Friday, 18 January 2013

Savage Beauty





Spine Corset 'Untitled'
S/S 1998










Spines are weird and fascinating in themselves.
Playful.
See C de Moncheaux



Today I was surfing and found myself at the Met Museum page about Savage Beauty - about the work of Alexander McQueen.http://blog.metmuseum.org/alexandermcqueen/about/.

Eshu
A/W 200-1
Yellow glass beads and horsehair skirt










The way this looks like lichen on an old tree.
You can imaging the different and interesting attractive way this skirt might move.



These pictures are all of clothes designed by him which caught my attention.

It's a jungle out there ensemble
A/W 1997
Brown leather, bleached linen, taxidermy crocodile










The bubble effect is weird and different.
In fact the whole thing is different in a very creative human way.



I am fascinated by the 'dark romantic' side of them, that is slightly creepy at the same time as being beautiful. 



Voss ensemble
S/S 2001
Oyster shells
Silk coat from Japanese screen print








Oysters are beautiful and weird in the way that many of McQueen's clothes are.





And by their use of natural materials which work, but are not usually associated with clothes.



Oyster dress
S/S 2003










It's the fantastic layers and layers of fragile fabric in the skirt that attracts me. You can practically feel that it would be just like touching an oyster shell only warmer and softer.



And by the way he was able to produce effects that I have tried and so far failed at.


Wednesday, 9 January 2013

Sabre tooth nose turbines

Nose turbines from a sabre tooth cat skull at the Natural History Museum


Amin Phillips Ghana Print
 

Friday, 4 January 2013

Root fall

Made using found fabrics

IDEA FOR THE DAY:
Use a similar idea to make a triangular hanging to cover the wall under the stairs, as if the banisters were the extensions upward of the root-like wavy lines.
They could be padded. The horizontal movement would have to relate to the ends of the stair treads.

Sunday, 30 December 2012

Applique eyes

Applique Eyes

IDEA FOR THE DAY:
A big version of this, using gold metallic fabric for the background triangles and pupil.

Friday, 28 December 2012

Compartmentaliser

The socks I just finished. The pattern's simple, top down with gussets,
but they are made with a soft variegated wool I found in a seconds bin, and I like the stripes it made.
IDEA FOR THE DAY:
I am told I am a compartmentaliser - that different parts of my life are deliberately and/or unconsciously kept apart. This blog is an example of this - that I wanted somewhere to put my inspirations and ideas that wasn't my official textiles learning blog. This is the related idea that I woke up with this morning.

Compartmentaliser - a pile of boxes made of folded fabric which, when they are opened up, make up a whole picture of a tree. Some of the boxes are more detailed than others.


Compartmentaliser
In two parts. Ha!

Anything you see on this blog that you like can be made to order. Just send me an email at artemesiauk@gmail.com for more details.

Thursday, 27 December 2012

Burnt matches

Rowan Marsh
See entry for 26/12/12 for the link

Rowan Marsh
This is what was left after the matches caught fire in turn.
I love the irregularity of them in straight rows.




















Very taken with these images from www.rowan.marsh.com
The idea for the day is very much derived from these - a wall hanging made of fabric molded aroudn regular shapes, but in an irregular pattern. Perhaps with embroidery around the peaks like moss or something else to make it look organic.

Wednesday, 26 December 2012

Artemesia

Silk scarf in red and gold.
This is the altered fabric I used to make the scarf:
 Indian woven fabric printed with gold and very dark blue to give it more
interest and texture. 

IDEA FOR THE DAY:
Looking at Rowan Mersh's website http://www.rowanmersh.com/
made me want to try making roots with strings of fabric, in the way that he has used them for decorative fringes.


WEBSITES TO LOOK AT:

As recommended in 'Layered Textiles: New Surfaces with Heat Tool etc' by Kim Thittichai 








Anything you see on this blog that you like can be made to order. Just send me an email at artemesiauk@gmail.com for more details.