Part Two: Project 5 - What have I achieved?

I have enjoyed project 5.

It took the drawing through to the design, and then, from the design to a finished sample in a simple progression.

Did I feel that I made a good selection from my drawings to use as source material for my design ideas?
I felt happy with the selection of drawings that I chose as source material for my design ideas.
There was a lot of potential in each of the original sketches.
I had many ideas in my head of how each drawing could develop before I started the samples, and of course the results were very different from how I imagined they would be.
I really enjoyed creating the repeat patterns, the unusual shapes that appear when reflecting and rotating the shapes added interest to the design.

Which fabrics did I choose?
I chose mostly fabrics with a smooth finish: satin and cotton.
I wanted to be able to produce a clean, crisp finish to the prints that I would be making.
I also chose neutral coloured fabrics: off-white and white, so that the print would show up clearly.
This may be something that I explore further as I work through the course.

Were the scale of the marks and shapes on my samples appropriate to the fabric? Would any of my ideas have worked better on a different type of fabric? Was I aware of the negative shapes that were forming in between the positive shapes? What elements were contrasting and what elements were harmonising in each sample? Is there a balance between the two that produces an interesting tension?
The scale of the marks and shapes on the samples were appropriate to the fabrics chosen.
I chose fabrics that were suitable for the ideas that I was working on, although sample 1 in stage 3 could have worked equally well on a sheer fabric.
I was very aware of the negative shapes that were forming in between the positive shapes - that was the aspect that I found the most exciting when developing the designs.
I found that the starfish design has the most 'interesting tension' in it: there were diagonal lines, unusual negative spaces; the lines created in the design made your eye travel to all areas of the image.

How successful do I feel my larger sample is? Do I like the design? Have I recreated or extended my ideas from the smaller samples so that there is a visible development between the two? Does my repeating design flow across the surface, without obvious internal edges? Do they make an interesting composition on this larger scale?
I really, really like my larger sample. It is not at all how I envisaged it would look.
It wasn't until I finished working on it that I realised how well the design turned out.
It is the negative spaces that make the design work; the starfish aren't the predominant image that you see when you look at it now.
I extended my ideas from the smaller sample: I kept to the same design, but developed the colour scheme.
The repeating design does flow across the surface of the fabric - there are no obvious internal edges, just lots of interesting shapes.
The composition works better on this larger scale, I think it is a very interesting composition.
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The assignment is now packed in its red bag, I send it off to my tutor in the morning.
I am so glad this assignment is finished, I can't believe the amount of work that I have produced for it.
The really nice thing about collating all the work to send off to the tutor is seeing all the work together - the mountains of samples that I have made.....