Arts Award blog, session 1- making patches

DIARY ENTRY PAGE 

Session 1- fabric painting

session goal- applying previous painting knowledge to a new medium

• what I did-

For this session I used material from a pair of jeans that I bought second hand that hadn't fit me, I then painted them with a base layer of black to give me a flat, blank surface to work on (I found it difficult to paint on the denim before doing this due to the texture) before adding my designs. I took my inspiration for the designs mainly from Pinterest but also from my own ideas and other people's patches that I've seen before. I decided to make patches for this session specifically since they would be able to have a practical use for me after I used them to practice, as well as the fact that a couple of the ones I made were also for an order on my Etsy store :)

• what went well- 

I'm quite happy with how the designs worked out for the larger patches, I think I was able to get a decent amount of detail into them for their size. 

• what didn't go well-

The smaller patches didn't work out as well as the larger ones as I found it a lot harder to add detail without having a smaller detail brush to use, initially I also struggled to paint on the fabric before I applied the base layer of paint but that was resolved quite easily 

• how far was the session goal completed- 

I think the session goal was completed thoroughly here 

• what am I doing next-

making pleats, adding buttons, ribbons and other embellishments to garments I already own 

• what have I learned- 

I've learned that with painting on fabric, its good to have a flat base to start with due to the texture of the fabric and that it's best to keep it on a somewhat larger scale, in order to preserve the detail wanted 

I could really use feedback for my project as I go through the stages, so please feel free to leave comments :)