sculpture

Textiles Induction

In textiles we looked at different ways to pleat fabric and how these can be twisted to look more dynamic and three-dimensional. We first looked at triangle pleats.

First fold the piece of paper in half lengthways, then in half again.

Fold the corner of the strip up as shown, then turn the strip over and fold the corner down. Repeat this until the entire strip has been folded, making sure that both sides say parallel. Make sure that the creases are deep enough to hold their shape when you unfold the paper.

then go along each zig zag line, making sure each fold is facing the same way. When this is done, push in the paper from either side.

If you make two identical sheets like this, then you can put a piece of fabric between them and iron them together in order to make a pleated fabric.

Next we made box pleats by measuring three centimetre intervals along the top and the bottom of a strip of fabric. We then pulled mark 1 and 3 to mark 2 on one side of the fabric. To make the pleat twisted, we pulled marks 2 and 4 to the 3rd mark on the other side of the fabric.

Twisted box pleat

Finally, we made twisted knife pleats. First, we measured 2cm intervals on the top and bottom long edges of the strip of fabric. We then pulled the 1st mark to the 3rd mark, the 4th mark to the 6th mark and so on. we did this on both sides of fabric to make straight knife pleats. Then, we unpinned each pleat from one side of the fabric and flipped it so that it faced the other way. This made the pleat twist.

Twisted knife pleat

We then used these pleats to make models out of fabric or paper, based off images of buildings. I took a more fine art approach to textiles and made a sculpture rather than swatches for clothing.

Gained in Translation

In this workshop we were put in partners and we had to draw an object that our partner was describing to us, however, they could not see the object, only touch it. The object I had to draw was a dog toy. We then made a three-dimensional representation of our drawing using only cardboard and gummed paper.

A couple of weeks later we had an introduction to the 3D workshop, during which we produced more work under the title ‘Gained in Translation’. We made a tile out of clay and then cut into it using clay tools. I used a clay tool to cut into my tile in the shape of my carboard object, then I used a very small woven rope to imprint the rope texture into this shape. This was supposed to represent the ‘rope’ in my cardboard model. I used objects such as pen lids, and a purse with beads stuck onto it to make a lot of the other textures that surrounded the initial shape. I found it quite challenging to work out what the piece would look like in the end; because we were going to be using the tile as a mould to pour plaster into.

Above is my tile with and without plaster in it. To make the plater you fill a rubber bowl less than half full with water and then you scoop the plaster powder into it until there is a peak of powder above the water. you then mix the plaster with your hands, stopping when the plaster thickens and feels slightly warmer. you them pour it into the mould and agitate it slightly to make any air bubbles rise to the top. You then leave the plaster in the mould until it hardens and cools.

My plaster piece

I really love this plaster cast. the detail of the texture of the rope on the raised shape is so beautiful and when I was drawing this in my sketchbook I was struck by how much the piece looks like a landscape from a fictional world.

A map of Oz

I think that the raised shape in the middle of my piece could be hills and repeating patterns such as in the top left could be jagged rocks, and the chevron patterns could symbolise water.

I also made a representation of my cardboard model out of wood. I found a cuboid shape and rounded the edges of it using the band saw. I then used the belt sander to smooth the edges and made the piece more comfortable to hold. I also rounded off the longer edges on the wood to make a more cylindrical shape. I then cut into the middle of the wood with the band saw and filled this using varying sizes of file. I finally used sandpaper on it to remove any final harsh edges.

The results from this project were very positive, in my opinion; I love the way that this looks and I managed to achieve a very smooth, soft surface to hold as well. I think that my cardboard, plaster and wood pieces are a good series of works.

Chiharu Shiota

We had a lecture last Wednesday on drawing and different forms of drawing. The artist Chiharu Shiota was mentioned, as her work is almost like drawing with thread.

Chiharu Shiota is an artist who was born in Japan and works in Berlin. She makes humongous installations out of threads. In my eyes her work looks like a child’s nightmare, or an etching come to life.

Other Side, Chiharu Shiota

This is obviously very immersive work, you can walk through the sculpture. As you walk, your perspective changes what the overlapping threads look like, creating a dynamic piece. In some parts there is so much thread that whole areas of the room look completely black. I think it this, coupled with the spikey nature of the thread and the colour chosen that makes the sculpture look like a child’s nightmare come to life. You have no idea what creatures could be lurking in the dark, and even though there are lights in the room it still looks pretty dim. You can see that the lights in the room make the surrounding thread look like spider webs, which increases the eerie feeling of the installation.

Sleeping is Like Death, Chiharu Shiota

The piece ‘Sleeping is Like Death’ is of three hospital beds, surrounded and joined by webs of black thread. This is another nightmare-ish piece. The hospital beds look old, like typical 1950s asylum beds. I think that my mind came to this conclusion because I was unconsciously thinking of the thread as a representation of the mind of the people in the beds, and that they must be mad.

One way to perceive this would be that the thread has created little cocoons around each bed, maybe insinuating that the inhabitants have tried to make themselves feel safe; a representation of a sort of mental safety blanket. They could have tried to push their illness out of their mind and that is why it isn’t directly on top of them.

This kind of art isn’t something that I would have usually given much thought to, however I am very interested in the human psyche and the portrayal of insanity in art, and so this has interested me a lot.