Indo Saracenic Motif Developement
This was a project I submitted for my Year 1 Sem 1 textile design module titled: "Viraćita." Viraċita in Sanskrit means ‘to construct’. I started working on this during my first semester online in August 2021, right in the midst of the COVID-19 chaos which meant I had to work on this project at home in India instead of at college in Singapore.
Viracita is about blending Indo-Saracenic motifs into textiles. I wanted to capture the essence of the traditional style buildings from my home-city Chennai.
Here is the entire process. Starting with my sketchbook and moodboards and then getting into the process of development of the motifs.
Experimenting with new colour dyeing techniques to create Indo Saracenic themed Shibori outcomes
I used orange, yellow and brown dyes on cotton fabric to create these patterns. I primarily used rubber bands to create these effects. I was happy with the geometric square and line effects. I used interesting ways of folding and experimented on different types of cotton cloth and then used green dye for another series of experimentation.
Creating Motifs from photographs of Indo Saracenic buildings in Chennai
I used the senate house as a starting point for inspiration. I particularly liked the geometrical stained-glass pieces and the gothic feel they gave the building. Using the stained-glass circular details, I created my own kaleidoscopic mandala like design.
I started with a stylised brush pen sketch of Chepauk Palace and used it to develop the following motifs.
I used the app Kaleidacam to help me develop fractal symmetry.
I used a reference image of Egmore Railway Station to develop these prints and motifs.
Starting out with a reference image of Madras High Court , I created a single motif which incorporated the onion domes and windows of the High Court.
These were my favourite motifs and ones I wanted to develop further into screenprints.
My assigment was to turn the motifs into prints. For this I used photoshop to create variations of connecting prints and sub motifs so it could either be a digital print or a silkscreen print.
Silkscreen Experiments
Digital prints based on developed patterns
