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…