Tutorial: Clive

I had a tutorial today with Clive to discuss the themes and first steps of development to get the ball rolling with my drawing stage. I needed this tutorial as even though I could see the relation between my images I'm unsure on how to start this I obviously described my relation to my images and what I felt the theme of them is revolved around my love of lace and that I've collected these images because they each show a manner of interlinking forms. It was easy to see that I have understanding that of my theme in a variety of areas.

Looking at my images he picked out that there are similarities in which each shows a web of patterns but also there were contrasts with some as there were a mixture of natural and geometric patterns within my images.

When asking about starting my drawing he described to me that I should look at the patterns of my images, attempt to creat paper cut outs looking at the different natural/geometric shapes and think about layering. After this I could move onto how I could do this with string.

Introduction to Glass

I had a glass workshop where we were introduced to using the material for the first time. We looked into cutting, layering, fritz, image transfers and ceramic paper. I made a few samples, I tried to complete each process. I'm going to show the before and after being in the glass kiln images of my glass samples.

Collected Images and Words

Two weeks ago I was given the task to collect 50 images and 50 words. These images of primary and secondary sourced material had to interest us to generate ideas and concepts. This collection was then to be used to identify a subject matter for our next module.

I really struggled at first with this task as I thought I'd know what I like when I saw it but this wasn't working till I realised the one thing I know I absolutly know I like, I love lace. This opened up an area of images I could gather looking at lace, webbed and translucent things. The more I thought about the more things I realised related to my interest. Once I got the ball rolling I couldn't stop there were so many areas I was looking, I picked up on previous work, images I'd taken years ago and links I saved in my favorites I planned to come back to.

After a creative practice lecture from Mel Brown and Ambrose Burne it become more clearer what I was going to use these images and how I'd progress with my images into a series of drawings of ideas and samples.

Talking to people and discussing my ideas gave me another point of view of it that the things you collect and hold onto are certainly important to you and interest you. So when I got home searched and pulled out all the items I've gathered over the years including the big bags of fabrics and a box of wallpaper I keep at the end of my bed. I rummaged and I sourced till eventually I had way more than they were asking for.

For this project I'm going to be strict with my material choice as I am certain and determinded to work in textiles for this project. I'm not saying that I wont involve other areas like wood but I know where I'm most comfortable and where I want to work.

Some of My Favorite Images
Most of my images worked around my key themes of lace, webs, translucency and light but there were a certain few that really interested me more or depicted what I was thinking about really well.

This is possibly my most favorite image that I took out of all my 50 Images. What I liked about this is how pylons are all conected together and forever strung together with their wires on a path that you cannot follow.

This is a drawing of mine from a year ago on my foundation where I'd stitched over the vague contour lines on a map, highlighting them to the other features . I've always liked this drawing of the pattern created and the way it feels when you touch it but I was unable to figure out what to do next with it. Like the pylons these are lines that cannot be followed.

I chose images like these because I liked the wrapping of transluctent material around a structure and the light shining through it. I thought this very well described one of my ideas and interest of light.

I specifically wanted this Image as I wanted to show and describe my connection to the interlinking of material to create a web like manner.

My Words
I've specifically selected 50 words that I feel either link towards my images, describe things that interest me or I've found perk my liking.

1. Lace
2. Transparency
3. Web
4. Layering
5. Open Weave
6. Cross
7. Intertwine
8. Geometric
9. Unorthodox
10. Annihilated
11. Fathom
12. Skeletal
13. Haunting
14. Shine
15. Breath
16. Extruding
17. Dream
18. Lost
19. Progression
20. Float
21. Fragment
22. Fragile
23. Confined
24. Tangled
25. Obscurity
26. Dinosaur
27. Forgotten
28. Indigenous
29. Nebula
30. Light
31. Frost
32. Enchanted
33. Metamorphosis
34. Progression
35. Trail
36. Ghostly
37. Suspended
38. Stitch
39. Spindle
40. Stolen
41. Flake
42. Electricity
43. Translucent
44. Trapped
45. Constricted
46. Velocity
47. Contour
48. Fairy Tale
49. Isomorphic
50. Netted

Metal Box Making

Last wednesday I spent the day in a box making workshop with Rich where we filed, folded and soldered together a 4x4x4cm metal box. I haven't finished it, I still need to file the bottom and make a lid using the same process but I'm really liking the way it looks at the moment.

Move: Around the World in 1 Minute

This will be my first post since I've started my Uni course and I've been meaning to update my blog with all i've experienced in the past month. I saw this film from Channel 4's Random Acts segment. This film is by STA Travel Austrailia where they sent Rick Mereki, Andrew Lees and Tim White on an amazing trip around the world. A 6 week journey of a lifetime crammed into one epic minute. This film would have been an interesting resource for my journey project last year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BrDlrytgm8&feature=relmfu

Summary

My final installation follows my proposal fairly closely as i've tried to stick to my origanal plan and work around any problems I was faced with. I always planned to have a bedroom piece in the same style as "My Bed" by Tracy Emin, but to extend this with a physical representation of the dreams and distress around the room. I feel that the paper lace has come together to show this really well as its many loops and twists, along with all the the intricate detail within the chains themselves showed the complex nature of dreams. I also think that the quilt has come together well, each patch showing a different person sleeping with different dreams in each patch. This shows the variety of dreams and how each dream is individual even with some similarities. The floor piece was not in my proposal as I added this idea later on when I was planning my installation, follwing on from the lace patterns I had been using throughout the design of the room. The floor piece is not as clear as I had hoped in my original idea however I think the faded patterns do give more a dream like feel. I also think the way all of the designs are linked with the use of lace helps to bring it all together and show that its somewhere between being awake and being asleep. The film has been a challenge although I think it has turned out well, I like the way the tv in the corner of the room integrates the film into the dream like state of the room, by showing a few dream sequences and the music behind them it is part of the not quite sleeping and not quite awake theme of them room.

Floor Dust Pattern

Once i had starting planning out my installation I decided that it would be a good idea to do a floor piece to accompany the room. It was Catherine Bertola that inspirsed me to work on the floor, as she had done a number of dust patterns which i thought could be used aswell to represent dreams within the room. I decided that I wanted to continue the lace theme that has run through the rest of the piece linking all aspects together. I had a rough idea of how i could create a pattern with the lace and I had a temporary fabric adhesive that I knew would not be too hard to clean up, but would be sticky enough to create the pattern. My method of creating this pattern was to place the lace on the floor where i wanted the pattern, sprayed the adhesive over the top of the lace, removing the lace and then spreading the "dust" across the space.

I had to do some tests to find out what kind of "dust" I was going to use. I tested flour and baby powder, I found that as the baby powder was easier to spread and stuck better to the floor. I also noticed that the adheasive wasn't particularly resistant to brush strokes and this began to bring the pattern up when i was spreading the powder around. I resolved this by using a brush with more fine bristles, a make up brush worked well. I also noticed that the thicker the layer of spray adhesive meant that a thicker layer of powder stuck, which made the pattern easier to see. I made note of this so that i knew to get a good layer of adhesive down during the real piece. I also decided to test how the tests lasted when left over time, I left the test on the floor for a few days to see how it had faded. This showed that the pattern wouldn't fade over time which was good as it had to last a few days once it had been created.

The real piece was on a much larger scale, this meant that a larger area had to be sprayed before the lace was removed, which also made it harder to definitely spray everywhere, and evenly. This caused a problem, towards the end of the first spray the first can began to run out. This meant that the end of the pattern was patchy. The only solution was to clean up this section and to do it again, carefully. This is because I wanted the pattern to match up. Another issue was with the cleaning up, this is because I had to brush away the powder. I had to brush the powder around before brushing it away from the space, and once all of this powder was away from the piece it had to be cleaned up as it can be very slippery. I had to be very careful not to clean off any of my work while making sure all the podwer was up.