Optical Fibres

Project Space

I created this set of work in the project space this week.  

It was a chance to develop a piece that could be displayed in a large space 

and it also gave me the opportunity to invite people to interact with it.

 

I asked the question "How does the colour make you feel?"

Everyone said that they felt protected as if they were in a safe environment.

Pink made people feel happy, yellow made them feel warm like when the sun

is coming up but the blue felt quite cold and drained.

Yarn Dyeing

Dyeing yarn with Remazol dyes. 
These are the yarns ready to go into the steamer.

The dyes are suitable for natural yarns only but I wanted to try a few different things.

Some worked better than expected but some just washed out.

It is quite difficult to mix the colours exactly how you want them and then 

some of the dye washes out.  The most succesful yarn was the paper yarn.

The yarns on the right are nylon-monofilament and elastics, the results are varied.

The yellow yarn is dyed with turmeric in a big metal pot on my cooker.  

This is the most successful of all creating a really strong colour.  I also tried red

chilli powder, this is the pale orange in the centre.

Sandra Backlund

This is Sandra Backlund's new knitwear collection for Spring / Summer 2011.  
Sandra Backlund creates unbelievable three dimensional collage hand knitted pieces. 
"I build my garments from a couple of basic bricks which I multiply and attach in different 
ways to discover the shape I want."

Designer / Sandra Backlund
Techniques / Crochet and fine gauge knit.
Materials / Metal yarn (100% copper),  shredded silk fabric and geometric plissé.
Website / http://www.sandrabacklund.com

  





















Images from :  www.knitkicks.co.uk

Fay McCaul

Knitted  Textiles

"I aim to push knitting into new realms by creating structures and fabrics that 'play with light', providing a unique and magical form of decoration for interior and exterior use."

Fay McCaul, a graduate from the RCA makes fantastic fabric that reflects the light and looks as though it is blowing in the wind.

She also makes lights that have been knitted with bio - luminescent wire. 

This makes the lights glow in the dark.

Images from : www.faymccaul.com

Connected

I am interested in communication and how we are all connected through technology, mobile phones, emails etc.  After looking at the work of Lucy Orta, who is concerned with communities and creating shelter,   I decided to create a maquette and a drawing thinking about these technological connections.

Nylon mono-filament

I received 2 very large bobbins of natural nylon mono-filament today.  They have been kindly given to me by Shakespeare mono-filament, a specialist fibre company.  I plan to machine knit the nylon mixed with other materials.

Shakespeare Sanstat Monofilaments have provided effective solutions to the serious, costly and often dangerous problems static electricity can cause in many commercial, industrial or service workplaces.

Our unique and patented carbon suffusion process chemically saturates the outer skin of nylon fiber with electrically conductive carbon particles. The carbon becomes part of the structure of the fiber, which retains the strength and flexibility of the nylon while maintaining excellent conductivity. These characteristics make it ideal for mechanical, chemical and thermal manufacturing processes. Our suffusion process produces a fiber with a durable, conductive sheath that will not crack, flake or lose its conductivity during flexing or extension. Carbon suffused fibers are available as monofilaments, multifilament yarns, tow, staple and supported yarn configurations.

Sarah Sze

Sarah Sze Installation at Marion Oliver McCaw Hall, Seattle USA.


Image: www.flickr.com?photos/j-and-p/35874650/in/photostream