Opposites Attract - Print Clash/Printed Textiles/Surface Pattern

I've learnt a lot of new skills from this project. Some were a bit complicated, some were easy to learn. However, my strongest skill had to be drawing. I've been doing drawings ever since I was a little girl. As the years past, with plenty of experience, my drawings kept on developing better and better. That's why I enjoyed this project because I was very passionate on what I did. Drawing is my hobby and talent that I cannot live without.The whole point of the drawings was to get to know my understanding for 2D Visual Language, which was abstracted and developed into a collection of Printed/Surface Pattern Designs. I went through so many stages in the design process. From collecting objects to draw, to screen printing them onto traditional (fabrics, paper) and non-traditional surfaces (wood, plastic, rubber, etc). I also had the chance to embellish them all in the end (e.g. embroidery, angelina fibres). The exciting part about this project was that I was able to create my own original designs for my prints, in my own vision. Not like when you're working in a company and you have to design something for them; according to their briefs. That's why I brought in my favourite objects to draw, then to be designed and screen printed onto traditional and non-traditional surfaces. In this assignment, it wasn't just screen printing that was the main priority. I did a number of workshops; surprisingly I enjoyed all of them. There was mono-printing, stencilling, repeat pattern, canvas making, etc. My favourite out of all of them was stencilling because it's very therapeutic and gives the design amazing detail.

The designers that inspired me to make these prints were Mary Katrantzou and general Ghanaian Fashion Designers from Ghana Fashion Week. They all have something in common; they focus on bold and bright prints. I love looking at vibrant and colourful textile prints, it makes me feel passionate to present and make something original by using that inspiration. During the process of the screen printing, I had to choose four themes that would fit into my prints, that's when trend boards came up. I had to make four trend boards to collect inspiration from my chosen themes (it's like what you see in magazines). The themes that I chose were Glam Rock, Children, Ghana (Culture), Grand Palaces. I chose them because they all have a personal meaning to me. Glam Rock represents my anger and rage. Children make me feel loved and valued, I hope and pray to have my own one day in the future. Ghana is my culture and part of who I am. Grand Palaces makes me dream of being successful in life and working hard for the things that I would want to achieve and gain. 

The final thing was to choose the target audiences for each print. This stage wasn't easy because I had to judge which prints fit in with an age group each. Most of the collection were fit for all ages. And when I mean all ages, I mean each print had different age groups (e.g. one print for kids, another for teens, and another for adults). After that hurdle, my prints were ready to be exhibited and presented to an audience in the Public Entrance Hall to Central College Nottingham.