Vintage Project Evaluation

For this project, i was given a live brief for a client, Advintageous. For this project, i  was asked  to create a set of four bunting flags based on an era from the 1900's to 1960's, along with a mind map about my chosen era, a research sheet into a certain aspect of that era and a sheet of bunting designs.
I chose to research the era 1920's. I chose this era as it is something i personally really liked, I've always been fascinated by the clothes from this era. I also picked this era as it is one of the most well known era's for 'vintage' objects. I wanted to explore the fashion of this era as it was something i thought i could have a lot of ideas and different outcomes with. I also wanted to explore the fashion of this era as fashion from the 1920's is very famously known as 'vintage clothes' and i wanted to really explore the vintage part of this project brief.
Throughout this project i have undertaken alot of research to add to my work. Parts of this research were on the internet, finding out key events/toys/fashion and different interesting aspects about the 1920's. I found this type of research really useful as i could get to what i wanted to know really quickly. I also undertook research on the fashion of 1920's by lending books about 1920's fashion from different library's, reading about the different styles of fashion from flapper dresses and evening wear, what was acceptable and what wasn't. I also used these books as references for my design pages, to take inspiration from the images and information they provided and incorporate it into my own work. I liked this type of research as it was very informative. Because of the methods of research that i have undertook in this project, i had loads of idea's to go in to my designs for my bunting.
Once i had done an initial mind map about as much to do about the 1920's as i could find, i decided to choose to focus on fashion as it was something i had gained the most research for. I developed this into a research sheet, including as many images/drawings/paintings i could gather from that era, incorporating 3D effects such as feathers for the headpieces on some of my paintings, adding actual fringe strips onto my work to use as a dress and also adding glitter. I did this as i wanted to incorporate parts of my specialism into work, but without it being 'too much.' This was hard as my specialism is 3D and at first i thought the only things i could add were wood, clay or metal. Once i got over this i had loads of idea's on how to incorporate 3D styles into my work.

My initial mind map 

My research sheet about 1920's fashion

 From this research sheet i designed my bunting designs. I did this by picking out my favorite aspects of the research sheet, and experimenting with them on a piece of paper, to try and make them into nice, looking designs which also would look as if they fit in with the era, and not just represent the fashion in it. When i finally decided on some designs, i drew them onto a piece of paper, making four different triangle bunting designs in total. I painted and coloured these acrylics and coloured pencils, also adding bits of fringe material and glitter into my designs, showing where i would stitch it on when i had done my design onto calico.

I produced my bunting by transferring them onto magic touch paper, and then using the heat press to transfer it onto calico. I then added glitter and fringe details once it had all finished, to make it look how i wanted it to, using my designs as a reference. I learnt how to use the heat press in this project, something which i enjoyed to use once i had got the hang of it. 

(final bunting designs)

I feel as if i used my time well at begging of the project, as i produced bigger pieces of work than what was asked and still had them completed to the deadline we were given for each piece. Despite this, after i had done my research sheet, i began to fall behind with work and didn't manage my time well at all. I think this was because i thought i had a while to do my designs and put them on bunting but because of this, i took longer than i should have on my first design which resulted in my rushing the other three. I think that in some ways, knowing it was a live brief helped me as it helped me get started on it straight away, knowing i had to get it done. On the other hand, i think that id didn't help as i started to rush my work, in fear of it not being done in time which resulted in my work being of poor quality. 

Overall i am satisfied with my bunting designs as i think the outcomes were as good as i could have made them with the little time i left to actually produce them. I am more satisfied with parts of my project as parts of it were the best they could have been (the mind map and the research sheet) yet other parts could have been much better. I am going to take this into account with how unhappy i was of my work, and in my future projects i am going to ensure that i stay on track , and plan my time so that i don't fall behind. If i would have done anything differently i would have continued with working at the speed i was at the begging of the project as i feel if i did, i would have had longer on my final pieces of bunting to make them look much better than they did.

Card Camera's - 3D Workshop Day 7/8

In our final workshop, we were asked to make a  card camera using a piece of card that had a development sheet from our project work printed onto it. To start this off, we were asked to cut out all of the shapes from a card template, and arrange them onto the development sheet card to see what parts of it we wanted where. Once we had done this we had to stick the template onto the pieces of card using spray adhesive, making sure that it was well stuck down. We then had to trim down all of the pieces so they were the right size that the template was originally. After this, we were able to choose pieces of the template to add stitching to, so that our work resembled the work of Jennifer Collier, who we were also studying about. I chose for a stitched line across the main body of the camera, and multiple at the side of the lenses. Once this had all be done and we were happy with it, we  were able to start and build the model. To stick the pieces together we were using masking tape and double sided tape. By the time we had to make a start on finishing our camera's in the next session, most of the tape had come un-done, to overcome this, we took all of the tape off and glued the pieces together with superglue, which worked alot better. Once i had finished my camera, i was very pleased with the outcomes as it was a lot better than i  thought it would look while i was doing it.

The front of my camera

The back of my camera

Half way through making my camera, i almost gave up as i started to get mad because parts were too fiddly, things weren't sticking and parts of the card looked messy. To over come this, i took apart the parts that weren't sticking and looked messy, i found some black card, which i thought would go well with the colours on the card i was using, and cut them into the right shape and used them instead. This worked really well as it was making things easier to stick together as it wasn't as thick as it was before with two layers of card. 

I didn't really enjoy this workshop as i didn't like how small and fiddly the work was, as it is something im not good at. Despite this, once i had finished my camera, i was really proud of it as from the beginning i knew this was something i would struggle with, and i thought it looked really good especially to say i had no help. 

Making our Photo-Frame - 3D Woodwork Workshop Day 5/6

In this workshop i got to make the photo frame that i designed in the second 3D workshop. I chose to make my design that was based on my favorite book, The Fault in our Stars. I started this by painting a frame that i had already made in a pale blue colour. While i was waiting for that to dry, i decided to cut out the shapes that i were going to stick onto my frame out of thin MDF. I chose MDF as it is light so it wouldn't snap from the weight since some of the pieces went off the frame itself. These shapes were a roller coaster, two champagne glasses, an infinity symbol and a speech-bubble. I then sanded these shapes so that they were smooth and didn't look as if i rushed it, i then began to paint these shapes the colours that i coloured them in on my initial design. Once id done this, i sandpapered parts of my frame down so that the wood colour came through the blue so it looked 'distressed' so that there wasn't too much blue on my frame. After if done this i painted my quotes straight onto the wood using a tiny brush, making sure they were as neat as i could make them. Once everything was dry, i began to stick my objects down onto my frame using pva glue, pressing down onto them until they were dry so they wouldn't move or come off.

My finished frame.

In this workshop, i came across a few problems, one of these were that while i was sticking the shapes onto my frame, one of them snapped, i sorted this by sanding the shape down so that it looked like just one champagne glass, and painted the other one so it didn't look so odd. Another problem i came across was that i thought that it looked as if there were too many quotes on my frame and it took away all the attention than what the picture would be in the middle. I overcame this by painting over one of the quotes, and painting two little people where it were, who are the main characters of the book, so it didn't take away all the attention. Overall i really enjoyed this workshop as i enjoy making this to have a outcome that's not just 2D, and i liked learning how to make an object without taking all the attention away  from the main, center object.

Painting our Camera's - 3D Clay Workshop Day 4

In this workshop we were able to paint our clay camera's as they had been fired. I painted mine using white acrylic paint as it doesnt have a shiny effect after it had dried. I wanted a matte look to my work as that is how Katharine Morling's work looks. I then painted around the edges of my camera and added detail with black acrylic, i did this as this is also what Katharine Morling does. I found this workshop very time consuming as painting all of the small details took a lot of time as it was so delicate. I really liked my outcome from this workshop as it looked how i imagined it to. If i were to change anything it would have been to be more daring with adding the details instead of being scared and just sticking with the basics.

Clay Camera's - 3D Clay Workshop Day 3

For this session, my group and i were asked to create a 3D clay model camera based on the designs of Katharine Morling. I found parts of this workshop very hard as i couldnt master adding the right amount of water to the clay, i either added too much and my model collapsed or too little and it split. Once i got the hang of it, i thoroughly enjoyed it. I added a camera strap and buttons to my camera which were inspired by the ones that Katharine Morling put onto her works. Also, in the back of my camera  made a little 'looking hole' and added a little polarioid picture in it to link my work with my sketchbook work for the project this was part of.

I really enjoyed this workshop as i learnt how to add just the right amount of water to clay, and i liked to experiment and build a camera using clay.

Designing Our Photoframes - 3D Woodwork Workshop Day 2

For my second day in the 3D Workshop we were asked to design a photo frame that we would eventually make. We were told that it had to link in with our current project, which was 'Me, Myself and I'
I chose to design 3 different idea's all based on things that i like.
I chose my first design to be based around music, which has a large influence in my life. I decided that i wanted this design to look like vintage photo's, black and white, slightly brown from aging and fading at the sides. To start off this design, i printed off sheets of sheet music onto tracing paper (so it didn't have such hard lines, it had a softer look) and also keys of a piano to use as a reference. I then chose to cut the sheet music into the shape of the frame and then ripped the sides before gluing it down, this way it would look as if the image was fading from the frame due to old age. I did this to both sides of the frame. I then looked at my piano keys as a reference and drew them onto the remaining space of the frames. I painted over the piano keys in a brown to match the brown of the sheet music so that it all blended together, then painting over the keys in black acrylic.

My design for the Music Inspired Frame.

For my next design, i chose to base it on Funfairs as they are places that i love to visit. I wanted this design to show off all of the aspects of fun fairs that i love such as roller coasters and bright lights against the dark night sky. I started this design by drawing a roller coaster at the bottom of the frame. I then drew a Helter Skelter at the right side of the frame, a ride that i used to love as a child. I coloured these in bright colours to represent the bright lights against the dark sky. I used colours such as yellow, red and blue which stand out. For the background, i used a dark blue to make the rest of the colours stand out.

My design based on Funfaires

For my final design, i based it on my favorite book, The Fault in our Stars. I chose to make this design look as if it was home-made and like someone had stuck little items onto it. To start this design, i picked my favorite quotes from the book. I then wrote them onto the frame, one at the top, one at the bottom and also one at the right side. Because i wanted the frame to look as if things had been stuck on, i drew specific items onto it from the book such as a roller coaster, champagne glasses, speech  bubbles and also an infinity sign. For the colour scheme i chose to use the colours that were used on the cover of the book. I used a pale blue for the background so it didn't take away any attention from the quotes and objects. I then used dark blues, golds and blacks for the objects and quotes so that they stood out.

My design based on The Fault in our Stars

I really enjoyed this workshop as i got to take control of how my work would turn out, and had lots of possibilities of the designs i could have made.

Paper Camera Model - 3D Woodwork Workshop Day 1

For my first lesson in the 3D workshop, we were shown how to make a 3D camera out of a piece of card. We were given a sheet of A4 paper, which had a template of the shapes printed on to it. We had to cut them out with a craft knife, scoring along edges that had to be scored too. Once we had done this, we were shown step by step how to stick the shapes together with glue and masking tape to get an outcome that looks like a camera.
I really enjoyed this workshop as it was something I've never done before and i liked figuring out how to fold pieces of paper together, gluing them and sticking them to make a 3D model. This process is something that i am definitely going to continue to use in my second year at college.