Chapter 10 The final design and samples

Following on Jenn's comment, have had a go at amending design - does the process ever stop?!! - Now the mono print has a place as a long view of the ships and scarred sea bed and connected to the net with cords. The extras can be concentrated at  the top of the net.  Thanks Jenn.

Having chosen the large net as my final design I thought about the constraints of the project.  The smaller design is lively and colourful but the development needs to have pattern, the opportunity for fabric manipulation, machine stitching, one main colour group and still retain the liveliness and colour that would go with a net full of trawled sea bottom.

I experimented with tessellations and drew one that gave two stylised fish shapes. These will be for the background of the piece and I will sample for ways of giving texture and high relief to the shapes.

 The big fish shapes were cut from the different decorated papers. Tone is darker at the bottom of the net where the crush would be heaviest and lightens towards the top.

Questions about the larger fish shapes:

All different as in the papers?

Each line different?  My original thought was to have a connected line of the same colour and texture placed diagonally so when the slips are on top the edges show at different parts of the net. Gathering tighter and looser would produce the tessellated shape. Differences in the fish could be made with machining on top of the gathers.

I will sample to answer the questions about the diamond fish shapes:

one background colour?

low relief?

high relief?

varied?

Need to blend with the solutions for the bigger fish shapes.

As I intend to have more fish slips on the top of the background, I am thinking to make sure the shapes on the outside edges have plenty of   relief and texture. 

Sampling also for the net cords, hanging cords, and word ribbons.

The regularity of the tessellated shapes will be broken up by the slips made to go on top - these will be coral shapes, different fish shapes in different sizes and seaweed shapes - some poking out from the net along with the word ribbons and draining sea water. I hope this will answer both the demands for displaying techniques and an evocative design.