Rhiannon Furness

Visualisations. Three conceptual ideas for the use of my textiles combined with other elements from my design development, including handmade embellishments. The use of torn edges and stitching gives my visualisations an organic feel to connect it to my project as a whole. A fashion collection intended to tell a story of environmental resilience. MMT final design. Manipulated strips of fabric to mimic a simplified version of tree bark. The pop of colour gives it warmth and links in with colours found in corals. This enabled me to bring together elements of woodland and underwater into one design. All materials used are remnants, offcuts and/or natural. A digitally manipulated print extracted from a collage. Shapes inspired by coral reefs, intended to be printed onto natural fabrics.  

My primary woodland research began by photographing textures and shapes within several local woodland areas. Whilst doing this I also collected fallen branches/twigs, as well as small cuttings of ivy and ferns. I intend to use these to create embellishments and experimentation. Attempted to photograph marine ecosystems also but was unable to get good photos despite visiting two aquariums. My first colour explorations. Using yarn wrapping to explore tones of green. I moved away from this colour in order to be able to create something more usable. Deciding instead to explore natural colours that can be found in both the woodland and marine ecosystems. Focusing on the textures using the objects I have collected, including barks, wood, shells etc. I will use these textures to extract lines and shapes to use within my own designs. After deciding to add a pop of colour to my palette, I chose pink. There are many pinkish tones within my initial extractions and it blends well with the warm nat...

Experimental mark making. Using acrylic paint, palette knives and natural sponges to create bark-like textures. The products have then been digitally altered to create depth. Line drawings that emulate the shapes found within bark have been used here to create a stencil by cutting lines from card. This allowed me to experiment with positive and negative space. Using stitch, felting and handmade embellishments to recreate the textures found on logs. I initially did a digital drawing informed by my photography and used this to dictate my decision making for a multi media piece. I created the embellishments used here by sanding collected sticks, sawing off slices and drilling a small hole into the centre.  The intertwining lines and shapes found in these photos informed experimentations with weaving. On the left I chose to weave natural-fibre fabrics unevenly to emulate the crisscrossing of vines. On the right I wove with natural materials gathered from the local woodland. MMT experim...