Preamble
For you convenience I have listed below other posts in this series which were sourced from the book - The Pattern Base [1]:
The Pattern Base by Kristi O'Meara - Book Review
The Art of Lorenzo Nanni
The Geometric Abstract Designs of Kristi O'Meara
Representational Designs of Kristi O'Meara
Geometric Patterns Designed by Patrick Morissey and Jasmin Elisa Guerrero
Fabric Swatches - Part I
Hannah Truran
Fabric Swatches - Part II
Fabric Swatches - Part III
Fabric Swatches - Part IV
Abby Thomas
Charlotte Linton
Charlotte Linton [1]
Charlotte Linton is a London-based designer and illustrator. Born in Rochford, Essex, in the UK, she studied Fashion Print at Central Saint Martins in London and was awarded a Masters in Printed Textiles from The Royal College of Art, London. In 2009, she launched the Charlotte Linton scarf label and has produced seasonal collections that draw inspiration from different global locations.
Charlotte Linton.
Linton's work has developed around the aesthetic and material potential of digitally printed textiles. She considers how such a medium can function as a carrier of content related to the roots of culture in geographically specific traditions, and in people's relationships to the flora and fauna that surround them. Each scarf has a strong visual identity that is largely illustrative, colorful and suggestive of an on-going narrative. They are designed using a combination of hand-drawn and painted illustrations, and feature digital media techniques.
A Charlotte Linton scarf.
As a child, Linton had a keen interest in archaeology, ethnography, and zoology. She created her fictional muse, Ermantrude, to collect research and take field notes on her travels across continents. Her Ermantrude's Travels documents these zoological expeditions with imagery that often finds its way back into her scarf designs.
Some motifs that feature on her scarf designs.
Some motifs that feature on her scarf designs.
Since graduating, Linton has been a semi-finalist with Fashion Fringe, London, and has worked with designers such as Paul Smith, Hussein Chalayan and Chloe. Alongside her scarf collections, she has produced a number of seasonal clothing and accessories for US retailer Anthropologie, under the label Zoologist by Charlotte Linto. Her work has been featured in such publications as L'Officiel (Paris), The Times, Design Bureau, Arise magazine - just to name a few! Her work has appeared on websites such as vogue.com, refinery29.com, dailycandy.com and coolhunting.com.
Some motifs that feature on her scarf designs.
Some motifs that feature on her scarf designs.
Some motifs that feature on her scarf designs.
Some motifs that feature on her scarf designs.
A fashionable scarf.
Reference:
[1] The Pattern Base, Kristi O'Meara (Ed. A. Keiffer) Thames & Hudson (2015).
Preamble
For your convenience I have listed all the posts in this series below:
Diversity of African Textiles
African Textiles: West Africa
Stripweaves (West Africa) - Part I
Stripweaves (West Africa) - Part II
Stripweaves (West Africa) - Part III
Stripweaves (West Africa) - Part IV
Djerma Weaving of Niger and Burkina-Faso
Woolen Stripweaves of the Niger Bend
Nigerian Horizontal - Loom Weaving
Yoruba Lace Weave
Nigerian Women's Vertical Looms
The Supplementary Weft Cloths of Ijebu-Ode and Akwete
African Tie and Dye
Tie and Dye of the Dida, Ivory Coast
African Stitch Resist
Yoruba Stitch Resist
Yoruba: Machine-Stitched Resist Indigo-Dyed Cloth
Yoruba and Baulé Warp Ikat
Nigerian Starch-Resist (by hand)
Stencilled Starch-Resist
Wax Resist
Mali Mud Cloths
Adinkra Stamped Cloths of Ghana
Adinkra Stamped Cloths of Ghana [1]
In Ghana, as in many parts of Africa, funerals have great symbolic value and mourners dress in dark, sombre colors. In the village of Ntonso, close to Bonwire (the center of Ashanti weaving) and the great market town of Kumasi, specially commissioned robes of adinkra hand-printed cloth that are traditionally associated with mourning are made. Elderly men print motifs such as the fern or the moon, each of which has a proverbial meaning, on to Chinese mill cloth with stamps carved out of a calabash gourd. Adinkra cloths made for funerals and mourning are overdyed red or black, but others retain their white background and are worn at festive occasions. Those who cannot afford a new adinkra cloth will dye an old, brightly colored kente cloth a sombre hue in an infusion of the bark of the badee tree.
Young Fante women from the Gold Coast wearing country-made cloths. The woman sitting in the middle at the front is dressed in an adinkra calabash printed cloth.
Stamps carved from from calabash shells for printing adinkra cloth.
More stamps carved from from calabash shells for printing adinkra cloth.
The design motifs for adinkra are carved into the hard outer surface of sections of calabash. The handle is made by pressing four raphia-palm splints into its soft inner skin and drawing their ends together with a cloth rag. The printer draws out a grid on the 2.7 x 3.6 meters (3 x 4 yards) mill cloth with a bamboo splint dipped into a thick dark goo that is obtained by boiling down badee tree root bark mixed with iron slag. He then applies rows of a different set of design motifs to each square of the grid by repeatedly rolling one of the slightly curved stamps within the area. Sometimes he may decorate alternate squares with parallel lines by drawing a small bamboo comb across them. In one day each worker can complete about two cloths, which are then hung out overnight to catch the dew. Nowadays the rows of printed squares on adinkra cloths are divided by longitudinal lines using a type of faggoting stitch in red, black, yellow and green.
Detail of an adinkra cloth made at the village of Ntonso, Ghana, printed with calabash stamps with the moon motif.
Early 20th Century Ashanti adinkra cloth with allegorical motifs printed within a black, stripwoven grid.
Adinkra cloth from Ghana. The cloth has been divided into squares, each of which has been filled with prints of one allegorcal motif.
Reference:
[1] J. Gillow, African Textiles, Thames & Hudson Ltd, London (2003).
Preamble
This is the fifty-fourth post in a new Art Resource series that specifically focuses on techniques used in creating artworks. For your convenience I have listed all the posts in this new series below:
Drawing Art
Painting Art - Part I
Painting Art - Part II
Painting Art - Part III
Painting Art - Part IV
Painting Art - Part V
Painting Art - Part VI
Home-Made Painting Art Materials
Quality in Ready-Made Artists' Supplies - Part I
Quality in Ready-Made Artists' Supplies - Part II
Quality in Ready-Made Artists' Supplies - Part III
Historical Notes on Art - Part I
Historical Notes on Art - Part II
Historical Notes on Art - Part III
Historical Notes on Art - Part IV
Historical Notes on Art - Part V
Tempera Painting
Oil Painting - Part I
Oil Painting - Part II
Oil Painting - Part III
Oil Painting - Part IV
Oil Painting - Part V
Oil Painting - Part VI
Pigments
Classification of Pigments - Part I
Classification of Pigments - Part II
Classification of Pigments - Part III
Pigments for Oil Painting
Pigments for Water Color
Pigments for Tempera Painting
Pigments for Pastel
Japanese Pigments
Pigments for Fresco Painting - Part I
Pigments for Fresco Painting - Part II
Selected Fresco Palette for Permanent Frescoes
Properties of Pigments in Common Use
Blue Pigments - Part I
Blue Pigments - Part II
Blue Pigments - Part III
Green Pigments - Part I
Green Pigments - Part II
Red Pigments - Part I
Red Pigments - Part II
Yellow Pigments - Part I
Yellow Pigments - Part II
Brown and Violet Pigments
Black Pigments
White Pigments - Part I
White Pigments - Part II
White Pigments - Part III
Inert Pigments
Permanence of Pigments: New Pigments - Part I
Permanence of Pigments: New Pigments - Part II
Limited or Restricted Palettes
Testing of Pigments - Part I
There have been another one hundred and thirteen posts in a previous Art Resource series that have focused on the following topics:
(i) Units used in dyeing and printing of fabrics;
(ii) Occupational, health & safety issues in an art studio;
(iii) Color theories and color schemes;
(iv) Optical properties of fiber materials;
(v) General properties of fiber polymers and fibers - Part I to Part V;
(vi) Protein fibers;
(vii) Natural and man-made cellulosic fibers;
(viii) Fiber blends and melt spun fibers;
(ix) Fabric construction;
(x) Techniques and woven fibers;
(xi) Basic and figured weaves;
(xii) Pile, woven and knot pile fabrics;
(xiii) Durable press and wash-and-wear finishes;
(xvi) Classification of dyes and dye blends;
(xv) The general theory of printing.
To access any of the above resources, please click on the following link - Units Used in Dyeing and Printing of Fabrics. This link will highlight all of the one hundred and thirteen posts in the previous a are eight data bases on this blogspot, namely, the Glossary of Cultural and Architectural Terms, Timelines of Fabrics, Dyes and Other Stuff, A Fashion Data Base, the Glossary of Colors, Dyes, Inks, Pigments and Resins, the Glossary of Fabrics, Fibers, Finishes, Garments and Yarns, Glossary of Art, Artists, Art Motifs and Art Movements, Glossary of Paper, Photography, Printing, Prints and Publication Terms and the Glossary of Scientific Terms. All data bases in the future will be updated from time-to-time.
If you find any post on this blog site useful, you can save it or copy and paste it into your own "Word" document for your future reference. For example, Safari allows you to save a post (e.g. click on "File", click on "Print" and release, click on "PDF" and then click on "Save As" and release - and a PDF should appear where you have stored it). Safari also allows you to mail a post to a friend (click on "File", and then point cursor to "Mail Contents On This Page" and release). Either way, this or other posts on this site may be a useful Art Resource for you.
The new Art Resource series will be the first post in each calendar month. Remember - these Art Resource posts span information that will be useful for a home hobbyist to that required by a final year University Fine-Art student and so undoubtedly, some parts of any Art Resource post may appear far too technical for your needs (skip those mind boggling parts) and in other parts, it may be too simplistic with respect to your level of knowledge (ditto the skip). The trade-off between these two extremes will mean that Art Resource posts will be hopefully useful in parts to most, but unfortunately may not be satisfying to all!
Testing of Pigments - Part I [1]
Paint manufacturers and other industrial consumers subject their pigments to certain routine examinations and tests, the simplest of which are noted here and described rather fully. They may be further simplified under certain circumstances.
It must be understood that positive, accurate data from tests can be secured only by experienced technicians; also that modern industrial requirements often call for more accuracy in tests and more elaborate equipment than can be obtained by these simpler methods.
As a matter of routine, a record of all tests should be preserved in a notebook in full detail.
Color Rub-Outs. A weighted amount of the standard pigment is placed on a slab of plate glass or smooth stone, and sufficient linseed oil is added to produce a stiff paste when rubbed with a steel spatula or palette knife. The oil is added drop by drop, the number of drops being noted. Care is taken to gather the paste neatly into a small area of the slab, and to rub not more than is necessary to secure a smooth uniform paste. The paste is then rubbed with a glass muller, using a uniform, slight pressure and a back-and-forth, somewhat circular motion, the idea being to grind over the entire amount of the paste with each complete rub as much as possible, rather than to spread it over the slab. After twenty-five rubs, the paste is scraped from the muller and slab, gathered into a pile, and given twenty-five more rubs.
Using the new sample, the procedure is repeated, the same amount of oil being added regardless of consistency. The two rubouts are spread on a strip of thin, clear glass, their edges just touching each other, and are viewed by daylight. A good many variations of this procedure, as adopted by various chemists as well as more complex tests can be found in Gardner's book (Paint Testing Manual; Physical and Chemical Examination of Paints, Varnishes, Lacquers and Colors, H.A Gardner and G.G. Sward, Bethesdam Maryland, Gardner Laboratory 12th Edition (1962)).
Three flat bottom glass mullers for making paint mineral pigment, by grinding the pestle with frosted glass plate for DIY oil.
Note: Pigments for use in water or varnish mediums, etc., may be tested by rubbing them in those mediums instead of oil.
Strength (Tinctorial Power). One-tenth of a gram of the pigment is rubbed up with two grams of a standard pure zinc oxide, as described above. For the very powerful colors (e.g., phthalocyanine blue and blacks - the proportion is 50 to 1 instead of 20 to 1).
Phthalocyanine Blue.
Phthalocyanine Black.
For testing whites and pale yellows a standard phthalocyanine blue is used. The figures above are merely given as a guide and are varied according to the requirements and preferences of the user. The reductions should be enough to disclose all the tone qualities and to allow slight differences in strength to be easily perceptible, but they should not be carried to the point where weaker colors became too pale that an estimate of their relative strengths is difficult. Strength rub-outs are always thoroughly mulled, and if there is any streaking they are given further mulling until the color is uniform and thoroughly developed.
Primary Phthalo Blue Color Palette.
Phthalocyanine blue is a permanent pigment which is unaffected by light, heat, and chemicals. It is used as a colorant in inks, enamels, plastics, paints, chalks, leather, pencils, and photographs. In industry, phthalocyanine blue has replaced all other blue pigments for use in coatings because it is lightfast as well as resistant to chemicals and clumping.
Note: The use of flake white and other compounds which contain lead has been given considerable attention; most published discussions include warnings regarding their toxic effects. These materials may be handled with perfect safety if the hands and fingernails are well cleaned after using them, and if one is careful not to breathe or swallow dust. Lead is a cumulative poison; that is, if small amounts are absorbed into the human body there is not an apparent effect; the toxic effect is built up over time by added quantities. Workers in factories which produce these products, and house painters who use them, do not contract lead poisoning if conditions are such as to permit the usual precautions. White lead is only poisonous if swallowed or inhaled; on the whole some claim its hazard has been exaggerated. Ordinarily artists use flake white only as an oil color. It should never be handled in dry powder form.
I taught all my students to be overly safe than sorry. Hence, when I deal with potentially hazardess chemicals I make sure my eyes, nose and mouth are covered with a face mask, wear rubber gloves, a laboratory coat and moreover, that I do my artwork in a well ventilated studio or room. In fact, my studio contains a bathroom/shower, where I can shower and/or wash my hands, if I need to because of a spillage. Once I finish my artwork for the day, I always wash my hands in order for me to enjoy the rest of the evening at home.
Reference:
[1] The Artist's Handbook of Materials and Techniques, R. Mayer (ed. E. Smith) 4th Edition, Faber and Faber, London (1981).
Charlotte Linton.
A Charlotte Linton scarf.
Some motifs that feature on her scarf designs.
Some motifs that feature on her scarf designs.
Some motifs that feature on her scarf designs.
Some motifs that feature on her scarf designs.
Some motifs that feature on her scarf designs.
Some motifs that feature on her scarf designs.
A fashionable scarf.
