Having just gone on a recent trip home it was the perfect opportunity to go and route through my big box of fashion and textile books. I always forget how many I actually have. Some (like the career ones) won't come in handy like they did in college. But some of the books I own (like the designer, picture and printing books) I know I will go to again and again to build up my knowledge. Three of the books that I have used throughout University, and mainly for my dissertation, I wanted to share and point out what they include and what's good about them. All three combined together have a wealth of know,edge within the pages and have helped me so much along the way and still continue to. Just this weekend reading through them I picked up things I forgot about, like hoe this or that dye works and what this process does to fabric.
So, which is what and what do they do?
1. The Complete Guide to Designing and Printing - by Laurie Wisbrun
Includes:
- Interviews with professionals
- How to develop collections
- Developing your market plan ~ your vision
~ your objectives.
~ your brand personality
~ what are you selling and who to
- Trade shows ~ developing your budget
~ what shows to go to and general advice
- How to build moodboards
- Various different patterns
- Building colour palettes
- Legal considerations
- Explains Photoshop filters
- How to create block, half drop and straight repeatson Photoshop and Illustrstor
- Explains textile dyes and inks
- Small amount of detail on types of fabrics
- Explains dying fabric ~ resist and vat dying
- Hand printing ~ block and stencil
- Screen and digital printing process
2. Printed Textile Design - by Amanda Briggs-Goode
Includes:
- How to understand a design brief and how answer that brief alongside how to brainstorm
- How to categorise prints from geometric to floral etc
- Explains the variety of printing methods ~ resist printing
~ woodblock printing
~ copperplate printing
~ engraved roller printing
~ screen printing
~ heat transfer printing
~ digital inkjet printing
- Understanding the textile market
- Trend predictions and trade shows
- Design fundamentals like ~ drawing
~ colour theory
~ the various repeats from half drop to mirror
- Creating a motif block repeat in Photoshop
- Block repeat using offet filter
- Creating half drop repeats
- Developing your drawings through composition, scale and filters
- Discusses stencil printing, paper stencils, photographic stencils, relief printing, transfer printing, direct and indirect transfer printing, collagraph printing, digital printing, mono printing, reactive mono printing, direct and indirect mono printing
- Surface manipulation and visualisation
- Colour seperations for screen printing
- Manufacturing methods and materials
- Talks of fabrics like ~ silk
~ wool
~ cotton
~ linen
~ synthetic and man made
- Dyes and pigments
- Discusses digital printing and screen printing
- Sustainability
- Discusses freelancing, design studios, textile manufacturers, textile converters, garment suppliers, contract furnishings
- Designer case studies
- Becoming a printed textile designer ~ having a website
~ digital portfolio
- how to present your CV
- Selling designs
3. Digital Textile Printing - by Melanie Bowles and Ceri Isaac
Includes:
- Discusses digital, inkjet, sublimation and other styles of printing
- Advantages and disadvantages of digital printing
- Digital printing technology
- Discusses drawing, using a graphic tablet and photography
- Tutorials in using Photoshop filters, creating complex colour blends, building floral motifs, engineered prints, photomontage, sequin effect, building a brush palette, creating a colour palette
- Repeat tutorials in Photoshop and Illustrstor from basic block(with offset filter), half drop and half drop motif
- Creating gingham, stripes and plaid patterns
- Pen mapping tool
- Line drawing
- Creating graphic silhouettes
- Discusses Devore, foiling, flocking
- Designer case studies
