Sampling.

This sample is inspired by the shiny blues and greys of a collected oyster shell, the clusters of barnacles and the edges of the seaweed. 

Detail.

Images from Kingsdown Beach, Kent.

Inspiration for textures and composition.

I love the Tonal Greys in these two images of the Rocks. 

Colours altered to create a more dramatic look. 

Colour Inspiration.

Considering Colour Palettes. Dusky Pinks inspired by my Crushed Shells.

SketchBook Pages.

SketchBook Page.

Playing around with colour. Repeated shapes inspired by Seaweed from Kingsdown Beach, Kent. 

Different Seaweeds.

 Image taken on Portobello Beach, Edinburgh. I love the composition and texture that the seaweed forms on this rock.

Dried Seaweed with Varnish.

Silhouette of the Seaweed.

Development Work: Final Year. Textiles Student.

Inspired by walks along the beaches of Britain I will create a beautiful and sophisticated Autumn/Winter collection with my target market being for high-end women’s wear.  Colour and texture will be particularly important within my designs with a conscious effort to use quality and as many eco-friendly materials as possible.  I will continue to use mainly natural materials whilst introducing more contemporary, man-made materials to ensure that my collection will be current and fresh. I would like to use seaweed and crushed shells within my designs to bring something a little unexpected and different. This is an area that I will continue to work at to make it as useable as possible.

Through beach combing I have gathered many objects with a personal interest to me. Whether it is simply just the form, the colour or the textures of the surface, these gathered pieces are inspiring and are significant in supporting my developmental stage. I will and have been using a mixture of processes and techniques to give a quality finish to my samples through my initial observations of shells and seaweed. When observing seaweed and shells, it is noticeable that there is not just one process or technique; there are layers of different materials, colours and textures which is what my final collection will exhibit. Different weights, layers of textures, fabric and colour will be an important part of my final collection.

High-End Women's Wear board.

 Techniques Board.

The Print Room.

Screen printing.

Hand painting onto silk.

 Combinations of layers, textures, print and embellishment.

Hand painted sample in progress with a build up of layers and textures.

Development Work: Final Year. Textiles. Shells.

Here are collected shells from Portobello Beach, Edinburgh. These particular shells and oyster shells caught my eye. I love the colours, the textures and the layers that build up these beautiful natural forms.  

Photographs of muscles forming on rocks at a beach in North Cornwall.

Collected shells. Crushed to see what I can do with the powder. 

Moodbaords and close up photographs of the crushed shells. 

Development Work: Final Year. Textiles. Print.

Playing around with Print layout. 

Screen Printing/Hand Painting onto Fabric.

Development Work: Final Year. Textiles. Colour Testing.

Working on a colour palette.

Colours against Fabrics.

 Experimenting.

Materials and Colour. 

Development Work: Final Year Textiles

Collected Goods. Colour and Texture Inspiration. 

Drawing.

Considering what to take forwards. 

Small sample and Materials. 

Drawings and Experimenting. 

Manipulating and Experiments. 

My Final Year Begins

I am now in my last year at Edinburgh College of Art studying Textiles which is exciting but also rather scary as it only feels like yesterday that I was starting my first day into what seemed like a long but exciting journey ahead of me. Now I am actually here completing my last year I can't really believe how the time has flown.

Right now I am thinking about what I would like to do for my final project. I have always been interested in collecting beautiful objects from walks along the beach. I have been lucky enough to live by the sea for all of my 21 years however, it really hasn't been until the last year or so that I have began to appreciate how beautiful it is. There are so many interesting things that surround the coastline of Britain. I love taking myself away for some time whether with friends, family, my dog, my horse or on my own to the beach to observe, collect, take in the fresh air and walk along the peaceful shore of the big and powerful sea.

"Beach Combing". This may end up being my title but at the moment I have called it "Old Meets New". Over the next and last 6 months of my degree I will document my development through drawing, photographs, sampling, sketchbook work, blogging and instagramming and will finally end up with a website and business cards to help promote my work. I am excited to see the end product, so let the journey begin!

Here are some images of beaches I have visited.

 Walmer Beach, Kent.

Bossiney Bay, Cornwall. 

 Portobello Beach, Edinburgh.

Sandwich Bay, Kent. Myself and my horse/donkey, Molly.