27.05.11 Printing and Glass

Back to print with my teabags having thoughts of words that I connect to my home.

I was really pleased with the result, it's a really strong, bold image that describes how I feel about my home and involving materials from my home. The image has an interesting structure not unlike the building blocks of a house with the repetitive shapes creating a restful overall image. I've used soft colours as these are my palette and I like the mix of colours which feel as if they represent the feelings and moods I have about my subject. The pink is something I was drawn to as it was fun and actually it lifts the rest of the colours just like the emotions that I've connected it to , so it completes rather than fractures the palette.

I chose the type rather than my writing as I wanted it to feel almost like a recipe , an instruction of ingredients put together to make my home. I kept the type small so that you'd have to enter the image's intimate space in order to receive the information , this enables you to see that the coloured squares are in fact printed teabags. This feels a bit like my friends and family knowing me within my home , they are a step closer to me and so are able to see the detail of both myself and my home.

The changes in colour and the addition of text creates a flow around the image which is accentuated by the space which itself creates a rest.

This looks to simple and in many ways it is but the route to it has been a complex journey through all sorts of images, emotions, and ideas which have led me to this point. I'd like to explore this idea further and see where it takes me next and I'd also like to look at smaller groups of teabag prints to see whether they become stronger in their simplicity or not. As a start I've cropped my image in different combinations to get a feel for this.

I love playing with this, it ticks all my boxes - it just says 'Home' to me.

I also collected my piece of glass which had to be re-fired as the first firing hadn't fused it. There are still a few problems , it has fused but I've lost some clarity maybe due to the double firing and there are several cracks within the piece. There is also a problem with some of the glass frits that I used which were supposed to be a soft blue but have somehow come out red - not great but oddly look like tea leaves.

The layers have worked well and feel like the layers of my home and although the colour elements are not as harmonious as I'd hoped, I like the overall quality of the glass , the transparency that allows you to see through those layers and beyond.
Unfortunately I can't afford to make another piece as the glass is quite expensive but the more I look at it the more areas I see of interest and different possibilities are becoming apparent.

a close up through the glass

and from the other side

I took this close up of my daughter looking though at me and I think this is where my interest lies , with the view through the clear patch with the colour and movement around it. Is it looking in to my perception of home or out ?, I suspect into home but we'll see.

I need to see what images I can get with this when I've got some better light, and see where they take me. As for the red glass where it shouldn't be , I'm learning to live with it which is a bit like life and so home , there are always elements you wouldn't have chosen but actually work very well - serendipity.