Xiaotang YU

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Week 1: Sustainability

I am inspired by my recent research, which involved experimenting with recycled bubble wrap, lettuce leaves, nets, and cardboard boxes during last week’s Print Workshop.

Fig.1: Mark Making from Home

In the study of Mark Marking, I used recycled cardboard boxes and bubble wrap, dipped them in red and black paint, and printed them on both white paper and recycled cardboard. Following this, I scanned and enlarged the prints, altering colour saturation, combining the two through collaging.

Fig.2: Mark Making from Home
Fig.3:Mark Making from Home

Fig.2: When I got home, I looked for more recycled materials. I used the plastic nets that held the oranges and cardboard boxes. And made mark makings from them. I cut the finished prints into different shapes like long strips and circles. I end up thinking that stripes create a stronger visual language. Then I collaged them together to form the final print.

Fig.3: I used some lettuce leaves that were about to go bad to produce some Mark Makings from it and combine it with a print from a mineral water bottle.

Fig.2 Final
Fig.3 Final

Week 2： Emerging Technologies

After attending a lecture on emerging technologies in the fashion industry, my interest in digital fashion display is really strong.

I chose the CLO3D software application to conduct experiments.

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Photo on the left depicts my first attempt. We can see from the photograph that a basic t-shirt and skirt have been created.

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Then I started experimenting again. However, this time I was trying to create a slightly more developed structure and composition.

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Fig.9

During my experiments, I came up with the idea of creating a corset with CLO3D. The images above showcase the stages involved in constructing the corset. It is evident that there is still considerable room for enhancement in the final outcome. I will try to improve by continuing to practise with this software.

Week 3: Nature

From the lecture this week we learned about the relationship between our planet and the fashion industry. I decided to experiment with natural dyes.

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Fig.11

I reused a linen bag from Selfridges. Firstly, I cut the bag into a piece of fabric. Then I washed it in water and boiled it in a pot of coffee.

The dyed fabric is shown on Fig.11.

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After the fabric is dried, I decided to use these fabrics to experiment on embroidery. At first, I tried out a very simple design. Shown in Fig..12.

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In the end, I decided to embroider a slightly more complicated design. Process is shown in Fig.13 and the final piece is shown in Fig.14.

Week 4: Cultural Sustainability

This week’s lecture looked at cultural sustainability. I researched two traditional Chinese craft techniques and made my own drawings interpreting them.

Fig.15 : The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2005, p. 47
Fig.16: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2005, p. 47

Lacquerware is a tradition craft from China. The term lacquerware can be defined as objects decorated with lacquer. “Lacquerware describes objects made of wood, metal, or just about anything similar which have been covered in a liquid made of shellac or melted resin flakes dissolved in alcohol （or a synthetic substance), which forms a hard protective smooth coating when dry which remains relatively light in weight.” (World History Encyclopedia,2017). It can be dated back to around 1600BCE.

On conducting a Google search for ‘lacquerware’, the first results that appear are related to Japanese and Korean lacquerware. However, it should be noted that the origins of this craft lie in China. It is a pity that this traditional Chinese handicraft is losing its culture significance in modern China.

In my practical work this week, I decided to create some drawings from the lacquerware shown in Fig.15. I decided to zoom in and focus on the part shown in Fig.16.

Fig.17: Folklife

Blue calico printing is a traditional printing technique using natural dye from my hometown of Nantong, China. Shown in Fig.17. The most typical feature of this technique is the blue background with white patterns on it. ‘A series of complicated processes is needed to produce blue calico, including selecting cotton material, soaking them in water, gluing the template, dyeing, cleaning, and sunning. The pattern to be dyed must be cut into paper template, which is then covered in tung oil, dried, and glued to the fabric.’ （Great Seed，2017）This technique can also be traced back to around 221BC.

In the past, this type of clothing was worn by local farmers and fishermen. As society evolves, this fabric is adapted into daily clothing.

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Fig.19

Using ink, acrylic paint and posca pens, I produced two drawings, shown in Fig.18 and 19. The blue acrylic paint from Fig.18 did not really work in the way I imagined.

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Therefore, I chose the drawing in Fig.19 and added a layer of white acrylic patterns on acetate, inspired from the white patterns in Blue calico prints. Final outcome is shown in Fig.20.

References:

Week 5: Empathy

From this week’s lecture I learned about the importance of empathy in design. For me, empathy is seeing through other people’s eyes. And that is what I did for this week’s practical work, I drew two drawings using procreate.

I deliberately chose bright colours to give the drawings an energetic and warm tone.

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Self-Reflection

Throughout the five weeks lecture and seminars, I explored different areas in fashion and engaged with different medias, such as ink, acrylic, watercolors, and others. I engaged with techniques such as natural dyes, clo3D, and mark-making. I really enjoyed these experimental processes. Out of the five week’s lectures, I especially enjoyed week 1 and week 2. The concept of using recycled material is fascinating to me. It reminds me of the importance of sustainability during artistic creation. However, as week 1 took place at the beginning of the term, I did not have a large variety of paints to choose from; if I were to attempt the project again, I would experiment with a broader color palette. In week 2, we looked into how technologies can be utilized within the fashion industry as well as in personal designs. Clo3D was always a software I wanted to explore further, being an application that would be very helpful in my future designs. I aim to familiarize myself with the application and enhance my skills. If I am using Clo3D in the future, I would try to combine it with my own print designs. One week 3, I looked into natural dye and embroidery. As it is the first time, I am still exploring the possibilities of embroidery, which was interesting and entertaining although the final outcome is a design simpler than I would have liked. In the future, I want to experiment with beading in embroidery and test other forms of natural dye.