Setting Up The Display

Today I got my display for my pieces set up. We had some problems with the screws where they didn't fit the slots in the keyhole hook. They could still sit on the wall but they can be knocked off easily. It was easily solved by replacing the screws. With the display set up i could begin arranging my neck pieces upon them. To get my pieces on without it looking too flustered took a few tries. I tried to layer them as the three sizes over lapped each other instead of one on top of the other. As the display are made with flat sheets of plastic they don't have the volume you would with a body meaning the pieces were too long and hung off the bottom of the display. To rectify this I pulled the pieces from behind the neck down the back of the display and clipped it to the frame holding it to the wall. Over all I'm really happy with my display.

Finishing Display

Today I've been on the mission to finish making my display to be put up on the wall tomorrow. I already had the body shaped plastic cut out from Monday. All I needed to do today was to make the part that was stuck to the back of the body and joining the wall. James had instructed me to use plastic glue to stick plastic dowels to the back and the dowels with slot into holes in the wall. I was a bit concerned about the glue holding to either side of the dowels and worried that by hanging it up with this process that it might fall off. I talk to Ian in workshop about my intention with the dowels and he informs me that it's not a very sturdy way of hanging. The problem is that the surface area of the dowels glued to the back is too small meaning it won't be strong enough to hold. Also I'd need to get the dowel at perfect right angles and I would risk breaking the bodies by drilling holes in for the dowels to go in. We brainstormed some idea to make the surface larger and finally came to the idea of a frame/bracket that had a square base to glue to the back on the left and right sides of the of the base square were panels bent at right angles away from the base giving the space between the bodies and the wall. Then another two parts folding at right angles away from the panels, parallel to the base square to then be attached to the wall with screws through keyhole shaped holes in the sections. This bracket would be much stronger and ensure that the display is parallel to the wall by using the larger surface areas.
We made the bracket from clear perspex and cut out the shape and etched the lines with the laser cutter. I was able to shape them using the strip heater to melt the plastic along the etched lines to make it malleable toe bend it into right angles. With the brackets made we could glue them using plastic glue onto the back of the bodies making sure they were straight based on the bottom of the bodies.

Spaces

This afternoon I was hanging around the hall to get the go ahead about setting up. During this time who gets what spaces was still being organised. I was asked if space is limited that I may have to only have two items  that sit one above the other. I really had my heart set on the three side by side and I personally think a group of three looks better. I am quite set on having all three, but I understand that if there is not the space then it's fine and I will work with what I've got. Hopefully I don't have to but we will see.

Postcard and Business Cards Arrived

I had to wait in this morning for a package to arrive. I am excited to have received my postcards and business cards today. I think they look amazing. I think the image quality could have been better on the postcards but it too late to change anything now and I'm still happy with them.

Making Display

My plastic sheets arrived today for making my display. I got them cut down to fit in the laser cutter at Folly campus and carried them to the workshop at CRC campus to cut out the body shapes on the bigger laser cutter in that workshop. I change my mind on having the hole distinguishing the waist and the arms etched and instead cut it out so that the shape of the body is more obvious and i was worried that if it were etched it wouldn't be as noticeable. I also decided to go with having my logo and name in the bottom corner as I like to see the branding spread across every part of my work. It was a nice feeling to see my name etched out onto the plastic. We had a problem with the letter D in my name with trying to get the space inside the 'D'. After a few attempts to fix it I got there in the end.

Editing Images

This weekend and Friday I have been editing pictures from the photo-shoot last Thursday. I had to cut down on the 400 images and picked out a select few for me to work with. It was difficult to get my head around at first but I've been watching a few Photoshop tutorials and have learnt a few things I can do to change the images. It has took me a while to get through all the images and my desktop is filled with many variations of the same image. I still have loads of more editing to do in preparation for the portfolio and website.

Preparing For Laser Cutting Display

Today I've been playing on Illustrator preparing the file for the laser cutter ready for when my plastic sheets arrive for cutting out my display. I'm having body torso shapes cut out of the plastic. I've made an example piece out of foam board and then scanned it into the computer to use the image as template to follow. I'm thinking of having the gap between the waist and the arms etched but am worried if it's not deep enough then it won't show. I've made two versions of the file, the second one has an additional etch of my logo and name. I think it would be nice to keep my branding on all my work.

Photo-shoot

I have been in the photo studio all day taking pictures of my pieces. I got some normal pictures and some where I played with the lighting. I use a translucent table and shone a light through illuminating the plastic of my items. During this period I arranged to have a model in to wear my items. I think it's important to see it being worn as on it's own it's not obvious that it's to be worn or how it would look. It's a good thing she was on the ball about posing as I wasn't too sure myself. I did how throw in a few suggestions and got some amazing images. I looked at different distances and angles. we played with the positioning of the item and handling of the item.

3rd Final Piece

I got my 3rd and last final piece  finished today ready for my photo-shoot tomorrow. I have spent this week blasting through getting this piece done in time. For this piece I've chosen a pattern that uses regular pleating instead of box pleats. As I though the colours were a bit blander than the others I made sure that I had a strong pattern and that the larger width was the darkest plastic. I used grey for the larger strips, white for the middle size and clear for the smallest.

2nd Final Piece

I have chosen a new pattern from my exploration of patterns for my 2nd final piece. I like this pattern as I can see triangles and squares in it. I used the same ratios of how many strips for each width (8 x 5cm, 10 x 3.5cm, 12 x 2.5cm). This time I've used a different colour combination of grey bobbles, clear and black.

Tutorial: Lisa Porche

Today I had my last tutorial with Lisa Porche. We discuss my final pieces so far, my colour combination and what i plan on doing. she gave me some suggestions on laser cutting some patterns out on the plastic and molding it together with the clear or printing on the plastic. I'm a bit skeptical that they could work as I know they won't let me put plastic in the laser cutting without knowing exactly what its made of and that whether printing on it will stick to material and not smudge and be blotchy. Also with the time I have left I don't think I have the time to test these ideas. During this time I run by her my idea of having some samples with my final piece display for the viewers to be able to touch the material and see how it feels. She suggested to me some ideas for displaying the samples. I will possibly do this if I have the time once the important parts of my work is done.

Finshed 1st Final Piece

After visiting London on Wednesday to get more plastic material I have been able to extend the length of my first final piece. I have been cutting, folding, Stitching and joining for the last day to double the length of the first attempt. This final piece now contains: 8 x 5cm black, 10 x 3.5cm white and 12 x 2.5cm clear. With this doubled I now tested its length on a mannequin to see if it was the right length and am really happy with the results.

First Attempt at Final Piece

I spent all Friday, the weekend and this morning blasting through making my first final piece in time for the photography session. I used 4 x 5cm black, 5 x 3.5cm white and 6 x 2.5cm clear, using up the last of my plastic meaning i need to take another trip to London soon. Once I had finished making it I had to get it the the photography session. During the session I got to apply it to my model. Once I could see it on someone I could see that it was too short for what I was trying to achieve. I was thinking it would cover the whole chest and hang down from there but it was much smaller than imagined and sat above the chest. As of the size of the folds it was too much going on for the wearer and the viewer to have close to the head and that it needs to be lengthened.

Colour Combinations

I have been looking at and recording colour combinations of my selected favorite plastic colours. I have chosen to specifically use Black, Bobbly Grey, Misty Grey, Misty White and Clear. I have been arranging my samples together in order to find collections of three colours that compliment each other. I have chosen to use:

Black, white, clear
Bobbly grey, clear, black
Grey, clear, white

I needed make sure I didn't have any clashing grey on grey combinations.

Tutorial: James

Today I had a tutorial with James to talk about how my display is to work. From talking to Lisa Porche last I had decided to use flat cut out plastic to display my work on. Now I need to work out how I am to have the  cut out bodies at a display level. Lisa was suggesting having them suspended from the ceiling but in the hall I don't think that is possible and keeping them in the right place would be troublesome. I though of making them a stand for them to sit on plinths but It was suggested by James that it would probably look bulky and unappealing. James suggested the great idea of having them stuck to the wall but sitting away from it leaving a gap between the wall and the plastic. I weren't sure how that would work but he worked out that we could use dowels glued to the back of the plastic to slot into holes made in the wall.

Joining Plastic

Today I have been considering how I would join my long strips of plastic in a nice way the wouldn't be too noticeable. I tried both stitch and melting the plastic. I fount the stitch ones to be too obvious but the melted one worked really well and as long as I'm careful and do it neatly it won't be very noticeable.

Different Patterns

Lisa advised me that it was important for me to discover different patterns to expand on my ideas. I've been playing with the box pleat and pinning sections together to see what patterns I can make. I've also looked at regular pleats as well to explore what other patterns I can make with them.  I think I've made a nice collection of patterns for me to pick out some favorites to use.

Tutorial: Lisa Porche

My first tutorial after the Easter holidays was with Lisa Porche and I had a lot of things to discuss. We first went over my materials that I was using for my folded formed strings. I was able to identify which materials I liked most and thought worked best. These were:

• shiny black
• geometric textured grey
• matt grey
• clear shiny
• matt white

Through these we talked about my idea to combine come of the different textured or coloured materials together. We both agreed that depending on whether they complement each other then it would be very good as two type of necklace things that are worn together

I had also recently explored varying widths of the chains. I informed her that from my finding that the larger ones are floppy and possibly too large. I'm thinking I would go slightly bigger than the usual size i've been doing possibly a centimeter before it starts looking weak. I had also tried making smaller sized the samples going as small as half of my usual size. I liked these and the changing of size and had decided to test a changing size of the strips to see how that works or consider combining loops of chains into sets of two or three with different thicknesses.

We went into depth about my collection/s for the upcoming final show. It was decided that I could fit three items in my space and that these items will be similar styled items being long chains that loop around the neck like necklaces but with vast quantities. It was advised that to make these different that I should explore different patterns in order to show development and express a variety of skills. I'm thinking that I will have three different patterned adorning items and that because how they are is similar I could change the colours of the materials like black, grey and white to show that they are different patterned as if they were in the same coloured material it could be missed that they are all actually different.

For my final show I need to consider how I am to display my items. I was first considering buying mannequins which means I would have to purchase them now in order for them to arrive on time. Lisa suggested a better idea of displaying by cutting out a human figure from perspex and using that instead of a bulky mannequin. I think this is a better form of display as a mannequin can seem very heavy to look at and is very typical form to think of displaying and when going to New Designers there will be loads of people using mannequins for display. However using a shaped perspex form to display will be different and will not only match my plastic material use but also blend and not distract from the pieces. My only consideration with this now is how the flat sheet of perspex with stand and I will have to explore how to solve this problem.

Chaning Scales

I have been exploring different widths of the strips. I can determine what widths work best with the pattern and how the size effects it. I found that the widths bigger than 6cm got floppy and didn't hold the pattern very well. I couldn't go smaller than 2.5cm as it was the smallest I could fit through the sewing machine. I like the 5cm size and the tiny 2.5 size.

I've considered a changing size with the strips and tested fluctuating the width size going along the strip. This could be an interesting aspect to my work.

Tutorial: Anna Lewis

Anna Lewis gave me some interesting suggestions in my tutorial. With my problem using woven materials and that they are fraying she told me that when using synthetic fabrics if I were to cut them on the laser cutter the heat would melt the plastic content and seal the edges. This is another process for me to try.  

She gave me a list of suppliers of materials for which I should look at. Also recommending that I could look at Tyvek as a material, apparently it’s a mix between plastic and paper where it will have the qualities of paper but does not tear and can be stitched, folded, cut and dyed. She was insistent on me trying leather and helpful with with how I should handle the leather and the types of needles I would need to sew into leather and that I possibly need thinner leather to create a crisp fold.