I have had much debate on what to do regarding diagnosing into fashion or textiles these past few weeks. Initially thinking after progress tutorials I would choose textiles and relate this back to fashion however after doing the public art brief I loved the design process we went through and overall project; working on the body again after creating so many textile samples was refreshing and reminded me how much I missed creating clothes. With this dilemma I talked to Sarah Gresty at the open day who said textiles would not limit you getting onto a Fashion Ba as long as you continue to relate your samples back to the body. With this in mind I have decided to stick with advice from tutors; going into the textiles pathway and relating fashion into my work by continuing to work on the body, creating fashion development sheets and looking into silhouette-something I particularly love and want to explore further.

Today I wanted to finish the sketchbook of research for the culture swap project this way I had time over the weekend to do my presentation boards. This didn't particularly go to plan even though I worked the whole day I still have 4 pages left to do. Hopefully over the weekend I can catch up with these 4 pages ready for assessment on Monday. However I would prefer for the pages to look good and be purposeful for my research instead of rushed.

Today I had the BA talk for Fashion at Kings Cross. We had a tour of the studios and got introduced to all the facilities the uni offers. This talk was so much better than last years talks because it was much more detailed and everything especially the set up was explained better. I especially enjoyed looking at the print rooms which were huge and are important to me as I have an interest in applying for print for the BA. During the talk it was made clear how important enthusiasm has to be at the interviews with your work and how its not about where you came from or what you can do its all about your ideas. This was really exciting and inspiring to hear and excited me; Now I just want to get in even more!! After the talk we waited to speak to Sarah Gresty the BA course leader to ask whether choosing the textiles pathway at Foundation would limit me on getting onto a fashion degree especially as I would not be getting development boards put on our brief something I would have to do off my own back. Sarah said that is does not limit you at all as long as you have a fashion drive behind your work for example putting samples onto the body as it still shows where you could take your samples in the future.

For this tactile structures project designers and artists which influenced my work includes the likes of John Stezaker for his use of collage in a surrealist way which  creates a new world or utopia. Another artists which I enjoyed was SebPatanefor his strong use of ink a material I am actually scared to use. I do wish I used this material more in this project however for part 2 I will force myself to get more familiar with ink. Peter Chadwick's book "This Brutal World" was also a very obvious influence for my understanding of brutalist architecture; allowing me to see architecture from all over the world of different eras.

 I managed to gain primary research through drawing from visiting my Brutalist Architecture building called Alexandra and Ainsworth Estate. I made sure when looking at the building and taking photographs that I was looking high and low: zooming into details of the concrete or the shadows it creates. These drawings influenced the mark making I then added onto my textile samples using a post paint pen marking out silhouettes. I also looked at repeated patterns in the drawings to be added to my textile samples, this is where I noticed how disruptions in the patterns were created from satellites, rubbish and planters. This interested me because I imagined layering the disruptions over patterns with my drawings either using acetate or collage to do so. 

At the middle of this project I was stuck; my image manipulations were un-successful and I felt I had no direction of where to go with my textile samples. To help solve this problem I firstly looked back over my research reminding my self with areas of interest and tactile qualities which I could re-create onto my textile samples. I then decided to take a step back and have another go at image manipulation from our workshop yesterday. This technique of going back over my work really helped and is something I should remember to do In the future if I get stuck.

In this project I developed many technical skills; firstly we did a workshop on image manipulation and how with a single image you can create a whole narrative. I also attended a stitch workshop where we learnt to use the machine for mark making and how to use the weaving machine. Due to my hand stitch mark making squares not being very exciting or eye catching compared to my peers I decided to create some more mark making squares using the machine instead. These were much more exciting and inspiring samples for me to use. The techniques I learnt at this workshop I will continue to utilise throughout this project. 

Personally I think in my sketchbook the way I processed my ideas are clear and considered especially solving the issue of too much grey background in my textile samples by making them thinner and smaller- this was also done with one worded annotations on the page. However I think my ideas were not fully communicated as well as they could have been on workflow compared to my image analysis and other projects; maybe due to confusion I had with this project in the middle of the week?

 In my sketchbook from this project I have noticed an area of where this could progress to in regards to putting onto the body by either enlarging the samples or reducing the scale of the samples. I think reducing the size would be the most successful and exciting way of creating a new material by attaching the pieces. Another way of development to progress this project further would be in creating some more samples that are all small.

I improved time management for this project by using lists and putting times on these lists that I wanted samples done by. Even though I managed to get everything done I still struggled to stay on time and ran over for example when creating textile samples. To improve my research I need to encapsulate this idea of visual stepping stones more; I have slowly been introducing it in some ways but in other ways I am still struggling. Another way to improve my research would be to block out a specific time for library research at the beginning of the weeks projects; otherwise I find myself struggling with unique research and then squish all my researching time into one library session. I think my development throughout this project was clear throughout this project going from improving my collages to making the grey samples smaller. To improve the final outcome I would have added other methods of mark making for example in the use of acrylic paint for added texture.

Being introduced to the new project brief yesterday and so much information about our Part 1 assessment was very overwhelming. This made me feel very stressed today. So I made a list with everything on there I needed to finish off before starting the new culture swap brief. 

Looking back over my talk with Patricia yesterday I decided to take on her advice and make some smaller grey insulation samples but with bigger textile pieces on them. This worked really well and made my pieces more effective, however I did still like most of my larger so was stuck with what to do in regards to presenting my final 10. In the end I decided to pick some big samples and some small samples for my final year 10 which work well together but still show the development taking Patrica's advice.

Coming into class today I felt nervous to show my textile samples I think I was feeling this due to the rollercoaster of emotions I felt yesterday with my work. Also looking at everyone else’s samples they all took a very different approach to me however I tried not to dwell on this as I know everyone’s work is different. However, after a talk with Patricia I felt a lot more confident with my samples and the conversation was really helpful for the progression of my project. Commentsfrom Patricia said that the my ‘use of colourworks really well’ and that I ‘had done loads of work for the time limit’. We also had the conversation on how my samples could be improved as I felt like they were nearly there but not quite there yet. Solutions we came up with included making the background off grey insulation smaller as it felt like the grey was swallowing up the delicately placed textile pieces. Then making the textile parts bigger – this idea made a lot of sense to me as I think when creating the samples I was too focused on churning out 20 samples instead of actually stepping back and looking at the end product. Something the conversation with my peers and tutors helped me to do. Now I am going to create a few further developed samples practicing these ideas and techniques discussed. In the afternoon we went back to the Barbican with our textile samples to photograph at location; I enjoyed exploring the space again with a different mindset at the end of our project but not sure if my pictures needed to be taken with a higher quality camera so all the details are captured better.

Struggling to start this morning as I felt confused with what to do. This is because yesterday we were making paper manipulation samples which feels completely disconnected to textile samples; maybe this was because my work was not very strong yesterday. After looking back over research and my sketchbook drawings I found some inspiration in the shapes of the building and the repeated patterns of these buildings. These patterns I noticed also got disrupted by first world human elements like satelites, lights and rubbish. Therefore I had more of a focus point to go with when creating samples.  I started off creating samples using white as a main background but found this difficult to do and very flimsy so I needed a stronger material. Searching for some better materials I found some grey insulation board which fitted in really well with the theme of brutalism and could easily be cut into the shapes I wanted. I then focused on areas of drawings and pictures from my sketchbook adding textile elements relating to the marks made therefore abstracting the information. I then added information back into the pieces using my own pictures of brutalist architecture linking the samples back together and adding context back to my samples. 

For me today was a really unsuccessful day creatively and physically. I have not been very well which I am not using as an excuse but I feel defiantly hindered by ability of create and think about the work I was doing. We were shown a variety of mixed media artists who use collage in different ways. I found that the works of Web Patane and Christine Holstad excited me because information was being covered or taken away- this leaves us as a viewer to imagine what the narrative behind the collage is. This is a concept which interests me as it would allow me to see whether I have communicated my ideas in the right way. The problem with my image manipulation began at the beginning as my images were too small therefore it became difficult to extract information or detail from the picture.Something I could improve on at home by printing out bigger, better quality images. 

In the afternoon I enjoyed using mark making as inspiration for types of stitches however I wish I was more creative with the way I created my stitches; maybe using different paper and thicknesses of thread. Overall, this day was not a good day to be creative and I hope that tomorrow when creating my samples I am more successful.

Today was a very jam packed busy day and I feel like this is a reflection on how much work we will have for the rest of the week- this daunts me but also makes me excited to see where my work would progress from fast pace. A visit to the Barbican allowed me to see another type of brutalist architecture but this time analyzing in more detail looking at texture, colour, shape, silhouette and composition. We then had to draw these areas which gave us interest I begun by doing a very loose half collage drawing which allowed my hand to loosen up - I liked this drawing but found that it did not represent the stand out shapes very well, maybe this was due to the scaffolding around the building which confused me. I then had a go at creating a very look a like drawing as this is out of my comfort zone and I was actually really pleased with the result most likely due to having a long time to draw instead of being rushed. Other drawings I did extracted singular shapes from the buildings using acrylic paint to create a repetition of rectangular window blocks.

Back at Archway we were the creating collages, we also had to pick three coloursfrom the barbican visit. This technique of choosing a colour scheme really interested me instead of plucking the colours from thin air we can relate it back to our theme. The colours I picked were orange from the lights, blue from the sky and pink from the flowers. I also thought these colours worked very well as orange and blue are complimentary colours then a pastel pink would layer quite nicely with either one.

Last week I went to visit Alexandra Road Estate for my brutalist architectural building and drew some rough sketches while on location. I then looked back over these today in conjunction with the research I had done; things which interested me from my pictures included things like the satellite’s which disrupted the pattern sequence of the buildings harsh concrete sides which jut outwards. I was also interested in the way the building had concrete shrinkage so small cracks started to form by the seams allowing for moisture to get in and create black stains. These stains reminded me of mark making that could be created using charcoal.

I began to add to the rough sketches with subtle colour, collage e.glayering acetate and mark making. I really enjoyed doing this as I think working withcolourat first I used too much colour; by stripping it back with monochrome in the last project I got see see what it was like to feel restricted. Now I make more careful and selective choices with the coloursI do use making my sketchbook page layout more appealing to the eye.

Overall, I am pleased with the overall final outcome of my piece I think it is striking and reflects my design development idea I chose well. Changes I would make includes fabric choice; if this was to go into production I would make sure that my fabrics were off a higher quality and matching. I did some samples using swatches of white fabric to see what I would choose for my final garment and I found that the scuba material worked really nicely. The colour scheme is as expected because we had to work in monochrome however next time I think I would allow for development with black fabrics maybe adding small feature to add depth and interest to different parts of the garment. My final garment took approximately 4 hours to make as I was draping onto the body constantly and I handstitched most of the piece. Techniques I used included draping on the body with felt so I could get a similar shape of lumps and bumps from my design idea inspired by collapsing nets. I also used gathering to create volume at the shoulder and inserted an open ended zip. My final outcome has a similar silhouette and shape to my final development drawing; to develop further I would work on the back of the garment to have a feature. During our group crit on Thursday afternoon I got comments on a post it note saying how my garment was “very very well made for the time limits” which made me really happy however my drawing needs to be improved to can fully communicate my garment onpaper.For example, I think my fashion illustration is good but I have been stuck in the same style which I feel comfortable in so I want to branch out and try new things. I did this on Friday mixing my previous abstract fashion illustration style with more detailed areas which I was really pleased with. For the garment drawings they have to have a mood/style but need to show function so I practiced this at home refining my drawing techniques and adding shading/detail where nessesary. I feel like this is something I could continue to do. For the development sheets I struggled in class with the concept however after a talk with Chris our tutor at the end of the day it made much more sense so I had a second attempt at my first development sheet; this helped to show me how when you practice development the work will progress.

Reflecting from yesterdays work I knew I needed to work on my drawing skills to complete my second development sheet and have a second attempt at my first development sheet. To loosen up I firstly did observational drawings of my model wearing my final garment to loosen and warm up. Specifically silhouette drawings and continuous line blind drawings using a variety of media. I then begun drawing some practice design drawings as these types of drawings need to show function, be detailed but also stylized. I came up with an effective drawing which I was really pleased with and very different to my normal style. I think they were effective because It mixed a detail head with cartoonish feet and a range of media. This gave me ideas of how I could layout my development sheet and develop a style of fashion illustration but still incorporating some areas of detail in the face which links to my previous drawings. I felt much happier with the development sheets I did today as I feel it communicated my research process through to design development a lot better and more interestingly.

Today we were focusing on creating developmental sheets- this would be a first attempt at this style of presentation and working for me so I was excited but also nervous. I enjoyed doing silhouettes and adding detail back into thedrawing because I feel less pressure to be anatomically correct and like the shapes created when drawing a silhouette. We then had to draw a detailed anatomically correct design drawing. The term design drawing was completely new for me today; I learnt that this term is a stylized but detailed drawing of your garment with details and function clearly communicated. I found a lot of pressure in doing a design drawing because I am more used to drawing abstract fashion illustrations. This meant that my drawings did not do justice my final garment (this was also a comment I got from my peers during the crit). Even though I felt particuarly disheartened by my success of the technical drawings this reminded me that I need to practice in this area; finding my own style of accurate drawing in a way I would feel comfortable with. Once I had practiced this I think my development pages would be stronger.

Today my thinking was focused on finishing sketchbook work, experimenting with samples and creating a final garment. From my sketchbook work I released that my ideas should be conveyed more strongly in my design development; therefore I printed out further research images and collaged them either into my design ideas or next to the drawing. I believe this helped to link my ideas better and helped my sketchbook to flow. I decided to use a model and drape against the body of a person as I had done this previously while experimenting and it worked well to show the shapes of my sleeve I wanted. In spired by fishing nets collapsing over each other and deconstructed fisherman hats. After doing some initial draping I went back to my design idea for ways to improve; this helpedmetobecomeun-stuckasInoticedthatthe collar needed to be smaller and the sleeve needed to be more volumous. Now it started to look like my design idea; function from garment detailing research came in with the quarter zip and high collar. To improve I could add some buttons or flap pockets also. I used a metreof felt for the sleeve which was the perfect choice of material because it is lightweight but holds shape well; I was also surprised with the collar as I used a paper/fabric like material and even though it did not look nice I holds the shape well – after experimenting with swatches I have found that scuba interfaced would be a good final garment fabricchoiceforthecollarinstead.

Today we were using drawings from yesterday’s paper garment works which were inspired by public art to create garments design ideas looking at shapes and silhouette from our mark making. This made me very happy that I had a second attempt at the paper garment piece because I felt more prepared for the task. However after instructions given from Kevin today I still felt confused, I think this was because I was overthinking again and needed to be more relaxed and just draw therefore I could have created more design ideas but this will come with practice I believe. 

After some discussion with my peers and Kevin I understood that we were also involving different types of scale, repetition and stretching into our extracted shapes. This made me a lot more excited and allowed freedom to use our shapes in a practical way to create a sleeve or leg piece etc. I liked it when I used silhouette and made them larger because it made the scale of lumps bigger which then turned into features. Referencing back to my research of fisherman garment details I begun to add these details in with my shapes to create a functional garment; this I struggled with however on reflection I should have chosen simpler shapes which would of helped the process. Also adding shading or collage helped me to imagine the garments and bring them to life introducing a whole new way of thinking about shape and introducing them to the body which I had never done before. 

Visiting a fabric shop allowed me to buy white fabrics which related to my garment research for example wax cotton, heavy twill cotton and a shiny but thick fabric therefore also relating to the fluidity but boldness of my public art sculpture. I hope these fabrics will help and be enough to demonstrate my garment design and shapes in the right way

At the beginning of today I felt fed up; I think this is because yesterday I did not feel like my monochrome sketchbook work was very successful. However, looking back now I think this is because minimal colour is something I am not used to and colour is my comfort zone. It’s good to try things outside of my comfort zone because I may discover new techniques which interest me and it would strengthen my portfolio for the future.

We began by taking our drawings and extracting shapes from this; these shapes should be whole without any gaps and not be too complicated in silhouette. I found that many of my successful drawings were off silhouettes and this made it easy to find my 6 shapes. After previously doing this project at Kings Cross I knew where I could improve and what shapes would work best. Personally I found my shape represented my public art piece well but was not very interesting; one thinner shape would have been better to create a twisty silhouette.

When drawing my object I loved using my own body and hand to draw the object; this way I was actually intertwining and connecting with the object; this also helped me to draw my paper object to the correct scale with my hand to reference back to. This is a technique I will carry on into the future even trying this with garments I have made showing a personal connection. Scaling the samples up I found really relevant to creating a unique garment but my first attempt felt very rushed and did not allow me to fully explore the shapes potential so I decided to have another go in the evening using the same shapes; this time my experiments were a lot more successful and due to my model being my sister I could be a lot more exciting with the positioning of my model.

I chose the public art piece by Gary Hume called ‘Liberty Grip’ because it was the piece which I enjoyed drawing the most and found the most intriguing. Words which I found related to my piece was bold, heavy and bronzed this then lead on to thinking of heavy duty garment details. Due to the location of my art piece being by the Thames and a key route for fishing boats which pass through I decided to choose fisherman clothing. This clothing has garment details like metal zips, glazed wooden buttons, hoods and flap pockets which has the function of protection against all the harsh elements of the sea.

Today my plan was to develop the research I had been doing on workflow into my sketchbook. This way I could link the drawings I had done on the public art pieces at location to any research I had found over the weekend from books etc. I really wanted to challenge myself this week by working in monochrome; as advised during my progress tutorial with Chris. I knew this was going to be really tough for me as I had already over the past couple of weeks developed a style which I liked and felt comfortable with. However, I do feel like this was the best project to have a go at working in monochrome because many of the public art piece I visited were very dark with only hints of colour. I felt really stressed out and only managed to complete four research pages; this is because I put too much pressure on myself and was overthinking the whole time. At least this way I have learnt from my mistakes so hopefully I will be more relaxed next time.

Today I focused on research to start off the public art brief project after looking at a variety of public art in London. I was particularly drawn and inspired by Gary Hume’s sculptures from his inspiration and silhouette of the pieces. I then used a technique I learnt from my progress tutorial with Chris called ’visual stepping stones’ which then lead me onto the film ‘body parts’. This linked to the idea of putting arms together from Gary Hume’s sculpture and the front cover of body parts which looks like a continuous line drawing. I hope this is the right way of doing visual stepping stones as it does feel natural to me.

Today I responded to the Public Art brief that we have for next week. I wanted to visit lots of different areas around London which displayed public art therefore I think this will show how different are as have different tastes in art and the locations of the pieces will differ. Firstly, I visited the Southwark area where I found large head sculptures by Emily Young; the pieces caught my eye due to the silhouette, especially the one called ”Face of Stillness ll”. Instead of being a perfect round normal head sculpture the back of the head was a jagged rough edge like a rock cliff face as if we were seeing into the sculptures head. The sculpture looks to have a feminine shaped face with its eyes closed looking quite dismissive; as if she did not want people ogling at her. This might link to feelings of invasion Young had felt in her life while making the sculpture. This made me think back to themes of feminism and slavery. Next a walk on the O2 sculpture trail where there was a huge variety of pieces all which interested me for different reasons. I found that these sculpture pieces fitted into the Landscape of the River Thames and London quite well; I saw many people sitting amongst the abstract shaped pieces as if they blended in- which in my eyes they did not. Finally; a trip to Bond Street for a sculpture which I loved the look of but not the location by Barbara Hepworth And called “Winged Figure”. To me in this particular location the sculpture could be easily lost in the crowds of people.

Feeling nervous for my progress tutorial today but also excited therefore I can find out if I have been doing my work right. When talking to Chris about my work he mentions how my workflow is good and well organized; he also mentions how Its good that my reflection is all in one place- this makes me feel relieved because after looking at other peers some have separated them to individual projects. Then onto my sketchbook I was interested to find out that Chris even liked my sketchbook at the beginning of this course; I thought these pages were so ugly and that my drawings were boring but hearing this gave me some confidence in previous work. Sensitivity in my work was also brought to light by my tutor in a way that I present a balance of collage , samples, drawings and artists reference.

Constructive criticism from Chris I found really helpful; this way I am being taught how to progress from my original ways I was taught at college. For workflow I was told how to improve my research by using visual stepping stones therefore I am branching out from using just artists and fashion stimuli. This way I really analyse an image and take inspiration from this in other ways instead of just stopping at the first initial point. Also for my reflection on the weekends when I may not be doing as much work due to work I can do just smaller paragraphs but still separate not together. I should continue to highlight key words of analysis in my reflection and research to show exactly what I have found out from writing the paragraph.

During the Progress Tutorial it came into conversation how I was very comfortable in my drawing style and sketchbook style; as the foundation course is a time to experiment I am going to try some other ways of demonstrating my ideas and breaking out of my comfort zone. For example looking at accurate life drawing styles and realism therefore making my book more fashion based and varied in my skills. To practice these styles I am going to get a mini sketchbook to draw with so there is no pressure to keep them in style with a project and to try out different media also like ink. This could continue in my sketchbook with experimenting in style for example clean lines and monochromatic – this would be really out of my comfort zone but exciting to do to increase my skill set.

In preparation for my Part 1 Progress Tutorial tomorrow I continued to update and improve my workflow and to finish off any sketchbook pages which had been forgotten about.  I found that when looking back over my workflow there was a clear progression between when I started with Ideas Factory to my last project we did: "whats the point?". For example, at the beginning of workflow I was not correctly quoting artists and their work however now I know how to do this and I find that it makes my research much clearer to understand. I also found that when looking back on my workflow that I need to spend more time on my reflections so I can get a deeper analysis into my work as I find myself rushing them at the end of the day then being un-happy with the result. 

Today I also did a mini photoshoot of my final outcome from the "Whats the point?" project; the shoot was inspired by talks with Katie our tutor on actually reversing my idea from control of wrapping to control on space e.g confinement. An interesting image to see my rough edged chaotic polystyrene textile pieces being squished into a consign gap; one that is quite industrial and plain with little colour or texture also juxtaposing against my textile samples. An idea which I feel like could be expanded not just with photography but with my samples also by cutting straighter less jagged lines and by using harsher materials.

Today I visited the Heidi Bucher exhibition at the Parasol Unit London to back up previous research I had done on the artist and to gain some primary research inspiration. I noticed how I was exploring a lot to do with texture on her work as each piece was made with latex; a materials I thought would lie very smooth and flat - a material I could experiment with myself. This made me realise that I need to push myself out of my comfort zone to try out other materials as I could get more exiting results. 

I then had a personal tutorial session at Archway, I found this helpful as I got to ask specific questions in the way I should set out my workflow; some questions I had were about words and whether I should be learning more enhanced language however I was told its actually better to use simpler language so everyone who's reading it could make sense of what I am trying to say. This made a lot of sense to me and took off some pressure however I do want to slowly build up a wider vocabulary range to help me when describing or analysing. I also spoke briefly about time management as due to my long commute home every morning and evening I have the problem of getting home late. To solve this problem I prepare what to write up on the train the night before and write my reflection on the train home and so far this has worked for me. 

Finally a visit to the library to get some final secondary research for my project as I wanted to continue the idea of using mainly books in my research from the Phoebe English Project. I ended up exploring further into how other artists have used space and how they documented their thinking process through drawing. By looking through other artists drawing style when in design development I could try these techniques myself in my sketchbook. I want to continue the use of books and the library throughout the rest of my projects as I think it could really lift my research.

It was the last day of the project “what’s the point?”, I had another chat with Katie our tutor about my work and how to present the pieces. I felt very satisfied with the talk because again I was introduced to a variety of artists and many directions where I could continue to develop this project. I feel like this project development will be never ending and I could continue to expand on each part of my thinking with the continued research I do. I hot glued my textile pieces down ensuring that I was pleased with the overall finish of them; I did this by looking at the contrasts of materials and how they communicate with each other for example wool and metal. Soft fluffy wool fraying at the edges compared to harsh interlocking sleek metal has a huge contrast which I made sure to focus on when creating my textile pieces as this would make the viewer want to look in closer at my work. During our final outcome exhibition I was happy with how the final outcome looked but not where it was positioned. Due to  the theme of my project about being squished into a corner I think I should have  highlighted more that my pieces were there with a light shining onto them otherwise the pieces would be easily overlooked.

Having a peer evaluate my project fully made me nervous and felt quite invading; I think this is because a sketchbook is a sketchbook and reflection on workflow is very personal a bit like a journal. I was pleased with the comments I had saying that my work was clear throughout and research imagery was also referenced back to artists. Constructive criticism I got was to add more one-worded annotations as I had only done this on a few of the pages; something that I will definitely take on-board.

Looking at my timeline of work for today I began by doing research pages for my last 3 artists in my sketchbook. I find it really helpful developing artists work into my sketchbook in the form of collage and mini samples; this is because I can test out what colours work well and try something out smaller without worrying if it goes wrong or wasting materials etc. Peter Buggenhout's work in particular reminded me to use hard materials as well as soft so I went to a building site and found some shards of tiles, metals and expanding foam therefore my samples became exciting again. I then began seeing how all my samples could become an installation. Looking at my polystyrene casts I decided to fit my textile samples into the shapes and gaps; I then positioned these in a corner on a wall which fitted nicely. However it took me a really long time to find a combination which I was happy with; I think this is because I was overthinking it and after looking at the samples for so long I was not thinking straight. So I have decided to leave this and focus on sketchbook work; tomorrow at the studio I can have a look at these samples again on the wall with a fresh mind.

Coming into class today I felt very nervous and unsure of whether what I was doing was going in the right direction. For example, I did some further developmental research into artist like Oliver Palmer and Rachel Whiteread however I did not know whether I should make more samples or focus more on the concept behind something. To solve this problem I looked back through my sketchbook and wrote a list; this made me excited again about the work I would continue to do and how I could keep going without losing focus or panicking. Throughout the day I experimented with the idea of my textiles in a space or object; looking at the casting of an object and seeing exactly how a textile sample could fit into it. I like this way of experimenting because it is very physical by the means of texture and composition so I can work more efficiently and creatively. When looking back at my samples now I have been exploring a lot with soft foam like materials because they bulge really nicely when wrapped tightly; this contrasts against the harsh edges of polystyrene. Ideas I can see emerging from my work is an installation piece with a series of textile samples all varying in size, texture and colour; however there is still lots of development to do in terms of scale especially. After my short crit with Patricicia I have realised that my samples do not have to go onto the body; they can just be art pieces. I think I was limiting myself by trying to work these samples back onto the body instead of just looking at the space/objects itself. I used inspiration from research images to focus on the coloursof my textile pieces and the shapes I should look for in my polystyrene. During my crit another topic of discussion was my use of colour and how I should analyse my choice of colour further. Something which I have told myself before is to not be afraid of blank space as Patricia said this may emphasize other pieces of my work. 

When analyzing our individual work with our group I found it really helpful to discuss each area of development we wanted to continue; this way peers can feedback on our concept and help to develop our ideas also.  When presenting my 10 research images and ways of going forward, I had comments and discussions of looking at other means of control and not just polystyrene packaging. Maybe I could look into government or bondage ideas and link this to negative space. I was also told how my idea is very clear which was helpful as sometimes If ideas are in my head I find it difficult to explain them. As a whole our group found found connections between the harmony of Chaos and Control which is what we decided to base ourtgroup video on. Ideas for our video came to a voice over explaining our developmental ideas; and a picture playing would be the visual communication of our individual developments. For example, I used paper casting on to the shape of an unused space to signify my use of throw-away materials. I liked our film because I think it helped me to look at other ways of demonstrating my ideas in a physical way. To improve, I could have used other materials to cast like fabric or plastecineand not just paper. I could also make my explanation and voiceover longer so it is more in-depth. 

This afternoon we had a variety of workshops demonstrating ways of research and reflection to improve the quality of our work overall. I enjoyed looking at an object from a museum that we knew nothing about and having to work this out for ourselves. Our group was fairly accurate believing the painting we had was of religious form and had some damage but was hand painted; We then learnt it was the starting letter of a bible book. This could be useful to do when at a museum before reading that back story off an object therefore you are getting an organic analysis of the piece. By learning about a variety of image research sites I also found would give us some more unique research material as it looks deeper into the web and does not follow algorithms like Google or Pinterest.

I decided to continue with the Phoebe English Practitioner Project compared to all the other three projects we have done so far because I felt that this project still had development to go and even on the final day I was discovering artists and ideas which inspired me. For example Heidi butcher and Rachel Whiteread where their use of polystyrene and latex created installations inspired by casting negative space. Other projects like the deconstructed object and ideas factory felt very finished by the end of the week; I was happy with the final outcome and could not brainstorm other ideas for it to develop further. Strengths from the Practitioner Project for me came from my research and the use of materials; after initial reflections I found my samples to be very small and detailed so I struggled to scale the samples up; however small tasks like grouping our textile samples took the pressure off and I ended up creating much more successful bigger sculptural pieces.

I believe that there is a clear link between my final samples and sketchbook; this is due to where I have done experiments and put research images next to them therefore you could clearly differentiate where I got my ideas from. My samples then begun from wrapping these stuffed tights which created bulges inspired by the works of Magdalena Abakanowicz; these bulges continue to develop and appear in my samples using a variety of materials and processes but the same bulging idea. Other parts of my samples which continue into my final outcomes is the detail which is included in each piece. I think this might be a trademark of my work in a way as many of my peers said they recognised my work from the detail that each sample had. I also tried to make sure that my sketchbook was a visual journey of my ideas by keeping a good order of research, experimentation and final outcome. During our exhibition peers also said that my sketchbook had a good composition and made sense which meant a lot to me as this is something I spend a very long time doing.

Initially I did not feel much inspiration from my research as there was not a lot of ideas coming to me and I didn’t know what to do with book research as I had not done loads of it before. However, after my visit to The Tate Materials exhibition I felt a lot more excited from the work of Magdalena Abakanowicz and Tunga as a result of actually seeing the processes and materials the designers use in real life hence being able to apply them in my own samples. The making process however was the most inspirational and exhilarating  for me because I could visually imagine the chaos and control; really analysing each material and how they would work together if being grouped as a textile sample. This allowed me to also develop my idea behind my research and samples as I continued to look into books when creating samples finding artist Annet Cowenburg. During the exhibition to Phoebe English I was lucky enough for the designer to comment saying that she ‘loved how sensitive and detailed my textile pieces were’ this meant a lot to me and was amazing to get comments from someone being successful in the industry. Other comments from peers on post it notes said that they adored my weave/knit pieces’, ‘very clear concept’ and ‘ my research is vast’.

Looking back at my work today I reflected on the samples I had already made and what other samples I needed to make. For the liner sample I took a line from one of my photocopies because it had a fuzzy texture with bulges. I then used wadding to re-create this line and other materials to add further extreme bulges. I wanted to use this long thing I had made for a body piece as I believe It would be an interesting piece to  wrap around the body therefore in keeping with my theme of wrapping and bulges. Maybe my textile pieces could be attached; this is something I would have to experiment with. I enjoyed working with my pieces on the body either by using small scale photo copies and collage or physically pinning them to a person. Considering the scale and placement of these samples on the body allows me to actually think of the work in a fashion perspective now and whether a piece could go down the leg to create a skirt or repeated on Photoshop as a print.

I find it interesting how even though we are given set tasks about what materials to use what we actually make is very free for our own decision. I like this way of working as there is still some constraint so we don’t just chuck everything onto the paper and we actually think about composition; but we can still relate samples back to our own individual research. While making my second set of textile samples today we were told to slowly introduce our single colour (mine was pink) building it up with each sample. I enjoyed doing this and was happy with the results I got; because it makes you really analyse each piece of materials that you put onto paper. Research inspired my textile samples from a Tate Modern visit to the materials exhibition especially the work from Magdalena Abakanowiczdue to the bulges I created using tights (I used tights due to the colour, the second hand nature of them and its stretchy qualities) wrapped with thread taken from her ‘Embryology” structure. The word ‘bulges’ and ‘wrap’ in particular stuck out to me and link to the theme of control; I will remember these throughout the rest of my samples. I also found that weaving was a technique which worked really well as I could mix a variety of soft and hard materials which may have been wrapped already therefore creating a very chaotic scene. All these comments and ideas which have been running through my head has allowed me to come up with a rough narrative for my samples; it’s the idea that when I CONTROL my materials using tightly WRAPPED thread, BULGES are created. This material may spew out of the top which represents the CHAOS within each individual sample. After creating many various textile samples and working on 2D photocopies; I decided to re-visit research and look at look at some books which our tutors had brought in for further insight. This was unquestionably critical in my design process as I discovered the work of Annet Couwenberg, who’s corsets with feathers inside spewing out made me think of other means of control within fashion and history not just wrapping. Personally I did not like my samples where we could only use two materials as I felt very un-comfortable and limited, a peer mentioned during group discussion how this was interesting because “ the 2 materials control actually made my thought process more chaotic”. Other comments about my work from peers included how I looked at control in a physical aspect with wrapping and descriptive words included `delicate, detailed and cute”.

Today I came into class feeling excited about making some white textile samples with the materials I had brought in but at the same time not very confident with the research I had done over the weekend. I think this is due to the challenge of using no internet which is something I am not used to. However many of the research images that I do like are very inspirational and different to what I would find on the internet. When given ten phrases relating to different areas of paper manipulation I think our group responded well words like wrinkle, intersect, distort, punch and etch gathered my attention the most. Using these words as references we could then create 10 paper samples responding to the words I found my more simplified and well thought samples the most successful especially pierce, tear and scratch. We then finally used our white materials creating textile samples which were using soft materials; I particularly enjoy working with different materials and seeing how this could then work on the body even by experimenting with scale. This sample in particularwas the first sample I made in relation to the word WEAVE; the potato sack material frayed really easily to I utilised this and made it a feature pulling out strands to create gaps within the weave. I then put wadding wrapped in wool through these gaps which created a contrast of texture with two soft materials. I then used s Shibori sample to reduce the amount of fray and add some volume to the piece; finally marshmallow wrapped in netting created bulges spewing out of the holes. I loved this squidgy effect and it added detail to the textile sample. To me this sample is very chaotic as all these materials are muddled together.

Today we had a library tutorial; I attended this to help me gain a full understanding of how the library works and how I could make the most of my time researching so the research I do get is valuable. Some problems I would have is. time to visit the library because I don't live in London. A solution to this problem would be visiting the library on the Monday after uni as this is still the beginning of my project but I am also in London; I should also research before what books I would like to look into. 

While travelling from the Kings Cross Campus to the Archway Campus I started to take my own pictures of Chaos and control for the Phoebe English Practitioners Project. A lot of architecture seemed to demonstrate this as in London you look one way and there is a fancy minimal building then looking another way a skip garden. At Archway we had a 3D workshop learning about how to use the big machinery in wood, metal and ceramic workshops. The workshop I found most interesting and would probably use the most would be the ceramic and plaster workshop because I feel could create a lot of sculptures using my hands and building up layers unlike wood which is a lot more technical with straight lines. 

Overall I was really pleased with how my exhibition of the final outcome piece looked. I hung my piece up from the ceiling so you could easily see the whole 360 degree aspect of the piece. I made little signs coming down from the string asking viewers to spin the object. I think interaction is a really important factor of ehibition’s as it allows people to really look at the piece and not just walk straight past. I then had my laptop showing the short film I made so you could see how it is worn on the body and my sketchbook showing my development process and drawings. Feedback I got from my peers was very positive outlining that my “illustration style was funky” and that “my idea was unique”.

Why is understanding garment construction/deconstruction essential to informing the design process?

When de-constructing you get to see inside the garment and how it got to the final outcome for example whether it was moulded or stay stitched and how every stitch works together towards the final outcome. Another point which was very discussed heavily in our group was that you cannot create successful designs without at least some understanding of construction.

What do you understand about the garment design/development process now?

After this project I have learnt that its important to sample your ideas and develop them in a 3D form and on the body; this way you are constantly assessing whether it works or any improvements to be made to the side or back of the garment as these can often been forgotton when drawing design ideas flat. Another word of being introduced to scale as it allows you to think of your garment in different ways. In our group we talked about how going between different techniques and ideas e.g from 3d then to design then sample and back to 3d helps to constabntly develop the process of making further.

How would you approach this project differently/how will you conclude the project

In other ways to improve/approach the project differently it would be not to panic when things go wrong or If don’t understand a task as mistakes are good and help will help with my learning process. Before we exhibited our projects I had a spare 15 minutes so I decided to edit a short clip of someone wearing the garment. This way when viewing my project you can get a variety of ways to showcase the final outcome I created. To conclude this project as I have already done some final drawings I would by add stills from my film to my sketchbook.

Feeling confused at the beginning of today as our instructions were not clear from tutors. This is something I struggle with because when; what we have to do is not clear I don’t know what to start with and I am scared to do it wrong. I know I shouldn’t think like that because making mistakes are good to not go wrong the next time. this is something I would like to improve on so I panic less. As panicking wastes valuable time. we used our deconstructed garments to create roughly 6 experiments/samples and 1 final garment from these experiments. I enjoyed using the metal hoop from my hat and placing it inside my trench coat firstly due to creating a circular shape in a more tailored garment. Also as it’s a different type of structure compared to shoulder pads. I then had an idea of working from the leg downwards instead of going for the easy option of an arm pieces; this was inspired by last weeks paper garments we created because our group thought in the same way and it was successful. I found it fun to try different shapes but pulling at the seams of garments and pinning different areas to see a variety of draping. However it was also difficult as I still didn’t really understand the concept of what we were supposed to do fully. After a discussion with our tutors I felt much more happy with the work I had done and what we had to do for Thursday made sense; but I was still very frustrated with myself as I lost valuable time so could not do any drawings like my peers. The gamers back from peers was positive saying how they like the curves the collars had created; I agreed with this but at the same time I wanted some variety in structure and not just all draped non-meaningful fabric. This led me on to stuffing a sleeve and curing round the structure to look a bit like a teapot handle.

We started off draping our fabric objects before deconstruction; I enjoyed creating unusual shapes with this pieces and was encouraged to by tutors being told if an alien was to be given a jacket how would they put it on. I used socks stuffed with fabric to create rounded shapes and add interest from spare fabrics. Problems I had was balancing the heavy weighted fabrics on the body; I found tape and pins the quickest and easiest solution for this. When being instructed to then draw our creations I remembered what I learnt from last week which was to not worry about making it "look" like a fashion illustration and instead to just draw. Therefore this time I was actually much happier with the final result's. 

Next I was instructed to deconstruct parts of the garments so holes started to emerge at the seams; therefore we were getting a small insight into what lies underneath the fabric: interfacing, shoulder pads and darts were just some of the construction elements to my trench coat. When draping these garments we then had to consider the parts we had deconstructed; maybe joining two different garments seam to seam or putting a body part in it. I ended up using one of my garments to stuff the arm of my trench coat; then pins to create an overhang; this idea was inspired by Viktor and Rolfs Graduate Deconstructed collection 1993.

Overall, this project has been the most intense week ever. I think this is due to having one day projects and packing so much into one day which meant lots of fast paced group work projects and observational drawings. I enjoyed Mondays work drawing buildings and abstracting shapes from this to create a paper garment. This technique really interested me because it’s one I would use in the future to find silouettes for garments. Another way it interested me was how an abstract shape came all the way from a bit of scaffolding. On Tuesday I brought 5 objects in, which meant something to me. Drawing them was tough because constantly switching from negative space to silhouette and continuous line was very confusing and needed a lot of concentration. However, I particuarly enjoyed creating sculptures out of these objects as it taught me that you can make an interesting looking area out of anything. Again by abstracting shapes we created a paper garment this time using the shapes as a repeated pattern on the paper. Our garment was very successful because we worked well in a group and communicated a clear unique silhouette; instead of just scrunching the paper onto the body we actually looked at the shape and decided to challenge ourselves by working from the legs instead of the shoulders. Finally, for the last day of fashion illustration I found really frustrating because I put too much pressure on myself instead of just drawing. However, maybe this was a lesson I needed to learn so I can improve in the future. Group projects are something I enjoy because it puts less pressure on just you making a final outcome and this way I find my ideas to be much better and more thought about. Our final group project for this week consisted of making a sculpture, installation or garment etc which represented the work we have done this week. For this group in particular I found it difficult to work with as I don’t think everyone’s voices in the group were heard; to improve next time we should get everyone to write down their ideas on a piece of paper. Never the less I was happy with how our final piece turned out; a stop motion film as this is a type of media I have never used before.

For my self-directed study today I had a lot of research and sketchbook work to do finishing off my pages from the week. Through my work in the week I learnt a lot of skills to do with drawings for example continuous line, negative space, silhouette and blind drawing. These skills are extremely useful for doing fashion illustration and understanding space/proportion this is because you actually have to look at the object or person. Feedback I received from tutors yesterday was to be more free with my hand and not ‘think’ too much about the drawings looking like a fashion illustration. To manage my time today I decided to do all my sketchbook work throughout the day starting from Monday and working my way through; then all my research and computer work would be done in the evenings.

Collaboration; our final project brief  today was all about fashion illustration and mixing together the work we did on Monday and Tuesday. When doing the fashion illustration today I was thinking too much about making my illustration look like what I see at exhibitions instead of just doing my own style. This hindered me at the beginning however right towards the end of this session I felt that my work was a lot more successful; due to working blindly and with continuous line the fluidity of my hand was much better.  We also had a chance to do collage again at a much faster pace. This was quite difficult to do as normally collage takes a lot of looking to get the right balance of textures and colours etc. After being in this course for two weeks I have learnt that you need to be prepared and learn to work quickly, like the fashion industry. We then began a group project combining all the drawing and constructive work from the week; from this I learnt how other people interpreted the same instructions differently from tutors as we looked through each other’s sketchbooks and gave constructive criticism. I understood that my process of learning was very colourful and visual this is how I find it the easiest to present my ideas on paper. There were a few blocks caused from working in this particular group today as I don’t believe everyone’s voices were heard; it felt as if our group was separated in half and there was no communication. This made me feel confused and annoyed however I did enjoy the thinking process and concept behind our idea. To improve next time we could do a more physical brainstorm instead of vocal so we can actually read and see everyone’s idea clearly. 

While at home today we were given homework to do based on the work we did yesterday. I found this quite stressful to hear at first because I already felt like I had enough extra drawings and annotating of my sketchbook to do. But when we were told the homework pieces I felt excited to be able to create my own collaged pieces based off what we did today as I had a lot of confidence in our group work from today. I started off by re-assessing my pieces of patterns we created yesterday looking at what colours work and how they could go together. I then begun cutting shapes and patterns which interested me in particular and arranged them on a page. I also used a variety of other media to balance out the collages including: tape, foam, pens, oil pastel and acrylic paint. I feel very happy with how my collages have turned out I just hope they are big enough. I then began doing my 3 garment drawings where I take the patterned paper garment pictures from yesterday; draw this shape and then work into it. I found this much more difficult to do at first as it’s something I have never done before however after some thinking and rough sketches it seemed to make sense. I enjoyed in particular turning the shape upside down and putting the head where the legs would have gone. Also after my research session with Pauline Moon yesterday I did some research today and it felt a lot more successful as I used the tools she taught us; I also found explaining things and putting words onto paper much easier to do.

I felt very excited to continue with the same line of thinking and work as yesterday. For me I find when looking at shapes it’s easier for me to understand the concept behind something which is why I like this style of more abstract and geometric work. Firstly, when presenting our 5 objects I was intrigued by how many of us in a group brought in hand me downs from family members in particular jewellery and softer feeling fabrics. To warm up our drawing skills a number of 5-10 minute drawing sessions commenced each one at different angles of our group objects which had been put into size or even colour order. I found blind drawing the most difficult as you don’t know what lines you are putting down onto the page however I was pleased with the result. To improve next time I would use a pencil so I could shade in denser areas. Going back to my previous thoughts on our objects we then had to wrap them making connections between each object using yarn. I suggested the idea of using the phone on the wall to hang our objects off of. This linked in with the idea of momentum’s, hand me downs and leaving home/ adapting to student life with phoning home. I enjoyed making a sculpture which the whole group had a connection to because it created conversations with people I would not have talked to before. Next we had to draw the negative spaces of the structure I found this very difficult to do because after drawing lots of detail and silhouette his uses a completely different skill. However my second attempt at negative space drawing was much more successful. Now we begun to create a similar ‘ toolbox’ like yesterday but this time looking at mark making and not shapes; going back over drawings and finding marks which stood out to the naked eye. At first this was difficult to do because a lot of our drawings were of silhouettes however after zooming in on drawings I found 6 areas to put in my toolbox. We then had to create a pattern from these shapes and mark making as a group; overlapping shapes, looking at scale and balance. I enjoyed how we worked as a group each using a different media like tape, chalk pen, oil pastels and pens. Our paper with patterns on was then cut into 4 large shapes a triangle, square, rectangle and circle. Moulding these shapes onto the body was much easier to understand today as we had already done it yesterday. We discussed in our group that working from the bottom of the body instead of going to the top would be more challenging and less ordinary; I think this idea particularly helped us and allowed us to create sharp folds and actual geometric points instead of just crumpled paper around the body. I also believe that as a group we looked at the true patterns of the print we created on paper going up similar lines and colours when going edge to edge. By taking photographs of the body sculpture I ensured that every angle, fold and piece of tape was documented.

By being at the kings cross campus today I was instantly inspired when walking to the building; the fountains outside and the street area indoors had a sense of cool about it. Today we were given an hour to draw structures around the outside of the building. These structures needed to be a mixture of temporary structures like scaffolding, bus shelters etc and  permanent structures e.g. buildings, lampposts. We were instructed when drawing to bring variety in the quality of line with different media and look at the textures of the structures also to allow ourselves to draw big on double pages of A3 so we would not limit ourselves to the detail we were drawing. I gave myself a time limit of 5 minutes per location drawing to get as many large scale drawings as I could this was difficult but I managed to get 6 done. I was happy with my location drawings as I used a variety of colours and media like acrylic paint. Then we had to pick full shapes from these drawings either by highlighting, taping around the shapes or even cutting out the shape. I particuarly liked cutting the shape out as it was really clear and gave me a template for the next task. We then accurately re-drew these shapes in a clear outline giving us a ‘toolbox’ of shapes. I loved the next task of creating patterns with three of these shapes overlapping, changing scale and using tape. A group session before lunch involved putting all of our sketchbooks together and each person in the group adding our own shapes together over the top of each this way we could discuss our shapes and how to improve them e.g filling in the shapes or using tape. (A picture of our group work to the left) Finally, came a lesson which enhances our use of shape and form on the body; a common pattern cutting task where instead you manipulate the pattern of the trouser block on the body in a different way. Firstly on a smaller scale our objects were taped together edge to edge without any gaps!! At first I found this really difficult to do but once you get over the idea that it is paper and look at curves where straight edges can stick to it the shapes start to come together. I enjoyed making this object and once it was done we drew this in our sketchbooks with continuous line and negative space.

Once we began identifying these shapes and creating objects with them I could start to resize and understand the thinking process our tutors wanted us to see. For example, when you see a collection and it says it’s inspired by the ‘negative spaces of furniture’ you wonder how they have got to that stage and how they have got to that shape from just a title. Here we have taken a drawing inspired by structures and turned it into our own completely different structure looking at particular shapes which we identify with.

Finally we cut our shapes out on a huge scale using A2 pieces of white and brown paper. This was much easier to do because it’s on a larger scale however I wanted to think of ways I could make interesting shapes still; I think when your shapes are bigger it’s too easy to just to put your paper over the shoulder and belly instead I built up more around the legs and back of the body. Overall, I felt really happy with how todays drawing and 3D work went today and I am excited to collage more with these handmade pieces in my own time.

As we start our new brief tomorrow I wanted to get a feel for it by reading through and annotating key words. Therefore when I need help or I get stuck this is something I refer back to. I find having a physical copy of the brief in front of me really helpful and useful instead of online; this may be because at college we always worked on a hard copy. I then continued my research on the variety of designers and looked at books online which I could take out at the CSM library tomorrow. I also finished off my ideas factory project prototype; using expanding foam and a straw to get a similar effect/ look. The only issue with the expanding foam material is that as it expands you can control its shape less and less as its exposed to oxygen and expands. However, it does create a lot of lumps and bumps which links to my skin folds idea and my research for the artist Louise Burgeous.

 A very exciting day today working backstage at London Fashion Week for fashion international 7 designers and I co-ordinated 3 designers changes/runways. This really gives a behind the scenes; hands on work experience for the fashion industry and as I have worked with this company for three years doing two shows a year I get more and more jobs/responsibilities to do each year. I also asked questions and took pictures of each designers designs and work. Aphrodite’s work particuarly inspired me as she looked at her own culture and background with straw pointed hats and wooden bags.

Going over notes I took on Thursday from the Tutors I wanted to document these permanently on workflow.

• record all your work even if it's awful and love your mistakes like your children
• have care in your drawing and have in mind 'hierarchy of information' using blank space wisely
• learn to edit out the unnecessary factors and think about composition
• have more quick sketches rather than working detailed on something irrelevant
• learn to troubleshoot, experiment more and get over fear of making mistakes

Receiving our new brief yesterday was exciting but also quite nerve wracking because these will be one day project briefs therefore introducing us to the fast pace environment of this course and the fashion industry in general. Therefore today I did some background research into the brief so I could get a real feel for the drawing day at kings cross on Monday. There was a list of designers on the brief that we needed to research so I decided to do that today however I didn’t want to just look online for research therefore I looked in the most recent issue of Dazed to find some images which were different form the ones online. I think this helped me to find more unique ideas to link to the designers work and how it’s used in industry. I have booked a research session and reflection session with Pauline Moon to help me do more valuable research and know what actually to look for when researching in books. I want to look in books for research for all of my future works and projects to give a unique edge and really expand my knowledge of cultural, fashion, art and photography.

Evaluation for Ideas Factory Project

This project was the first ever project and brief we had been given since starting our Foundation course at csm. Initially I felt very shocked to be given a project on our first day but more excited to get really stuck in. And see what my peers can do and how I could learn from that. When we got put into our groups I was excited as it mixes up the class and lets us get to know more people. I had Bright and Oldive in my group who were both very nice; Bright seemed very confident however Oldive was much more shy. For this project we were given three words feminism, concrete and fold. Bright’s reaction to our three words was very negative as he has done a lot of work on feminism at the moment and did not like the cliché feminism work he has seen at the moment. Even though I felt the same way as a group we did not let this ruin our brainstorming session. Words which came out of the brainstorm for feminism was Balance, mother, self-esteem the future and history. Pointing out particular words will help me to stay focused and not branch off too far from the original words/ideas. For concrete words which came up included strong, stable, grey, powdered, structure and for the word fold was skin, origami, squishing. I felt confident with the broad brainstorm we did in 10 minutes but made sure not to get too many ideas in my head without doing core research also.

Next, we had 10 minutes to do 5-10 sketches of any rough ideas we had using our words. I found this very difficult to do because it is not the order or process I am used to doing; design ideas generally used to come after research not before. Nevertheless I pushed these thoughts out of my head and drew. I was surprised with the mix of really successful and really un-successful drawings I had. Next we continued to draw ensuring we stayed on focus with the three words. I found it very tough and pressured to do because I was trying to force an idea to pop into my head and nothing was coming. When I got home I did some initial research into a concrete material called ‘concrete canvas’, I also researched into artist Louise Burgeous. The next day we did observational drawing in the morning not relevant to this project but very helpful to improve our drawing technique. In the afternoon I talked to the tutor about my idea off a Concrete Kaleidoscope I had developed from research; he liked the idea and I found this chat gave me a lot more confidence and excitement in my work that I was not feeling before.

On Wednesday I was at home continuing with sketchbook work and filling in the gaps of blank spaces. I enjoyed having a whole day to do drawings and collage however looking back I didn’t need to worry about how many pages I do or the blank spaces as much as I did. This is because it put more pressure on me to fill pages then create really interesting and inspirational collages. However I am glad I did these mistakes on Wednesday because I have learnt from this. For the final day of this brief on Thursday was one of the most stressful days of the project as I was happy with my sketchbook and workflow research but had no clue what kind of presentation we had to do. So when we came In on Thursday morning we had half an hour to create a presentation with an A2 presentation board, prototypes and speeches; which was really tough. I decided to create an a2 presentation board with collages and drawings on them ensuring it was super colourful as I did not have time to make more experiments. I also did not have time to make enough time to prepare some prompts and speech which I think really scrutinized me when presenting. Although all these mini mistakes would really help me for the next project and presentation. Overall, I am pleased with my final outcome and sketchbook drawings/ideas. But improvement should be made in the execution and presentation of the idea.

On the journey to Archway I felt confident with my sketchbook drawings, research and collages but not confident with the presentation. On the journey to Archway I was thinking of what kind of presentation we would do as we have not been told yet. Being told that we had 30 minutes to prepare for a 2 minute presentation was nerve-wracking nevertheless I kept focus and created an A2 presentation board showing an illustration of my four plinths, my kaleidoscope collage and concrete/skin fold collage. By creating this board which I loved I had not prepared an order for speaking so when being the first person to present my idea was not the best for me. My presentation was rambled and not detailed enough or to the point. This upset me and really downgraded my confidence after the presentations; but I must remember it is a learning curve and now I will know when even a presentation is slightly mentioned I will be prepared with more prototypes and annotation prompts to help guide me through the speaking of the presentation. I also learnt that 3D experimental textural textile pieces particuarly stand out to viewers. For example, the girl who won the majority of votes in our group had a huge amount of textiles pieces on her presentation board to demonstrate her idea. Now sitting down and reflecting on today’s events I am happy with what I did and that I have learnt a lot for the future. Even though I may not have got the outcome I wanted it’s good to learn these things now at the beginning of the course.

Today I feel like I made a lot of progress as when at home I can really spread out and work all day. By focusing on sketchbook work I was able to experiment in a variety of forms and collage with my own photos and types of concrete. At the beginning I went over work from the previous two days and annotated them, this way I can separate from what I like about my work and what I want to improve on. As these drawings were only rough sketches we did not have a lot of time to think about making them look presentable or neat which I found tough at first because I like to have a process. However, today I was able to go back over my sketches to communicate my ideas better. So in the end my sketches and ideas turned out really well even if at first I did not like the mismatch of the work order. This is something I have learnt today and can continue to use while creating idea development Getting the initial rough sketch idea from my head onto paper first then make it look presentable and think about colour afterwards. By looking back through my work and few collages I did yesterday I get re-inspired by the textures, quality of line and colour combinations to do more today. Co0llage is an important part of my design process because one small line or shred of paper can change my whole perception and thought process of that idea. An example of this is my first sketch/drawing of the concrete kaleidoscope it was at first only illustrating the folds of concrete overlapping each other however one purple line going through this drawing linked back to my first word of feminism without it meaning to.  After my talk with the tutor yesterday I felt really happy and ready to develop my outcome idea. I did this by researching the history of feminism in depth which I enjoyed doing as when presented with this word I knew what it meant but knew nothing about it. Another development key for my research was looking in the most recent dazed magazine issue and finding pictures of folding skin and a photoshoot based off concrete to collage with giving me a variety of media linked instantly. After initially not liking my three words given to me in depth research has re-energised me to design a product.

Coming into class today I felt excited as I had reflected from yesterday and done some initial research into my three words. Therefore, I could be more focused in today’s work without worrying about what I am going to do. The beginning task consisted of drawing in a variety of experimental ways for example, left handed drawing, continuous drawing, blind drawing and observational drawing; I made sure to use a variety of materials when drawing as these create a different quality of line each time. I believe that when drawing the quality of line is really important to add interest. I felt very happy with my first set of drawings; to improve I want to develop my drawing technique with paints like acrylic and watercolour. Therefore adding another media and quality of line to my drawings. Once our observational drawing was complete we took turns to pose and draw each other, the looser, less scribbly and drawings which focused on one area of the body were my favourite. This is because the lines that are created are to a high quality and not just scribbled on otherwise you don’t know where to look.

A group task included putting all of our precious sketchbooks together and drawing over all the pages. As I was first to be posing the rest of my group took a different approach to drawing me. Personally I would have focused less on the detail and more on the silhouette/ proportion of the body. This is something I can learn and evolve as I get to know my group more so we can work cohesively together. When re-focusing on our three words we had to draw what came to our minds after each word. For the word concrete I tried to focus on how I could create textures and be more broad about the material except for just grey buildings. On the word fold I took some fabric scraps and squished them under acrylic. I then drew over this acrylic revealing the lines that folds of fabric create. I like working in this way by mixing material, drawing and collage together. Finally, for the word feminist at first I found it difficult to draw what came into my head as it was mostly quotes and words by feminists. To make this word easier for me to visualise and describe on paper I need to do more research into artists, photographers and sculptures inspired by feminists. I had a conversation with the tutor about my outcome idea and whether it made sense; I found this discussion with my group and the tutor really useful as it gave me the confidence and further ideas/ methods to explore. When asked to draw our outcome idea at the end of the day I was really excited because I was inspired from the collage I had done previously.

For group work today we were given three words to develop an idea from. Below I looked into how each of these words inspired, informed and motivated me throughout the day for this project. Feminism: it inspires me that a group of people not just women can come together to create a strong and forceful movement representing equality in gender so I definitely want to represent that in this project. This word educated and informed me during the group work today as I got to learn from other cultures how feminism is represented to them. After brainstorming this word I was motivated to create an idea which was powerful but also had a meaning behind it. 

Concrete: I am inspired by the strength and minimalism that concrete represents in daily life as it is normally in very mundane shapes. Therefore I wanted to think of another way I could represent this material to be more than just a high rise building. Research into various artists who use concrete would help me in this.    I was informed during discussions with my group that concrete could be used not just as it’s set form but in the powder or even poetic form. For example, the word concrete could symbolise safety and stability. After the discussion I was motivated to think of concrete not just as a large scale sculpture.

Fold: I was inspired by the way that folding something makes that object change each time either getting smaller, creating movement or with more volume. Through discussion I learnt that origami is a way of folding and was informed of different techniques of origami which could be used. At first I found it difficult to be motivated by folding however after doing more sketches based on just the material I could incorporate folding in various ways. 

I was excited to work with a new group of people which I had never met before and was excited to learn more about them. Some struggles we had were some language barriers but by doing small sketches this was overcome very easily. Another difficulty was the way people in my group brainstormed to how I brainstormed however this was again overcome by discussion.

Overall I feel overwhelmed by the huge amount of information and thinking that was processed today however I am more excited to see what these ideas can become.