MMT2:2 Wrapping

Exercise 1: straight wrapping with threads

I really enjoyed this exercise. It was tricky initially working out how to deal with rounded ends as the threads kept falling off and much as I had wanted to produce at least one very neatly wrapped sample, it wasn’t to be. I felt the colours and textures of the yarns I used to wrap worked well together, they produced interesting results, whereas the first sample made in unbleached cotton, for me, didn’t work so well. The texture is quite nice but it was quite bland in all and I didn’t feel it was very inspiring. Also the thickness of the yarn meant it was quite a clumsy wrap, and I felt I achieved much more interesting results with thinner yarn, which had to be layered much more to achieve a difference in thickness, with an increased difference in colour and texture as well. The thinner yarn obscured the initial shape much less well which meant more of an effort had to be made to change the shape, which was actually much more exciting as more colours and different kinds of yarns could be used to produce lumps and bumps or hide shapes, which made for a more exciting wrap.

Exercise 2: wrapping with materials and threads

I did not feel any real creative spark come to me in this exercise. I think had I been able to wrap on an industrial scale like Christo and Jean-Claude it would have probably been more exciting, and the idea of wrapping up my car or a tree excites me much more than wrapping my stapler did. The wrapping obscured the shape almost entirely and turned it into just a parcel, rather anything with any kind of dynamic. Sadly I could not find a way to overcome this although the spatula in a gauze bag tied with a colourful yarn probably came closest.

Exercise 3: uneven wrapping

I loved this exercise. I wrapped and added objects and wrapped some more. I added layers and textures and colours and more things, without any kind of plan, until I felt they were complete. I feel this exercise nicely stretched my skills and my creativity, it felt right up my street. I was led by the materials, they suggested themselves to me and demanded to be wrapped in a certain way, and I just went with that. I felt this last exercise was my most succesful part of the whole assignment. The colours and shapes and textures were so different from the original object I had started with, a real transformation. I can see myself using wrapping in future textile projects quite a bit.

sorting

• which samples have potential for future work and why? I feel there is huge potential for me to use wrapping in my personal work in future. I have alwaay been more drawn towards constructed textiles and printed textiles but actually wrapping with yarns is a technique that felt so natural to me I just know it will stay.
• how may you develop these further? I am not a planner, I am led by materials when I work, so this hasn’t actually created any ideas in my head, apart from some vague ideas of how cool it would be to wrap something enormous. I have done some yarn bombing, and crocheted some lamp posts and street signs but wrapping would be a fun way to yarn bomb too, IF the object isn’t on the public highway that is, as crochet can be added to something very quickly and stealthily unlike wrapping. So it would be more “public art” than “yarn graffiti”
• reflect on the samples you have sorted and reflect on the unit as a whole asking:
• when combining colours and materials in joining and warpping did you tend to choose ones which were harmonious or that contrasted and clashed with each other? Mostly clashing and contrasting, as that is where my design sensibilities lie!
• how well did you use your sketchbook to explore ideas and capture your samples through drawing? are they sufficiently varied to give you lots of inspiration for the sorting stage? As per usual my sketch book didn’t really get a look in. I did design some fabric prints and I created some exciting print repeats from my photographs but that was about it

• how would you describe your approach to research in this part of the course? I realy enjoyed the research part and made a real effort to keep what I had discovered in mind when creating the samples. In fact the research is a huge part of the enjoyment of this course for me, both in terms of discovering new artists and in terms of discovering new techniques and crafts.
• have any seeds for future projects started germinating? See above, I don’t create textile art as such regularly anyway, and never plan anything in advance even if I do make something.