I started this project with the aim of using a lot of colour, with the brief of 'opposites' I was looking at block colour and detail. The image I chose to use does not have a solid pattern to it, but the colour layering creates the detail I was looking for. From this I created colour swatches to represent the colour ratios in sections of the image. I have never used gouache paint before so I found the colour mixing and application of the paint difficult to use. Due to the colouring of my image being gloss but the paint being matt, it made the process more difficult to accomplish.
When beginning the machine embroidery sessions I wasn't too sure what it was going to be like, as I thought it may be how to use the machine feet to a greater standard the I've been taught before. I was pleasantly surprised when the classes were how to manipulate the feet and the machines to create individual pieces of work. I learnt more about the different feet and ways to use them. As well as this I enjoyed using the pile machine, as I had never used one before. The yarn that I used for this was a perfect match to the colour pallet I was using. Unfortunately the yarn didn't work well with the machine and broke off after a few lines of work, therefore I couldn't create the work that I wished to with this machine.
The foot I was most drawn to was the tailor tacking foot, as there were so many different out comes with one foot and one yarn. I spent the session and my own time experimenting with the tensions on the machine to see what it could create. Using a dark/black ground I used glossy rayon yarns to work with on top of this, using the foot to create different sized lines and loops. I firstly worked quite small as I was unsure to whether the yarns would work well with this foot. Using the colour ratios from my swatches, I added the amount of colour to my piece according to these to make sure that the correct amount was applied to my ground. I found that this worked increasingly well as each small splash of colour was added. From this I creating more samples of a larger scale. I feel that these work a lot better as the colour and blank space compliment each other. I feel I could have expanded on this more, adding different processes and machines on top of these pieces to add texture. It took a long time for my project to get going as I was unsure on where I was going from my original starting point. For my next project I am going to do a lot more research and collating information before I start, as I feel this is where my project fell down dramatically in this rotation. I became stuck a lot of the time because I didn't have the initial work to progress my samples further. Due to this I am carrying on with the theme I am using now, as I am going into machine embroidery again I feel I can work a lot better and progress at a higher rate then I have in this unit of work.
