Textile:I've decided to use these journal posts to bring all the elements of one branch of investigation together to keep it coherent and not seem all over the place.I have a strong textile background and have resisted working in textiles for a long time before starting this course due to bad critique experiences and my own self depreciation.It feels natural to me to work in fibre. The touch is comforting and the techniques are often repetitive and meditative. This is a strong presence in my work looking at routines and the mundane every day, the things that get overlooked.I've been considering how touch can evoke emotion for the contextual study and realised that for me touch plays a big part in self-soothing stress and also helping to understand how things work or are made, babies touch everything! Yet the arts tend to forbode touch, and this is something I am looking to consider in my work. Textile Artist Maxine Bristow talks about touch and how we interact with fabric in public places such as buses and trains.

http://www.maxinebristow.com/

Rug making is full of touch and normally trodden on in bare feet. Rugs have also been used to adore walls and demarcate areas. The process of Latchwork is a simple pull-through know made using a hook and canvas.Below the back can be seen, its relatively straight lines and the top is more chaotic. I am considering how this would work on a large scale where the height of the pile can be changed and the textures would highlight the geometric structure further.I also used crossstitch, and punch stitch to explore how these geometric can translate in to stitch. I found them frustrating. I longed for density in these pieces either by layering transparent fabric over each other or by building up textures and stitch density. There is a long way to go with the textile aspect of this exploration.