Cash Converted Trash.

These messy samples I created were for the joy of involving some house hold found garbage that I thought would look great as crazy samples mixed with the usual cheap but sparkly gems which I have so many of, so the more samples the better I thought. I used everything from food packaging, fruit peels, cardboard, video-tape tape strips, newspapers, anything I could find really with the helping of dollops of paint and masking tapes at some point to create these large messy samples.

Again these samples look great and interesting but nothing that I feel 100% about yet, but I doubt I'll know till I get to the final hurdle. But looking at these layered samples I know I want to create a double layered skirt since the fabric is light and will need the support but also I like the thought of maybe adding a contrasting 'something' on the bottom layer, but I'm not too sure of what yet.

All own sample photography.

Paint and glitter.

With the idea of glamorising the rotten fruit as before I thought I'd try my hand at creating some print ideas even though I'm not too keen on using print for this project because the textures alone are quite heavy without the addition of prints also. It was suggested to me that I maybe add a subtle print but I just didn't feel that it would add anything to my garment since the fabrics are thin and wouldn't have shown up enough to create an impact. However I do like these prints as they are colourful and bold but not right in terms of the direction I'm hoping to take my project towards. 

Own print photography.

Scrape and Collage

Since pretty much every project I have always used collaging as a way of helping me in-vision designs and possible silhouettes as its usually quite a successful creative process. This time the collaging was slightly messier but inspiring as I managed to create shapes that will possibly work as I tried to keep them quite simple as I don't want to create something too busy to understand therefore I feel that if the shape of the garment is simple, then the texture will stand out more. Although these collages do look wuite busy with all the glitter and colour, I doubt I will have much of either since the further I go along with the project, the more muted my palette and ideas seem to get, but I like to think for all the right reasons, but at the moment I'm leaning towards a more nude colour scheme. 

Gems, Glitter and Mould

Intertwining both fame and decay together for this part was a enjoyable as I got to add some sparkle to rotten fruit and trash which will probably the best influence for this project as it is the perfect mix to begin the process of design development. The idea of glamming up garbage came from an image I found online of a rotten banana peel that had gems on the outside of the peel which was a great balance of good on the outside, rotten on the inside, which I was impressed by and inspired me to create something with similar a similar effect. 

With this in mind I knew I wanted to decorate the fruit in some way and glitter just seemed just the right amount of sparkle without a gem overload to create the right vibe. After glittering up the rotten fruit and having no clue on what to do  next, as I flipped though my sketchbook for more ideas I came across the Hirst trash page and immediately thought it would look great to stick these bejazzled mouldy fruit into the garbage and let art be art. I do wish I tried adding gems to the apple as covering it would've looked super sparkly and maybe more exciting in the garbage images; however the images still look just as effective and relevant and think the research outcome is successful for the journey I have come through.

http://www.tumblr.com/search/jewelled+banana

Own photography

Own photography

Rotten Misery

Along with similar images from the photocopied series, I also went on to photograph rotten fruit which I kept in a plastic bag for a couple of days and captured the moulding progress over a week or so. The moulding journey isn't as obvious as I hoped as I feel I should have given the process a lot more time but patience wasn't on my side when I had to wait it out.

Rotten fruit concept board.

Fruit photocopy.

Own rotten fruit image. (one week later)

Chiffon Madness

Pretty soon after experimenting with the plastic bag samples I moved on to creating the same effects but of chiffon. I chose to work with chiffon for my final garment because I wanted to use a fabric which can manipulate easily but still looked quite rich and thin.

As brilliant as the plastic samples were, it was even more exciting looking on the chiffon since the fabric was a lot more resistant and created more of a varied bubbly texture with burnt holes which look awesome and really give something else to the effect. This effect was easily achieved by running a lighter near by the fabrics until bubbled and then moving it across; never touching the flame onto the actual fabric. For me this is a very successful technique in that I enjoy manipulating the texture of the fabric by hand, as time consuming as it may be; the outcome is incredible. Finding this technique was completely by accident as I initially planned to use shibori to get a similar surface texture but this looks better suited to what I am hoping for as its a lot messier and raggedy which is great.

As well as creating this messy samples I also looked at embellishing the same chiffon samples firstly without the bubbly effect but just on flat chiffon. I ordered these gems off of ebay and found they were perfect for what I wanted, they are cheap looking but place and layered the right way and it can be gorgeous, I hope. I started with clumping the gems together to make it look heavier and richer which I believe worked well as the more gems layered on top of each other the better it looks. However once I start scattering the gems in single placements it starts to look tackytherfore I need to find a way of creating the perfect balance as I want the final outcome to graduate from classy to a ruined state. 

On these samples I have used a variation of coloured gems but I'm not certain on whether to keep it mixed or stick to one colour which may be more effective and not as budy since the gems alone a quite 'out-there' therefore I need to again find the right balance. With the different techniques and themes I'm trying to merge within this project the key word that keeps reoccurring has to be 'balance' which if I keep to it will hopefully work out well.

All own sample photography.

Decaying Glamorously

When focusing on the floral designs there were so many old decayed daffodils leftover so I thought it would be interesting to photocopy them as the details and petals would show up beautifully, and I love how compressed the flowers get also which happens to makes the old flowers look even sadder. Perfectly enough for this I had my nails done which seems to add to these images brilliantly and makes the contrast of fanciness and misery greatly. I never expected these photocopies to look as they did as they look more like flowers floating in water which is almost like a happy accident but the polished quality these images are a great example of what I am trying get my final garment to have the essence of both polished but a tattered quality.

All self created photocopies.

Pretty Cliches

Since this project is a mix of fame and misery with the helping of decay, I wanted to look at something more 'pretty' after working with plastic bags which are considered more 'trashy' ironically; therefore as cliché as it is I swiftly moved into flowers which I would never do but I thought the decaying of flowers are a beautiful transformation to include.

One of the reasons I am looking at florals is to gain some ideas to create patterns for potential laser cutting ideas as I'm considering to add some sort of laser cutting on the garment to add an elegant touch to the piece. However I'm not too sure that these floral illustrations are relevant/strong enough to be used for the laser cutting since they feel too simple and not extravagant enough and not inspired by them to create a cutting pattern but I do want to use the flowers somehow.

Although I may not use the florals for laser cutting I do appreciate how amazing the daffodil looks once decayed and I want to involve them somehow since they still hold the essence and idea of fame, of how gorgeous and lively it is at the beginning and eventually it becomes useless and helpless; so the metaphor is there but I just need to find a way of including it in my final piece. 

All own work.

Garbage

Following on from my Hirst research I started sampling with plastic bags as inspired my the garbage bags tightly concealed into the glass boxes. I tried pulling at a plastic square at first to see how it will resist and tear but found that instead it created this rippling effect in the shape of my thumb which I thought looked intriguing. From there on I just kept experimented pulling, tearing and burning which also had an amusing outcome, bubbling the surface up and burning holes through which gave it an alluring texture which I just loved. Of course finding this perfect bubbly texture did only come after heaps of bad attempts on burning the sample too much which just gave it a simple wrinkled effect, as well as some other messy fiery attempts. But now I've found this bubbly texture I want to experiment with it on different materials and suited in different combinations. 

Own sample photography.

Own sample photography.

Own sample photography.

Own sample photography.

Damien Hirst

After my tutor  looked through my work and saw I was headed down towards the decay path he suggested that I should look into Damien Hirst. At first I weren't so sure since I've never been a fan of his work at all, as interesting as it seemed, I just found him to be quite arrogant and lazy as an artist; but after looking into his work and taking out his books from the library I decided to give his work a try as I discovered his work can be interesting. He does seem like the perfect artist to look into to help motivate new inspirations since his work is quite diverse in themes as the pieces that I have looked at involves raw meats and flies, medicine/pills, trash, diamond encrusted skulls all of which relate to my theme.

Hirst's themes of morality, life and death, religion, wealth and decay; all coincidentally are very well suited to the direction I want to take my project, thinking of textile sampling in ways that can contrast these themes within these different areas, creating textures which look as though it deteriorates through burning, ripping tearing which will all present the downfall of fame. But also with the more glamorous side of fame with samples with gems and embellishment also; so the contrast will hopefully be gradual but obvious at the same time.  

 Damien Hirst (http://darkroom.baltimoresun.com/2012/04/pop-art-icon-or-con-artist-damien-hirst-exhibit-opens-at-tate-modern/#1)

Damien Hirst - Waste Twice (http://www.damienhirst.com/waste-twice)

Damien Hirst - For The Love Of God (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_the_Love_of_God

Decaying Dump

The Saatchi definitely inspired me to look into something more interesting which is mould, decay, deterioration which I think works perfectly with the themes in the 'Valley of the Dolls' books when the stars get to the end of their careers and are depressed alcoholics who have hit an all time low. Because of this I want to explore decay and the similarities it has with the rise and fall of fame as it starts all perfectly formed, well presented, fresh and new but then eventually over time and once neglected, can begin to shrivel up and change its colours to then end up mouldy and unable to go back to its old form. This interpretation intrigues me to further pursue the idea and look into mouldy fruit which I can play around with and hopefully transform later on as I still want to keep the glamour and fame involved throughout.