Caro Blount-Shah

Work by Caro Blount-Shah inspired by Bradford College Textile collections

"For the Pick and Mix exhibition I have made colour-palette-inspired pendants and earrings, and silk samples printed using cyanotype methods. The jewellery has bands of coloured enamel set into silver. The pendants use the idea of graduated colour shades from the Textile Archive’s fascinating collection of trend prediction publications.

colour palette samples (Summer and Winter) issued by the Nuances Couture Soie, of ParisThe Archive holds 30 years of colour palette samples (Summer and Winter) for each of the years from 1951 – 81, issued by the Nuances Couture Soie, of Paris.

One of the colours from the suite of blues in the Winter 1958-59 shade card, was entitled Email which translates as Enamel. Blue was one of the most common colours for kitchen enamelware (colander, pie dishes and a flour bin), which I remember from my childhood. I still use the flour bin.

My background as an artist includes working in design and print, so I have selected colour palettes in the archive to compare to the Pantone colour system used by graphic designers. I’ve been doing sun prints and cyanotype prints as a technique to introduce photography to groups of learners for several years. There is a wide range of blue shades which can be achieved in the cyanotype process."