Sixth Week of Unit X

This week I finally decided what I wanted my finally piece to look like, what format, and what placement should be included on it. As a result, for the final piece I had to quickly plan what I was going to do the next 3 days in order to finish the piece.

The decision for choosing to work with a rectangle piece was from looking at my Friday drawind session where I was challenged to draw a matchstick on a large scale.



I began hand stitching some areas but realised that it would be impossible to do the whole thing by hand within this weeks without me messing up. Therefore, I did some fingerprints by hand and some by the help of the domestic machines.

Hand stitching

With the help of the domestic machine, I was able to work faster and new ideas and techniques developed along the way. An example is that when I was rushing to complete my piece, a lot of thread began gathering when I would forget to chop them off. From this I left it as it was; it linked in with how the base of my material was and also the edges.

Domestic Machine

During this week, there was a tutorial.in this tutorial while I was explain my intention for my final piece. After talking about it, my tutor mentioned that I have been jumping around in this unit a lot and that my work does not seem to be linking clearly due to that. I understood that but now it was too late to make changes.

Friday Drawing Day

Today’s session was extremely helpful. I was able to understand how my final piece would be visually effective. Instead of hanging it as a long piece, I could present it on plinths or boxes. My tutor also mentioned my large scale drawing and how I could co-operate that drawing within my final piece. I’m feeling unsure about this idea because it doesn’t seem like a good link in my head but we’ll have to see by experimenting on the day of setting up at the Federation House for the show!

The back of the piece seemed appealing so I thought about how I could showcase the back and front of my final piece.

Fifth Week of Unit X

Peer Group Presentation

This presentation was yet again about talking through about my work so far. When I was questioned about what form my final pieces would take on, on the spot I said wedding veil. I think this was because of the wedding dresses that was displayed and I instantly though about how I’ve been using white light weight material. After the presentation I dint feel sure about whether I should do a rectangle  wedding veil because materials used for veils are very light and simple. From the Easter break, I was sure to take on the finger prints idea forward. So from this mixture of wedding veil and finger/ hand print didn’t really sound good. I have drawn designs but they do not seem like something you would see on a gown, perhaps a wall hanging.  

Google Images

So I went out and did more research on what materials I would need to print my hand print that would come out clearly and also something that wasn’t to stiff.  

Reflecting back on my sketchbook and where I am at the moment, I realised that my references weren’t really being acknowledged much. 

Friday Drawing

This Friday drawing I think was not at all beneficial for me because all we did was cover white paper with a black oil bar and cover a black piece of paper with a white oil bar. I ended up with three drawing of the same objects which I think was a wasteful time as I could have done this in my own time and instead of doing this under staff surveillance, I could have made my time more efficient by spending it on final piece/pieces.

Fourth Week of Unit X

This week I have been continuing with printing my own hand/ finger print of paper, material etc.

Friday Drawing Day - Matchstick

This drawing session was all about large scale drawing. I feel that this day was really helpful in making me thinking about what size I should be working at is my final piece is going to be a rectangle piece of 1 metre and 80 cm or a square piece which consists of 1 metre by 1 metre.

Sizes of the rectangle and square pieces that my final piece could be on.

Not Relating to TIP

During the Easter holidays this is what I have been getting up to...

30/03/2015 - 17/04/2015

Third Week of Unit X

From all the samples I produced, I felt that I was doing well from; material choice to placement of materials. However, from a one to one tutorial with my designated tutor, I was informed that the sale of my samples were too small. So she suggested that I go away and carry on sampling but on larger scale. And also not be afraid of sewing/ carrying off from the fabric. This would give an understanding on how the whole piece would look like; if it will be bordered, centred, carried on etc. After following her advice, I completely understood where she was coming from. Also the samples looked better.

Cornely Machine Sample

This week I was introduced to the cornely machine. The left image is what my first experimenting sample. From far it looks like the lines on your fingers but when looking closer, you can see the different stiches. The colours used here was simply from what I had access to. After this session, I feel very grateful to the machine because I can now work faster instead hand stitching my samples.

The image on the right was an extermination on how else I could use the technique of the Cornley machine and using found materials. This pieces if PVA glue trapped with cello tape and different shades of blue trapped within it as well. I tried shaping the thread like the cornely usually does. I really like how this turned out but I don’t think I will be carrying this out any further.   

Peer Review

From this week’s peer review, while explaining my work so far, I noticed I kept going off my colour theme. For example this red piece with denim embellished in. My colour pallet throughout my sketchbook consisted of shades of whites and creams and black. So randomly selecting materials didn’t really link my research or idea clearly. So from here, I went out and bought materials that links with my colour pallet.

This is the last week till the Easter break but I am still unsure what my final piece will look like; whether it will be a rectangle or square piece.

Friday Drawing Day - Whitworth Art Gallery

Made from plastic bin bags.

Made by different used jeans.

Moments captured by a phorographer of everyday life.

Most of the art pieces that I captured on my visit to the Whitworth Art Gallery were made from found objects or everyday objects. One installation that took my interest was the above image of coloured triangles. I really like the subtle colours used, the light that came in through the window also played a huge part on how the piece looks. Looking back at my research trip at Blackpool, this piece reminded me of the coloured lights.

Contextual References

Contextual references have immensely helped me gain knowledge on how I can expand on my design developments. These are the chosen artists I chose to participate within my project.

Susie MacMurray

I came across Macmurrays work after attending her talk during the research weeks. The concept of her work amazed me to do the same in mine somehow. Her work is very time consuming therefore I had to think about how I could take that idea of time and putting it in my projects as I had only 3 weeks left. Whether I should draw/plan my designs on paper instead of trying out each one on materiel.

Dagmer Binder

My next references is Binder, the designs and outcomes of each piece created by hand is something that I want to carry out in this project. From my Blackpool visit, the staff working at the illumination centre mention that the pieces are made from hand because they cannot afford to get other companies/ factories to do it. As sad as it sounds, I think it’s a nice touch that I would add to me work if I was to base my work on ‘handmade’ thing

Marit Fujiwara

Fujiwara is my last reference that I used for my colour pallet. After comparing my researched mages, I found that my colour pallet and Fujiwara's pieces somehow matched. I also chose this artist because it looks very complicated to create therefor, I want to challenge myself within a short space of time.

Second Week of Unit X

So this week I have been focusing on making as many samples as I can till the Easter Break. From this I intend to develop my research, designs, and techniques, also think about what my context would be focused on. From the Blackpool visit, I have been attracted to the shapes, surfaces, and colours of the Daleks in the illumination factory. The lights that are created by hand also made me think about how I could posibly include that concept withing my work...

Furthermore into research, I signed on for the Platt hall museum which is a museum close to the university campus. From this visit, I was able to gather more research on something that I have wanted to work on for so long; wedding dresses. Most of the collection was based on the fashion trends from over 80 years ago to this decade. It was fascinating to see the transition in colour as well as the hand embroidery done with hand. From this I am planning to carry out the hand embroidery out onto my developing samples which will hopefully carry onto my final piece/ pieces.

So from this research trip, I have done as many samples I could alongside my Blackpool trip samples.

Blackpool Samples:

Platt Hall Samples:

Hand stitch samples

Sample made from henna.

Intertwined this sample with handprints from above samples by experimenting.

The colour theme that I have going on seems to be very minimal. I think this is because of the wedding gowns that interested me. From past projects, I have worked with a lot of found and everyday materials to create my samples. So, this is something that I will take into consideration throughout my journey in Unit X.

Friday Drawing:

This drawing session was all about zooming into the images we took from our research trips and picking out random key colours and patterns. I found this really helpful because from an image you don't really tend to focus on the tiny details such as different shades of colours used in some areas. from this I was able to take away the obvious patterns and work very finely.