Reflection

This toss repeat was really difficult to do. It took me many different attempts to figure out how to do the repeat without having track lines visible on the final image. It came quite close to my original vision. Looking at the natural formation of the plant I had decided to adopt a simialr formation since it looked aesthetically pleasing the way it naturally grew. Naturally the plant keeps growing and fills up an area overlapping one another in all different sizes and after a while it grows tall pink flowers. So for the print I arranged the plant in a few different sizes to create my image and then when I finally created the repeat it resembled the way the plant naturally looks.

This activity is completly new to me so I'm quite pleased for my first go at it.

Now that I had finished the print design I created my repeat. This is how I did it.

 I used the ruler to mark half way lines on an A4 sized page.
I then duplicated and distributed my design on the centre, making sure the guidlines were covered.
I then merged the layers together.

The next step was to cut each quater of the page and arrange them on a new page as shown below.

I filled the centre spaces using the original print design until there were no white spaces left. I then decreased it's size to fit a quater of a page and then defined it as a pattern. This is what it looked like.

 And this is what it finally looked like when I filled the page with the pattern repeat. 

I drew a sketch of the plant which I then phtoshoped added colour and used it in my pattern.

After two more days of working on this pattern I have finally created the final patern which I will use to create my print. This is my final pattern. Using this I will attempt to do a toss print and if it doesnt work I'll try something else.

Selections from the photographs that I will use for the Print Design

 I have started creating my design using the photographs I have taken of this plant. So far I have cut out one of the flowers from the plant (as shown in the image). It took quite a while to perfect the edges. After I cut it out I enhanced the colours and the lighting and then used the "dry brush" tool to change the texture of the plant and make it appear slightly subtle without changing the natural appearance of the plant drastically. I then used the spot healing brush tool to remove the imperfections of the plant. Because it has a natural velvety texture there were a lot of marks and prints of the plant in the initial image so i had to remove it to give it a more aesthetic appearance.

I did a similar process with this part of the plant. I cut it out (which was more difficult than the first one) and then enhanced the colours and lighting however it did not need the spot healing tool and i did not use the dry brush tool for this. I left it looking realistic. 

So far these a re the only two parts I have cut out from the photographs I have taken that i will use for the print design. I'm working on a sketch but i don't think i will put it in because it ruins the realistic appearance of my print but i am willing to experiment and see what it might look like. Also i am considering making a paint brush out of the pink flower to use in my print design, but I'm also not sure about this. I also nee don't test that out.

Experimenting with different types of repeats using the plant I have chosen for my print

Over the past few days I have been experimenting on Photoshop by creating different types of prints using the plant I have photographed in order to decide which print type I want to do for the assessment.

I tried the full drop repeat first. I cut out the plant imperfectly from the image and made a quick picture then created a pattern from it and made a full drop repeat. It wasn’t difficult and looked ok (although I wouldn’t say I would choose the pink background again). This is what it looked like:

Next I tried the toss repeat which was much more difficult and labour intensive. I overlapped a few, also imperfect, cut outs of the plant to create my image and then tried turned it into a pattern and formed a toss repeat. However, even though the process of making the pattern wasn’t so difficult, the track marks are visible in this print because I did not take my time to perfect the image.

This is what it looked like:

I think for my assessment I’m going to attempt the toss repeat and see how I go. If I can’t perfect it or get rid of the track marks then I will change and do the full or half drop because they are much easier to perfect.

Micro and Macro Pictures

Macro Pictures

Micro Pictures

 I loved this plant due to each shape and the way that each cactus like plant overlaps the other in many different sizes. I thought this might be an interesting idea for a print for a fabric to have this individual plants overlapping on another and blended on photoshop. I also like the fact that the flower which grows from it is an intyeresting pink colour which creates a perfect contrast in the fabric with green as the intial obvious colour and touches of pink and yellow in the fabric.

This is my intial imagination of what the fabric will look like however im sure as i progress in the process of designing the fabric will quite possibly change from my inital vision.

Mirror repeat

periwinklepaisley.deviantart.com

Ogee Repeat

decor.net.au

Tossed repeat

houseofsiennamack.wordpress.com

Diamond repeat



trueup.net

Spot Repeat

artlandia.com

Stripe Repeat



spoonflower.com

Brick Repeat

flickr.com

Half Drop Repeats

michstextileblog.blogspot.com

Symmetrical Repeat

This type of repeat is much more interesting and also quite simple where a shape or image is repeated by flipping the image to create an aesthetically pleasing pattern. It is called a "symmentrical repeat."  Here I have used a water colour brush to create my initial design and then flipped it horizontally and vertically to create  the repeat.

Block repeat: Stripes

This repeat is quite simle and is referred to as "block repeat" where the stripe pattern is repeated in this example.

Watercolour Hair

This task was really interesting and i enjoyed the experimentation of using different types of watercolour brushes. The most difficult part of this task for me was downloading the brush palettes from brusheezy.com and It took me a while to realise how download and open it on my computer. . Also i didnt really know how to blend the face so that it would work harmoniously with the hair. Other than that the task was easy and fun.