The Floral Dress

I have chosen the floral dress as my vehicle for a nostalgic journey into my childhood during the 1960s. To remember a time when my dad was a painter and decorator, my mum was the manageress of a fabric shop, and I was surrounded by pattern.

Family photographs support my memory of those happy times and the negatives have long since been forgotten.

I have looked closely at the things that have made me who I am. I am no longer that child in my family photos, because the child I was then is no longer available for comment. I don’t look the same, I don’t think the same, but I can enjoy the same things.

Whether it is the moment itself or the experience we gain, I believe that nostalgia is only possible if the emotions we have now are satisfying or something positive is made from the experience. The past cannot be changed but the way we choose to remember it ultimately makes us who we are today.

My final image has to cover an area of 1m x 2m, so I created 18 dress circles and repeated the pattern. After making the decision to use a commercial printer I was faced with new challenges.

To make myself familiar with the commercial printing requirements I went on to the Internet and searched for commercial printers in my area. This gave me two advantages. I could see which local printer could offer a large format printing service, and also do a price comparison on line.

After phoning several printers and finding their idea of large format was A1, I decided that the more direct approach was needed, so I visited my nearest commercial printer in person. Unfortunately they weren’t able to print in large format, but they suggested a new company that could and even gave me the phone number.

There were a number of questions I needed to ask the printer, first being what weight paper they used at the size I required. One of the printers I spoke to only used 100 gm paper and other another only printed on vinyl.

The next questions were; how long would take and how much would it cost? The printer I chose in the end was local, cost £65 for two 1m x 2m prints in black and white on 120 gm paper and was able to print that day.

I had created my images in Photoshop but all the commercial printers’ websites suggested, I should submit the final image to the printer as a pdf file. I looked in the save options for Photoshop and was able to change the file type to pdf. This done I saved the final image to CDR disc and handed this in to the commercial printer.

The images I got back after 4 hours was just what I wanted. I bought more than I need to save money and time. This project so far has helped me to identify several new skills and although I would have preferred to make an original print for the 3D dress, I adapted my plans to suit the time frame and the facilities available.

After many unsuccessful attempts at acetone transfer using black and white photocopies, I decided to go back to my usual practice of silk screen printing. I designed a collage in Photoshop using family holiday photographs taken during the 1960s on the North Wales coast, and recent photographs of wildflowers taken at the same location.

I wanted to use the collage as a repeat pattern to produce a final piece for my degree show. However whilst processing the collage I ran into a problem. The photographs in the background needed less exposure time on the ultraviolet light box than the photographs did. The attempts at arriving at an exposure time that would reveal all the images were useless and I went home from college frustrated.

After working at home I abandoned the idea of the collage in favour of a pattern I have been working with throughout this third year. The simple dress shapes I had arranged into a circle I used to cut out parts of the family photographs after I had grouped them together. Although this image is simple I feel it combines the memory of childhood holidays with simple dress shapes that combine to create a ‘floral’ pattern.

After making the three 2D dresses I feel that the only way for my ideas to move into the present is to create a 3D adult dress. The finished ‘floral’ pattern I will transfer to patterned paper that I will makeup into a dress, but the problem still remained as to how I will create the pattern on paper.

With three weeks to the degree show and one of those weeks is half term, I have less than two weeks to complete my final piece. The only solution I feel is left to me, is to take my design to a commercial printer and have it printed on a large format printer.

Today I made a discovery. The phrase work smarter not harder was made for people who can have clear thought. I have had jet lag for a week and now have two weeks to finish my final project, so can’t manage a clear thought. I have been working on a ways to transfer photographic prints to paper without using a silkscreen method. I have tried Dylon Image Maker and it is successful but it will cost me a fortune to print on the area I need to work with. So I have turned my attention to acetone transfer. I was told how the transfer process works and I have watched a demonstration on YouTube but I am still having trouble with the amount of acetone I need to apply.The acetone itself presented a problem at first, but after trying four different types of nail varnish remover I asked at the chemist at my local pharmacy. I was told that they store pure acetone in the flammables cupboard in the back of the shop, and could buy two different sizes. So I bought the biggest bottle because I think I’ll need it.After several attempts at transferring the high contrast photocopy onto quality paper I was happy with the results. However the experiments with the lighter Fabriano paper left me dissatisfied with the results.After watching the demonstration on YouTube I changed from using cotton wool balls to kitchen towel to apply the acetone. This worked much better but the photocopy had to be wet again with acetone to remove it from the Fabriano.It was at this point that I realised that I needed to work smarter not harder, and by using an A4 sheet of images I will cover a larger area quicker than using single images. I just have to put the sheets of photographs together now using Photoshop.

One floral dress was interesting but I was always taught that flowers and plants look better in three’s. For the other two dresses I decided to pull apart the more complex pattern of the ‘Floral Dress’ into its simple prints. To make the first print I cut out simple flowers shapes from newsprint and used spray adhesive, to stick them down onto a piece of fabriano paper big enough to cut out the flat dress pattern. Using acrylic paint with 50/50 screen gel, I used a gloss roller and applied the gel/acrylic medium over the flower masks. Whilst the print was still damp, I removed the masks with a pair of tweezers, but I was unhappy to see that the flower masks came off one petal at a time! Then the print was dry I used the previous method to make 2mm MDF dress shapes with tabs to mount the prints onto. The second print was made in the same way, but this time I used a paper mask of the ‘Dress Circle’ on its own. As before I used a daisy trim to enhance the prints and cut out white paper to cover the tabs. Challenges1. Next time I should use less spray adhesive.

Although I have made three 2D childlike dresses I am going to make a fourth. The fourth dress will be a 3D adult dress into which I will include some photographs from my childhood and some recent photographs of flowers taken on the North Wales coast. I want the viewer to see the dresses within the dress, and to connect with my desire to revist the child that made me into the adult I am today.