Just Do Something

Dyeing handspun yarn

Nicki — Sat, 30 Apr 2016 22:01:48 +0000

As part of this final unit I wanted to experiment dyeing my had spun yarn, felting of the yarn during the process was an issue with one particular batch of yarn , initially I thought this would make the yarn unsuitable but it created an amazing structural piece.

I spun a second batch of yarn and tried again ……… this time dip dyeing the yarn ….

Wearable hugs

Nicki — Sat, 30 Apr 2016 21:22:43 +0000

I wanted to continue to develop my spinning skills into the last unit but wasn’t sure how to make this part of my unit, I decided to create yarns to crochet and knit into wraps, following my successful free form wrap created on homelessness.

What to call them ….. wearable hugs the name popped into my head as they would be warm and cosy , I wanted each one to feel like a warm cosy hug…..

I began to spin…….. creating yarns , what to do next with the yarns ? Wraps shawls hats gloves anything that I felt was warm and cosy…….

Examples of some of my wearable hugs

Some smaller hugs …..

Future development….

Spin yarn – measure using wraps per inch – crochet /knit tension square- calculate yardage to ensure I don’t run out of yarn

?? Develop patterns to make kits enabling e to sell yarn and pattern …

Bishops Art Prize

Nicki — Sat, 30 Apr 2016 13:04:27 +0000

As part of my final unit I decided to enter the Bishops Art Prize, the brief was “Unexpected Blessings”

I spent some time exploring the brief looking at key words and different meanings, finally I decided to use personal feelings and relationships important to me.

I wanted to explore the idea of positive outcomes occurring following difficult circumstances, I lost a friend unexpectedly last year this event made me re examine my life, my partner and I decided to get married.

I wanted to create a sculpture using crochet, I decide to use rope as the medium , I wanted to use black to show the knot and turmoil using black to symbolising grief .

My completed sculpture, the black knotted vessel symbolising grief and loss with a single thread leaving the turmoil behind , on the rope is a wedding ring symbolising my marriage leading to a large coil of rope showing my future.

The Cathedral was a most beautiful space to exhibit in , and the 2 days spent invigilating the exhibition allowed me space to enjoy being in the moment.

Home Project

Nicki — Tue, 03 Nov 2015 18:52:00 +0000

For this project I decided to look at homelessness, I wanted to show what homelessness felt like in yarn. I was homeless for a short period of time several years ago, I wanted to explore these feelings and try to express the feelings in yarn and to create a piece of work that visualised these feelings. My first thought was to create a mind map using words as prompts. The final words were Control, Warmth and Safety.

Initial experiments with fibre, I had chosen a merino fibre as I wanted the outcome to be soft to the touch but very visual.

The first plied sample went ‘technically’ wrong as I had plied the fibre in the wrong direction, technically it should be plied the opposite direction to that of the spun single yarn, but in this case I plied it the same way as the single yarns. Creating technically incorrect overspun yarn. On discussion with Louise Harding at my tutorial I was able to understand this was a benefit to my practice as I was able to explain to Louise how this overspun yarn visualised my overthinking and this discovery led to the development of the rest of this units spinning development. Also discussing the initial colour choice I was able to understand I had instinctively chosen a yarn to resemble myself.

Overspun Yarn

Samples

Final piece in context

Learning to take forward…

Supposed ‘technical faults’ may not be always incorrect .. the outcome can be more important than the process (unless the process if the point of the outcome)

Experiment…. Develop…. Explore…. I am beginning to (really) understand the need for these processes finally…

BA7: Pechua Kucha, Learning Agreement

Nicki — Sat, 03 Oct 2015 14:00:01 +0000

This is my first unit of my last year at NUA, I am now a year 3 student … Oh dear I am not sure what I want to do in my last year, I spent the first week thinking what was I going to do, I wanted to spend this last term developing skills and doing something I enjoy but what there is so much I want to do !! We have been asked to create a presentation to show our ideas and planning strategies for this term to the rest of our class. Initial thoughts oh dear (again, there was a lot of this during the first few weeks) OK decision time , I decided to create a list of all the things I wanted to do, reflect on my recent creative activities what had I enjoyed ; Spinning and crochet ! A whole term doing something I really enjoyed hurrah ! This also fed into my ideas for my dissertation I wanted to look at how craft activities could improve well being.

Part of the presentation process was to include a gant chart to show planning for the term to enable all of the required work to created and finished in the allocated time. I found the process of creating a gant chart really helpful as it enabled me to visualise where and when work was required, I also set my self deadlines for finishing projects and to finish my dissertation before Christmas.

The presentation went well it enabled me to externalise my creative ideas for the term, the feed back from the rest of the class was also very helpful and positive.

Learning to take forward …

Gant charts are great … to try and transfer and develop this skill base into my personal life , also to be realistic when planning allowing for work and home life.

UPDATE -3rd January 2016

Gant chart must have worked as my dissertation was submitted 4 days before the deadline all of the practical work was completed before Christmas Hurrah ….

Reflecting on my slides for the Pecha Kucha I am able to see that my personal project is completely different to my original idea, but I feel my actual project shows lateral thinking with abstract outcomes ,which I want to investigate and develop. This can be seen in the post for Personal Project / Oblique Strategies.

Writing this update has enabled me to understand and to visualise the amount of learning I have achieved this term. I feel proud of my achievements’ and I am very pleased with the work I have produced.

Woolly Workshop Day

Nicki — Mon, 03 Aug 2015 12:50:18 +0000

Woolly workshop at Designer Makers @ 21 in Diss, with Kim and Kally Davidson , the day was spent trying out woolly craft techniques.

We were asked to choses 10 different types of yarn to spin together to create a new yarn, I had spun before but I had forgotten how much I enjoyed the process of spinning, also I had never created yarn from old yarn !!

My new yarn on the spinning wheel. The colours of the yarn are impressive, it had not occurred to me to mix very random yarns together, a single horrible yarn once mixed is transformed. …. To develop this idea further ….

We then spent some time creating freeform crochet using any material we wanted to try, I really enjoyed this, freedom to create anything using any material also using a non conventional crochet hook a stick with a notch carved in it. I was very pleased with the results.

My choice of materials can’t be fully appreciated in this photo, the blue is nylon bailer twine, the red yarn pencil roving of merino a beautifully soft yarn, I find the juxtaposition of material surfaces very interesting, making a very tactile object. I want to explore surface texture in greater detail throughout this unit.

Learning to take forward ……

Colour; experiment with different yarns

Create different surface textures…