Part 3 - Development of powerknit samples, construction design and decoration

Part 3's development has focused mainly on the powerknit samples for the lantern. I started working with my own photographs of street culture in South East Asia, converting them in knitdesign to create graphic, jacquard samples.

These samples are for the inside of the lantern, it needs to be as interesting as the outside since people can stand inside it. I wanted to create something that was still as vibrant and exciting as the outside but also something different. The outside was always going to be very textural and 3 dimensional so designing flat, graphic samples would be a good contrast.

6 colours is the most you can have on a jacquard, which makes a thick knitted fabric, which as its a lantern for only decorative purposes that doesn't effect my design. The pop art style thats created after compressing the colours to 6 really works with the aesthetic of the project so far so I'm really pleased with the results.

Starting with The Hungry Ghost Colour Palette

The lantern has been designed to be constructed by 24 individual knitted pieces. I have developed 12 photographs and narrowed down three different colourways for each one. I am considering using one photograph in two different colourways to make up the 24, or to add 12 designs taken from the Hungry Ghost Costume mask I am currently developing.

I have simulated and edited all the images to get a really accurate idea of how the photo will translate onto the knitted textile.

Mixing up a selection of images to see how they look together:

After creating the 3 final colourways I will go on to make a mock up of the inside of the lantern to make sure the colour is balanced across the designs. I need to consider an even spread of graphics and lettering as well as colour balance, along with which image sits well with another.

The Frame:

The frame of the lantern is something that may cause some issues. Due to the size of the lantern I cant find a frame thats already made to work around so my options are making it myself, or finding some help or assistance from someone experienced in metal works.

- See 'Metal Mark' from metal works at NTU.

It needs to be strong, the knitted fabrics will be heavy, especially as they have double sided, as well as the decorative bells and sari sashes.

I have continued to research the idea of having the lantern slowly rotating. Rotating motors can be found reasonably priced and seem easy to get hold of.

- See the curators of the Bonnington gallery for any advice.