Isn't it ironic...

... when you like the underside of the design better than the top. I had one such incident yesterday after printing and stitching into one of my blackberry experiments. I really liked the faded appearance of the print on the reverse and as a result the contrast of the stitching. I took matters into my own hands and washed the shirt until the design faded ever so slightly. It did make me think though that maybe having a reverse that you prefer isn't such a bad thing. Its the area closest to your skin, a secret only you know. Interesting concept.

Will it all come out in the wash?

I have been testing my stain experiments for colour fastness. I did two of each staining substance so that I could wash one and leave one as it is and compare. The difference in colour was remarkable. The blackberry stain in the picture has changed colour to a blueish purple. The worst result was the beetroot which completely washed out apart from a very feint stain. In my future experiments I will perhaps try adding salt to help the colour stay.

Experiments with staining substances

I have started to undertake some experiments with staining substances on cloth. These have ranged from blackberries, beetroot, tea, pomegranate. It's amazing how different the results were. I particularly liked the blackberries and the varying tones in the colour stain they produced, from the watery stain around the edge to the very dark sections where the seeds where. I wish to use this kind of colour variation in my designs. I'll keep you posted on how I get on.

The story so far ...

I sometimes get a bit bogged down by words and inspirational thoughts, forgetting about the fact that I am actually a textile designer making tangible things.

I've started exploring how you can elevate the status of a stain on cloth by designing around it. I've been looking for a long time at the correlation between textiles and nature. Looking at how fungus, lichen and moss take over a surface in nature over time I have adopted the same concept in my textile designs. I have the idea of extending the stains into something of beauty. I have started by stitching around them with tiny, intricate lines.

In the coming weeks I want to also explore printing around these stains with fine lines, taking inspiration from my drawings from nature.

Donate your stained, unwanted textiles!

I am sending out a plea for any plain (white or cream) textiles which have been stained in some way. I have a preference for tops, tablecloths and napkins. Ask anyone you think might be able to help. Its for my masters project so a very worthy cause. I really want to work back into these stained textiles and make them even more beautiful and meaningful than they ever could have been in their previous lives. Contact me at keelyb@hotmail.co.uk for more details. Thank you.

Toast

I'm a huge fan of Nigel Slater so when I saw that there was a BBC television drama based on his childhood I felt very intrigued. It is called Toast on BBC, I missed it on the TV but caught it on BBC iPlayer.

Unfortunately his mother died when he was still a young boy and his relationship with his father was turbulent. There was a really beautiful scene where his dad goes out and leaves him and he feels alone and scared. He puts on a record and gets one of his late mother's dresses from the wardrobe pulls it close to him and smells it. He then starts dancing with the dress, we are transported back with him to a time where he is dancing with his mother in that very same dress. It was such a poignant moment in the film, and it really struck a chord with me. It just reminded me of how wonderfully evocative textiles can be. It may be just to provide physical comfort but often there is a more emotional attachment. The young Nigel not only used the dress to comfort him emotionally, he used it as a tool to re-live a precious moment with his mother. Later his father comes home and finds his son cuddled up with the dress. He removes it, holds it close to him and smells it in exactly the same way as Nigel has previously and breaks down. His tears saturating the dress. Previous to this, the father has been portrayed as very distant to his son, sometimes extremely cold and angry. In this scene it breaks down all of these barriers and humanizes him and probably shows him at his closest to his son, even though Nigel remains asleep throughout. I just thought it was wonderful to show how powerful an item of clothing can be.

I have focused on a very small part of the film but it really is worth a watch. Its beautifully filmed and deals with so many issues which relate to childhood and upbringing.