Monday 27 October

With all these samples I knew that I had to be chose carefully what I wanted to take forward because I had created that many different ones with various materials. I had to choose the best or which ones I thought had the most potential within them. With my tutor looking over my work she was right in saying that I had only used one technique. I know because I stuck to using the cording foot on the machine and just putting different elastic and fabric through them, however when I had finished showing them to her I explained about the situation I had with the wide elastic. My tutor and peers said that it was very unusal to look at because they had never seen elastic like that before. The elastic showed something unique about it because everyone knows elastic for being tight and stretchy and seeing it all unthreaded and loose made it more interesting to look at. I wanted to carry this elastic method forward. Then I went out and bought the elastic in different neon colours.  When I was unthreading all the elastic the threads that stood out the most to me were the pink and the white this wasn’t because of the colour of them but because of what the unthread line looked like. The thread from the elastic of these colours were all furry and this created a totally different sample to the others. I started hanging and pinning up the unthreaded elastic in a window but I was just letting the elastic hang so it formed more organic shapes. This created an installation which I thought related back to my artist research which was creating an environment for the audience to interact with.

Tuesday 21 October

After showing all my different types of drawings to my tutor I found out what techniques and processes I should work on more. The machine samples were the best ones I had created however I knew that I should extend more on the process and by using different colours and shapes I could develop them much more. Using the pleating and folding of the paper seemed to work quite well. However with some of the sample there were some problems, such as the paint was pealing off them and they looked horrible, so I had to find a solution to fix this and keep the colour on the samples. With all these different samples in mind I tried to keep the machine also in mind. Then expand on that by using different types of materials and different colours to see what worked best and what effect each materials gave.

I found so many different types of materials I just kept looking for unusual ones which I could develop and processes more. With all these ideas I also started testing out different types of elastic for example: different thickness and different colours. I found some elastic works better with other fabrics. I just kept making all these different samples and developing them more and more however I did something by mistake I bought some wide elastic to see if I could stretch it and it wasn’t really working for me and then I started pulling one of the threads from it and the elastic came apart beautifully. I had never seen elastic like this before and it gave the elastic a totally different look about it. I used this on different lengths of elastic to see how it would effect it at different sizes. This sample was so simple yet so effective because when I was unthreading the elastic it was just one thread I was pulling on so there was this big bundle of thread which was just one line. It didn’t look like it though because when the elastic was made the thread has some creases in it which made it look like it was more than one thread. However there were some samples that didn’t work .Like the foam, tape and some stretch fabric. I did like the colours of these materials but they just didn’t work with the elastic in the machine.

Monday 13 October

I showed my peers and tutor what I had done in the past in my work then explained why I chose the colours and the materials that I had drawn with. I explained that the materials were important to me because I didn’t want to create flat drawings. My peers know that I like using a lot of different plastics in these drawings, so I used them in an abstract way creating unusual drawings. My tutor explained that I should develop them more by using different processes. Not to become too attached to what I am doing because sometimes trying different processes create more ideas. After this discussion I needed more inspiration to develop my drawing so I went away and did more artist research and this helped me to think about a variety of other processes thus generating more ideas. Softlab for Melissa shoes- we are flowers, Unbilical cord by Richmond and kaleidoscope light installations.

 

With all these ideas I starting using a lot more processes to develop my drawings. With some of the wall paper I manipulated and folded creating new drawings within the old ones. Some of the drawings were horrible and didn’t work because the fabric and plastics will only manipulate in certain directions. Some of them were harder than others such as the plastic kept breaking. Also I had other ideas like keep some on background and creating different shades within them because my photographs had elements of this. I had to keep a link between them all, however some of the drawings became quite restricted because of the limited manipulation of the materials. I create many different drawings with in these and tried various materials such as stretch and lycra materials, tights, leather and wood boards. All these various materials had a different effect on each drawings. Also I used some of the techniques I learnt from the machines, afterwards started creating more long drawings with this. I found that using the cording foot on the machine gives my drawings more a 3D look because these drawings seem to have more movement about them. I think it is because I didn’t restrict them to a specific shape, I just let them fall where they wanted which was interesting. The elastic helped me create more tension and style within these samples.

 

Tuesday 7 October

This was my first discussion with my peers of what I had done up to now with the project I took in all my photographs then saying what I want to take further and why I has chosen the photographs I did. My peers could tell that I really enjoy bright neon colour and this was shown within my photographs. What I should have done was expand more on the development of my photographs. My peers said that I should start drawing a lot more then choosing carefully the elements that I thought stood out the most to influence my drawings next time. I listened to their advice and information, then I thought of drawing in such a broad term. Instead of doing small pencil drawings I created these big drawing using wall paper, mirrors, metaled plastics, metallic paper, jelly and bin bags. I chose to paint on materials which I thought would give the drawing more texture and unusual elements to my pictures. However with seeing my peers work, they did a lot of drawings on the move. So I wanted to try and see how this technique would work for me. Then I went out in Manchester and started drawing using neon pens and tracing paper. I chose the tracing paper because I was doing quick drawings and layering them on top of one another because this created other drawings bringing another prospective to my work, thus making it more an interesting way for me to work.