volunteering at V & A craftivist event

Sunday 7th September. 

Craftivist event at Victoria & Albert Museum in support of the Disobedient Objects exhibition.   I hung my banner outside the Playhouse in Norwich, hoping that others would join in.    Russell Brand viewed the exhibition with his mum and then they came to see the craftivist workshop.  I was completely starstruck. 


I passed!!!!!

a busy week

I can't believe this is my final blog.  After a busy week of digital and hand embroidery, all thirty ties are finished, the report is written and I am putting workbooks together.

As is always the way, I wish I had a bit more time because I would like to further develop digital embroidery on the blade of the tie (right).  This tie was made by sewing two ties together around the fold lines and fraying the edges.  It is titled 'frayed' and I resisted the urge to embroider 'a frayed knot' on it.  I wanted to make a tie completely differently and I think I will do so - although it won't be for the Masters Project.  The 'intersectionality' tie was hand embroidered.  Precariously treading the line between 'hand-made' and 'home-made'. 

finishing up

Business cards designed and ordered. 

I had already decided not to invest in a website so I'll be quoting my blog on any publicity.

Exhibition display rails in situ.

I have 30 ties completed or nearly completed.

Report nearly written.

Workbooks being put in order. 

two steps forward, three steps back

 The exhibition decisions are getting sorted.  Cheaper sources of acrylic pipe were found on line and three 2 metre lengths are being delivered today.  Time is an issue and I have to decide today on how I want to progress.  I have decided to use two 2 metre lengths, slightly staggered and a cabinet - some ties will be hung over the rail, some will be displayed flat.  

I have had to reject three completed ties - I was unhappy with the digital embroidery on one, I spoilt one when it was washed (the thread was not colourfast!), and the third was scorched with the iron! 

 I want to include a holding tab on the ties and I thought it could double up as a label.  So I invested time digitally printing the labels onto coarse cotton.  I tested different ways to attach them and settled on simple bar stitches.  However, they didn't suit the ties, they looked too unsophisticated.  I think I am still in the 'disobedient objects' mindset which is rough, ready and functional. 

I will try again using lawn cotton, this time using feminist quotes, campaigns and slogans.

exhibition

On Friday I visted the 3d workshop to discuss how I would display the ties.  I have decided I want to fold and tie the ties and I want a contemporary minimalist look.  The ties have a variety of patterns and I am anxious not to confuse those patterns and designs with any further colour.  We decided an acrylic (perspex) 36mm tube would offer the best solution.  I found a local distributor but it would be expensive so I have been investigating online manufacturers to see if I can find a better price.

disobedient objects

 A day in London yesterday. I visited the National Portrait Gallery to see their exhibition about the suffragettes.  On the right are police mug shots of women known to the police.

The Steps outside the V & A decorated with text about activism

  From there I went to The Victoria & Albert Museum to see their Disobedient Objects exhibition which I thought was energising, unusual and very relevant to my  studies.



 
























The combination of the two exhibitions served to remind me that the suffragettes were seen as extremists in their time.  They had tried campaigning and lobbying for the vote with no success and their only option was 'deeds not words'.  The suffered abuse, ridicule and ill treatment.

The exhibition included Chilean arpilleros, which I had read about but never seen.    They offered the Chilean women an opportunity to express their personal grief, spread word of the atrocities the Chilean people had suffered plus, importantly, earn some money so that they could survive.

One of the exhibits included a little hand written notes addressed to whoever bought the textile.  It put me in mind of the recent notes found attached to Primark garments, from the factory machinists informing the purchaser about exhaustion, slave labour and poor food endured by the workers.

Many exhibition items which had been hand stitched, hand constructed or screen printed and it had a very authentic, hand made and contrived chaotic layout. 









digital embroidery

sample 1
 

I am looking for a way of embroidering small text for the holding tab and labels for the ties.  I have been looking for a suitable font - plain, rounded, fine.  I tested 10 fonts  - 7.5 mm, 0.40 density, satin stitch -  onto a sturdy cotton.  The most easily read was Cordial upc (top right).



sample 2
 

The second sample was 0.5, 0.40 density, satin stitch onto the same sturdy cotton and whilst it was reasonably successful, the digital embroidery machine did struggle.  I tried it again onto a fine cotton lawn but it couldn't cope (see sample 3).  




sample 3

Back to the drawing board for labels - I am reluctant to purchase purpose made woven/printed labels because it goes against the ethos of this project.

sample 4

I started digitally embroidering the ties, quite difficult because they are long and narrow and need to be carefully positioned.  Sample 4 shows the resulting embroidery which suffered from not being in a stable position.  I tried again using a backing paper to hold the tie steady and got a much more clearer outline (sample 5). 


sample 5

As usual I am treading a tightrope between being blatent and being subtle.  And, as usual, a mixture wins.  I am hoping that my 'mixtures' don't look undecided and unfocussed.
 




will it be okay?

 As I have mentioned before, I have thought long and hard about who my customer is.  What will be unique about my ties - well made with messages about feminism....if anyone wants 'well made' they can buy them on the High Street...if they have subtle 'messages' would anyone wear them?  If the messages are subtle they won't be interesting enough for exhibition pieces?  This has been my problem all along.  Add this problem too - in my effort to show a variety of processes - digital prints in different materials, colourways and scales; screen prints, different materials and scales....I am concerned that I have produced a range that - although they all share the same motifs - are disparate and the exhibition will be messy.  I think I will have to group the ties according to process/design/material for the exhibition.

Anyway, I have decided to use embroidery stitches on the seams of my ties - they are hand made and each one is completely unique.  I am not going to mimic factory made mass produced ties.  So there! 

Yesterday I skyped Craftivist event to a group of six people.   Three women, three men.  One man joined in (the first man to agree to take part, others have declined) and because another felt left out he joined in my drawing/writing his message.  Feedback was that it did promote conversation and the youngest woman found it enabled her to talk more easily to an elderly relative because they were sharing the sewing experience. 

expressive print

Thursday may possibly have been my last session in the print room because I need to assemble the ties now ready for embroidery.  I used the time to print on silk - to use for the tippings in the ties.  Lots of colours, layering and expression.
 
It was an progression from the earlier open screen prints inasmuch as I am using the same colours, not to a set design, although I used screenprinted project motifs instead of splashes of colour pushed along with a hairdryer.
 



 My thoughts about the display of my ties have centres around unifying them using digital embroidery on all the ties, using the same font and size of text.  However, having revisited  .... book, I am reminded that I want the ties to have a more surprising and unexpected element and I will revert to the plan to make the ties more diverse in style.

Next I need to design business cards which will double as swing tags.  I will use the same design for labels which might double up as the holding tab on the ties.  I have decided not to develop a web site - it is an unnecessary expense at this stage.  I will however, use a one of my blogs as a public showcase.  The other will remain a study blog.



more screenprinting

Yesterday I screen printed some more ties - again in a more expressive unplanned way.  I used discharge on the fabric to make the background more interesting - then screen printing in colour (cherry red) over the top before screening.  The results are unpredictable and vary acording to the base
 - brushed cotton (top right) is a little blurry and I want to try again.  I want to achieve a brushed effect but I think I need to try a simpler motifs and perhaps not so layered.

The wool delaine (bottom right) doesn't take the discharge and print so crisply.  It is quite difficult to manipulate due to its natural springy quality. 

Linen is beautiful to print onto but it doesn't take discharge.  It frays easily and after printing, the steaming and washing takes its toll so I aqm stabliling the fabric with machine when joining the seam which joins the front to the back.


Dyed raw silk is the easiest to work with.  It has a crisp quality - it takes dye, discharge and print clearly.

getting organised

With pieces of materials, pens, pins, needles, sketchbooks and a rising sense of panic - time to get organised.

A systems of plastic bags with a tick list inside each one.

Feminist ranting everywhere (quite rightly so too) about the comments made  in the press about the Government reshuffle which included more women in the cabinet.  Some reporters have concentrated on the appearance of the women - and Peter Hitchins (columnist, Mail on Sunday) saying that Cameron would have strategically chosen attractive women. 

craftivist event at the Forum

Yesterday I held a Craftivist event in the Forum.  Nine people attended - all women.  

Interestingly, the discussion resumed - by email - in the evening with attendees following up comments and agreeng or disagreeing with comments that had been made at the event.

Am I pleased with how it went?  I had some good comments but I didn't feel that the conversation flowed as much as it did last week- but maybe that is because I separated from the main group to talk to three late comers to explain the concept of craftivism, how it fits into my project and the stitching element of the session. 

I think the  explanations got in the way of the discussion, I think the sewing can be a concern - three people took their sewing away with them to finish it (one in particular was worried because she 'couldn't sew').  I think more helpers would make it easier.

One success is the little mobile telephone bags I made using the textiles I have designed or printed for this project.  This offers both useful market research and  also makes use of leftover pieces of fabric - thereby avoiding waste. I have consistently received 
positive comments about them.
 

Three of the women who attended were committed feminists and may have found the main group too lightweight - they left earlier than the others, although they did ask whether we would be meeting regularly because they would join us again so they must have thought it was okay. 

Nontheless, I had good comments from everybody, especially the group who stayed later.  Their discussion was varied, sometimes strayed away from the subject - but always returned.  Again it was noticeable that once people started stitching the mood calmed.  I didn't want to give out evaluation sheets at the end of the session, but when questioned people said they had enjoyed the conversation, they had learned things and they had enjoyed themselves.  Again, several people said they would like something similar on a regular basis.

an experimental day

I've been dyeing and screen printing ties with discharge - the wool delaine is good to work with, it dyes and discharges well. Some have been redyed after discharge which gives a good two tone effect. 

Today, however,  I decided that I wanted to screen print more complex designs so I spent the day experimentally screenprinting.  The image on the left was achieved by applying uneven pressure when pulling the dye paste to give different gradations of print depth. The image on the right wa achieved by printing and overprinting using dyes and discharge.
 

 and oveerprinting a range of colours, images and irregular shapes. 

 

Booked for next week!

Craftivist Event - The Meaning and Relevance of Feminism - Wed 16 July 2014

Craftivist Event - The Meaning and Relevance of Feminism - Wed 16 July 2014

UK tie maker - Dan

Dan lives in Hadleigh, and he has invited me to visit him to see how he makes ties professionally (right).  He has also given me a link to  a London supplier of tie interlining material (left). 

He has been so helpful already with descriptions of how he makes ties.

craftivism

I hosted my first craftivism event yesterday at my home.  Eight people came and we discussed feminism.  It was a lively discussion which covered topics such as the responsibility/cost of childcare, maternity provision, Page 3, workplace discrimination, single mothers, wolf whistles from builders and whether we wnted the door held open for us by men.

We didn't agree about everything but we did agree that

•  'personism' would be a better way forward because it doesn't set up barriers
• education is the key to mutual understanding and solutions
• that feminism had changed the lives of women over the last three generations  - for the better
• that women in this country are fortunate
• the expectation and necessity for women to work while heavily pregnant and as mothers
• that both men and women suffered under gender expectations of society.

Everyone found the event relaxing, friendly and thought provoking.  Comments included 'soothed by the sewing', 'conversation became more gentle when we started sewing', 'worried that people might be offended by opinions'.

However, we were all women of a similar age (I had invited men but they declined both by the topic and the sewing) and  I found that some women had embroidered words or sayings that didn't relate to the topic so I'm not sure they grasped the concept.

Consequently, I am going to offer two more events.  One in a public place (I have approached the Forum) and another in my home.  I will emphasise the concept of stitching something as a reminder of the conversation.

Also I am going to email a thank you and a summary of the event to those who attended and ask them to send it to their younger female relative (eg daughters, neices etc) to ask if they had anything to add.

I've cut out around 25 ties now, ready for interlining, hand sewing and embellishing with feminist text.

The tie on the right is made from winceyette which I have dyed charcoal, then used discharge paste ready for re-dying.

I have been trying to find a UK tie manufacturer so that I can see the materials and processes used in professional tie making.  Vanners in Sudbury weave silk and manufacture ties but they do not offer factory tours (their ties are made in Essex and, again, tours are not available - for insurance reasons).

I have found a tie maker in Suffolk - VaVa Neckwear - who sells through Amazon, Etsy and Notonthehighstreet.  He does not seem to have a website but I have messaged his via Amazon and await his response.




fashion, art, design

This week I was asked whether I had consulted WGSN about the design of my ties this week, I hadn't.  I justified this by explaining that my designs are based on a concept and that I am not making a 'fashion' item.  This set me off thinking about the distinctions between textile design, fashion and fine art.  For the final show I am planning to hang twenty five ties - each designed within the notion of feminism and communication technology (elecronic imagery) plus text.  If my work had been made under the heading of fine art it would have been a sort of installation, if it had been fashion it would have been a collection (with consideration given to fashion forecasters), however - it is textile design. I put in mind of this quotation 'It is my personal opinion that fabric design rightfully belongs in the category of the Fine Arts, ...as an art, it is just as important as good architecture, and certainly is more closely associated with out everyday living thatn are paintings.' Ruth Reeves, 1946 (quoted in Raynor, Chamberlain & Stapleton (2012), Textile Design Artists' Textiles 1940-1976,Antinques Collectors' Club Ltd, Woodbridge, UK.

I have made some changes to my designs (colour and scale)and had them digitally reprinted on silk twill, wool twill and juniper linen.