Masks!

I just heard that my other mask has sold to a buyer in miami! wooo

charity shops!

Lately Ive been addicted to charity shops, i started going with my nan just for something to do, but then i discovered that vintage shops are pretty much rip off charity shops.

some of my finds -

This braclet! I paid £1.50 for it, its so unusal it looks as if its made of gold twigs!

This bag was only £2! its so cute, it has about a

milllion compartments, and in the front compartment has a mirror fixed in, it has a long strap which is detachable.

I also got this black and gold belt!

Orange braclet - £1

floral plate thing! - 50p!

little floral pendant - 50p!

I keep buying boxes, these two are my favourite!

I just bought an old wooden trolley for £5 from a charity shop the lady said it was her 95 year old mums trolley and that it was past down to her from her mum! so its like a million years old! im going to paint it and make it look pretty, and use it for my sewing machine!

The trolley before!

AFTER :)

Photography

I studied photography from GCSE to A level , here are a few of my favourite photographs that i have taken :)

This is my favourite ever evvver photo i have taken, it was inspired by martin parr, creating over saturated images of people caught unaware. I managed to sneak up behind this lady baking in the sun!

I love these photos, i took them in my garden , it was all about perspective and having something close and in focus.

For my A level photography show i spend hours photography people shopping and mounted them onto bean cans, for the show i had a massive stack of the bean cans with my images on!!

Two random photos i liked from my AS photography, the first i took for an alice and wonderland photoshoot , the second of a random COW!! i just like the space in the photograph and then as you move your eye down there is a cow!

Even though i didnt carry on with photography into degree level , im glad i have an understanding of it as it helps me within my textile work to be able to see my work as an overall image.

This is a photo i took in my art foundation, of my final piece for a project on "protection" the dress is made entirly of different papers. I love the colours in this photograph, the background compliments the colours of the paper used. This was take in clevedon beach :)

Dripping Jewels - water texcomm competition

The brief I wrote for water texcomm competition -

Water and its distinct forms provide many qualities to inspire fashion,ice is clean and structured, vapour is sheer and ever changing, and in its liquid state, the waves in the water creating both predictable patterns and mysterious waves.

"For its mystery, familiarity and constant change, the movement and structure of water inspires and mirrors that static nature of fashion" ( xenia Viray zoozoom magazine)

Around my theme i want to look at the beach how the waves effect the shore the idea of things being hidden underneath the sand, the waves eroding the pebbles, smoothing the glass, rusting the metals, and creating patterns in the sane.Looking at the glass and how the sea smooths parts and leaves other parts rough.Also looking at how water can freeze then how it melts slowly and drips creating patterns marking the fabric, this i can envisage directly into my textile design as heavy beading and embellishment dripping down the body.

For my contextual research i found artist katharina ludwig who creates jewellery out of ice.

" If water itself is worn as a jewel the preciousness of water is enhanced, put on the body it will melt by the body warmth, what will stay is just the core of it and marks the ice leaves on your skin" (katharina ludwig)

She designed some earrings that had pigment inside them, which when it melts it leaves traces on your clothes, while the earring is melting the jewel appears on your shoulder instead of on your ear.

To kick start my project I'm going to photograph different beaches, and also try to capture water dripping and marking different surfaces.Using mixed medias, building up layers to draw straight from my observations. Using my art work to inspire my textile practices.

The sort of colour palette i will use will be greys, blues,silvers,light pinks and browns,.Taken from my photographs and drawings of the beach.

I am designing for the high end market, my client would be a wealthy women between the ages of 18-25, fashion conscious wanting to keep up with the trends.

Below is a presentation i gave about my project, it has all my inspirations, artist research,drawings, development and final pieces.

I used a lot of different techniques to create my samples, to enable me to add structure i sewed in pieces of pelment vilene which stiffens the fabric.I made up lots of small structures and grouped them all together to create a larger structure. I used aquaful disolvable fabric on the Cornell machine for the shoulder embellishment adding an entirely beaded shoulder piece, with beads that appear to be "melting" off the shoulder. I also used plastic boning to create a corset like body so it contrasts between the structured and the unstructured.

Mixed media

This was a mixed media project, where i used old lace, marbles trapped in net, broken jewellery. crochet , knitted sections and hand embriodery on buttons and metals.

Worn elegance

My neck piece and styling shoot :)

This was one of my favourite projects we were set the brief from cast creations to create a collection on the theme of "infused" i decided not to look at it from such a literal view and thought up the idea of looking at the city and how there is so much rubbish,tramps and dirt contrasting with the beauty and elegance of flowers "overturned by floral"Thinking about something ugly but making it seem beautiful

Can grunge be beautiful?

To start my project i came up with a list of words that would relate to my theme - Distressed, embellished, encrusted ect. From this came up with the title of WORN ELEGANCE - i felt this title perfectly portrayed the theme with contrasting words .

To kick start my project i started to photograph and draw the city of nottingham, focusing on the cracked buildings and distressed surfaces which i could use for my design sample work. I was photographing things that would generally be seen as ugly .

Inspiration

Maiko Hirohara - I liked the word of hirohara becuase i thought it was really fitting to my theme, instead of using sequins to embellish i could hole punch fabrics to create my own embellishment.

V magazine

I found this article in V magazine - by Marc jacob, I decided to focus on necklines with detailed embellishments, so when i found this it was perfect. Layerd ruffles using different fabrics with different thicknesses, inserting wire into sheer fabric to add structure. Using the same tone of colour but different textures adds lots of surface detail, but doesnt distract away from the fabric manipulation.

Roberto Cavalli

I absoulty love this image, it perfectly deplicts my theme of worn elegance, this dress made out of thousands of pounds worth of beads still has the rough edges and unhemmed seams - worn elegance

Designer research

I choose to look into Alexander Mcqueen as my "company" designer as i find his work quite different to many designers, he uses lots of different surface manipulation, and print techniques. Also as i had completed a workshop in metal i wanted to include this in my design work, i found that metal and hardware were very much on trend. The image on the left from mcqueen, is made from metals to create a futuristic neckpiece.

"Futurist cuts, metal hardware, glinting embellishments, robo chic is the future" (gratzia 22nd feb)

"unhemmed dresses, jumpers with the seams on the outside" (h&m mag march)

"let rip:dont snip frayed edges or iron out wrinkles, thats the charm of this trend" (vogue march2009)

Next i started working on my manniquin working on placement, looking at where would be best to embellish, where would work on the body.

I also tried out different techniques.

This is a sample of drawn thread work i did, pulling threads from muslin, and sewing sections together, to create a lace like structutre. I also liked the idea of mixing the hard metals with the lightweight fabrics

Final samples for cast creations

For this sample i wanted to translate my pigeon drawings in which i used different inks, crayons,chalk and collage so to translate this into my design work, i used a corneli machine which uses a thicker yarn, in a dark grey, which gave a raised surface then i used an irish embriodery machine in white set on the satin stitch so i could have areas thicker than others to add depth and give a 3d look to the feathers, i also hand stitched different shades of grey beads.

Second sample-

For this sample i used alot of cut work and used the irish machine to satin stitch around the cut areas, i embellished with eyelets and my metals embellishments i had created in the metal workshop. I also created lace like areas sewing over some of the holes. I like the placement on this sample , i can image this being used on a dress, you wouldnt have to wear jewellery as the embellishment on this piece is very detailed.

This sample i used drawn thread work technique , and used ink on the muslin and let it drip down the fabric this reminded me of some of the distressed wall photos i had taken, again i embellished with beads.

Final sample

This is my favourite sample, i used many different techniques and medias together, first i added ink to the bottom of the white fabric to add a more grungy edge. I also created my own lace using aquafull dissolvable fabric , using the irish machine , i also deconstructed vintage lace and constructed my own ruffles out of sheer fabrics, built them all up to create texture and added my metal embellishments and hanging beads.