Today I took a visit to the fabulous trimming store- La Droguerie. It really is an Aladdin's cave for anybody with a remote interest in textiles. Just don't expect service with a smile...you are in Paris after all!
Tuesday 29 November 2011
Another useful find.
Today I took a visit to the fabulous trimming store- La Droguerie. It really is an Aladdin's cave for anybody with a remote interest in textiles. Just don't expect service with a smile...you are in Paris after all!
Monday 28 November 2011
Slightly more adventurous knitting...
Ok so the second week of knitting has begun and doesn't make back know it! Bending over the machine from 9.30-6.30 with Cora demanding unusual knit structures which I am almost certain I would struggle to understand in english has left me feeling much older but thankfully not cranky!
Monday is our most intensive day as it is the only time Cora instructs us all day and bombardes our brain with far too much information. She does not condone note taking as she believes you should just "get on with it" and only take notes afterwards if your knit is actually a success. By which time I have forgotten what I did, with which yarns, at what tension and so on. Therefore it has very much been an exercise in memory and not only "knit patience". Knitting is difficult. Something I discovered well and truly last year. Knitting in French is extremely difficult. I have picked up two key words- "lâche" and "serré". Everytime I knit a sample it is either too lâche or too serré (loose or tight). Just like in weave, only the most perfect samples will do. And so far I have completed....zero. But having said that, I am actually enjoying myself. Luckily there are only two others in my knit group and so I do not get left behind and iwith such an intimate atmosphere we really help, advise and encourage each other. I have been making visual notes- drawing buttons etc to remember different techniques and though the girls can completely understand by just listening they often refer to my idiots guide illustrated step by step notebook!
We are encouraged to experiment with different yarns- textures and colours that fit appropriately into our chosen painting. I chose a beautifully demure Edvard Munch painting which is currently in his exhibition at the Pompidou. Trying wools, bamboo, linens, silks and synthetic yarns has been interesting and the mixing of yarns has created some aesthetically appealing, unexpected effects.
Below are a few examples of some new techniques I have learnt. I have attempted to note the names but most times I ended up completely confused and lost in translation-
Drawing a pattern into my knit. As you can see it didn't go totally to plan for me. This one definitely needs a lot of thought and forward planning put into it in order to achieve exactly the desired effect.
I believe this technique is a Noppe knit. Although I'm not too sure on the spelling. I'm a fan of the feminine, lacy effect it creates.
This is another take on the Noppe technique It involves transferring loops from one needle to the next on the bottom fronture in order to create the desired bobble effect.
This is another technique which involves displacing loops of thread. It is a delicate, fiddly task but I really like the quality of the scattered little holes.
Textured squares through moving sections of knit back and forward from the back to front fronture and vice versa. Very time consuming but pretty effective. Not sure whether my chunky wool yarn is best at showing the contrasting textures but I will try with another yarn when I have a spare 5 hours!
Planned ladders to give a more fragile, transparent cloth.
I'm looking forward to taking some time to practice and improve on these techniques and the others I have yet to attempt!
Wednesday 23 November 2011
Contemporary Art Class in Belleville
This evenings class has left my head spinning. We visited so many galleries. I think 7 in total. It ended with our usual haunt in a characterful bar where I think the sight of the 12 or so of us walking in made the barman think all his Christmasses had come at once.
The contemporary art we visit each week is certainly not to everyone's taste. One of the classes main aims is to see how the reactions and opinions students from different cultures react to the artwork, galleries, concepts and ideas differs. And we are certainly a mixed bunch- Welsh, English, French, English, German, Malaysian, Norwegian, American, Israeli etc etc. I think it would be stupid to stereotype that each of us represent the opinion of our home cultures and countries as the course claims. But nonetheless it is interesting to discuss artworks, gallery spaces and general creative life with such a diverse range of individuals.
I don't want to bore you with going into too many details about each gallery/ exhibition and to be honest it was if anything a bit of an overkill of information! Instead it is most helpful to reflect back on certain points that arouse or things which raised my curiosity and got my brain engaged.
1. GALLERY-Suzanne Tarasieve Paris/ Loft 19
EXHIBITION-Le Gun and The Black Squid, La Catastrophe
This gallery/ artists residence was hidden away in a beautiful apartment blacked in a rather squalid neighbourhood around the Belleville area. Ok so Timothy assures us it is very "up and coming" but when one narrowly misses getting a shower by a boy peeing into the street the term "Third World" seems more apt.
The gallery however is a beautifully light and spacious area complete with a modern open plan kitchen and two Japanese style wooden clad rooms in the roof for artists in residence. They invite artists to come and stay there for weeks at a time and create work in situ which is then exhibited in the space.
Currently, the gallery is hosting a group exhibition by 5 artists collectively know as The Gun who graduated from the Royal College of Art in London. It features primarily graphic illustrations with crude references to popular culture, politics, current affairs etc. The styles vary from artist to artist and although not labelled it is easy to distinguish between the artists. In the centre of the space is a rather large installation featuring a black squid sat amongst a dinning table set for a banquet. Very bizzare...yes. That is until you know the background story.
The Black Squid were in fact a group of surrealist artists based in Paris in the 1920s. They exclusively used black and white in their art as they lived by the belief that dreams were always in balck and white. In addition they had simultaneously dreamed of a giant black squid who imparted this manifesto. The squid was explored as a dream symbol for latent sexual desires and black ink as a liquid of creation. The story goes that the group split in 1925 and help a lavish black and white banquet which ended in all 5 members coming to a suspicious death with no motive, poison or suicide pact found.
Le Gun were inspired and intrigued by this age old mystery which has led them to create large scale portraits of the Black Squid's elusive members and recreate the final supper before the catastrophe. In addition the last known surviving painting of the group will be hung within the exhibition.
Believe what you want, but I personally think the whole thing is a load of made up nonsense. Timothy also later revealed that he felt the exhibition was a bit of "boys on tour" fun. The whole "black and white" theory was totally contradicted by one artist's use of colour and to be quite frank I felt as though the work was in a style which has certainly been already knocking around for a while. Yes they are talented illustrators but I found some of the work unnecessarily crude and uncalled for. Perhaps this style id new to Paris but it is certainly nothing to write home about.
2. GALLERY- Marcelle Alix
EXHIBITION- Pauline Boudry/ Renate Lorenz - Salomania.
Just when you thought things couldn't get anymore explicit or crude we step into the feathered interior of this small Belleville gallery.
Salomania (2009) - the object of this exhibition- is a film which mostly explores the concept of drag performance. Extremely interested in sexologists and sado-masochist relationships, the artists describe their working method as the following:-
"Their method consists in giving back value to minority positions and their subversive power, by shattering a normalised, hetero-centered interpretation, which had turned the transvestite and the trans-genre into freaks".
Still confused. Yes me too. And as far as the film.....no comment.
3.GALLERY- Bugada & Cargnel
EXHIBITION- Were all stars to disappear or die...
Nina BEIER, Étienne CHAMBAUD, Peggy FRANCK, Alex HUBBARD, Pamela ROSENKRANZ, Ryan SULLLIVAN.
We had visited this gallery once before for a fun interactive exhibition. Timothy was therefore pleased that the opportunity had arisen for us to see the same space during two different exhibitions in order to discover how much it can be adapted and changed.
This time, I think the sparse hanging of works made the gallery far more recognizable as its former entity- a garage! This time, the space felt vast and badly arranged. Also, despite being a group exhibition, I felt the pieces lacked any cohesion or common theme. I am beginning to learn more and more about the merits of employing a good, well practiced curator. To be blunt, this felt rather flung together and the works did not really sit together well. I believe that when reading the press release, in between the lines, the vagueness and uncertainty of why the curator has actually picked the work becomes apparent.
Despite being disappointed by the work overall, I found a few pieces intriguing technique wise. One in particular which caught my eye where large textured surfaces by the artist Ryan Sullivan (as seen above). I was interested to know how such a cracked surface had been achieved without crumbling to pieces. Turns out it is a combination of oil, enamel and latex. Fascinating!
4. GALLERY- Emmanuel Herve
EXHIBITION- Pierre Pailin- Détails d'un futur souvenir
This new gallery was absolutely tiny and some student argued that this led it to lack credibility and made it feel 'studenty' and unprofessional. I didn't really feel this way. There was a small but coherent body of work by the artist Pierre Paulin which though diverse, linked together well. This is more than can be said for some of the other galleries which bombard you with tones of work lacking a common theme or connection.
Paulin's works all explore the durability of art practices in our new world of technology and rapidly changing digital image. One piece is a film shot on 16mm stock. It features movie kisses, scenes from Hollywood love stories. As the film is played more and more, the quality deteriorates giving it an aged, grainy appearance. Opposite are images printed in white on white paper. As the paper yellows during the exhibition duration, the images will slowly reveal themselves. On the floor is an engraved rotogravure cylinder (used for intaglio printing and especially newspapers from 1930s-60s). With increasing use, the text becomes increasingly worn away leading to a less clear print. This interesting look at art practices made me consider the intentional and unintentional obsolescence of products and processes and made me curious to learn more.
5. GALLERY- Crèvecoeur
EXHIBITION- Antoine Marquis
Marquis' work consisted of extremely contrasting drawings- some very detailed life drawing and others crude scribbles and childlike doodles. He explains his work as a game he has been playing with his double personality. An interesting concept, however I found two rooms full of similar images a bit monotonous and mundane.
6. GALLERY- Galerie de Roussan
EXHIBITION- Study of a Territory
This exhibition was introduced as a group show of four young artists whose practice has been inspired, changed or adapted by travelling abroad to live in a new country. Most changed medium, other changed style and subject. Many students found this suggested link between location and practice a flimsy, feeble connection which had the air of being conceived to somehow justify the randomness of the work. During our gallery talk, some explanations did seem a little fuzzy-why on earth would the American artist Hannah Wade be inspired to change from her preferred medium of photography to the painting of abstract mountains by a move to live in London of all places. Not a mountain in sight!
Other artists showed this link far more obviously with direct references in their work to their locations, such as through sound recordings, or a cityscape mapped from memory as seen below. Despite significant disbelief in the authenticity of the chosen theme to group this work together, to be personally, I believe location can have a significant impact on ones work.
7. GALLERY- Galerie Jocelyn Wolff
EXHIBITION- Franz Erhard Walther Sternen Staub Herausgehoben
And finally we saw the final gallery. Drawing from an artists documentation of his usual performance work. By this stage I'm afraid I was too tired and cold to understand the french guide and to really appreciate the work.
And last but by no means least...the lovely ship themed bar complete with shelves of dusty models and memorabilia:-
The contemporary art we visit each week is certainly not to everyone's taste. One of the classes main aims is to see how the reactions and opinions students from different cultures react to the artwork, galleries, concepts and ideas differs. And we are certainly a mixed bunch- Welsh, English, French, English, German, Malaysian, Norwegian, American, Israeli etc etc. I think it would be stupid to stereotype that each of us represent the opinion of our home cultures and countries as the course claims. But nonetheless it is interesting to discuss artworks, gallery spaces and general creative life with such a diverse range of individuals.
I don't want to bore you with going into too many details about each gallery/ exhibition and to be honest it was if anything a bit of an overkill of information! Instead it is most helpful to reflect back on certain points that arouse or things which raised my curiosity and got my brain engaged.
1. GALLERY-Suzanne Tarasieve Paris/ Loft 19
EXHIBITION-Le Gun and The Black Squid, La Catastrophe
This gallery/ artists residence was hidden away in a beautiful apartment blacked in a rather squalid neighbourhood around the Belleville area. Ok so Timothy assures us it is very "up and coming" but when one narrowly misses getting a shower by a boy peeing into the street the term "Third World" seems more apt.
The gallery however is a beautifully light and spacious area complete with a modern open plan kitchen and two Japanese style wooden clad rooms in the roof for artists in residence. They invite artists to come and stay there for weeks at a time and create work in situ which is then exhibited in the space.
Currently, the gallery is hosting a group exhibition by 5 artists collectively know as The Gun who graduated from the Royal College of Art in London. It features primarily graphic illustrations with crude references to popular culture, politics, current affairs etc. The styles vary from artist to artist and although not labelled it is easy to distinguish between the artists. In the centre of the space is a rather large installation featuring a black squid sat amongst a dinning table set for a banquet. Very bizzare...yes. That is until you know the background story.
The Black Squid were in fact a group of surrealist artists based in Paris in the 1920s. They exclusively used black and white in their art as they lived by the belief that dreams were always in balck and white. In addition they had simultaneously dreamed of a giant black squid who imparted this manifesto. The squid was explored as a dream symbol for latent sexual desires and black ink as a liquid of creation. The story goes that the group split in 1925 and help a lavish black and white banquet which ended in all 5 members coming to a suspicious death with no motive, poison or suicide pact found.
Le Gun were inspired and intrigued by this age old mystery which has led them to create large scale portraits of the Black Squid's elusive members and recreate the final supper before the catastrophe. In addition the last known surviving painting of the group will be hung within the exhibition.
Believe what you want, but I personally think the whole thing is a load of made up nonsense. Timothy also later revealed that he felt the exhibition was a bit of "boys on tour" fun. The whole "black and white" theory was totally contradicted by one artist's use of colour and to be quite frank I felt as though the work was in a style which has certainly been already knocking around for a while. Yes they are talented illustrators but I found some of the work unnecessarily crude and uncalled for. Perhaps this style id new to Paris but it is certainly nothing to write home about.
2. GALLERY- Marcelle Alix
EXHIBITION- Pauline Boudry/ Renate Lorenz - Salomania.
Just when you thought things couldn't get anymore explicit or crude we step into the feathered interior of this small Belleville gallery.
Salomania (2009) - the object of this exhibition- is a film which mostly explores the concept of drag performance. Extremely interested in sexologists and sado-masochist relationships, the artists describe their working method as the following:-
"Their method consists in giving back value to minority positions and their subversive power, by shattering a normalised, hetero-centered interpretation, which had turned the transvestite and the trans-genre into freaks".
Still confused. Yes me too. And as far as the film.....no comment.
3.GALLERY- Bugada & Cargnel
EXHIBITION- Were all stars to disappear or die...
Nina BEIER, Étienne CHAMBAUD, Peggy FRANCK, Alex HUBBARD, Pamela ROSENKRANZ, Ryan SULLLIVAN.
We had visited this gallery once before for a fun interactive exhibition. Timothy was therefore pleased that the opportunity had arisen for us to see the same space during two different exhibitions in order to discover how much it can be adapted and changed.
This time, I think the sparse hanging of works made the gallery far more recognizable as its former entity- a garage! This time, the space felt vast and badly arranged. Also, despite being a group exhibition, I felt the pieces lacked any cohesion or common theme. I am beginning to learn more and more about the merits of employing a good, well practiced curator. To be blunt, this felt rather flung together and the works did not really sit together well. I believe that when reading the press release, in between the lines, the vagueness and uncertainty of why the curator has actually picked the work becomes apparent.
Despite being disappointed by the work overall, I found a few pieces intriguing technique wise. One in particular which caught my eye where large textured surfaces by the artist Ryan Sullivan (as seen above). I was interested to know how such a cracked surface had been achieved without crumbling to pieces. Turns out it is a combination of oil, enamel and latex. Fascinating!
4. GALLERY- Emmanuel Herve
EXHIBITION- Pierre Pailin- Détails d'un futur souvenir
This new gallery was absolutely tiny and some student argued that this led it to lack credibility and made it feel 'studenty' and unprofessional. I didn't really feel this way. There was a small but coherent body of work by the artist Pierre Paulin which though diverse, linked together well. This is more than can be said for some of the other galleries which bombard you with tones of work lacking a common theme or connection.
Paulin's works all explore the durability of art practices in our new world of technology and rapidly changing digital image. One piece is a film shot on 16mm stock. It features movie kisses, scenes from Hollywood love stories. As the film is played more and more, the quality deteriorates giving it an aged, grainy appearance. Opposite are images printed in white on white paper. As the paper yellows during the exhibition duration, the images will slowly reveal themselves. On the floor is an engraved rotogravure cylinder (used for intaglio printing and especially newspapers from 1930s-60s). With increasing use, the text becomes increasingly worn away leading to a less clear print. This interesting look at art practices made me consider the intentional and unintentional obsolescence of products and processes and made me curious to learn more.
5. GALLERY- Crèvecoeur
EXHIBITION- Antoine Marquis
Marquis' work consisted of extremely contrasting drawings- some very detailed life drawing and others crude scribbles and childlike doodles. He explains his work as a game he has been playing with his double personality. An interesting concept, however I found two rooms full of similar images a bit monotonous and mundane.
6. GALLERY- Galerie de Roussan
EXHIBITION- Study of a Territory
This exhibition was introduced as a group show of four young artists whose practice has been inspired, changed or adapted by travelling abroad to live in a new country. Most changed medium, other changed style and subject. Many students found this suggested link between location and practice a flimsy, feeble connection which had the air of being conceived to somehow justify the randomness of the work. During our gallery talk, some explanations did seem a little fuzzy-why on earth would the American artist Hannah Wade be inspired to change from her preferred medium of photography to the painting of abstract mountains by a move to live in London of all places. Not a mountain in sight!
Other artists showed this link far more obviously with direct references in their work to their locations, such as through sound recordings, or a cityscape mapped from memory as seen below. Despite significant disbelief in the authenticity of the chosen theme to group this work together, to be personally, I believe location can have a significant impact on ones work.
7. GALLERY- Galerie Jocelyn Wolff
EXHIBITION- Franz Erhard Walther Sternen Staub Herausgehoben
And finally we saw the final gallery. Drawing from an artists documentation of his usual performance work. By this stage I'm afraid I was too tired and cold to understand the french guide and to really appreciate the work.
And last but by no means least...the lovely ship themed bar complete with shelves of dusty models and memorabilia:-
Tuesday 22 November 2011
Around the studio...
This is work by another 2nd year for their current "boutique hotel" project. From a distance it is hard to make out the weft material but it is in fact colourful electric wires. This struck me as an innovative way of reusing old wires of which I know there are abundance in recycling centers like my beloved Scrappies in Craven Arms. Definitely an interesting material to investigate further in the future.
Ecriture en Sollicitude
Il a tenté de s'échapper de sa cage,
Vage, le chien qui parle vingt-cinq langages,
Qu'a Vage?
xxxxxxxxxx
Elle hait la France mais elle est bretonne,
La musique l'agace sauf le trombone,
Qu'a Rbone?
Vage, le chien qui parle vingt-cinq langages,
Qu'a Vage?
xxxxxxxxxx
Elle hait la France mais elle est bretonne,
La musique l'agace sauf le trombone,
Qu'a Rbone?
A Rendez-vous with the lovely Sophie!
With only 3 and a half weeks left, Sophie and I finally managed to get our acts together for a lunchtime meet and massive catch-up.
It was so nice to be able to chat openly about our ups and downs, fails and successes and general time in this new city. It seems as though we have both managed to find what I believe they call "our own little Paris" and have fallen head over heels with our new lives here. The culture, atmosphere and sheer beauty of the place equally astounds us both.
However to get back to reality, on the school side of things we have both certainly encountered difficulties. From lack of communication to being lost in translation this relocation has certainly had its challenges work wise. While she had a giggle at my heart motif linen tea-towel class and was shocked at the rigidity and lack of creativity within my classes, it seems she was suffering from the complete opposite- a lack of direction, not really knowing what is demanded of you. Whereas I know exactly what is demanded of me- it is written on a post-it note affixed to each loom "wool coat", "soft bed-linen" et tout le bazar. My problem is that my creative streak and desire to break free and try different things sometimes gets the better of me. Much to my teachers sheer annoyance.
At Ecole des Beaux-Arts Sophie said she is in 4th year! I suddenly felt a little embarrassed to say that I had opted for first year! But actually I am glad as it seems as though the other years are very much self-directed and without a good grasp of the language and knowledge of where to get resources, how to use all of the machines etc I think my technical classes suit the purpose much better as I am here for such a short period of time.It has also given me much insight into the "french way" and in particular the french style not only of textiles but of teaching and life in general. Suffice to say Sophie said she had not managed to find anyone willing to teach her how to use the knitting machines at her school yet. She has however been doing a lot of drawing and photography which I imagine has given her plenty of inspiration for future projects and is definitely something I have missed.
On the subject of the language, we both had the same thoughts. You can forget your Alevel French. That won't help you here. What you really need is a willingness to try and fail, a confidence to remain clueless, and an ability to remain calm and collected when you are unable to express yourself. Also being at ease and content with your own company and thoughts really help as I imagine not being able to have a deep, meaningful conversation for weeks may drive a lot of people crazy. And no the French do not/will not speak english. Even in Paris. And why should they? After all we are guests in their incredibly precious capital city....
Sunday 20 November 2011
Loom number 7
DAMASSÉ SATIN DE 5
AMEUBLEMENT
CHAINE- COTTON
Like a few of the others, the fine quality of the warp threads meant that I suffered several broken strings during my work on this loom. For this montage, a simple weave structure was demanded (satin de 5) and we were to concentrate instead on colour and playing with warp and weft effects to hide/ reveal the white and black stripes. Although it was pretty much impossible to conceal them altogether so I suppose it was rather a matter of making them more or less dominant. As the different stripes were threaded on different shafts it gave us real freedom to be creative (well this is about as creative as I guess its going to get). And this little element of freedom made me feel extremely liberated! This joyous moment soon disappeared when I realized I hadn't been following the "satin rule" vigilantly enough and therefore my fils were not sufficiently "bloqués" (if the techer tried hard enough she could "bouge" (move) them by half a mm). I had another round of "Pourquoi pas?" and "Quel dommage", which ended with the inevitable, and much dreaded words "encore un fois"! Basically redo the whole thing!!!! Note to self- must learn Satin rule i.e. a pris must be followed by a laisse to block when changing patterns. This will not make sense to anybody but it is for my own future benefit should I wish to take up checked tablecloth manufacturing as a future career.
After beginning with cotton threads, I branched out into schappe soie as I am rather fond of a more silky, luxuries feeling cloth. I like how vividly the colours in the silk yarns appear. They are far glossier than the cotton which I suppose are more natural looking and practical for tablecloth material. All in all, I enjoyed working with this warp as although the stripes did add a bit of constraints to the final outcome, the freedom to design the cloth with blocks of colour and shape really gave me the opportunity to personalize my fabric.
AMEUBLEMENT
CHAINE- COTTON
Like a few of the others, the fine quality of the warp threads meant that I suffered several broken strings during my work on this loom. For this montage, a simple weave structure was demanded (satin de 5) and we were to concentrate instead on colour and playing with warp and weft effects to hide/ reveal the white and black stripes. Although it was pretty much impossible to conceal them altogether so I suppose it was rather a matter of making them more or less dominant. As the different stripes were threaded on different shafts it gave us real freedom to be creative (well this is about as creative as I guess its going to get). And this little element of freedom made me feel extremely liberated! This joyous moment soon disappeared when I realized I hadn't been following the "satin rule" vigilantly enough and therefore my fils were not sufficiently "bloqués" (if the techer tried hard enough she could "bouge" (move) them by half a mm). I had another round of "Pourquoi pas?" and "Quel dommage", which ended with the inevitable, and much dreaded words "encore un fois"! Basically redo the whole thing!!!! Note to self- must learn Satin rule i.e. a pris must be followed by a laisse to block when changing patterns. This will not make sense to anybody but it is for my own future benefit should I wish to take up checked tablecloth manufacturing as a future career.
After beginning with cotton threads, I branched out into schappe soie as I am rather fond of a more silky, luxuries feeling cloth. I like how vividly the colours in the silk yarns appear. They are far glossier than the cotton which I suppose are more natural looking and practical for tablecloth material. All in all, I enjoyed working with this warp as although the stripes did add a bit of constraints to the final outcome, the freedom to design the cloth with blocks of colour and shape really gave me the opportunity to personalize my fabric.
Wednesday 16 November 2011
Loom number 4
TOILE- MID D'ABEILLE/ FAUSSES PERLES
METIER À MANETTES (Another hand loom)
CHAINE- POLYAMIDE (Monofilament)
AMEUBLEMENT - PANOI/ ECRAN
After my complete and utter nightmare with Loom number 5 I really didn't think things could get much worse but Loom number 5 is quickly becoming my new nemesis! Initial confusion over the threading plan left me baffled as to why my weave structures were not working at all and my hours spent trying to create "Mid D'abeille" were very frustrating and totally unsuccessful. Clthilde had told me to try as it was possible and I have seen this dense honeycomb structure created on a monofilament warp before which I though looked really impressive and structural
It took me a while to realize why this weave pattern wasn't working at all. I had not noticed that the loom was in fact threaded on 16 shafts and not 24. I know this sounds like a fairly obvious thing not to notice but as it was the last 16 that had been threaded (i.e. shaft 9-24) I had simply looked at the back and seen 24 threaded and assumed it would be shaft 1 to 24. After this ridiculous error was acknowledged I got on with using more relevant (and hopefully successful) weave structures.
After experimenting with the Fausses Perles weave structure (above) I decided to simplify my weaves by using just toile (plain weave) and instead experimenting with unusual wefts. With this kind of freedom for the first time it was easy to get carries away! But the words of the teacher in the first week or so - "fantasy thread= use with caution" stuck in my mind. Unfortunately I was thinking of aesthetic effects and the practicality and durability of the cloth totally went out of the window. When my teacher (who has been away for nearly two weeks now) came back she said I had to "jeter", basically chuck most of my samples on this warp as they were too fragile and easy to dismantle as weaves. On reflection I should have used some clear monofilament to add plain weave in between each line of fantasy thread to give the cloth a more rigid structure. If I have time I will try and redo this.
I also wasted about 5 hours trying to create a rigid, textured cloth using a mid d'abeille (honeycomb) structure which Clothilde had told me was possible. No matter what I tried didn't seem to work and I couldn't figure out if it was a problem with the Gauffre weave structure I had designed or the slippy nature of my monofilament warp. I asked a third year who put me out of my misery- The warp simply did not have enough fils/cm (ends per inch) for such a structure to be realized as it has only 18 fils/cm. How frustrating.
The way of teaching here is so different and it is definitely hard to get used to. I think I have been told off by a teacher more in the last 3 months than in the last 10 years of my life. If a sample is unsuccessful they tend to shout at you for not having sat down and thought about it more beforehand. If you make a mistake within one of your samples you are told off and if you break a thread....well don't even go there. It seems technical perfection is the ideal. Whereas at Chelsea you learn from your own mistakes and experiment on the loom to find new and exciting possibilities, here it could not be more different. I wonder how well I will adapt back into the relaxed style of teaching back at Chelsea....
METIER À MANETTES (Another hand loom)
CHAINE- POLYAMIDE (Monofilament)
AMEUBLEMENT - PANOI/ ECRAN
After my complete and utter nightmare with Loom number 5 I really didn't think things could get much worse but Loom number 5 is quickly becoming my new nemesis! Initial confusion over the threading plan left me baffled as to why my weave structures were not working at all and my hours spent trying to create "Mid D'abeille" were very frustrating and totally unsuccessful. Clthilde had told me to try as it was possible and I have seen this dense honeycomb structure created on a monofilament warp before which I though looked really impressive and structural
It took me a while to realize why this weave pattern wasn't working at all. I had not noticed that the loom was in fact threaded on 16 shafts and not 24. I know this sounds like a fairly obvious thing not to notice but as it was the last 16 that had been threaded (i.e. shaft 9-24) I had simply looked at the back and seen 24 threaded and assumed it would be shaft 1 to 24. After this ridiculous error was acknowledged I got on with using more relevant (and hopefully successful) weave structures.
After experimenting with the Fausses Perles weave structure (above) I decided to simplify my weaves by using just toile (plain weave) and instead experimenting with unusual wefts. With this kind of freedom for the first time it was easy to get carries away! But the words of the teacher in the first week or so - "fantasy thread= use with caution" stuck in my mind. Unfortunately I was thinking of aesthetic effects and the practicality and durability of the cloth totally went out of the window. When my teacher (who has been away for nearly two weeks now) came back she said I had to "jeter", basically chuck most of my samples on this warp as they were too fragile and easy to dismantle as weaves. On reflection I should have used some clear monofilament to add plain weave in between each line of fantasy thread to give the cloth a more rigid structure. If I have time I will try and redo this.
I also wasted about 5 hours trying to create a rigid, textured cloth using a mid d'abeille (honeycomb) structure which Clothilde had told me was possible. No matter what I tried didn't seem to work and I couldn't figure out if it was a problem with the Gauffre weave structure I had designed or the slippy nature of my monofilament warp. I asked a third year who put me out of my misery- The warp simply did not have enough fils/cm (ends per inch) for such a structure to be realized as it has only 18 fils/cm. How frustrating.
The way of teaching here is so different and it is definitely hard to get used to. I think I have been told off by a teacher more in the last 3 months than in the last 10 years of my life. If a sample is unsuccessful they tend to shout at you for not having sat down and thought about it more beforehand. If you make a mistake within one of your samples you are told off and if you break a thread....well don't even go there. It seems technical perfection is the ideal. Whereas at Chelsea you learn from your own mistakes and experiment on the loom to find new and exciting possibilities, here it could not be more different. I wonder how well I will adapt back into the relaxed style of teaching back at Chelsea....
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