Ellie's Fine Art Foundation Degree

Building off my PVC samples for my final piece of work   I preferred the idea of making prints rather than adapting my PVC samples into something wearable.    I knew that I wanted to up the scale and complexity - so more cut out bits- which might make producing prints difficult, so maybe more of a wall hanging type thing would work?  I want to keep it simple to draw the  attention to the texture and  delicacy of the work.   I then went over to screens print - I used a repeat pattern of the same machine knit image. Also did some Color tests. Played around with fading parts of the print - not applying paint to certain areas - thought I could use them to layer with later. Decided against Color and just kept to the black- I preferred the contrast between the transparent PVC and the black - the clear lines between the blocks of Color look crisper with the black.  When I got back to the studio and while waiting for the paint to fully dry I layered some of the Color prints on top of the black

 I combined the melting PVC tests and the printing on PVC. First I cut out sections of the frame knitting image printed on pvc then pinned it to a piece of carboard so it wouldn't fold onto itself when I applied heat. then I switched between heating different sections until I got melted distorted look  Final scans  I think these turned out really well- you can't quite see on here but in person the prints looks 3d, when the light from the scanner passes through the plastic creates nice depth - especially when they are layered on top of each other. I want to link it more to my previous work so I think I'll develop it into another ruff collar thing.

 I wanted to experiment more with some Pvc like material- to see if it would be similar to the dust sheet. It wasn't. it was a lot thicker and didn't layer well when it was heated unless you kind of folded it into itself. It didn't really work in necklace form but when it was flat and had melted a bit it was quite cool. Wasn't really on board with where this was going so I went to the print work shop to use the screen prints I had made using photos of frame knitting. Printed on sugar paper first - the orange was meant to be metallic copper.  Then I printed on some of the PVC scarps I had leftover- which turned out beautifully 

  After the failure of the button collar I wanted to try again at making an Elizabethan inspired ruff- but also making sure I was trying out unusual materials but still made something that had an elegant and delicate feel to it. I found these works by Julie Smith- usually a landscape painter- she used sizoflor, a very thin woven web like material that florists use to wrap bouquets. It can be heated and molded around objects and stitched into- I'd planned to use this to make some sort of flowing woven ruff - sewing into it with golden threads, but it didn't arrive in time. So instead I used a plastic dust. I knew from previous experiments that I could heat it and mold it around a shape easily. I really like the results - when the plastic melts it creates these beautiful lace like veins and you can keep layering strips to create whatever form you want, and it will hold when it solidifies. I think this incorporates all the qualities of lace that I'm drawn to- it has a nice tra