Aural Textiles – project update – Netty & Orla
Here is an update on our collaborative project & progress!
We’ve been working from a distance, Netty being in Lewis and me in Glasgow, using email & whatsapp to communicate our ideas. Netty has also posted me down some of her beautiful woollen tweed for me to sample with, as well as some waxed cotton, selected for its connection to sailing and our theme of the wind.
A summary of our project:
We are using data from the shipping forecasts - using information from the dates we worked together in Lewis – to design three coats. Connecting the shipping forecast with sounds of the wind, we’re looking at plotting sounds through print, embroidery and pattern cutting methods.
We’re using sustainable methods of making and designing: Fabrics have been selected from end of line / industry waste / off cuts / locally sourced tweed from Netty’s sheep. If the material cannot be connected to the land or theme, then it will be repurposed from seconds quality or waste. I have been experimenting with hand painting the fabric bases, to explore if this uses less binder and creates less water and chemical waste in comparison to screen prep and washing stages from screen-printing methods. Netty’s pattern cutting has been exploring zero waste methods to limit production waste and push creative shape design; finding new ways to make universal sized garments.
An incredibly beneficial element coming from this residency project is the review that comes from group sharing. Finding new pathways and perspectives from others. As George poetically put it, our project connects waste practically and thematically: considering circular economy and material waste on a practical level, and thematically working with Wind – often the undesirable sound captured when recording audio. Neither of us had made that connection!
Next steps are to develop full-scale mock up’s of the three coats. The first shape has been structurally designed using the shapes of waste tweed off cuts. The second coat focuses on using zero waste pattern cutting methods to create a folding design with one length of fabric. The third will use end of line material, exploring universal sizing with built in mechanisms to adjust garment length. I will post up my current textile samples to Netty, and continue to refine surface designs. We will be creating digital prototypes to decide on surface design placement options, allowing us to make quicker decisions before final testing.
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