Progressing throughout this project was really tough juggling between doing my portfolio and denim project. I wish I had more time to do my denim project because the theme really excited me. Looking into the physical process of indigo dying at first did not interest me however once I found my own story looking into the mixing stick and how its passed down in generations my excitement for the research grew. 

Experimenting with denim I mostly made sculptures and did weaving inspired by the shapes of the mixing stick wrapping denim over and over each other until I had these heavy chunky sticks. The reaction from peers was really positive which fuelled my progression to keep in the lines of this project research. I also want to constantly broaden my knowledge on materials so in this project I had a go playing around with latex (linking to the indigo mixture) involving colour and beads for extra texture. To improve I think I could have explored latex and other materials which would have imitated the indigo mixture better.

• Filming this piece with my knitted denim sleeves was actually really heavy and became hard work. In a way reminding me of how much work it is to mix indigo dye using their huge wooden mixing stick.
• With the knitted sleeves being relatively tight to my own arms you could really see how my own arms are moving and the structure at the end of my hands add a unique silhouette.

Planning to create my own performance art I found Yayoi Kusama's work really inspiring showing her journey throughout New York and how she faced the challenges of a contrasting culture. When filming my own performance art I will take stills from my films which show a unique silhouette and the movements of my garment on the body.

After doing lots of experiments draping my denim stick onto the body and continuing an interest in performance art I thought Rebecca Horns Body extensions work was really relative as long structures are attached to the end of her fingers. Allowing for your mind to imagine what the textures feels like at the end of the stick. When doing design development I looked back at the draping I did with the stick and thought of how the "body could become the stick" , the body becomes this important piece of equipment the indigo dyers need to work. 

Experimenting with the material latex; the way the colours mix and the texture of the beads looks I was excited to mix these experiments with denim and my denim mixing stick. 

Using the submerged denim yarn I arm knitted and started poking my denim stick through the holes. Allowing for some soft structure to be added to the harshness of the denim stick. I also think that a knitted fabric if knitted tightly out of denim would be really heavy and a weight/burden on your body.

Using my denim mixing stick I watched the video back and imitated the movements of the indigo dye workers. The nail polish in particular in the mixture clung to the denim adding spots of colour. These patches of colour looks like the dripping textured indigo dye in my primary research imagery.

A mixture created using nail polish, flour, sweets, ink, curry powder etc. This mixture created some really unique patterns with intense contrasting colours. 

This image really stuck in my head during primary research. This heavy burden of wet cloth this indigo worker has represents  the struggles traditional indigo workers are going through to keep up as mass production of indigo for jeans rises. 

The Boko Haram Insurgency is a religious conflict in Nigeria which is still on-going. “The insurgency took place within the context of long-standing issues of religious violence between Nigeria's Muslim and Christian communities. Boko Haram has been called the world's deadliest terrorist group” This has caused a loss of tourism for the Kofar Mata dye pit and also a loss of jobs/income for indigo dyers.

The mixing stick seems a really important element of creating the indigo mixture. Especially how it juts out in different directions at the end and passed down in generations within the family. I am excited to have a go making my own stick using denim to see if I can create a similar silhouette.

Three ingredients are mixed together for a whole week before being ready to use as indigo. These three ingredients are Ash, Indigo and Potash. I was interested in the way all of these  ingredients are mixed together firstly creating a brightly coloured marbled effect to a very deep dark shade of blue. These colours could be an inspiration for colour palette as I do not particularly want to make a fully shades of blue denim piece instead I think it would be more experimental to play around with colour on denim.

Heavy weight strands of wool dyed in a variety of indigo shades. Exploring the different shade ranges of denim and a possible colour scheme.

The Kofar Mata Dye pit is around 2 hours away from Nigeria and is one of the largest indigo dying centres in Africa. However previously having 150 visitors to the pit a week now it will only be 10-15. This is due to the Boko Haram insurgency who started an armed rebellion against the Nigerian Government. Now less and less people also work at the Dye pit creating a sharp fall of production in the industry. The workers are also battling against the synthetic indigo dying process which is becoming more popular due to its mass production and how much less it fades in the sun.