To an end

It's over. The first lap of the year comes to an end as we wrap up our first project of the course to ready ourselves for our first assessment. I have finally finished everything, my stuffed sketchbook, knitting book, collection of large concept boards, pretty much everything apart from this blog post of course, till I type my last full stop to end this project but to only await the next blog post introducing my next project. 

I had fun looking into a more personal side of identity of myself this time as I'm used to playing it safe however I feel I have explored something new and that I have explored the title well. Each week itself has been a mini challenge, pushing us to remember all these different ways and techniques which was a good way to help us deal with quick-paced pressure, bouncing from one subject to another; I have definitely enjoyed it and like to think I succeeded in every week. If I'm honest my biggest challenge has been trying to keep this blog live and well as my goldfish memory found it hard to remember to post which meant I usually left it too late most times, however once I did post everything usually came running back.

I have seriously loved taking part in each week and learning things which were alien to me eight weeks ago and the fact that I am now a few steps closer to knowing all I want to know about textiles excites me. It has been a wild experience and I really can't wait for our next project and title to get stuck into. 

Wrap me with your camera

The location of my shoot was always prepared as I knew I wanted to shoot outside St. Thomas' Hospital, opposite the cardiology department on the embankment. This was the perfect location since its where me and my family get our heart scan check ups every year, as well as the genetics department. But despite the personal links, the actual location has some great photographic points such as the gridded exterior and minimalist pillars surrounding the hospital. Around the corner their are also metal stairs on which add character to the large hospital.

The shoot overall was a fun experience as I managed to express the vulnerability and harshness I wanted as a whole with the background, garment and model even if we did get only 15 minutes to shoot as we were told it was against patient confidentiality to photograph on the hospital 'grounds'. Lucky enough I had the photos that I needed and was positive enough to proceed with the little amount of photos I managed to snap. 

The two successful photos chosen for my A1 board:

Caught in a moving caption

When we were told we could either create a photo shoot or video to represent our final piece I was looking forward to the challenge of producing both. I wanted to create a short film which sums up my project and personality rather than showing a garment which could be seen in a creatively directed photo shoot. 

This video is a representation of me and my feelings of still being too young and not ready to deal with the chance and possibility of having my fathers heart failure gene. My connection with putting the flower together is my acceptance with the course of nature and that not everything can be stopped. But the snippets of myself show that we cant have control over everything like emotions.

Just make make create

After a long think and scribble, my ideas eventually formed into a final piece; two final pieces to be specific.

Having one strong vision to print onto a jumper from the start of coming up with a final plan I immediately got to working. I chose to go ahead with one of my prints that I previously designed during print week on Photoshop; a print made up of cut up heart pieces from the heart I drew at the beginning of this project. At first I had the hopes of actually knitting a jumper to print onto but the concept was too adventurous as I only have a weeks experience on the knitting machine and magically making a jumper is not so easy, however I instead went on a hunt for a poly fibred jumper to heat-press my print onto. It wasn't easy but once found I headed straight to the prototyping room the next day to print my black and white pattern. Naturally I first sampled the prints on knit fabric however it wasn't very successful as the press flattened the knit which also meant the print wasn't very distinctive either. However after many samples with different knit fabrics and print sizes I finally managed to print onto my jumper by enlarging the print slightly to make it more recognizable which was a success however instead of black the print transferred as an off green which was a shame; but since my theme and intention throughout this project has been black and white, the photo shoot also was planned to be black and white also therefore saving me from my colour dysfunction problem.  The process was interesting and quicker than I thought as I wanted to get everything finished so I would have a clear mindset and enough time to edit and plan my photo shoot, video and sketchbook.

Since I had my jumper all finished and had the hopes of knitting I decided that I wanted to go ahead and knit an extremely long scarf with cable knit to represent dna and genetics which I had the vision of my model being wrapped and twisted in for the shoot. That morning I got to working from 11am in the morning soldiering on till 11pm that same night. I went 10 hours straight knitting to get this long scarf finished which to me payed off as it gave me the opportunity to teach myself how to fix up my mistakes.

Creating these two final pieces meant I had more options for my final decisions which would conclude my project. I had extreme fun producing these two in the mediums I most enjoyed experimenting within. Next step photo shoot.