For my Final Major Project ‘Surface Sheers’, I wanted to celebrate female figures of all shapes and colour. I did this through reflecting skin tones and patterns with yarn combinations and weave structures, as well as creating transparent samples that would show skin through it. I took inspiration from artists such as Joan Semmel and Egon Schiele, both of whom painted skin by exaggerating the colour found in skin tone – such as using larger areas of green, purple or blue tones than aren’t typical of skin colour. I used this idea of layering tones to create a sense of skin in my samples instead of depicting skin as realistically. Through further research, I found artists mixing human forms with crystals, such as sculptor Daniel Arsham. This inspired me to expand my visual research to look at crystals alongside skin. Both the skin and crystals in my research had similar organic patterns that informed my weave structures as well as inspiring me to not stick to obvious repeats in my samples to reflect their organic nature. The crystals I was researching were often also partially transparent so worked well with my theme of sheer fabrics. This meant I could expand on the techniques I was using, so I started weaving lurex in the weft to create a look of sheen on the skin. The idea of relating crystals to skin further celebrates the beauty of each body as they are as unique and precious as crystals. Having this luxury element in my samples mixed with the sheer nature of them reflects how all bodies including imperfections should be shown and celebrated as pieces art rather than covered and disguised.