Blanket Warp

This time around I have decided to try out a blanket warp for my designs. So I have designed two 8 inch warps that will sit alongside one another on the loom. 

One side will be a light colour palette & the other side is darker tones.

This is my original yarn wrappings, scanned & then made into a simple check. I will use these as a starting point when I begin to weave.

Patterns From Paintings

Now that I have photographs that I am happy with, I finally have a direction for my drawing & painting work.

I started by just painting in the colour palette & added masking fluid to represent the patterns made on the windows of the bus.

Making Patterns

Although these colours are less suited to my colour palette, there are qualities within the image that could be translated into my weaving. Parts of the pattern remind me of rib structures or small floats.

Making Patterns

These patterns have been created using the bus photographs from the last post.

I took sections of the photographs, put them into a repeat pattern & then made them into a check pattern.

Transport Photographs

Continuing on with looking at reflective surfaces, I took some photo's from the inside of a bus.

It was an inner city bus route during rush hour in the evening, and I think the photographs show the busy nature of the city along with some interesting colours that actually fit quite well with the brief.

I was originally attracted to photographing around evening rush hour because daylight was fading & the bright lights of the city were becoming more visible.

However I ended up really liking how the photographs show what it outside but also a reflection of what is on the inside of the bus itself.

Developing a colour palette was something I was struggling with as I felt that none of my original photographs were capturing colours that could translate into menswear.

These photographs have been a breakthrough in that sense. They have captured dark blues & navys, purples & berry shades, with the odd gold or white flashes.

I love how the dirt & stains on the window almost form patterns themselves. And how in this photograph especially, there are tiny patterns within it, markings that I can hopefully translate into structures for my fabric.

Further Photo's

I have been finding it quite difficult to work from the two sets of photographs I have taken so far. So I set out to Manchester city centre on a busy evening, just before it got too dark; in the hope of capturing the right kind of colours.

Reflective surfaces became a point of interest & I took some really interesting photo's of a streetlamp reflected into water:

It almost looks like fire or sparks.

Reflective surfaces is something I will continue to look into.

London Collections - Oliver Spencer

There has been a few sheepskin lined jackets within the London Collections. These are two that I liked in particular from Oliver Spencer.

The way in which the outfits have been styled is similar to the Dashing Tweeds brief; neutrals with odd brights.

London Collections - Hardy Amies

This collection was one of my personal favourites from the LCM. Every piece links to another, the whole show just flowed. The pieces were quite understated, not too over the top, which I really liked.

These are some of my favourite looks:

London Collections - Menswear

The menswear part of the London Collections has taken taken place over the last few days. It's been really exciting following the action over Twitter & I've been looking closely at outerwear for inspiration.

In the past I have loved Jonathan Saunders' womenswear collections so was intrigued to take a look at the menswear.

These two coats stood out for me, especially the orange & black above. Autumn/Winter colours can sometimes be dark & gloomy, but the block colours of these coats stand out.

Daylight Photo's

I found that photographing so late at night meant that my first photographs were a tad too dark to take colours from & work from. So I decided to take more photo's in daylight, this time in Bootle town centre, an Urban area of Sefton.

Urban Landscape

Dashing Tweeds take their inspiration from 'Urban Landscape', and as I am at home over Christmas, I thought this would be a perfect time to photograph around my hometown. Where I'm from is a relatively small town, however densely populated, just on the outskirts of Liverpool.

I took photo's of anything I found interesting, from road signs to factories.