I've now just completed week three of our new Contemporary Textiles for Professional Practice project.
This time the assignment is defined by exterior parties and I have chosen the
Hand and Lock Prize for Embroidery Design 2013 competition, inspired by 'The Past is the Future'. For this I need to create hand stitched
samples inspired by a juxtaposition of 1970s glam rock and Tudors.
Specifically
I have decided to take inspiration from Ziggy Stardust and Elizabeth I.
I've been looking in detail at the design of Elizabeth's dresses how
they were embroidered and embellished, all being hand made. I've noticed
that a lot of the clothes worn by her and others such as Henry VIII have lots
of puffs on the surface, where fabric has been slit and another layer pulled
through to make a puff. I'm trying to base my designs on this
construction concept, and I've decided to continue my work and development of
my sinamay spheres from the innovation project, as well as looking at Canadian
and North American smocking to create puffs and surface texture of varying
sizes.
All of the samples must be hand stitched and I'm intending to
screen print some of my fabrics to create additional depth and surface pattern.
My colour palette is derived from the Ziggy Stardust artwork, as well as
my own 1970s Mary Quant Daisy Diary with lots of reds and oranges.
Finally I've tried to look at the lyrics from the songs go Ziggy Stardust
as well as the visuals, although I have to say the words don't make a lot of
sense, although based on my colour palette and initial stitch ideas I am
immediately drawn to 'Spiders from Mars' which Mark thinks is a bit too
obvious!
