I'm always glad to start the week with an early morning and a busy schedule. Today's agenda has been learning the advanced Cornely 121 with Sue, photoshopping this afternoon and then a one to one tutorial with Fiona (above blog post).
Cornely Advanced 121 Machines
I was only saying yesterday that this year I really want to get onto the machines more often, after all one of the main parts of the course is the practice and sampling. Last term I was inducted onto the Cornely machines, which I enjoyed straight away. It was REALLY difficult to get my head around the hand-eye coordination at first, but with practice I started to grips with it. The samples produced (although rushed and not thought through properly for project) produce the same amount of beauty and detail that I gain from pain-stakingly long hand embroidery samples.
The advanced 121 has the same principles, using a handle to control the stitching, the only differences being the speed is a lot slower/ more controlled, and there are bobbin threads and a cording thread too. The nice thing about the machine is that it gives a raised look to samples, leaving them looking less 2D than the normal Cornelys. I found the machines easy to handle, and really enjoyed looking through the sampling booklet. The machine can withstand practically all materials, and can be used for different techniques, for example cut work and appliqué. The examples that I did in the workshop were only quick, but show the principles of the machine (above). It is able to create interesting patterns, and stops frayed edges when cutting through the fabric layers. This will be a nice machine to sample with for both of my briefs, I shall enjoy playing around on them later on in the week.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Photoshopping Basics
This afternoon my friend, Katie very kindly offered to show me the basics of photoshop- looking at layering, distorting images and other various tools. I've been shown how to use the application before but we have a love-hate relationship, I just can't get my head around all of the short-cuts and tools! We played around layering my drawings and samples, looking at how they worked together. The overall goal (which I am still working towards and will have to keep playing around with) will be to get some of my photoshopped images printed on the digital printers, to then sew on to.
