One floral dress was interesting but I was always taught that flowers and plants look better in three’s. For the other two dresses I decided to pull apart the more complex pattern of the ‘Floral Dress’ into its simple prints. To make the first print I cut out simple flowers shapes from newsprint and used spray adhesive, to stick them down onto a piece of fabriano paper big enough to cut out the flat dress pattern. Using acrylic paint with 50/50 screen gel, I used a gloss roller and applied the gel/acrylic medium over the flower masks. Whilst the print was still damp, I removed the masks with a pair of tweezers, but I was unhappy to see that the flower masks came off one petal at a time! Then the print was dry I used the previous method to make 2mm MDF dress shapes with tabs to mount the prints onto. The second print was made in the same way, but this time I used a paper mask of the ‘Dress Circle’ on its own. As before I used a daisy trim to enhance the prints and cut out white paper to cover the tabs. Challenges1. Next time I should use less spray adhesive.
Although I have made three 2D childlike dresses I am going to make a fourth. The fourth dress will be a 3D adult dress into which I will include some photographs from my childhood and some recent photographs of flowers taken on the North Wales coast. I want the viewer to see the dresses within the dress, and to connect with my desire to revist the child that made me into the adult I am today.
