I wanted to emphasize this piece as being reflective, and I did that on many levels. For the entire weaving process that took time from thanksgiving break all the way to finals week, I took the opportunity to reflect on different aspects of my life while weaving. I am feeling as if a big chapter of my life is closing and another one is coming soon, so this project helped me feel as if this “era” was wrapped up. Now, I have mementos from this time in my life to take forward in life. The first weaving I completed was called “slipping through the cracks”, and to me it represents much of the anxiety and mental health issues I have had over the years.

The next piece I completed was one in which I spent a lot of time on to perfect. I wanted to dive into the more exciting pieces of life such as my adventures and travels in the past. I have always felt a very strong connection with nature, and I feel that comes through in this piece. I called it “the rush” to highlight my love for adrenaline, but also for the chaos that is normal, pre-covid life, especially when travelling.

Finally, I used our dyed pieces and physical images to create a memento that reminds me of my friends, school, and current life. This one, in a way, represents what is on my mind during a normal school year. Because of that, I titled this one “on my mind”.

This project has been really powerful for me in terms of introspection. I have enjoyed taking time to improve my weaving and embroidery skills, and creating mementos and weaving habits that will last a lifetime. This class has been really impactful and transformative for me because I found this connection to a great activity, and I am excited to continue building my skills. This project has made me feel more connected to my past self, and I am grateful for that!

I wanted to create something that was important for me. The design on the jacket is inspired by one of the endgame weapons from Okami, a video game that inspired me as a kid. The pattern grew a lot from the initial in game design; I’ve always had problems with creating abstract things, so I decided to challenge myself by doing this for the final project.

Creating a design that would end up on a body was way more difficult than I expected. When designing and making the design, I couldn’t really envision it on a 3D form as well as I had hoped, which resulted in certain designs being on slightly different parts of the body. For example, I had to extend the arm design because it ended up lower than I expected. Running out of colors early on forced me to mix thread colors, which gave the pattern a different feel when looking at it close up.

It was difficult to imagine where and what to put the swirls at the beginning, and I experimented with different thicknesses of lines by adding lines next to each other, using less thread in my stitches, and doing different types of chain stitches. About halfway through the design in the back, I felt like I had a much better handle of what I was doing. I also really like how the disc ended up, with the darker red thread adding a bit of depth. I even added a bit of weaving to create a thicker effect in the center of the swirls.

Overall, I really like how the jacket ended up. I might add more designs in the future, but I did manage to create the asymmetrical design and feel I was going for.

Materials: Jean jacket (x1), embroidery thread (a lot), felt patch (x1)

I want to put personal weavings that allow me to reflect in each box. Each shadow box will represent a certain time in my life, and I will add to each weaving by including physical objects from those times(Ribbon from my robotics competitions, plane tickets, rocks, jewelry, etc.) to create the final piece. Together, the shadow boxes will tell a representative story that I can use to express myself. Finally, a big part of the magic will be in creating each weaving as I use my time to put energy and passion into each reflective weaving.

1. A full rigid loom project, using brand new techniques to make an abstract landscape 
   1. Specific techniques to learn: 
      1. New knotting techniques
      2. Blending colors 
      3. Different yarns on the rigid loom 
   2. Meaning: 
      1. Ive been practicing manifestation and working on improving my mentality about things through focusing on the good. I would like this project to be a switch from the bleak “Textiles from the Future” project and switch gears to a more hopeful visual and physical piece. 
2. A digital print, building on my illustrator skills to produce a powerful and personal reflective piece
   1. Specific techniques to learn: 
      1. Get better at Illustrator. I want redemption! 
      2. Sketching and transferring the very real things in my life to a 2D plane. 
   2. Meaning: 
      1. I want to use this piece to look inwards and reflect on the physical and metaphysical aspects of my life, combining them into a colorful and bright pattern with energy that reflects who I am. 
3. A big embroidery, with an intricate and personal pattern 
   1. Specific techniques to learn: 
      1. Creating symbols with my embroidery 
      2. More embroidery stitches 
   2. Meaning: 
      1. It would be intriguing to create a textile piece that represents this absolutely weird moment in time. Through a detailed embroidery, I am excited by the idea of building up a representation of life that is captured not by a photo but by a physical textile. 

More inspiration for a creative weaving project:

1. Make a diary shadow box for different phases of your own life(with weavings) – make your own shadow boxes, press flowers, weave lil guys, put fabrics/objects in back as well
2. Make a tech and weaving interaction – something that measures heartbeat?

1. Use the pattern that I am making to make a pair of stays from the time period that I am focusing on in the print?
2. A mourning dress for everything that I am mourning
3. Fabric that has been trannsformed so it is no longer fabric but then used like fabric?

Idea 1: traditional Chinese symbolism/mythology (similar to encoded cloth)

Idea 2: exploring childhood, or specifically, studio ghibli since it had a large impact on me

Idea 3: some other design that I can throw LED/other electronics in, with hidden sensors that do interesting things when poked (eg. moon and fish light up when it gets dark, glowing flowers, space whale)