Textiles
Work from my Textiles A Level. Theses are all pieces from either my related study, course work or exam part of my A level textiles. If there are any pieces you would like to know more about or see in better detail please feel free to contact me about them, I'm more than happy to explain further to arrange a time for the work to be viewed more closely.
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The coursework part of my Textiles A level was based on ancient Greek mythology.
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I took inspiration from artwork on pottery that had been found, illustrations in books about the myths, old mosaics and the Greek alphabet. In the end I chose the myth about Persephone Demeter and Hades which explained how the Greeks believed the seasons changed.
The myth explains how Hades fell in love with and kidnapped Demeter's daughter Persephone and took her to the underworld. With her daughter taken, Demeter withdrew her gifts from the land and created winter where all the plants died. Zeus went to retrieve Persephone but found that Hades had tricked her into eating pomegranate seeds therefor trapping her partially to the underworld and him. So, for half the year, Persephone lived with her mother Demeter who brought Spring and Summer with her daughter's return. However when Persephone had to return to the underworld for half the year, Demeter withdrew her gifts once more creating Autumn and Winter.
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Using this myth, I created a print design for a dress. I used symbols from the myth such as pomegranates, plants both living and dying and included the river Styx to show the underworld. Within the dresses worn by Demeter (in green) and Persephone (in gold) I wrote out the story of what is happening and translated each letter into its ancient Greek equivalent.
For the exam portion of my Textiles A level, I chose the theme archaeology and focused more on fossils, rocks and minerals.
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I took inspiration from the breaking down, broken, weathered and old appearances of the items I saw.
The end result of my exam was inspired by a large ammonite fossil which can be found at the Natural History Museum. The exam piece consists of two layers, the background a mottled brown and the front layer made of a fabric that dissolves under heat. I stitched over it to give it support and to stop parts being burnt away when I applied heat. This gave it a weathered and cracked look and made it seem like it was breaking apart. Following around the spiral is wire wrapped around and sticking out making it more jagged. This layer was hung in front of the background, suspended away from it giving it more depth.