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[apanxx]

I don’t know about Kobo, but you can easily convert epub, mobi etc to kindle format. personally i use calibre. Or you can get an epub reading app, but since the appstore is still limited in those things, it’s best to just get calibre on your pc and convert the books like that. 

I was thinking of maybe getting an e-reader. My sister has one and I have to admit I could do without having to carry SF bricks in my bag to read in the subway. E-readers aren’t all that popular here and the most common brands are Kindle or Kobo, and each has their own format of ebooks. I mostly read books in English, and my go-to source for paper format has always been Amazon for lack of other options so maybe a Kindle is the best choice. But it is also my understanding that a lot of contents such as comics or fan-translated light novels on the internet are in epub format, which the Kindle does not read.

If you have an e-reader, could you give me advice for what would be best? Can you add content to your reader that you have made/formatted yourself or downloaded from a source other than the official shop? Can you buy ebooks on websites that wouldn’t offer delivery to your country if it was paper format (I’m thinking of japanese manga or novels)?

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Rare spider silk textile

“The four metre long woven textile was made from the silk of more than a million female Golden Orb spiders collected in the highlands of Madagascar.

It took 80 people five years to collect the spiders, and the naturally golden hand-woven brocaded textile took over four years to create.

According to experts at the Victoria and Albert Museum, spider’s silk has not been woven since 1900, when a textile was created for the Paris Exposition Universelle - but that no longer survives. This will be the first time spider silk has been exhibited in Europe since.

The earliest recorded weave using the silk of spiders dates from 1709, made by a Frenchman, Francois-Xavier Bon de Saint Hilaire, who successfully produced gloves and stockings and supposedly a full suit of clothes for King Louis XIV.

Later, in the early nineteenth century, Raimondo de Termeyer, a Spaniard working in Italy, produced stockings for the Emperor Napoleon and a shawl for his first wife, Empress Josephine.

To create the textiles, spiders are collected each morning and harnessed in specially conceived ‘silking’ contraptions. Trained handlers extract the silk from 24 spiders at a time.

Unlike mulberry silk from silkworms, in which the pupa is killed in its cocoon, the spiders are returned to the wild at the end of each day.

After ‘silking’, the silk is taken on cones to the silk weaving workshop where skilled weavers have mastered the special tensile properties of the silk.

In the so-called Malagasy textile, each warp is made from 96 spun strands of spider silk and each brocading weft has 10 of those threads together – so 960 strands in total.

On average, 23,000 spiders yield around 1 ounce of silk. It is a highly labour intensive undertaking, making these textiles extraordinarily rare and precious objects.”

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Mirror mirror, Ori Gersht

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surreal

Klim Novoseltsev  -  http://drawcrowd.com/novoseltsevklim  -  http://klimn.cgsociety.org

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Activism

•       What does the Oxford English Dictionary state?

“The policy or action of using vigorous campaigning to bring about political or social change”: growing activism on the abortion issue

 •       Where else can you find information on the meaning of activism?

Dictionary.com

Activism

“the doctrine or practice of vigorous action or involvement as a means of achieving political or other goals, sometimes by demonstrations, protests, etc.”

•       How do you relate to the meanings of activism that you have found?

Reading through the definitions instead of relying on my prior knowledge, I would say activism is about repeatedly doing something that attracts attention enough times to get you the change you want. It is not limited to demonstrating or protesting. By this theory, activism could even be having a normal conversation with someone who has enough power to make the change you want.

•       Do you like the terminology of activism?

I am not too fond of the moderns connotations of activism.

•       Do you feel it is confrontational – does the term put your off?

Somewhat, but not really. After all there are things like craftivism and silent protest that exist.

•       Can you think of a better terminology for activism?

Opinionism, Fighting-for-your-beliefsism, My-opinions-are-better-than-yoursism, making-a-changeism, argumentism, persuadism, disagreeism

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Using to textiles to address a social problem or issue in society

The social problem I chose to address is about the bereaved, the family and friends of victims who lost their lives to crime. Although a lot of energy is expended onto murderers, catching them and sentencing them to life in prison, often the family and friends of the deceased are not given enough thought. They have it the most difficult having to lose someone they love and the resulting hate towards the criminal.

Therapy is important to such bereaved of the victim and I propose a way of allowing textiles to do it. Although I am unsure on how to handle the darkness of hate towards somebody who stole your most precious person’s life, I would like to offer to celebrate the life of the victim rather than focus on the way they left, as often just the fact that someone was murdered makes people focus on the murder more than the person they were, even when they are remembered years later. And so I would set up a workshop in group sessions where the bereaved would each create a little something, like a little piece of embroidery, either for the deceased or something that shows the character and life of the deceased. During the workshop it would be great to have the family members and friends of the deceased talk to each other and find common ground, in the sense that they are not the only ones who feel this way. Furthermore, I would get the bereaved to write a little biography of the deceased. At the end I would collect all the embroideries/knit/crochet samples they have made and all the little biographies they had written and photocopy and bind them into a book and give each participant a copy. As for the actual samples, I would set up a tribute wall and sew the samples onto it and make the wall semi-public so that it remains as a memorial of sorts that all the people who knew the victims can return to.

To explore this research topic properly and understand what they are going through, I would set up a questionnaire and put the survey up online and allow it to circulate around the world as finding the bereaved in my rather peaceful locality would be difficult. Also, it is a very awkward and insensitive, even perhaps, question to ask in person and many people could refuse to reply. That’s why an online anonymous questionnaire is more suitable.

Another way of exploring this topic would be posting a question on Askreddit, the subreddit on reddit where questions are answered by anyone and everyone or no one, and hoping for it to be popular enough to get on the first page. However, even if it doesn’t get as popular as the first page, I think a lot interesting samples of replies can be found this way. Moreover, I would have to use this several times to ask several questions and get to know how these people have coped. I also think asking victims who nearly died how the people around them were affected is a good idea.

Attending a group therapy session about loss and how people are coping and how they are not coping and how the loss is affecting their lives is also a good idea. It would allow me to understand the people more personally so I have a better idea on how to attempt to solve the issue.

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The Development of Socially Engaged Textiles

This is a section if an embroidery tapestry called ‘Overloard’ and was designed by Sandra Lawrence and made by the Royal School of Needlework as commemoration of D-Day and the Normandy landings in 1944. The tapestry was commissioned by Lord Dulverton of Batsford in 1968 as a way of tribute to the heorism of those who took part. The tapestry took five years to create and is 272 feet long.

This tapestry is quite different to my own practice and truthfully I cannot find any link between the two apart from the fact that they are both embroidery and perhaps the occasional colour used in both.

Embroidered head rest cover ('Dig for Victory')

“Second World War embroidered head rest cover, patriotically celebrating the 'Dig for Victory' campaign, worked by G A Francis whilst serving in the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) in 1944 at the Ordnance Depot at Melton Mowbray. The transfers were probably taken from an issue of 'Woman' magazine. According to the maker: 'The embroidery was worked with scraps of assorted silks and cottons that were left over from other things, as it was becoming impossible to buy them at that time. That is the reason for the variety of colours used. I had to work with what I had at my disposal.'”

As for how this relates to my practice, this embroidery is like a little piece of art work or a drawing almost, but embroidered. Instead of creating repeating patterns, I usually find myself making onetime embroideries that are more ‘art’ like than designing towards a certain product. Also, the embroiderer used scraps of assorted silks and cottons, a way of being sustainable, really, although in the embroiderer’s case it’s because they were unavailable than anything else. I also like to make use of scrap pieces of fabric and do not agree to throwing them away, because they can be used for something else, somewhere else.

“Second World War period embroidery made by Theresa Stubbs and her daughter Vilma whilst internees in Sime Road Camp, Singapore. Vilma Howe (nee Stubbs) wrote: 'In her captive years at Sime Road Women's Internment Camp Theresa Stubbs sewed this table centre and had some of her fellow-internees sign it. She then made her daughter Vilma embroider the signatures for preservation. This piece of Sime Road memory was discovered among her belongings by her children after her death.' 'Theresa Stubbs and her children, Vilma, Maria and Nelson were interned in Sime Road Women's Camp (Nelson was actually born in Sime Road). Her husband Hugh and her older son Reginald were in Sime Road Men's camp.'”

I guess what’s similar between her work and my own is the working on a white background. Although I do not always work on white, I find myself doing so quite often.  I also often use straight stitches in my hand embroidery too. Writing and fonts using embroidery I something I have considered but not yet had a real chance or reason to do so.

 References:

Imperial War Museum Photographer (1968). The Overloard Embroidery. [Photograph]. , retrieved from http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205131483

Francis, G.A. (1944). Embroidered head rest cover (‘Dig for victory’). [Embroidery]. , retrieved from http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30084548.

Stubbs, T. (n.d.). Table centre, embroidered. Sime Road Camp, Far East Civilian Internee. [Embroidery]. , retrieved from http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30089738.

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A beautiful scenery. I can imagine recreating the lights with golden glass beads and coral embroidery threads underneath on electric blue silk organza.

The Red Square, Moscow (by A-PA)

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Exhibition Review - Thought positions in sculpture

At the Huddersfield Art Gallery, the Thought Positions in Sculpture exhibition was a strange new experience for me. At first I did not understand what and where exactly the art was, nothing there really belonged to that ‘pretty’ or ‘beatiful’ art category. Each of the pieces was more about the meaning behind it, the long stories they can tell. They meant the beginning of a journey towards Art rather than the end result.

The work that stood out the most to me was a large entrapment of a wooden frame of sort with a structure that looked like both a torture device and a massaging device. Later, I learned it was actually something that lets you swim on air. A swimming machine. Indeed, such a thing exists. Anyhow, it was exhibited there by Lisa Stansbie who was researching patents for swimming machines.

Another work that caught my eye was Jill Townsley’s, which would catch most people’s eyes seeing half empty nail polish bottles displayed on stages in an exhibition. As I mentioned earlier, the exhibition upon first glance is quite a strange collection of things but once you start to understand the story and history behind each sculptural piece things start to make sense. Trownsley collected 100 stones of different shapes and sizes from the riverbed of the River Colne and archived them. After measuring them and putting them into different categories, she painted the rocks in different colours with the nail polish from the cornershop and gave each rock 7 coats.

The history behind Nicola Perren’s work was also quite interesting; the exploration of Ghisha Koenig’s drawings and sculptures which was about people at work. Especially women workers and factory conditions. Female workers were usually given the most mundane jobs at the factory. Counting paper, something we cannot even imagine being a job these days, was an official post at a factory.

The exhibition was, to say the least, an interesting experience as well as an informative one. It also broadened my mind on what art and sculpture is and how defining it may be impossible and that a lot of thoughts and planning go into it.

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If you truly love Nature, you will find beauty everywhere.

Vincent van Gogh (via landscape-photo-graphy)

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Absolutely gorgeous. Reminds me of Games of Thrones costumes.

Krikor Jabotian, Spring 2014 Couture

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How to make things glow with threads - use lots of white and stark contrasts. shades of the same colour fading out.

By Cat Coven on Etsy.

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Amazing. Almost as if it has been painted on. The shading, the tattoos, the leafy background. I love it.

Portrait by Lisa Smirnova.

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Embroidery at its finest. Looks uncomfortable to wear, though.

Elie Saab Haute Couture

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Textile practitioners who engage with Textiles ecology

List three textiles practitioners who engage with Textiles Ecology in your context area [contemporary practitioner/ commercial designer/ designer maker]. Explore similarities and differences to your own ideas or intentions in your practice

Katherine May, quilt and patchwork maker, attempts to tackle the problem of waste in our society, while simultaneously giving meaning and sentimental value to her work. She works with discarded, second hand clothing whose fate may been to be shredded and repurposed, losing all of its initial value, and reinvents them into large quilts through patchwork.

When I first came across Studio Non Sequitur, I thought, “This is it.” It is the embodiment of my goal. After looking some more into it I realised the differences, but it was similar enough to it. A “socially responsible” studio, which is run on a commission-basis, with highly skilled specialist workers who are being not exploited and are paid properly for their hard work. They are also open about the materials they use, the processes they go through and where they come from.

The studio is based in India and run by “Tushar Bhartiya, a fashion designer and experienced creative pattern maker from NIFT, New Delhi and Janne Meier, a self-taught embroidery designer and anthropologist from Denmark with a background in the business of fashion and sustainability.” They are a Source Member of the Ethical Fashion Forum, U.K.

The studio may have more of a place in commercial design than designer maker, since the clients they attract are often businesses rather than individual clients but the business model, I feel, works very well for a designer maker. Designer makers may not work very well with people and let anyone interfere with their designs but some, like myself I suppose, do not dislike allowing others to work on their designs as long as it allows for them to watch over and control the work. In other words, giving orders rather than working with their hands.

Best of all, the workers are given fair living wages and good working conditions where the work ethic is that “quality fashion products tend to be made under better conditions”. So there is a surety that the people who made the clothes you are selling are not being mistreated or harmed under horrendous living and working conditions. Blissfully living in ignorance, unaware that such acts are happening for the sake of your creations is perhaps worse than knowingly causing such things. Ignorance can be fixed by responsibly finding out rather than ignoring the issue and later claiming you ‘did not know’.

Sunayana B Goswami is a London based designer maker who has worked with many big names, such as Laura Ashley, Habitat, Anthropology, etc and was even commissioned by the Queen of England.

The level of detail with both small and large details and high level of craftsmanship with a great variety of stitches and techniques exhibited in her work is amazing. She uses a great balance of colour in her work with matches her natural and floral themes perfectly. It is understandable why Her Majesty would want to commission her work.

What I appreciate most is Goswami’s rejection of fast fashion which has been spreading like a cancer in the industry and outside since the before the information revolution even began. Instead, she creates “one of a kind”, bespoke, handcrafted works which become heirlooms rather than something thrown away once the season is over. Slow fashion is a concept I greatly identify with, partly because of my own, one could call it greed, to not have to repeat the same design twice. Why create the same thing twice when you can innovate something new? After all, I am not studying to become a tailor but a designer.

Also, it is painful to think that the work one spent so much time and effort on would be discarded by the next season because of a trend change. So I aspire to create timeless pieces which would be considered useful works of art, rather than commercialised, easily discarded work.

Now, speaking from an ecologic point of view, frankly, fast fashion is ruining our climate and world. Waste is increasing beyond what the environment can take and the constant demand for new fashion is causing suppliers to resort to less than ethical means to meet those demands.

The only problem I would have with Goswami would unfortunately be her designs. I appreciate her level of skills and knowledge of techniques, but from what I have seen so far, to my taste her designs are rather generic. It may be expected considering how she works florals and nature and perhaps her idea is to reinvent those generic ideas with innovative embroidery techniques and keeping a classic feel to them, but they are just not to my taste. Which is perhaps presumptuous to say, since at this current moment in time I probably could not reproduce anything with the same quality and level of workmanship any of her work has.

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Annotated Bibliography

Jones, D. (2014, April 1). News: How The World Has Changed Since Rana Plaza. Retrieved from Vogue: http://www.vogue.co.uk/news/2014/04/01/bangladesh-rana-plaza-anniversary-fashion-revolution-day

An article written a year after the Rana Plaza incident in remembrance of the victims and how things have changed. Jones speaks of changing attitudes towards the ethics of clothes manufacturing and public figures, like Emma Watson, who are speaking out about the issues to raise awareness among the public about the horrendous working conditions in those factories. This made me look back at the whole incident of the building collapse with a newfound understanding as during the time of the incident I thought it was just a case of bad construction and felt sad for the losses of life and so did not pay much attention to the media coverage.

Pookulangara, S., & Shephard, A. (2013). Slow fashion movement: Understanding consumer perceptions. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 200-206.

The journal explains the slow fashion movement and what exactly it is; sustainability in all aspects of the production and design process as well as local sourcing and maintaining high quality. The journal also goes on to explain the nature of disposable fast fashion and its rapidly changing trends and how detrimental fast fashion is to both society and environment with a study into what people think slow fashion is and how important sustainable fashion is. It was a very informative journal article on the roots of slow fashion and the many different ways of interpreting the term.

Phillips, A. C. (2015, September 21). Retrieved from http://www.greenbiz.com/article/9-benefits-blending-biomimicry-and-built-environment

An interesting article about biomimicry and the benefits of making use of it in built environments. The author mentions several ways of using it and implementing it and how looking back at nature is all it sometimes takes to be innovative. It was an informative article and broadened my views as a designer although it is not so relevant to my own textile practice since I do not engineer fibres or cloths, but it was insightful nonetheless. I hope I get a change to mimic biology someday, since it is so ingenious.

Singer, M. (2015, December 9). The Year in Fashion: Our Industry Has a Sustainability Problem, Here’s How We Solve It. Retrieved from Vogue: http://www.vogue.com/13376872/how-to-fix-fashions-sustainability-problem/

Singer speaks of the new discovery of tiny toxic fibres that come off clothes every time they are washed which can cause vast harm to the planet . The solution to save the fashion industry and the world from doom came to be closed-loop sourcing. Reusing old materials and making new materials out of them to “recapture the fibres”. She also talks about the need for consumers to change their mentalities and what they demand from stores as apparently, it is possible.

The article is informative and interesting to say the least, and actually offers up new, relevant-to-what-I-need/want-to-know information and offers some ways to, if not solve, reduce the problem.

Langdown, A. (2014). Slow fashion as an alternative to mass production:. Social Business, 33-43.

Another journal about the harms of fast fashion and how slow fashion with its focus on all aspects of sustainability and how it can can counteract it and reduce the ethical and environmental issues it has caused. She makes a few case study’s two of which being about wool and fibershed.

Jones, A. (2015, April 7). Retailer touts benefits of bamboo fabric. Retrieved from Chron: http://www.chron.com/neighborhood/bellaire/news/article/Retailer-touts-benefits-of-bamboo-fabric-6184497.php

The article speaks of a rertailer, Cariloohs Bamboo that opened up and ‘touts about benefits of bamboo’ and how it may be better than cotton as it does not require any pesticides or fertilisers. Bamboo does not mold in damp environments and by nature is thermal regulating. It is used in bandages, surgical apparel and bath and hand towels. The article was informative and made me understand why there has been a recent hype about bamboos. Since a lot of harm is caused through the fertilisers and pesticides in cotton production and harvesting, if bamboo can fix those problems, it is welcome to.