Experimentation evaluation

Below are a list of media and tools I used throughout my experimentation process.

Media:- Silk, voile, cotton, netting, threads, elastic, ribbon

Tools:- Heat gun, soldering iron, lighters, candle flame 

My experimentation mainly consisted of heat manipulation. My aim was to try and achieve a way to create a burnt and disintegrated effect. Using the heat gun allowed me to achieve a successful texture in the fabric samples. By holding the heat gun for longer, this created a more disintegrated effect which left holes in the fabric. I was happy with how the outcome appeared as it represented the relationship falling apart well. I decided to create a vail to go with the wedding dress, again using a heat gun on the voile fabric. The vail showed a gradual texture as it became closer to the bottom of the dress, this represented the slow and disintegration of the relationship, highlighting how a punctuation mark reflects the ‘fading away’. This was a focus that I aimed for in my PLP that I managed to achieve.

I managed to use a range of materials also stated in my PLP. I used a gathering technique when adding the rough looking fabric pieces to dress. Layering and repetition was also used when assembling.

Research

The research over all was very successful as initial ideas were altered and changed for the best. From my research, I have gained knowledge on body language and how it send signals of communication without speaking. Now I am more aware of these signals and can recognise them from other people. This part of my initial research then lead me onto how body language connects to relationships and therefore became the stem of my theme.

 After referring back to my brief and wondering how I could connect this together, I researched further into the word ideology and eventually managed to interpret my concept into the brief successfully. How you see things on the outside, doesn't necessarily mean that they are realistic on the inside was the ideology I stuck with. From my relevant research, I was able to achieve my aim of finding out a way to show how a punctuation mark can interpret the unseen factors of a relationship. It was done by conceptually creating an ideology that combines with something that is unique to the modern world and presented in a costume form.

By researching online and combining information with developed ideas, my individual ideas for my practical work had altered. I managed to narrow my options of a final piece down through a clear progressive process which I think I demonstrated very well. With gained information on commitment - from multiple online web pages, my development lead me to realise why I chose to create a ladies wedding dress and how it was relevant to my overall brief. I feel it was a successful way to represent my concept overall.

Self evaluation

Strengths and weaknesses: 

A  key strength that continued throughout my portfolio of work was timekeeping. I Felt very positive about the time I spent on each stage and became very aware of aiming to follow my plan. As a learning outcome, I had to develop my individual creative practise by using techniques that I already have experience with. These were heat manipulation and  mainly stitching - Both of which I feel confident and in control of. I feel I demonstrated control using these techniques by the texture created throughout.

Something that I did not manage to achieve that I personally wanted to produce was have my final design put onto illustrator and shown at various angles. This was so that if I were to go onto design, this could be the beginning of a portfolio for professional practise. However I do have the next brief to achieve that as I have much more time to plan and develop it. Another improvement that I feel I could work on is the illustrations of the mannequins and dress designs in my sketchbook. I want them to be more presentable and to resolve this, I am going to practise and create my unique mannequin structure for future designs.

Ta daaaa!

Here is an image of my overall presentation. 

After adjusting small sections of the lower part of the dress and attaching fishing line, it is now complete. I am happy with my overall finish as I feel it represents my concept well and highlights the fading away issue. Now I will go ahead and work on my evaluation...

Research inspiration

Hanging the dress: 

So after collecting all my research needed, I found that I was inspired mostly by an exhibition in Edinburgh called "Beauty by design". The detail in the garments were so intricate and well finished. Although it was the way it was presented that really caught my attention. 

I find the way the garments are hung look so graceful. They look 3D as they have been attached with metal wire. The wire has been stitched inside the garment for it to hold its shape. As they have also been hung with wire, it looks as though they are floating. I really think this way of presenting is effective and therefore will continue to think of ways to hang my piece - with insipiration taken from this.

Preparing to exhibit...

After researching for inspiration on how to present my garment, I felt a strong colour contract was needed. I felt because my dress is white, I needed a really dark background in order for it to stand out successfully. I managed to borrow a large black curtain that will be hung as a back drop. 

Putting up the curtain was a real challenge as it was very heavy and difficult to handle. I was assisted in this process as I struggled with it on my own. The tools that were used in this process were a staple gun, ladders and long planks of wood. The staple gun seemed to be the quickest and most secure way to attatchment the curtain to the ceiling. 

After the curtain was hung, I came across a slight issue. Along the bottom of the curtain was very loose - which made the overall appearence unprofessional. To solve this matter, I thought about putting a weight behind the curtain to hold it down flat. I used pieces of wood from the workshop and borrowed and piece of wood from construction to pin down the curtain. This seemed a much quicker way than cutting and hemming the fabric. 

Alternative idea

After sketching out dress designs that related to my concept, I thought of purchasing a second hand dress. This would be a better idea as it's mainly about the focus of my concept and not the structure of dress.  I began to phone charity shops and ask around to see if anybody was selling their wedding dress. Eventually after no success from the charity shops, I managed to find one on a Facebook selling page. 

My ideology of what you see on the outside, doesn't necessarily mean reality. My ideas of altering the dress so that it looks close to perfect on the outside and in contrast, burnt and disintigrated at the back of the dress. This again reflects back to my conceptual idea that when you see a couple in a relationship in public, you assume that everything is fine. So when you walk to the back of my dress, there is a gradual subtlety that represents the slow Disintigration of the relationship. I need to now experiment and create sample pieces and also plan how I will hang my final piece.

Burning process...

After the festivities were over, it was time to concentrate on completing my final piece. I finalised which type of fabric I was using and which techniques I was using. 

Heat manipulation is a technique that I am familiar with and have confidence in using the heat tools. such as: A heat gun, soldering iron and iron. As I wanted to achieve a burnt effect on the fabric, I had to experiment with different heat tools to achieve this. A lighter and candle was also used during the experimentation.

 

When it came to burning the dress, I realised that it was very time consuming and taking up too much time to create the desired effect using a lighter. To solve this issue, I had an alternative idea that might be able to burn the fabric faster. Using blue roll really made a difference in the overall burnt look and the black marks that was left on the fabric. I felt this was a good way to resolve this as it really sped up the process.

ITS CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!

Graduation plan

4 sections of research 

- Further Education

- Business startup

- Travel 

- Employment

After carrying out my large amounts of research for each section, I now feel I have a clearer thought about my lifetime goals. I now know where I aim to go in life and what my ambitions really are. I realised that actually, I want to gain insight into each section. I found this research task really usefull as I have concluded what my short, medium and long term goals are. Also I came to the realisation that I don't actually have to worry about doing EVERYTHING in a couple of years. I can make plans for the future and aim to achieve them.

Disintigration

I developed samples for my studio practise 1 breif - the punctution mark

I thought of good linking idea for developments... By associating fabrics to my theme. 

I relating the meaning of the mind map words by choosing to represent them using fabric. How does this relate to my concept? - The disintigrated fabric represents the deteriation on the relationship. I will show this by altering the fabric to make it look frayed, separated, faded and other relivant words associated to my theme. after developing samples, the next stage will be creating ideas on a final piece. I will need to make it relivant to my theme and think of ways on how to best represent my concept. My inital thoughts on it just now are thinking of a symbol that relates to commitment and use that to highlight the relationship fading away... 

 

The three fabric samples seen above are hessian, silk and just paper.  I used a lighter to burn away part of the fabric, this again represents the disintigration. 

Next steps - Final design ideas.

Essay focus

After carrying out research for my extended essay proposal, I managed to narrow down my essay theme/question. My essay focus is a topic that I feel strongly about and also wish to further my knowledge on the subject.   

                                                               Essay theme

I intend to focus on the power balance between men and women. I will explore how they have changed in society by reflecting back to the 1950’s with reference to their roles and how they are projected within advertisement. 

Before, men and women had specific roles that they were known for. In a married relationship, it was most common for a women to undertake the household chores with the male being dependant on the women’s domestic and nurturing ability. In comparison to nowadays, women are not dependant on a male’s income nor do men rely on women's cooking. I want to create a discussion that highlights how Society is changing as well as the male perception towards women.

Punctuation brief

What you see on the outside doesn't necessarily mean reality on the inside.... 

That's my ideology that relates my concept to the brief. This time I feel a lot more focused and have a clearer thought about where I am going with my concept. 

Today I enjoyed experimenting with various fabrics by changing there appearance. I used heat tools to achieve a burnt, frayed and disintegrated effect on the fabric. 

These words all relate to a mind map I created previously - they all reflect the relationship fading. As mentioned in my PLP that I'm concentrating on the unseen factors of the relationship, my aim is to think of a way I can represent this as a final outcome!

 Three weeks to go! So "time to get the finger out" and actually get a move on with the development! 

NEW BREIF - The Punctuation mark

The new breifs issued were quite daunting at first. I found the punctuation mark breif most understandable and felt I could go the furthest with it in terms of concept and ideas. To begin the concept development process I started with a mind map to explore multiple ideas. Whilst looking over the breif, there was certain words that stood out to me. 

These were:

-communicate 

- Expression

- Each other 

I started researching into how people communicate each other without actual speaking and found out that body language plays a major part in communication. I am going to try and focus my research on body language and see where it takes me.

What To Do When You Don’t Know What to Do?

If you are the worst at making decisions like me and spend half the day thinking about what to do this just might be the answer! Spare a few minutes because it might be worth it  :)

What To Do When You Don’t Know What to Do

By Emma While

“He who deliberates fully before taking a step will spend his entire life on one leg.” ~Chinese Proverb

Here’s the thing: I don’t know what to do.

About this thing, about that thing. About big things and small things.

About anything.

Actually, to be honest, even the smallest thing seems big when I don’t know what to do about it. The state of “not knowing what to do” is like some kind of Miracle Grow for small things in my mind.

This is not a new thing. Not knowing what to do is a particular and well-honed talent of mine. I can even juggle several not knowing what-to-dos at once.

For example, at the moment I don’t know whether to go away with my friends this weekend or not. And if I do will I take the train? Or get a lift?

I don’t know whether to take that new job. And if I do, when should I start it? What about all those other job offers that will flood through the door the minute I say yes to this one?

I don’t know whether to start the diet tomorrow. Or today. Or next week. Or not at all. I don’t know whether to call my counselor or ride this one out alone.

I don’t know what is best, what is right. I don’t know what I want to do.

Do you know what else I don’t know? I don’t know what to do about not knowing what to do.

And whenever I feel like this (which is not always, but often), I start not knowing what to do about things I did know what to do about before. Things I had already made decisions on, things I felt excited and sure about before, now feel wobbly and wrong. Even though I know the decisions felt right when I made them.

My brain starts questioning it all: What if I didn’t really know what to do then either, and just decided on something that wasn’t really the right thing to do after all? What if it turns out to be “wrong”? What if I acted on impulse and didn’t think it all through properly?

It’s like I’m mourning all the other possible options that will never, ever happen now because I didn’t choose them.

The little voice in my head chides me: If you choose option a, then such and such might happen, which could lead to x and then that may mean y. Had I known in the beginning about y, maybe I wouldn’t have chosen that original thing. Or would I? How do I know?

And this uncertainty, the worry, the anxiety, the not knowing, it isn’t picky. It doesn’t just stick to the thing I’m not sure about. It leaks. It seeps into everything else, so instead of feeling uncertain or anxious about one thing in particular, about one decision specifically, I feel anxious, uncertain, and worried full stop. I forget what started it. I just feel it.

I feel it in my chest, near my heart. In my throat. It feels like guilt, muddled with regret, with overtones of panic and an undercurrent of fear. It feels hard and cold, like a vice-like grip.

And I don’t like it. But I just don’t know what to do about it. So I do nothing. Except worry and be anxious that doing nothing is not the right thing to do. It’s exhausting, it’s frustrating, and it’s totally and utterly unproductive.

And the only thing that makes it stop? Is to just decide and do something. To just do anything.

And the only way to know what to do? Well actually, there is no answer to that one.

Other than to not worry about worrying. To not feel anxious about feeling anxious. To accept that there is no right answer.

To breathe. To try to feel beyond the worry, to try to feel the answer rather than (over) think it.

To stop trying to second-guess every possible outcome of every possible decision. To stop trying to control and account for every accountability. It just isn’t possible.

To trust.

I can’t know what will happen. I can’t know how I will feel about any of it. I can’t know whether the decision I make is any better or worse than any other decision I could have made because I am only ever going to experience the one path I do choose.

So I can only react with what I have, what I know, and how I feel, right here and right now. And I don’t need to know how to do that; I just need to do it. I just need to allow it to happen.

Back to my decisions. Well, I still don’t know what to do. I still don’t know what the “right” thing is.But maybe that’s not so much of a problem after all.

Because I do know what the wrong thing is. And that’s to make no decision at all. Even if the decision I make is not to decide just yet—that is still a decision. Own it.

A friend once said to me, “Whenever the time is right, it will be the right time.” It helps me relax about my decisions.

I often wonder: Am I the only one like this? I don’t know that either, but if you’re with me:

Stop thinking it through. Stop making up what might happen. Because that’s what’s happening here, you’re just making it up. Just make the decision instead and enjoy the ride. Whatever it turns out to be, it doesn’t really matter—you can change it later if you really have to.

Whatever the decision is, just make it. What’s the worst that can happen, really?

Just make the decision and then be glad you did. Enjoy the freedom and the relief that follows.

Enjoy the present, indecision free. Because while you’re busy worrying about what might happen tomorrow, guess what? You’re missing out on all the great stuff happening today.

So just decide. Just relax.

Want to know the good news? The decision thing is just as leaky as the indecision thing.

Once I get going again, I know there’ll be no stopping me. I’ll breeze through decisions that floored me before. I’ll put those small things back in their place. And if it feels wrong, I’ll change it. I won’t worry about it. Things that felt a bit wrong and weird before just won’t matter anymore.

I won’t know where this whole confident, decision making thing came from. I’ll just feel it.

I’ll feel it in my chest, near my heart. It will feel like contentment, embracing joy, tickled with peace and flavored with lightness. It will feel soft and warm, like molten honey trickling through my veins. It will make me smile.

And I will love it. And I will do all I can to hold on to it.

That I do know.

So let’s just get started. Let’s just relax. Let’s just decide. And let’s never look back.

Photo by J. Tegnerud

Non space final piece

After my research was complete, I developed ideas and carried out experimental samples in order to reach a final design. I used three different areas - relating to dreams to represent my concept. 

These were: -  sleep stages

          - nightmares 

          - children's dreams

 I represented these separate areas by using various textile techniques and put these into a quilt form. My initial idea was to create the quilt cover and also for it to have another use as a book. This was so that it could reflect back to when children were young and bed time stories were read to them by their parent/guardian. This would be the first stages of dreams occurring. When the quilt was complete, I did not feel good about displaying the finished piece in my hand made book. The main reason being the detail in the quilt as a whole was lost as it was all folded up and hidden. I therefore had to display my quilt on the wall so that it could be clearly seen.

As much as I enjoyed making this quilt, I realised that my designs and techniques used were both very time consuming. I felt as though I was rushing to complete it in time which meant when it was finished, I was unhappy with the outcome - because I knew it was rushed.

 So let's try and scrape a positive out the barrel here and say I was happy that I managed to encorporate the two new techniques I learned into my final piece. These were crocheting and creating a repeat pattern on illustrator. The crocheting will definitely be a technique that I will progress with currently and in the future as I really got the hang of it. But really, I shouldn't have tried to learn a new technique (illustrator) in so little time escpecially when it comes to using computers... Blonde for a reason Ruth.

The update!

So now it's time for a quick update on the busy life of the one and only.....ME!

To recap on all the events and extras I've took on over the past few weeks, I will start with the most exciting! 

ERASMUS!! :D - After enquiring about a student exchange/ study abroad programme from last year. Our college eventually has an 'Erasmus status'. This is very exciting news!!! Last year I contacted Stirling university to enquire about their study abroad programme and they came back to me with all the information I needed. After spending hours of research trying to find the most appropriate course suited to me, I got back in touch with the adviser. The news wasn't so good - with my current course validated by the university, I thought I would be considered. Anyhow the first knock back was that the deadline had passed for the study abroad programme which meant I could only undertake an internship. I accepted this as it would still be a great opportunity and went ahead to find a suitable company to work for. After transferring details to the university for application, I receive a devastating email that said I was not eligable for the programme. This was because my current course does not have direct entry onto the Honours course - or something along the lines of that anyway... 

After forgetting about this for a few weeks, I decided I wanted to still have this opportunity and felt as though it was unfair that it couldn't be offered to me. With help for my aunty, we both put together a letter and sent it to the Erasmus company directly. After redirecting me back to the Stirling uni, I recieved an email back from my lecturer saying that our college has been discussing the Erasmus status. After the summer holidays, I investigated this and eventually got put in touch with Erasmus coordinator. I soon learned that the college was willing to help my through the process of applying to study abroad! I was very shocked to hear the good news but very excited!! After all my research on finding a suitable course I decided to apply to study in China, Germany and Demark! 

So now a good few weeks after the application was sent. I am impatiently waiting to receive either good or bad news. I reallyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy hope it's GOOD news!

Non place - Dreams

Whilst having the idea of focusing on dreams, my research led me to various other areas. I wouldn't have known to look at sleeping patterns, sleep stages or how dreams can change dependant on age. I used online websites to find my information on sleeping patterns and books and mazagines to find the meaning behind dreams. I later decided that I wouldn't focus on the mythical meaning of dreams and concentrate on how dreams change through the progression of age.

I plan to develop ideas from my research in order to meet my take on the brief. I will do this by planning  and preparing samples to create. 

As a personal aim, I wish to be able to create a repeat pattern using illustrator. In order to do this, I have organised to attend classes with a lecturer who is familiar using the illustrator programme. In order to create my final piece -the main textile techniques I plan on using to represent my concept are:

Appliqué 

Machine stitching

Crocheting 

Introduction to new breif

The breif on 'non space' has been introduced...confusion all round.

At the start of every breif, I like to create mind maps to help explore my initial ideas. This is to get me thinking of various pathways and possible concepts to focus on. My first initial research led me to a restricted area...WIKIPEDIA! 

Marc Augé (born September 2, 1935 in Poitiers) is a French anthropologist.

In an essay and book of the same title, Non-Places: Introduction to an Anthropology of Supermodernity (1995), Marc Augé coined the phrase "non-place" to refer to anthropological spaces of transience that do not hold enough significance to be regarded as "places". Examples of a non-place would be a motorway, a hotel room, an airport or a supermarket.^[1] 

So once I roughly got my head around what this crazy man was talking about, my mind maps definitely helped to widen my idea. First of all I didn't want to focus on the particular examples that was given as I wanted to put my own twist on my chosen concept. I decided to list all the physical and the non physical places and before I knew it, I sharply found myself  tangled up amungst the clouds of dreams...

Pencil brief - BAD 3

After our return from the summer, a breif was issued to the class based on the pencil. At first, it was a struggle to get my head around the breif as finding a concept was difficult. Although we only had two weeks to complete the breif,  there were pros and cons to the time restriction. With only having two weeks to develop and produce a final piece, this helped me to create a large quantity of work in a short period of time - becoming more aware about time restrictions. This would be very useful if I had to create a commission piece of work as I can now work under deadlines and pressure. Over all the breif was challenging and beneficial to me as a new skill was gained.