Locating Unit Week 4

The past week was particularly busy and hectic. I had more workshops and sessions than the week before which meant that I needed to manage my time really carefully to make sure I continued to spend appropriate amounts of time on both my self-initiated project, and FFF. I don’t think I did this effectively throughout the whole week; not having long periods of time to get into my work can cause me to get distracted and uninspired and I think this happened on more than one occasion this week. It’s something I am reflecting on now, as I know the next few weeks will be just as busy, if not more so.

In order to cope with this, I am going to make sure I have a clear to-do list each day, so that I know what needs to be done, and don’t need to spend large amounts of time thinking and working aspects of my design work, I will hopefully be able to just get on with it.

However, that said I enjoyed the workshops this week a lot. I was so pleased to get my collar attached to the shirt I unpicked it from for the FFF project. At the start of the project I was so nervous as I had never done any kind of pattern cutting before, and honestly didn’t believe I’d be able to re-make the collar and re-attach it very well. Although the outcome was not perfect, I felt a great sense of achievement at having finally done it. I feel that I would now be able to tackle other pattern cutting projects without too much trepidation. I hope to recreate another collar in the next week or so to help with my design ideas for my own collar.

Stages of creating and attaching my collar.

          

 Another workshop which I attended this week was an induction to the paper print room and facilities. This was so useful, as I have always wanted to use things like lino cutting and monoprinting in my work, and especially beneficial now, as I intent to create wallpaper for my self-initiated project. I enjoyed seeing the differences between the paper printing process as opposed to fabric printing. I will be developing some motifs and designs to take into the print room for practising in the next couple of weeks as I want to be able to experiment before I attempt to print repeat patterns for wallpaper.

Additionally, I found the digital session on using Illustrator extremely helpful. I have always been apprehensive about using Illustrator, as I didn’t really know what it’s purpose was, and lacking the skills to navigate my way around the software, I would always opt to use Photoshop. Now, with a proper understanding of how to use it, I think it will be especially useful in creating motifs quickly and easily, something super important for print design!

In terms of my self-initiated project, I have developed and refined my colour palette which has made me more focused on creating motifs. I didn’t do as much large-scale drawing this week than the previous one, and instead did some more sketchbook work, looking at the shapes and spaces created by my 3D structures. This helped me start to think in a more design-based way and think more about my outcomes. I have decided that for my final outcomes, I would like to produce a roll of wallpaper (maybe more!) with a repeat design and a more bespoke/installation style wallpaper. I’m not sure quite what these will look like yet.

My finalised colour palette.

I carried on playing with 3D forms and paper cutting. I have relished this as I haven’t properly utilised 3D before and it’s exciting to find that I really enjoy it. To expand my materials, I also tried a modelling in clay. My creations were a bit crude, but they help to visualise my structures in a more traditional sculpture style.

Clay modelling.

More 3D paper structures.

Paper cutting.

Next week I plan to continue 3D modelling, largely in paper but with new materials as well. I would like to get a repeat design laser-cut into materials like Perspex, and then try heating the plastic to mould it into new shapes. I will also continue to move between big-scale drawings and sketchbook work. For FFF, I am going to focus on studying different styles of collars to influence my designs for my own collar.

As I am going on the trip to Florence, I expect my output this coming week to be significantly reduced, however I hope that with careful planning I will avoid being snowed-under when I get back.