Fashion Research Project

Enclosure:
For the word 'Enclosure' I chose the words cocoon, cage and locks from my mind maps and researched some very interesting imagery from them.
From the word cocoon came some amazing delicate natural textures and naturally vibrant colours. I also found some interesting cross references including sculptures which gave an even wider range of imagery.

For the word cages I researched zoo imagery and caged animals. From this I found a major contrast in every manner between the animal in the cage and the cage itself including differences in texture, colour and shape.

I also researched the word locks and focused my research on locks on doors. This research brought a lot of interesting man-made shapes to the projects.

Decay:
Under the word decay I researched the topics Microbes, Rhizopus and Plastic.

Microbes brought very interesting shapes and some interesting textures into the project.
While Rhizopus brought a different set of interesting shapes and some amazing colour schemes into play.

For the word Plastic the main attraction was the dynamic shapes and textures it showed.

Tribal:
For the word Tribal I looked into the themes; the Maori tribe and their Moko tattoos, The Native Americans and their Petroglyphs and the Amish and their simple nature and complex quilts.
The Moko tattoos showed some intriguing shapes and patterns and also I liked the contrast that occured between the dark lines and lighter skin.

The Petroglyphs brought a range of simple diagrams with very nice outlines to the project.

The Amish brought geometric shapes and sharp colours with their quilts while their lifestyle carried a simplistic theme.

Electric:
In this part of the project I researched circuit boards, lightning storm clouds and plugs.
The circuit boards featured some nice geometric shapes while I also liked the continuous like between them.

The lightning storm clouds showed an array of amazing colour stories and some interesting negative spaces.

In plugs the colours and tangled nature of the wires created interesting shapes.

Memories:
In memories I chose only to focus on my own memories, in particular the earliest memory I have of my Dad puching me aroung in a wheelbarrow full of teddy bears.
This focus on teddy bears showed mainly a range of different textures.

From all of these themes I think I will take the delicate texture of cocoons,

 the bright colours from the storm clouds

 and the dynamic shape possibilitis from either the plastic or the microbes

 to create a very interesting new design.

VisCom 2

Hello! Well today is the end of the Typography project. My three final concepts included writing the word Structural with the cement of a brick wall. I chose a red brick wall as the cement is a different colour and can be seen more clearly, I chose to write the letters witht the cement rather than the bricks as the cement is the actual structural part and without it the bricks wouldn't have a strong structure. Another concept was writing the letters to spell out the word on the concrete beams of a multistorey car park. I chose a multistorey car park as the structural beams are always seen in them where as they are hidden in other buildings. My final concept was a 3D piece. It was a miniature pre-cast concrete beam. Pre-cast beams are reinforced with structural steel and so my representation of the word was creating the letters out of the reinforcing wire fromt the clay I made it from. One of my pieces from my sketchbook is one of my favorite things I have done for the project, its a lettering designed to look like steel "I" beams which are crucial to structure in buildings or scaffolding. I also made a little piece from thick wire, which is created from stacking the letters on top of eachother to create a structure that is strong enough to hold things. Mostly in my sketchbook I played around with rendering and postioning the word in different ways to try and make them look structural as well as say it. Hopefully next week will be as fun! Nicole.

Visual Communications!

Hello, this is my first week of visual communications and so far I'm liking it! On Monday we got an introduction to Typography and our project with both Patricia Green and Mary Nagle. I got the word "structural" adn set off to make a mind map and thumb nails to suit the wor. On Tuesday there was a lecture on lateral thinking and the scamper method, as I missed all of day Tuesday because of illness I'm going to research the Scamper Method and try to catch up on the work necessary! I hope it all goes well, wish me luck! Nicole.

deadline!

On Wednesday Pamela taught us how to use the sewing machines so that we could sign a health and safety form and of course to learn how to use a sewign machine, I already have a sewing machine so I didn't find it too difficult!
On Thursday we started pulling our favourite designs from our sketchbook and putting them together to create a final collection. I did this and chose the colour scheme Iwanted to use from one of my colour stories!
Well today is the deadline day, I have my final collection ready and am ready to hand it in, I just have to check if it's organised well again! This discipline has been a lot of work but also a lot of fun! Wish me luck!
Nicole.

Plus...

I also am trying to recreate some of my paper mannequin pieces with the three different weights of fabric and make new ones, I'll have pictures of those up as soon as I can find time! Bubye again!

this week!

Well this week is going to be very busy! I have a good few designs for the different body shapes done with both my original shapes and the shapes I got from working on the mannequin! I am now looking back on those designs, adjusting the scale and trying to see if they will work on both other parts of the body or as a full body piece! I like doing this as it is making me concentrate on my designs and see which ones work and which ones dont really! I hope to have loads done by the end of the week in all areas, my designs, my colour stories, my research and crossreferencing and my contectual notebook! Busy, busy, busy...I love it! bye for now. Nicole.

Fashion!!!!!

Okay I haven't updated ye on my print elective yet but I wanted to start my fashion one! I started fashion on monday and decided to base my project on umbrellas! They are an everyday product with extraordinary drawing capabilities! using one umbrella I got loads of analytical drawings as the shape of the umbrella changed every time you opened it another inch or changed the direction you looked at it! Following some research I also found some crazy umbrellas of different shapes and sizes! I'll put some of them up on this for ye to see! On Tuesday we had some mannequin time with Pamela and a colour workshop with Liz! The mannquin time was brilliant I got to see how a flat pattern piece could totally transform when moulded and placed on the mannequin in different ways! The colour workshop was loads of fun too! Colour stories are really fun to make while also being beneficial to the design process! Today we are doing a drawing workshop with Phillipa, we are learning how to draw the important curves and creases in fabric through line drawing and different materials to make our sketchbook drawings more realistic and interesting. After lunch we are photocopying and collaging shapes and colours onto the drawings we did earlier! It should be fun! Loving fashion, Nicole
P.S I'm only putting up a few of the mannequin pictures, there's far too many it'd fill up the internet!:-P!