding, scorching, uncoiling…
I started out trying to melt various materials with a soldering iron. I have worked out that the thin tip of it means the heat is too focused in one place and it cuts rather than melts, I couldn’t get any interesting effects really. I tried ribbon, strips of foam, bubble wrap, plastic, sequins. On the sequins it left a black residue which had the opposite effect from reducing the original material. The only material that responded ok to the soldering iron was a plastic lid that had already been twisted in the dishwasher. I cut strips with the soldering iron and then melted the ends of the strips together to make a longer strip. It has distorted the original material and certainly deconstructed the lid into something altogether different.
Next I set upon a phone charging lead that had stopped working. Initially I chose it for the colour as it so closely mimicked one of the colours from the water colour stripe painting. I untangled some of the braided outer wrapper which looked nice in iteself. I unearthed initially a white plastic lead which I then shredded by running one leg of my scissors along it until it tore in places. Inside that were a white, a black, a red and a teal wire. I cut the red away as it jarred colour wise, but kept the others. I used the same method to remove the cover from the copper wire inside that I had used on the white outer cover and exposed various very thin copper threads. Because of the way the coloured plastic came off when I tried to then remove it with my nails, it actually bunched the plastic up and made it curl. I really like the way this lead has come apart in to all its separate components. I am now going to experiment with putting it back together in a different way, maybe I’ll plait it. Mmmm that didn’t look very exciting. I will maybe combine my materials once I have finished my initial explorations.
Next I uncoiled some rope. It came apart into four separate thinner ropes which then uncoiled in to another four ropes each. When I uncoiled these thinnest ropes they exposed the individual strands which were very fluffy, insubstantial, fragile. A lot of them broke as I untangled them, others knotted up. The finished piece looks lovely, like a seaweed floating in the ocean.
I decided to try ironing some of the earlier materials between two layers of baking paper to see what would happen to them on high heat. Some of the materials melted more easily than others, some behaved in a very predictable way whereas others did interesting things when heated. The sequins couldn’t really be melted with the iron but I managed to sandwich them between two layers of packing plastic to make a new yarn. The packing plastic on it’s own took on interesting textures and went opaque in places which I hadn’t expected, and I liked this.
I melted a very thin plastic bag because the colour was perfect for this project, as expected the plastic melted very easily and crinkled, melted into layer upon layer and holes were formed too. The bag had been used and the dirt inside made some interesting textures and colours, which hadn’t been the intention, I hadn’t realised there was anything inside the bag, but I quite like it now. I cut the small flat piece into strips and melted the strips end to end to create a longer strip.
The green bubble wrap melted nicely, especially at the edges where exciting textures happened. This was even better in the bubble wrap I had previously cut with the soldering iron.
The foam strips of packing material I had previously cut with the soldering iron melted in a very satisfying way. it distorted, bubbles happened, it all went very thin and paper like and opaque. Very cool!
I took a strip of netting material which I have been using a lot of throughout this project, and ripped it and distorted it. Randomly shaped holes appeared and in places the holes in the mesh closed up and the fabric became denser.
Next I tore a strip of fabric and then pulled threads off the edge. I then cut slits in the strip, like buttonholes, and pulled the fabric apart at these holes. I really like this effect
Here I ripped some organza ribbon in half lenthways and pulled the metal wire in the edge to create pleast, then I frayed the ripped edges which made a pleasing mess.
For the finished pieces I decided to use some of the materials I had worked with above and use them together, I want to look at weaving, braiding, a way of getting the colours to mix and be seen through the layers I am creating as you could in the original still life.
First I braided together a strip of ripped and frayed fabric, a strip of ripped and frayed organza ribbon and a strip of bubblewrap, and then ironed this plait. I like how you can see the original materials, and also the mixing together of them, a nice mix of colours and textures.
I next I braided together a strip of organza ribbon, a strip of ironed bubblewrap, and a length of partly uncoiled rope. I like the colours and textures.
I next I braided together a strip of organza ribbon, a strip of clear plastic and a strip of bubblewrap, and then ironed this plait. I like how you can see the colours through the opaque materials, and how some of them responded to heat and others didn’t, to create quite a textured piece.
For this piece I unraveled some green garden twine until it was fluffy, delicate, fragile. I added a torn strip of fraying grey and white fabric, some torn blue netting and a strip of bubble wrap.I loosely tied the different strands together with the twine, the fabric strips, pulling the netting out a bit after to make it even looser. I like the opaque nature of this piece, the way the colours and textures overlay each other and affect each other.
For this final piece I took torn yellow netting, a strip of plastic, and a strip of bubblewrap, loosely tied the, together with the plastic at random intervals and then ironed the piece. The plastic melted but the netting did not, I wasn’t sure if it would change when heated so the end result was a surprise. The way the plastic strips have melted in different ways and in different places and how the netting is a constant but in different thicknesses throughout really reminds me of the glass still life and the water colour stripe paintings.
