Textile Sculpture, aka: pattern-making

'Textile Sculpture' is pretentious enough to give me a small eye tick, but 'pattern-making' does not seem to describe the activity or required skill.  You literally make a pattern by lining up candy according to color and deliciousness.   This hardly seems on par or relevant to converting two-dimensional shapes into a three-dimensional object.  Just think of the lavish Halloween costumes your Mom produced for you as a kid (or you phoned-in over the years... impromptu lumberjacks do not count here).

I enjoy patterns.  They are like recipe books for form and, like a recipe, they must deliver on function with bonus points awarded for materials and aesthetics... so, taste, truly.

Depending on the project, the complexity and detail in planning a pattern will vary dramatically.  I am currently working on Hemingway the Coelacanth's head, so I guess this will be the instructional launch point.

Here it is, my pattern, in all its informational glory (sorry):

Now, let me explain what I see when I look at this.  I am looking for planes.  Being an organic form, and stuffed/squishy to boot, almost all of these planes are parabolic.  We are entering into conic section territory so I will keep most of my descriptions to metaphors with sausage or other winsome visual cues.  Okay, so, do you see how the fish is a sausage with some upgraded attachments?

Fantastic and horrifying.  But now you know my deep, dark secret: how can any form be reduced to a tube?  Or something tasty?

But there is a problem because Hemingway's head is the terminating cap of the tube.  Worse yet, there is an inversion for a mouth.  So, now there are edges and points.  This is your visual clue to start looking for shapes with edges/points (polygons) at the end of the hotdog/fish.  As lazy is the wisest starting point, look for the easy polygons, like triangles.  Yes, these triangles will be wrapped/draped, but...tube-food, people.  It is a little tougher to see the triangles in Hemingway's head because of the distinct surface paneling on the species.  So let's imagine he is something more generic:

Better?  Okay, back to Hemingway.  Now, to overcome his reluctance to embrace the triangle, some wonky rectangles/trapezoids/parallelograms will join the party.  All fixed, sans the eyes and mouth (stay on target, Gold Leader).

Now, I have sliced up this poor head into all these small shapes because the textile is constructed in linked stitches (crochet) as opposed to piecing a woven fabric (sewing).  The advantage for knitwear is the ease of expanding and contracting forms: no gussets, pleating, or tailored seaming.  Instead, you add or eliminate stitches to encapsulate space.  Just think about a pig in a blanket.

So, this is the beginning with much more to follow.  Joints and attaching the planes together will be up next.