Katie Nolan

When beginning this project over the summer holidays, I began by looking at different types of collections, both personal and public. I struggled at the beginning with translating the ideas that had surfaced over my summer research into textile samples so I found myself focusing on drawing for the first few weeks of the project. This meant I allowed myself little time to actually develop my fabric work and to explore different ways I could translate my ideas into fabric. I also found that when I did begin working with fabric, I lost some of the context and research side of the work I had done up until that point. However, when I introduced the Royal Armouries research into the project I felt re inspired to begin playing around more with fabric and finally felt I was moving forward with the project. At this stage I wanted to push myself to work in different ways so I booked into both the print room and laser cutting to put myself out of my comfort zone as up to this point I had

After designing my laser cut shapes, I had to choose a material to cut out of. As I only wanted a small amount I decided to split the machine with 3 others, so we had to collectively decide on a material/colour. We ended up deciding on fluorescent blue Perspex, as it was suitable for all of our work. I’m really pleased with the outcome of both the screen-printing and the laser cutting and see potential for how they can work together to make interesting structural samples. When printing, i found that i really liked the stencils after they had been printed onto with different inks, so decided to use them to draw with. i also used the cut outs to collage with which made some interesting drawings. I now plan on incorporating the more 3D structural sample techniques into my flat print samples, adding in elements of the laser cut pieces to add further texture and depth to the samples. I am also interested in seeing how the laser cut pieces look

I spent this week experimenting with ways of building structure using stitch and wire. I began testing on a variety of materials including wools, faux leathers and canvas materials and seeing how they would react to the same technique. I  chose to work on white/off white fabrics to begin with as I wanted to see solely how the material was reacting to the folds/pleats/stitch marks. However, I have plans to print designs and shapes included in my previous samples and drawings to use as a base for the techniques shown above. I have also realised that I don’t want to lose the feel of my other samples to I want to experiment with adding areas of structure to flat embroidered and printed surfaces. I also felt this would work in regards to the images of the Armour I have been using for inspiration for the latter part of my sampling as in most of these images, the textured, pleated areas do not cover the entire piece. I created stencils taken from drawing

At this stage in the project we visited the Royal Armouries in Leeds. Despite having the option to finish the current project and begin anew with the Armouries, I felt I still have room for further development so I decided to begin bringing in elements of my Armouries work into my current samples. I felt as though there was a connection between the shapes and materials in the armouries and the work I had done up to this midway point. I began sampling using elements from my current work and the armouries, seeing how they work together and what I would need to adjust, in terms of materials, to reflect the feeling of the Armouries. Whether this means experimenting with tougher materials and creating more structural elements. My intention moving forward with this project is to develop the more structural element of the armour whilst till taking inspiration from the textures,  shapes and colours evident in the earlier part of the pr