This is the explanation for the sample booklet in which I have gained samples for both the pillowcase and the wallpaper designs.
The first three pages are dedicated to samples cut from different kinds of cloth for the pillowcase design. I wanted to research the colour spectrum as well, just to get a sense of what textures and colours can do when colliding with my image.
Page four is cut out pieces of wallpaper that I will be experimenting on. Some of them, especially the black and the pink and silver one, I can see has more of a textured feel which can either be a good or bad thing once the design is printed onto it.
With these samples, I have used the process of Screen Printing and Flock and Foil.
Page five is enlarged pieces of cloth that I have placed a practise design onto. Some of these cloth samples are from the first few pages, but in different colours. Apart from the middle cloth, which is simply coloured calico, the designs are smudged, some more than others. This is not because I did not position the work and stick it down so it will not move, as well as position the screen and have someone hold it whilst I squeegeed the paint/glue in place, this is because the cloth is not suitable for the type of exploration that I want to do to it. Three are explored by using screen-printing and paint; they did not come out well at all, even when I wiped the screen and did all the necessary preparation every time. The other two, however, were explored with foil, in which it was mildly better. The green cloth did leave more marks but it was a vast improvement. The best however, was the coloured calico, which was the chosen material for my pillowcase.
Page six was the first experiment for the official size of the design in which I chose to merge half of it in screen-printing and half in foil. The foil is the exact same colour as the green calico in which the paint was placed upon. I liked this idea if it wasn’t for the fact that the coloured calico was cut and placed so messily. Nevertheless, I wanted an insight of what it would look like together, and it is ok overall, if there were some changes to the concluded appearance. Also, in a sense, it does echo ones shadow because of the separation of this woman; there are two sides to everyone, one white, and one dark. The background, complete black, is a colour that I think will suit my message perfectly.
Page seven is the design repeated three times in different colours on the same green calico. From a light green, almost the same colour as the cloth, to a dark blue to a black shows a direct colourful contrast that reflects the nature of ones soul to the decline of self-destruction. I like this decline and the colours but perhaps not the colour green as a background, as it is too loud and does not distinguish the light that the person is trying to find.
Page eight is on purple calico where I experimented with another kind of foil called iridescent. It has this oily and subtly colourful aspect to it, which is much better than the green foil before. I chose this kind of foil because it emphasises the impurity of ones soul, that even though they seem good, they can have aspects of Jung’s shadow and self-destruction. I like the foil, but I am wary about the colour again. The first experiment did not come out too well, but this is because I did not wash out the screen properly. However, the second experimentation is much better, even though, again, it did not come out completely; this time, this was because the glue was not dry enough before I placed the foil down and placed it in the machine to heat. Although the design is not complete, the aspect of what I did differently from the first can be seen, there are areas in which the foil is not present, as in, I placed tiny pieces of tape un-top of the screen so that the glue will not get through and this is what happened. I can now, that the pieces of tape have to be bigger, as some of the glue did get through, but all in all, I like this aspect of a subtly broken design.
For the wallpaper, I decided to place my other image for this design; that way I can present this as a set in the style of Art Nouveau.
Page nine, begins the experimentation of wallpaper for my wallpaper design. On this page, I placed the textured wallpaper together. The first one is the black wallpaper which has a texture related to lined dots overlapping each other. I screened my design on here in white so I could see what happened to it; it was not good; the design came out extremely smudged where the colour would seep into the alignment of the texture. Some aspects of the design one can see, but I would do this as a final product, as it is too messy. The second textured wallpaper is the coloured one; the silver background gave a good resistance to smudging the design, but the flock-like texture of the pink flower design did not. I understand now, that doing the design in white was not a good idea, any other colour it would be in would be overruled by the extremity of the flowers, and the texture would smudge the design to near non-recognition, as it has done here.
Page ten, is another more subtly designed wallpaper in which I placed my screen printed design in white. The first time, presented on this page, is not a good example, as again, I did not wipe the excess of the paint from the printing side of the screen off. However, it gives an insight, and I believe that the colours suit each other.
Page eleven, the same wallpaper is used and the same colour but I wanted to experiment with the designs that I have in my sketchbook unto the actual product. I did a small example of the repeated design where the women are facing each other in lines across the wallpaper. Even though it is blurred in some areas, it gives a good example that my predicament is true; like I said in my sketch book, the design in general is not a good one; the fact that the woman has only one arm showing makes look as though she is merging with the other woman, which is not my intention, and places the design away from the point of my message.
The colour and the choice of wallpaper is excellent, but the choice of design is not.
Page twelve, the design is again in white but on striped wallpaper which is mainly blue. The first was a experiment and again, it is smudged in some places. I believe this was because the screen itself moved slightly.
However, below, the main design taken from my sketchbook, called overlap design, shows promise. I did one in white and one in blue just so I can see the difference, and perhaps because of Jung’s shadow is part of ones personality, and I wanted to personify this. However, all in all, the arm that has no hand looks as though it is merging within the other woman’s breast that could symbolise a lot of things besides my message.
Page thirteen is representing the design of the circular design that is in my sketchbook as well. The colour co-ordination of the wallpaper, from brown to white has an interesting concept that actually helps my design, however, it would have been better if it was white to black or purple to light blue; something more interesting than brown. However, this is only experimenting. The colour of my design, the use of dark rich purple/almost black does subtly stand out from the wallpaper, but what I am most interested in, is the fact that this design is very beautiful and shows the repetitive action in a circular motion. This motion can also represent the decline and the rise of the woman’s self-destructive behaviour; all in all, showing that one cannot simply behave in one way and then another, we are humans after all, therefore, prone to going back into old/bad habits.
OVERALL.
For my pillowcase design, I think I shall use the iridescent and merge colours from the calico already used for the experiments to overlap each other like page seven using colours that are relevant with the colours already used. The pillowcase in general will be black.
For my wallpaper design, I intend to keep it simple when using colours, therefore white on the dark subtly designed brown wallpaper with the circular design is going to be my final product.
