FMP - The Photoshoot

FMP - Week Eight - Day 3

Photoshoot

Final Day

For my photoshoot I had been reseaching through an 'Islamic Fashion' book that my sister had brought for me whilst in granada. I starting looking though the scarf styles as I wanted a young Muslim girl like myself to model, so that it only feels that much more authentic. I started looking at light shimmery makeup with darker lip tones to match the colour theme. I did my models makeup and scarf then dressed her into the clothes. Since i've been behind due to stuff at home, I was unable to finish my garment for the shoot at uni so I had to set up my own studio in my dining room.

I got 5 meters of cheep china fabric then attached it to the wall and rolled it out to the ground. set up my camera then began shooting and playing with the light from the lamp. Since the glare from the shiny backdrop was awful I had to do more editing on Photoshop to really make it look a bit more professional. I am quite happy with everything I have done, I really tried my best considering my situation at the moment and think I've done well. In the future I would probably spend a little longer trying to touch up on some editing, but overall I am happy.

FMP - Pattern Cutting And Making - Jacket

FMP - Week Eight - Day 2

Making the Jacket

The Big Day

Pattern Cutting And Altering

Today I began to make the Jacket, This was the most difficult activity I've ever had to do in my entire life. It drained every last drop of energy out of me. I had cried several times during the process! Never again! The making process started jolly and good, I cut the velvet jacket shapes out and sewed all the pieces together except the sleeves, I kept that for later. I stopped working because I had the wrong shade of lining so I couldn't do anything further. Once I had gotten my lining I started with the inside of the sleeves, making sure the inside is cool and roomy. I then began to cut the pattern pieces for the lining of the jacket, however, little did I know that the lining had to be bigger than the jacket; I ended up cutting it smaller which was a major flaw, because I had no idea how to work around that when the lining would meet any ends of the jacket...

I later tried to rectify this by inserting a quilted mid-strip covering up the raw edges however this then made the jacket zipper area puffier, which is where I had my first break down puling out m hair. The next flaw was when I went to sew in my zipper it starting curling up and going wonky, when I unpicked it for the third time and got it almost straight I zipped it up and saw that the zip center was all the way to the left side. I had to un-pick this AGAIN. I kept going till 6am in the morning but the zip most definitely was not going right and I have no remaining fabric to fill up the bottom section of the lining which is also VERY annoying. Overall I am pretty disappointed in this piece but when it is worn, you are definitely able to pull it off.

FMP - Pattern Cutting And Making - Shift Dress

FMP - Week Eight - Day 1

Making The Dress

The Big Day

Today I started to make the shift dress, I had my own dress patterns so all I had to do was alter the width of the dress and instead of making two from pieces, I double it to make one. The whole process was much easier than I would have ever expected considering it my first proper garment that I have ever made. I simply sewed up all pieces together. My first mistake however is that I had sewn that facing on before I had sewn the front and back which really irritated me when I had realised. I then got really impatient when the arm hole facing wasn't going inside comfortably, so I had to re-cut my own pattern facing and then this worked out much better. Another mistake is had made is when I was making the facing I forgot to sew both sides together so now they flop about freely on the inside which is very irritating. All in all, I am pretty happy with the dress, the print is beautifully pungent and powerful and the dress is almost well constructed! And the detachable choker is quite lovely as well.

FMP - Final Design And Toile

FMP - Week Seven - Day 3

Final Design

And Toile

Own Sketchbook Work - Final Designs

Today I finished drawing up my final designs for the Jacket, I decided that I wanted the person to most drown in the jacket from suffocation; the idea of not being able to be who you want to be; becoming tamed. the dropped shoulder express exposure; unnecessary exposure. A lack of freedom and the oversized sleeves express the feeling of worthlessness, that you can see but cannot touch the life which you urge. For me personally, I have tried my best to always keep my parents happy; to gain their trust but as a person who voices their opinion, they have taken away their trust and feel that the only way for me to live is to be controlled by them until I am married. Its not scary, that in general is just the Muslim mentality. However, like this I have become crazy and its come to the point where I can no longer voice my emotions; so this garment works as a non verbal form of communication and represents the young modern Muslims of today. 

For this piece I did want to commercialise it slightly by having the collar piece as a detachable accessory and also the thin lace choker for the shift dress. I chose to use lace quite a bit in my work because I felt like it was a delicate addiction to the harder denser picture, a reminder that no matter who we are, we are all still fragile beings. I overused the lace in the jacket collar however to enhance the idea that no matter how pretty the teachings may be, it can still come about suffocating and uncomfortable, its all about the small steps.

After completing the final designs I began to work on my toile.

Own Work - Toile

I was quite happy with this as I had a brief idea of how it would turn out and how I could possibly construct this. I am however pleased with the aesthetics and am starting to feel confident that it may work!

FMP - Developing On Illustrations

FMP - Week Seven - Day 2

Collaging Onto Illustrations

Frankensteins 

Own Sketchbook Work - Design Developement.

Today I decided to photocopy some of the ink drawings I did from the Kandinsky inspired book. I chose the most interesting drawing and the ones with prominent strokes. I then photocopied these in black and white. I then drew out six illustrated faces onto tracing paper and began collaging the photocopies ontop of them, creating flamboyant gaments. The illustrations all turned out very well and really helped me organise a few of my ideas. I want to keep the idea of the illustrations and move forwards with that. Within the illustration I also drew in with fine line pens, frills, lace, tries, gathering and zippers; this is what helped visualising them into garments after experimenting I decided to work forward with my favourite illustrations design. It almost looks like a cape but I wanted to slightly commercialise this by slowly working it into a jacket through my designs. Today has been very productive and I'm really happy with the direction that the development is following, but I still feel as though there is more work to be done.

FMP - Review Day

FMP - Week Seven - Day 1

Developing Into A New Line

So Today I spent the day developing designs off my stand work, I started looking into the folding of fabrics as well as patchwork. I start to use my stand work as an image rather than a piece and then whatever I see I like to replicate my own version. usually during my development I like to draw out flats, however when I did that this time, it just looked like patterns so I decided to draw out some body templates of seven then photocopied the sheet several times; I then placed layout paper over the templates and started drawing on my designs. I feel this was a strong and aesthetically pleasing process. With my 0.05 pen I then went back into the designs an added more details like straps and zippers.

Own Sketchbook Work - Design Development

FMP - Final Dress Design

FMP - Week Six - Day 3

Garment Consideration

Today I went off to print my designs on the sublimation printer sized by half a meter in width and 140cm in length. I was pretty happy with this and seriously excited to see it all come together! I went back at 2 to collect it and ran the print threw the rolling heat press; it was super exciting and the finished product was amazing! It was better than what I actually hoped for, the design and splats were very visible and super relevant. So today I started drawing up my final designs and started considering fabrics and the front and back of the shift dress. I drew up 2D flats and my final illustrations for the dress. I was really pleased with the outcome.

Own Sketchbook Work - Final Design

FMP - Developing Patterns

FMP - Week Six - Day 2

Continuing With The Shift Dress Designs...

Today I continued with my shift dress designs so I did a page with the same designs in nude colours as the fabric base colour, to see how that would have worked out. It does look very pretty when you put the deep blue print on top of the light creme fabric. This would have been ideal however, I didn't want the colours to look comfortable together, I wanted them to work together but to look sharp and cutting, so I then decided to work with a pearl white fabric so the textile print would be pungent and striking. I then created another page on photoshop and began to change the transition of the print as well as the size.

Sketchbook Work - Print Consideration

FMP - Designing For A Print

FMP - Week Six - Day 1

Designing A Garment For A Textiles Print

I decided that I definitely want to use the hand print as a textile design for one of my garments; it makes it more strong and meaningful than if it were just a structure. I tried to work the design into a garment however it didn't have the same impact since you were unable to see all the splats and the ink running into all different directions. So this morning I went out to find out how the sublimation printer works and how i'd go about printing my own design onto my fabric.

As there is not much time left to complete my project I decided to do a dress. I wanted a simple straight, structure-less shift dress and began designing. I was pretty pleased with the outcomes but wasn't sure which dress exactly I should go with, I then drew out flats for the outcomes. 

Own Sketchbook Work - Shift Dress Designs

FMP - Working On The Stand

FMP - Week Five - Day 3

Moving Forward...

Own Stand Work

Today I had a conversation with one of my peers about my work and how well they thought it was going, he had told me that I probably should get a move on with the designing process, so I then spoke to my tutor and she told me to start working on the stand. I began looking trough my work and started picking out some of my responses then took them out to the photocopier and printed them in black and white but altering them in size. I chose to do them black and white because, the previous colour scheme seemed too garish and I do not feel as though those colours now relate to the current concept, when it comes to religion and culture in general, it does became a 'black and white' area.

After I had photocopied the pieces I starting playing with them on the stand and managed to develop a good variety work. I then started pining the pieces together to become more 3D which created even more interesting structural shapes.

This whole process worked really well for me as I really enjoy working on the stand and it started to open my eyes to potential design work, I am also quite happy with the large variety of outcomes because it helps me realise what works and what doesn't. I want to now start to use the stand work to start developing some designs.

FMP - Reining The Ideas Back In

FMP - Week Five - Day 2

Figuring It Out

Back To The Drawing Board

So today has been in absolute shambles, I have looked through all my work and see a clear connection between the voice and the body but I want to still make the work personal, I haven't been able to keep to my timetable as I am very behind with my designs. I need to pick up the pace and only use relevant work in my project. So I began to go through my research folder once again and noticed that the interview with maria hasn't been used in a useful way; that was when I had realised that it would be a good idea to use the hands to respond to the earlier recording track I had created. Ink hand drawing in response to the track. However once I had completed this I was very disappointed  at the outcome. The lines were thick and and the hand prints were not visible; so I decided to respond to the recording once it had ended with only one movement.

This worked amazingly! It feels like such a powerful piece, I hit the paper straight on with clenched fists which elaborates the anger and frustration. I decided to then focus on young Muslim girls; being one myself, I understand that stress and commitment required to cope in a Muslim household and how we are expected to have a thick skin. I used this frustration into the impacted ink splat; as during the time I was making it, my brother sat behind me tormenting and teasing, so the piece has multiple meanings. I wanted to keep making these but this particular one is perfect and you cannot get perfection twice.

Drawing Response

FMP - Sound Movement

FMP - Week Five - Day 1

The Movement of Sound

I started today by making a splodge on a sheet of paper then halving it so the colour spreads symmetrically to the other side. I used the same colours as in my response to the recording track I made. I quite like the pattern it made and how the colours dispersed ito eacother because once again like my croatia knit it looks like something 'bodily', almost like blood. I then photocopied this and started playing with the pattern on the stand with my other samples. I think this worked particularly well and could look really good if I potentially laser cut fabric pieces in the same way then strategically place them together. 

Tassal Sample

Over the weekend I had plenty of time to think long and hard about what my next approach could be, so I then began reading back into my research and noticed the political section, so I began to brainstorm ideas of actual sound that happens with movement; like the movement that follows after a strong voice in politics. For example tassels, fringing, all work with excessive movement. From this point I started making tassel samples. and experimenting with them on the stand. I made one particular tassel sample that took plenty of time to create, I used beads around the ends of the wool to create sound like a wind chime. This worked particularly well and I was really happy with the concept behind it, however I'm not too sure it relates the voice, but more sound and forms of non verbal communication.

FMP - Moodboard

FMP - Week Four - Day 3

Creating The Perfect Moodboard

Voice Moodboard

Today I set up my own space in the studio; I took important sections of my research, Photocopied them large and the stuck them up in my space so that whenever I look up, I am brought back to staying within the boarder lines of my project. Today whilst looking into my research again I started thinking about different images that could represent my thought process so far, and then finally I was able to come up with my moodboard for voice. Yay!
Im not very happy with my progress today as I had hoped to do much more, but considering my home situation, I had to finish here for today.

FMP - Back into Research

FMP - Week 4 - Day 2

Sampling

Filling in the Gaps

Today I went back to my tutor for a quick review, she had thought the same about the illustration as I had, and told me that I needed to begin thinking of the structure if that was typically what I wanted to make. I decided that I did actually just want to have shapes sticking out of a garment. I do like surface decoration but I wanted to use my concept to create a shape of its own. Looking around today, I've started to feel stressed; as my peers had become sampling and have their own walls of work. So I decided to take my tutors advice and to start thinking about structure, and what better way to play with structure than to play with metal wire? I started thinking about the concept and the only other sample I had made was a hand croatiaed knit piece made with brown wool. I chose croatia because the ribbed pattern looked quite similar to the muscles in our body, and thought it would have been relevant to the voice and vocal muscles. Similarly I decided to hand knit the wire; I tried doing a small sample and it ended up looking pretty awful, just like tangled wire, but I was adamant to make the knitted wire work, so I tried again when I got home; this time using pastel colours. The colours were inspired from the response piece I did to the recording previously. The knitted wire represents the hard denser side to voice, the sharp attitude that voice can hold mixed with the soft side (wool); the sample basically represents any human being voice, the soft comfortable texture mixed with the sharp dense stiff texture.

Hand Knitted Samples - Knitting With Wire

After my 2nd attempt I was extremely happy with the sample; you could clearly see the entwined pattern withing the wire as it had kept good structure, on the blue section of the sample, I wove the wire and wool together, this had a really amazing affect, no only did it look intriguing, the way it held its structure was phenomenal. I am however dissappointed in my colour choice, it does seem pretty "schooly" and I would have liked to only use either darker tones or just a muted colour pallet, but overall I am happy with the wire work!

FMP - Responding to Paranoia

FMP - Week Four - Day 1

Visually Responding To Paranoia

Own Response to Recording

I went around and showed my friends and family the recording, they were shocked and confused and constantly pulling faces in confusion. I found this quite interesting. One of my friends told me how she tried to listen to one conversation then it all of a sudden disappeared in noise so she continued off another conversation. She had told me "I was shocked when she was telling her personal story, the girls started laughing loudly in her face mid sentence"; the reaction in a way forms misconceptions and misunderstandings following the idea of how people jump to conclusions from voice, tone and rhythm. Since I wanted to make this project personal to myself I decided to do my own visual response for the recording. It became very messy and confused but due to the being so long, there is plenty of detail and calmed lines where the noise was continuing for a long duration or time. This worked particularly well because it directly represents my personal feelings towards the recordings as I was the one in each situation; I become emotionally involved. 

I then made 20 photocopies of the response piece altering colour and size. I used the photocopies to then stick onto my illustrations, cutting and stripping the most interesting sections. I did the fashion illustrations just so that I could take my first step into the design process, however, I am not very fond with it as it seems like a very typical useless illustration that most students end up creating; the structure is pretty unrealistic. On the other hand, it begins open the gateway to designing.

Own Work - Fashion Illustrations 

FMP - Sound Displacement

FMP - Week Three - Day 3

Playing With The Voices

Re-Working Paranoia

Own Work - Overlapping Voice Recordings On Premiere Pro

Over the past few day's I have been recording selective sections of my life; the way I converse with different people; interact in different scenarios as well as the people around me. After gathering the voice recordings I started analysing them in more detail. I began to write up short transcripts on the most interesting sections. the changes in behaviour and changes is language was quite interesting to extract. Although this felt like a solid set of research, I wanted to do something more with it. I began to flick back through my research and found several references to illness where people become crazy from various voices speaking to them at once; another form of paranoia. I then thought of how symbolic I could make my voice recordings to the theme of paranoia. 

I took six different recordings all with different meanings. One with my best friend maria talking straight about her role model which evokes emotional values - this recording was taken when practising for an interview we were going to do later that day. I felt this recording was strong because as friends we've been close for 8 years however we do not see each other that often so you can gather a sense of distance between our dialect. Another three of the recordings was taken with my cousins, random topic changing and laughter added another element of confusion and rapid jumping voices helped the idea of paranoia, however also emphasised the comfort between the three of us. I added another recording of a car journey with my brother, where he sings along to the music in the car; this was particularly interesting because of the different car sounds and screeching from wind shield wiper as the rain hit the glass. This created irritation to the listener. Finally I used another recording with my brother when he was falsely disciplining me to make me low; for me this was quite a sensitive recording and made me angry whenever I listened to it. 

I then started overlapping all of the sounds, making sections loud than others so that It wasn't all just a muddle of voices. Some sections were clear and got you thinking but then it slowly blurs out, and another part becomes more prominent; this happens continuously.

I am particularly happy with the outcome however, I am also pretty disappointed that I wasn't able to play with the sounds how I wanted, for example, I would have wanted to increase the volume on certain section of a recording and mute others; but was unable to do this as whatever volume I insert is then saved as a preset for the whole recording. In the future I will learn how to use the programme properly; however all in all, I am happy with the final outcome.

FMP - Kandinsky Influences

FMP - Week Three - Day 2

Responding to Sound; Kandinsky Inspired..

Back On Track

Art By Wassily Kandinsky

Today I began to get back on track, I had a set task for myself. I started looking at the Artist 'Kandinsky'; he has been one of my favourite artist because of his style of abstract work, precise lines and juxtapositioning. I love how you can get lost in his work and at every glance there is something there that you hadn't noticed before.  To me his work looks like Sound and vibrations, so I wanted to use his theme to create some of my own responses to some voice recordings I had recorded earlier this weekend. 

I chose 8 different recording with different people and ink painted some small line drawings in response to the voice recordings, The colours differed from person to persons and situations to other situations. I then created a small book out of the responses and placed that into my portfolio. 

I was really pleased how the responses turned out, however, I don't have any further plans for them which is not ideal. I want to continue making these responses however because it then makes them more personal to me; how I feel towards listening to the situations that have already occurred around me. My response.

FMP - Speaking with Gestures

FMP Week Two - Day 3

The Truth Behind the Voice

Analysing Paralinguistic Features

Own Work - Stills From Interview

After recording the interview with maria, I noticed that she used plenty of hand gestures, facial features as well as exaggerated body movements and other paralinguistic features. I began to flick through the video and took stills of the interesting movements she was making; I made notes of the context of the movement then started analysing deeply at how it supported her statement and the influence the movement made on the viewers to either exaggerate situations or too show the little importance a subject had. The large body movement usually suggests the more relaxed subject where she become confident and overly excited whilst the part where she looks down and keep her body in uniform usually are the more serious and uncomfortable situations. When she look directly at the camera however you can understand a sense of sincerity as her tone of voice lowers. It is quite interesting considering this is also the way she was taught how to speak English in the first place. Hand gestures are used more commonly when trying to communicate with people who do not understand a language well; it is also used to exaggerate situations.

FMP - A Story to Remember

 FMP Week Two - Day 2

Looking for the Signs

A Transition from Romania to London

Own Video - Interview With Maria

I shot an interview with my best friend. She moved to London from Romania when she was 13 years old; I wanted to catch a glimpse of her feelings on the situation, then and now. I told her to tell me her story, to feel free to let out all her anger and frustration as well as happiness. I wanted her to tell her story so that the listeners could be emotionally invested within the story. Her metaphors and comparisons did this perfectly. After recording I edited the video and began watching the finished product. She used plenty of hand gestures and body movement which was quite interesting, so I want to look further into that. I want to see how her facial expressions and other paralinguistic features support what shes actually saying.

FMP - Organising An Interview

FMP - Week Two - Day 1

Primary Research

Finding The Story...

Stills - Interview With Nani

Today I began looking over the interview with my Nani, and decided the interview was way too personal so I couldn't use it for the Project. I then began thinking of a more light hearted ways to replicate the same kind of information and came up with a solution. I contacted my best friend whom I hadn't seen for almost a whole year and asked her to do an interview with me. Me and Maria are very close and I know her inside out; her story and the emotions she went through growing up, as I was by her witnessing it all. Today I booked a camera and recorder again to film an interview with Maria tomorrow. I wrote down a few questions and told her what kinds of long responses I was expecting; she was happy to do this. I chose to do the interview with Maria because she had moved to this country not knowing any English at a young age, and its the struggles of her moving to London and trying to fit in that I want to highlight. Having a voice but not being able to use it.