Tuesday 20th November - Film Preview & Sean Dower Lecture

Finally we would get to see our film strips transformed into an actual film! When we were making the strips, Jamie told us that we would see them as a film. What I hadn't anticipated was that it would be so many weeks later!
It was quite exciting. We sat down in the lecture theatre to watch it. We didn't know exactly where our strip would come into so I was just taking pictures continuously because I didn't want to miss my bit. When it finally did come, I only managed to get a couple of pictures becaue my camera decided to mis behave!

 

In the afternoon, we had a visiting lecturer called Sean Dower. To be honest, I'm finding these lectures pretty boring and I don't find them inspiring at all. Sometimes, I don't even know what to write about them. If they were related to what I'm doing which is textiles and design, it would be better. Jamie did say that he would get someone in for us, but I don't see it happening any time soon!

Anyway, on with Sean. It was another media lecture. He told us that the casette was the first thing that could be distributed without a record label.

He studied architecture at Newcastle, but dropped out after a year. He used to make music as a hobby sort of thing, and decided to do this instead. He also did the foundation course that I'm doing now - this shows that it helps in the long run and is worth it!

When he was talking about his work and what he does, I really tried to pay attention but I just lost interest. It felt like a whole media day!

 



Thursday 18th Ocotober - Screen Printing 2

The designs I had previously done with Danielle - the small squares of different lines and patterns had also been put onto a screen at the same time that the large drawing I had done had been, but I hadn't got round to actually printing with it. This time, I had more access to different fabrics, and this gave me the chance to take my work that little bit further.
I cut out a flower shape from a magazine page photocopy as the lines and patterns I had drawn were in square boxes, and would have looked boring if I had printed lots of suqares. I put the cut out of the flower shape on the paper or fabric where I would print it, and this way, the design was printed in the shape of the flower.

I did quite a few of these, as well as some in the square shape. I ended up with a whole load of prints after I cut them out, and I didn't know what to do with them.
In the afternoon, Danielle showed me a way of almost condensing them down. This was to sew 2 or 3 of them together in the shape of the flower I had printed on them, or in any other shape I wanted. I could also sew shapes inside shapes. Then, the idea was to cut into the shapes and cut away one layer of fabric so the fabric underneath was visible in the shape that has been sewn. It was kind of time consuming, but I liked the way it looked and decided to do it to all of them.
Another way of putting a couple of pieces of fabric together is to use Bondawebb. It's almost like a fabric glue. I ironed it onto the back of 1 flower, then peeled it off. It left a residue. I then ironed that flower onto another so then if I were to sew that onto something else, it wouldn't move.
I also sewed into one of the prints of the larger drawing using blue thread to make it stand out. I tried not to sew into it too much so the actual print would still stand out.

Tuesday 16th October - Screen Printing

This was the one workshop that I had been looking forward to the most. I had done screen printing previously, and I had really enjoyed it.

I had given Kim the drawing that I had done in textiles with the lines and patterns. The drawing had turned out really well. Kim gave us a quick demo, but when I started doing it for myself, I was disappointed at first - the image wasn't coming out clearly, and I didn't know why! Kim said it was because my drawing was very detailed and I had drawin it using very fine lines, they were easily blocked, and it needed cleaning continuously. When I started doing this, the prints came out a lot cleaner and crisper.

 

Printed onto wood

Also, I had dyed some background last night for the prints, using lots of different colours. I did one background where I used salt on the protein dye technique as it looks very effective.
I also printed onto a piece of wood - it gave a withered, old kind of effect.

 Backgrounds I dyed

In the afternoon, we were using the ancient sewing machines. They are very different to the one I have at home, and I barely know how to thread the needle with these machines!

We used something called vanishing fabric - I had never heard of it before - it's amazing. It looks and feels like a sheet of plastic, almost like a plastic wallet but slightly textured. When it gets wet, it disappears, and all you're left with is the thread that has been sewn into the fabric. You have to make sure to go over the design you want a few times to make sure that there are no loose ends, and all the thread is linked.
I drew my design out, and me being me, it was detailed and complicated. Danielle said it would take too long to do, and we were only doing this to see what it was like, as a technique. I wanted to do it all but I knew that I didn't have the time, so I just chose to do a section in the middle. I used blue thread on top and purple underneath. Because the fabric was so thin, when the needle was piercing through it, it was making holes, and the more I was trying to stop it, the more it was happening. I then tried to sew over the holes to fill them, and this worked to an extent, but then more holes kept on appearing, so I washed the fabric and watched it disappear. It became sticky. It's amazing how it just disappears like it was never there.

 

 

Tuesday 9th October - Textiles

We received some good news today. Jamie told us that we didn't have to do the second roundabout of the workshops, and that now, it was all about getting stuck in to what we came here to do. I was sort of dissappointed in a way because I had been looking forward to developing the work I had done during the roundabout. On the other hand, however, it had felt like it had been dragging, and I just wanted to get on with the work in my pathway.
When I had done the textiles pathway taster, I was kind of put off by what we did because I didn't see the link that it had with textiles. One thing that I did learn was that every idea needs to start with some drawing and sketches.
Previously, I hadn't really been fond of drawing as I had been forced to do it for my A Levels. What I enjoy about this course is that drawing is not forced, and you can do it if you want to. This makes me want to draw.
Danielle told us that we would be drawing patterns and lines inside a grid. She showed us some examples of this, work from previous students. She then wanted us to take this further by using the lines and techniques to draw a picture. We were shown an example of this and it was pretty amazing. I wasn't expecting something amazing to happen for me. I was just going to give it a try. I knew I would be sat there all day and not have much work to show, due to the fact that I work at such a slow pace. I knew I would only get one task finished by the end of the day.
I managed to fill in 5 boxes with lines and patterns. I chose to draw the leaves in one box that I drew on the film strip in media. This took a while and Danielle suggested that I draw some patterns that weren't as time consuming.

I then started the bigger image where I had to use one of the patterns I used in the boxes to make an image. I decided to use a page from Marie Claire magazine where there is a model wearing patterend clothes in front of a patterned background. I didn't really know how to go about it though, so I used the lightbox to get a clearer picture,, as I was using a photocopy of the image, and it wasnt very clear. So, where there was a line in the picture, I drew it as a squiggle and so on. I didn't do exactly what Danielle had asked but I carried on anyway, because I liked the way it looked. I was really pleased with the outcome - I hadn't expected it to turn out so well. We would then be using these images and screen printing with them. That I was looking forward to.

Thursday 29th November - Pathways

The last time that I spoke to Jo, she looked at my work and saw the drawings that I had done of the models from magazines. She said there was no real link between me and them, and I needed to make it more personal to myself. One of the ideas that she suggested to me was that instead of me drawing models, I either draw myself or someone close to me. I instantly thought of my sister. That way, the drawings and whatever else I would decide to take them into would be personal to me.
Also, it would relate to me and my culture if my sister wore asian clothes as they are filled with pattern and colour, and for the background, I use patterns from wallpaper as what I have been doing is pattern on pattern, which normally would look to clash, but in this case, it works.
So, I had taken some photographs of her in the clothes and all that was left to do was draw her. I did 2 drawings of her and by mid afternoon, I was done. The next step is to get these drawings onto a screen and print them which will be next week.

Tuesday 13th November - Textiles/Personal Statement Talk

We had a talk about personal statements in the morning. I'm dreading doing mine! We were told about the kinds of things we should include and the kinds of things we shouldn't. I find it hard to write about the things I'm good at - I feel like I'm bragging and that's not a good thing!
The most important part of the UCAS application process is the personal statement because it has to be personal to yourself. It has to say something about me that the university's I apply to will want to read and want to know more about. It needs to be eye catching from the very first sentence otherwise it won't really be paid attention to. That's a very hard thing to master. I think I'll leave that bit to the end!
The rest of the talk was just about generally how to lay it out, what things to write about in what paragraphs. The big universities like Central Saint Martins were asking for a really short, precise statement, basically in about 8 sentences! That was really something to think about.
In the afternoon, in textiles, we were burning different materials and fabrics. When Danielle had first told us about this whole manipulation unit, I wasn't really too keen about it and didn't want to burn things, but then I thought I'd give it a try. It turned out that it wasn't really as bad as I thought it would be.

I burnt different kinds of fabrics and material using a hair dryer resembling torch. Different fabrics reacted differently to the heat. Some completely burned and others shrivelled. I also cut up some bin liners into strips and then arranged them in a grid like pattern on top of a piece of greaseproof paper. Putting another piece of greaseproof paper on top, I ironed over the plastic and it shrunk. If I left the iron on a bit longer, holes started to appear in the strips of bin liner.  

Thursday 6th December - Screen Printing

My screen had been ready for a couple of days, but due to the fact that UCAS had to be sent off pretty soon. I hadn't got round to doing it.
Last night, I made some backgrounds - I dyed them using brusho dyes. On one of them, I used salt and bleach to get a different effect. I had 2 drawings put onto the screen, so I had a lot of work to do. I had everything prepared so I started on my marathon printathon!
It was so tiring. I printed onto different surfaces such as fabric and paper etc using different coloured inks. By the time I finished, it was a while after lunch.

I hadn't stopped all morning - I felt like a machine just churning out these prints. I wanted to make the most out of the screens as it takes about a week to get an image onto them!