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Adele Cook
The most important year of my life so far

This year was my third and final year at University so the feeling of accomplishment was drawing ever closer. I was set three projects over the year and the one I am showing here was the first one I completed as I chose to follow on from the project I won the Bursary with last year.

This project is an evolution from the last focusing on scale and refining my print and dye processes. I enjoyed researching into colour behaviour and I experimenting with over lapping colours to create new ones. I sourced my colours from brightly coloured flowers some of which I have include photographs of on my boards.

Nature plays a large part in my work as it is my inspiration at the start of each project. The two other projects I finished this year focused on Lichens and Mosses that grow on rocks and wood. They were more about working with surface creation rather than a piece of fabric with a pictorial image as I wanted to challenge myself with working with a limited colour pallet mostly brown and green. I learnt from these projects that to refine different shades of one colour can have just as much impact and many colours working together.

Reflection and ‘Money Well Spent’

When I enrolled on my course I was not aware of the cost that my materials would grow to. With the money that was so kindly given to me by your good selves I have used to buy myself items that with last and that I can carry on using in my future carer as a designer, items like a set of six pigment colours that I use for printing. These cost £35 for the six. However you only use quantities like 2-3 drops to mix half a litre. Pots of Binders that you use to mix together the pigments, each one of these is £6 a time and I would use as many as 3-4 pots per project and of course my fabric, some of them would be £20 a metre. To give an idea of my fabric costs for a project I would print up to 100 small samples and a final length of 3 meters or more so as you can imagine this can turn out quite expensive for a student.

The most exciting thing the money has helped me to do is buy my own equipment some of which consist six A3 screens. Small, medium, large squeegees and beakers and pipettes all of which are so important tools to my discipline. To be able to have your own personal equipment as a student is an asset and it has been a great help to me in the university studios when the rest of the students rely on loan equipment.

My Future

Presuming your reading this on the 25th June, I wanted to let you know I graduated my Degree yesterday on the 24th June 08. I got a 2:1 with BA Hons in Textile Design Specialising in Print. 

I have a major design exhibition in London in July called ‘New Designers’ that I am exhibiting in and I am so pleased to let you I am in the midst of setting up my own working print studio.