SCULPTURE

Yesterday we were given our brief for our new project "Sculpture", in which we were asked to explore into paper sculpture fashion, using black and white only. We used maniquins to develop our ideas. Some people concentrated on just one part of the form, i.e - a shoulder peice of skirt. I decided upon a complete outfit. I took inspiration from lady gaga and designers victor and rolf. My design is a mixture of both feminine and masculine. The top section is compiled of big shoulder pads and abstract shapes, very clean and cut edge, i created this using black card. Whilst the bottom section is very feminine using a light opaque black fabric to create a bauble skirt...i used card underneath to give the fabric shape.

I used the trial and error process whilst creating my design, there were qu

ite a few ideas i wasnt happy with, so i unpinned a few things. Paper isn't the easiest material to work with, but it worked well with the image i was trying to create. Fabric wouldn't have given me the bold designs, and crisp cuts that i wanted. Normally i do alot of research before encountering a project, but i knew instantly what i wanted to create. If i was to do this again i would spend more time on designing the lower half as i didnt like this as much as the top half.

I used certain techniques that i'd learnt in paper cutting whilst creating this, for example, where to place certain things on a maniquin. I really enjoyed this project as it gave me the chance to really use my imagination as i was not working from a paper pattern. As i said the paper was quite fiddly so it did get frustrating at times...but it definitely helped with my desired outcome.

My Work So Far....

So here goes....my first blog...its going to be a long one seeing as i haven't had proper internet connection for quite some time and had problems with my log in details.

At the beginning of our first week we were asked to create a theme board,and were given five different subjects to base them upon, (pre-raphaelitism, military, handmade, punk and random). I decided against 'pre-raphaelitism' as i didn't find the whole idea very interesting once i'd researched into it. I thought that 'random' would not be easily identifi

ed on a theme board as the range of the idea was too gre

at. I also ruled out 'punk' as i have created two mood boards in the past for college projects... so i decided upon 'military'.

I did not want my theme board to be very fashion related as the brief asked us not to use fashion starting points. Whilst researching i looked more into the whole idea of what the military stands for... i.e - honor,valour,victory. I used my theme board to portray the two contrasting sides of the military...the other side being the aftermath of war-loss,grief and sacrifice. I used old photos of soldiers and families to create the feeling of nostalgia...through burning the paper i created an old weathered look to them. I also used close-ups of soldiers in pain and angst over dead commerades to convey the bad side to the military....which contrasted with victorious photos of troops happy to be home safely to their families and loved ones. I also used symbolic pictures to represent thoughts and themes without using words, such as the golden eagle which represents courage... a main factor in the military

..aswell as using photos of military badges and pins. To bring the fashion factor into the board i used fabric samples relating to different period fashion in the military...i tried to keep the colours dull and monotone to stick with the theme of my board, but did use a bright red which was very dominant in the early years of the military. To me this represented the blood of fallen soldiers aswell as victory. I also included thought provoking text titles.

I liked this brief as it made me think more into a theme than just what was on the surface...i was also very used to creating theme boards that were mainly fashion focused, which just compiled many fashion magazine tear outs and designs. This project allowed me to use different types of media rather than just use magazines and the internet...most of my images came from books i had researched at the library. I think that from my board people should be able to understand the theme. If i was to create this board again i would probably find more interesting ways to lay out my research..ie: raised partitions, bolder colours, different materials etc. Although im happy with my theme board, i think it could be improved slightly...