Searching and Deciding

02: Choosing

03: Highlighting

Heading to my local Whitehaven Library, I picked out any books that mentioned the historical site. I learnt much about what the site was before the current building and took photos from books. I also got in touch with a local archive to see if they had any high resolution maps of the area.

After collecting all my research from a number of places. I sorted through the material I had collected to choose which parts would work best and transformed into an art piece. I pulled research from the elements and created a board for each one.

Once I had chosen the elements for the project, I brainstormed ideas and what could and would work. It was a great way to get all my ideas down quickly to look through in the future to decided which would marry up well.

02: Choosing

Planning and Editing

04

05

06

04: Layout

05: Visualising

06: Editing

After visiting the Flax Works and seeing the space I will be hanging the work, I created a digital illustration of the space. It was a great way to see how the project would look in the space. This was before the decision was made to move the project to the Flax Café next door.

With the space in mind, I could see a wide piece of fabric draped up on the wall. A bit like a tapestry. I took this idea and planned to create a 350-400cm wide piece of fabric, that included all the chosen elements.

Once I knew which elements I was going to use in the project, I chose the best images and mapped out where they would need to sit in the project. This would ensure there was space for everything I wanted to include.

Planning and Editing

Stage 04:

Layout

Drawing out the space to work back into with a digital visulisation of what the piece would look like. This helps work out the size of the piece and the elements.

Stages 05:

Visualising

Drawing out the space to work back into with a digital visulisation of what the piece would look like. This helps work out the size of the piece and the elements.

Stage 06:

Editing

I edited together three large files to send off for digital printing. This is a great method of printing to make sure all details are kept in the images.

Starting to Create

07

Heading to my local Whitehaven Library, I picked out any books that mentioned the historical site. I learnt much about what the site was before the current building and took photos from books. I also got in touch with a local archive to see if they had any high resolution maps of the area.

Finding and Flowers

08

09

10

09: 1st Flowers

10: A Remake

Now I knew what the project was starting to look like and which parts I was choosing to recreate in my piece; I started collecting fabric and materials! It was a lovely challenge and something I was always switched on to. You never know what material will match the texture and colours.

The next creative part was making each flower individually. I dyed fabric, ripped material, coloured yarns and all sorts of fabrics to create a wide variety of stock to recreate the flowers. I started creating these flowers by making them individually. I spent DAYS on these flowers... but... they didn't look right. So were scrapped in the end! Sometimes you've just got to take the losses and know what looks right in your mind,

For the second round of making my flax flowers, I decided to create the meadow directly onto fabric and build them that way. By now, I had mapped out the project and knew how big the space was for the flax flower meadow should be, so I painted fabric and went from there. I sewed directly into the fabric and added the flowers (that are now being used on the finished project) though, again, it didn't look right. It had the right elements, though still looked a little clumsy. SO, back to the drawing board or the flowers. I decided to step away from the florals for now and focus on something else - a good idea I think.

09: 1st Flowers

Stitching and Building

11

12

13

12: Baskets

13: Building

The time has come! I've now made the decision that I need to take the plunge and start sticking and sewing elements down. It was a scary dropping off point but it HAD to happen at some point. It did make the whole process so much easier to build on once the elements were starting to be permanently placed. I really enjoyed sewing some of the fabric down as I had cut around small details. I wanted to keep the fabric theme in mind and keep to a free flowing, organic type of art piece.

Reviving the factory shop floor was a wonderful task. I've really enjoyed studying the works that have gone on in the building and adding a modern touch just felt right. I took the digitally printed photo of the factory floor and cut out the large woven baskets from the image. I made sure to keep to the edge as much as possible as I wanted to add cotton fabric behind the digital print to create layers. I then hand drew the baskets with charcoal. I initially planned to use indian ink like I did in drawing the map - and started using the charcoal as an outline. But I then found that I liked the dusty, dirty feel of the charcoal more and felt it matched the factory floor environment more. So charcoal it was!

For the second round of making my flax flowers, I decided to create the meadow directly onto fabric and build them that way. By now, I had mapped out the project and knew how big the space was for the flax flower meadow should be, so I painted fabric and went from there. I sewed directly into the fabric and added the flowers (that are now being used on the finished project) though, again, it didn't look right. It had the right elements, though still looked a little clumsy. SO, back to the drawing board or the flowers. I decided to step away from the florals for now and focus on something else - a good idea I think.

Stitching and Building

Stage 11:

Adding the Elements

A lovely part of the project - cutting out all the special details from the digital prints and sewing them to the canvas base of the piece. I made sure to stitch round each brick and keep all those key lines within the fabric. I wanted to create and an organic feel to the piece but ensure it's really not going anywhere!

From hand-stitching edges...