Pearl Knit (ANU Nets Project)

In this sample the ridged nature of the string of plastic beads prevents the knitted net from sitting close and flat together as normally occurs when using more traditional threads. Due to this, the net is blown up or spread out and does not form a comfortably wearable fabric.

This ‘spreading out’ means that the sample is far less stable than traditional knitted fabrics. It also creates a more three dimensional knitted piece and allows the net construction to be more clearly seen. This amplification of the structure can be seen as deconstructing the traditional technique, creating something new.

Sample of plastic pearls knitted on size 10 needles

Jellyfish Bag

 

 

Jellyfish Bag

My work Jellyfish Bag is a very ambiguous work. It best demonstrates a deconstruct/reconstruct approach to developing ideas and works to the theme of Nets.

Lovely shadow it creates

Using the technique of knotting, I have used the knot known as the fisherman’s knot to create a bag made out of knitting wool. Inside the bag is a shower cap which has a netted structure cut out of it. The shower cap loses its original function but gains a new function of a hair net.

When the shower cap is place inside the bag, the bag and the shower cap take on a new identity and approach. Together they resemble a jelly fish, the shower caps adds body to the bag, the tassels on the bag act as tentacles and this combined looks like a jellyfish floating around in the water.

Also it brings in a purpose of nets…. to catch things. The bag made with the fisherman’s knot resembles a fishing net. A fishing net is used to catch fish and in this instance has caught a jellyfish.

 

ANU Textiles Nets project.

I was inspired by the Hyperbolic Coral Reef project that was initiated by sisters Margaret and Christine Wertheim.  Their project was to highlight the devastation that global warming and pollution are having on the Great Barrier Reef.

Using crochet as a technique, coral reefs have been made out of a range of materials to illustrate the damage that humans are having on the natural environment.

I have used a combination of twine and coloured yarn.  The twine represents the dying coral and the brightly coloured yarn represents that there is still hope to save the reef.

By crocheting three stitches into one of the previous row the forms grow exponentially larger.  Each form is a different combination of stitches and colours making each piece unique.­­

Coral is in itself a net in nature that filters seawater and provides a haven for sea creatures.

Lace Award – Powerhouse Museum

Nets and lace are closely linked. The Powerhouse Museum is once again running the lace awards 

http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/lace/

As stated on the site: Lace offers a subtle interplay of space, ligth and shadows and the mystery of concealment. … The triennial Award seeks to encourage contemproary work of exceptional visual impact and originality and to challenge conventional notions of lace and its applications.

Concealed textiles & net curtains

Hello to everyone on Netwurks. I’m half way through the MA in Contemporary Applied Arts at the University of Cumbria. My current practical research has many strands but it began with the old northern European practice of concealing worn clothing in the walls of houses to act as protective amulets. At the moment I’m creating box spaces which conceal ragwork amulets (the Victorian past) and on whose lids I am placing latchet hook textiles (the modern era). They are for my own home which was built in 1929 at the cusp of the change from the ’Victorian’ to the modern era. The clean modern textiles conceal (like net curtains) the older primitive hearts of the pieces.

Liz Jeneid

‘This is still growing (slowly) and I plan to add on using a looping technique onto the knitted section – it will be a sieve of some sort. It is made out of paper covered wire.’

Katherine White

‘In the foreground is my work “Riverbook 1″ which is part of the installation in the room including the net/stingray which is on the wall behind. I constructed the net from paper string which I made from paper patterns and green newspaper (the Green Age guide).

It provides a slight sense of threat – as nets are used to catch water creatures, and to throw over the landscape to control it in some way.

Lines of latitude and longitude on a map are like a net in this sense. However the wild water of the river slips through the net. It can’t be contained. So the net also becomes a free swimming stingray.’

Jasmin Owen

‘In this project my aim was to explore nets and their interaction with the natural environment. Comparing man-made forms with natural organic forms.’

Haeli Van Veen

‘I have used netting techniques to create a 3D representation of snowflakes. While travelling through canada, I noticed that while snowflakes are usually portrayed as a 2D form out of paper, but in reality they are quite unique 3D shapes, which I experimented with recreating by trying different netting techniques such as crochet and ma

crame. My finished work is a series of 9 forms in varying shapes and sizes that I have made by reinforcing wrapped string in a network of spherical shapes.’

shiny liu

her lucky mum

‘That’s the first knitting scarf I did. It was a gift I knitted for my mum. I used very big knitting needles and tried to make it airy and elegant. Netting for me, is creating elegant holes on an open fabric. There’s no limit for netting and there are so many ways to approach netting works, I guess that’s why we always go crazy about it.’