11/30/2017 0 Comments Band Design Project ProgressFor the rest of this week, my class has focused on working on our design project for our bands. In my group with Grace, we have been working on a vinyl design and an album cover for Japanese House. Although our plans have stayed similar to what we discussed earlier in the past few weeks, we have made some alterations to the design. For the album cover, Our plan is to use a silhouette photo of Grace as the head of the girl on the front of the album. This photo is pictured below. On Tuesday, Grace worked on projecting this image onto the white board and using that projection to then trace the silhouette onto a printed out photo of a sunrise. The silhouette was then cut out along with a photo of a mountain range beneath, and pieced together to create the front of the album cover. Meanwhile, I have been working on painting the vinyl. So far, I have completed the gradient from blue to pink and painted crystals all around the center of the disc. I also plan to paint a full moon in the very middle, which will complete the vinyl. The rest of the design is still being debated, but overall there has been a successful start and we hope that the end result will be satisfactory. Below is pictured the cut out of the silhouette and the mountain ranges, as well as the vinyl in progress.
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11/30/2017 0 Comments Shoe design ExerciseThis week in class we did an exercise where we redesigned our own shoes for the next generation. Our objective was to create a shoe that the next generation would wear. I chose to design a running shoe, since I was currently wearing Nike's. Pictured above is the design and the aspects of the shoe that makes it attractive and functional for runners. 11/21/2017 0 Comments Chair Design ExerciseThis week in class we worked on designing and creating a model of a chair. My team, which was Grace, Kayden, and I, took a different approach to the prompt. We still designed a chair, but it was of a different nature than the other chairs. We designed a chair that was almost egg-like, hanging from a wire hook, suspended from the ground. We made the shape of the "cocoon" out of wire, leaving a circular entrance along one of the sides. -After completing the shape of the egg, we covered the outside in strips of cloth and created a small flap as the door, which can be folded up and over a hook to keep the entrance open. We also painted the wooden stand blue to match the stripes of the fabric and created little pillows and a blanket to go inside the cocoon and make it almost like a little nest. We did have some trouble with the hook and wooden block supporting the weight of the "egg" after we added all of the pillows, but we fixed that problem by hot-gluing the end section of the wire to the wood block. This allowed the wire to be more supportive of the egg. Overall, I am very pleased with how this exercise turned out. We followed an idea and completed it in a relatively short amount of time, overcoming challenges and learning how to successfully design something.
11/18/2017 0 Comments Band Design IdeasThis week, we began designing album covers, posters, and vinyls based on a certain band. I am working in a group with Grace, and we chose to base our project on the band Japanese House. Their music is very melodic, giving the listener both a digital and a natural vibe. This week we simply began by listening to their music extensively, brainstorming ideas, and then making sketches of possible design ideas. So far, we have come up with an idea for almost every piece in the project. Below is pictured some of my ideas based on important lyrics within songs, as well as our idea for the poster we will be creating.
11/13/2017 0 Comments Finished Linoleum Print Making ProjectThis week, I continued working on my linoleum print project. My print was based on Guatemalan textiles. which originated from Mayan Culture. This culture is historically very symbolic. What originally caused me to be attracted to this design was the legend in Mayan culture that the sun and moon are in love, but their love is impossible because they almost never see each other. Their only time together is for a few hours during am eclipse, when, from earth, the moon appears to be covering the sun. This is why, in my design, I put a crescent moon overlapping the sun. The moon is also symbolic in Mayan culture, representing motherhood, fertility, strength, and protection. The chevrons in the background are based on the theme of stripes throughout Guatemalan textiles. After I finished carving into the linoleum and made a sample print using black ink to see what it would look like. Initially I didn't like how thin the sun rays were, so I carved more of the linoleum out to thicken them. Then I began the printing process onto cloth. I debated between using warm colors or cold colors, since I had both the sun an the moon in my print. I decided to have the colors transition from yellow to orange, to red, to purple, to blue. That way both warm and cold colors would be incorporated. Plus, I love gradients. Below is pictured Monday's progress. On Tuesday in class I continued working on the prints, slowly using more and more purple and blue paint. I was more used to the process at this point, and was able to complete the entire thing relatively quickly. I felt like I was using a lot of paint the whole time, having to continuously add more so that it wouldn't get too dry. It also bothered me that I always had to make a print on the edge of the cloth, some of it getting onto the table. This seemed unnecessarily messy, but now that it is finished, I really like how it looks. Overall, I am very pleased with the end result and I think that the gradient tones I achieved with the paint turned out well. Below is pictured the final piece.
11/9/2017 0 Comments Linoleum Printmaking ProgressToday in class I began carving my linoleum print. Using the smallest tool available, I carved out the design inspired by Guatemalan textiles. Carving into the block was actually a lot less difficult than I expected. I just had to take it slow, getting small areas and details perfected. This process was actually very soothing and satisfying to me, and I loved working on this print. It is inspired by Guatemala, their culture full of rich symbolism and beauty. My next step is to use the block to make prints onto fabric. I would love to try multiple different colors with the prints, including possible yellow or orange since the focus of the piece is the sun intermingled with the moon.
11/8/2017 0 Comments Finished Dressmaking ProjectThis week, we were given three days to finish our dressmaking. Our group decided to only make the skirt and the belt on the skirt. On Monday, only Kayden and I were in class, so we focused on cutting out strips of magazines and attaching them to the wire waistband of the skirt. Kayden worked on cutting out the strips, and I aligned them and glued them together to create longer pieces. I was intentional about organizing the colors of the strips, starting with a dark color and then slowly using lighter pieces to create a gradient. The photos I used for the pieces included two very contrasting themes, including pop culture, fashion, nature, and snowy mountain ranges. This gave the skirt a very earthy, fairy-like feel, the whole thing seeming very delicate and flowing. I made the first few pieces shorter, and slowly increased the length of the strips so that the skirt would fall in high-low style. Below is pictured our process in making the strips, as well as some of them laid out before being attached to the skirt. After creating the rest of the skirt and layering the magazines so that the space between the strips was filled, we glued on the belt that Grace and Kayden had made, which was covered in small paper roses. It truly added so much to the skirt, and overall I am very happy with how the whole piece turned out. However, it was not without some difficulty here and here. It was rather time consuming to make all of the magazine strips, and at times it was difficult to find the colors I needed to make the gradient, but I learned a lot more about patience about designing through this. I was initially worried about the skirt blowing and being too revealing when our model, Kayden, walked. But after layering the strips, it provided enough coverage for it to be acceptable. Overall, I believe that our skirt turned out very well, and I am encouraged by how well our team worked together to design an article of clothing.
11/3/2017 0 Comments Fashion Design Exercise ProgressToday in class, we studied Nancy Judd's Bicycle Tubing Dress and spent time looking at other examples of her kind of work. Then, we were instructed to draw our own design that could be made using only magazines. Above is pictured the design I came up with. Ideally, my idea would incorporate cardboard as well, but all of the ideas can be managed with only magazines. Next, we all split up into groups and began working on our design, collaborating all of our ideas. My group includes myself, Kayden, and Grace, and we are working on creating a dress. Above is pictured how my group plans to design the dress using wire and magazine strips. The skirt is to be long and flowing, including a gradient from blue to a darker gray or black. The top will also include blues, yellows, and pinks. Today in class, we were able to start on the skirt, sizing it to be worn by Kayden. We want to complete that first in case we don't have time to do the top of the dress. We used wire to create the waist of the dress, creating a small latch in the back in order to take it on and off. Then we began cutting strips of magazine and attaching them to begin creating the skirt. On Monday, our goal is to complete the skirt and hopefully begin on the top of the dress.
11/3/2017 0 Comments Linoleum Print ProgressThis week we worked on the Linoleum printmaking project. Above are pictured my design ideas, which are based off of Guatemalan textiles. I simply drew out three different patterns that I would be interested in exploring. I liked all of them, but ultimately I chose the pattern with the sun in the center because of the aesthetically pleasing aspect of this design. I darkened it with a B pencil before transferring it onto my linoleum block. The first time I tried to transfer it, I got distracted with talking to someone before rubbing the scissors against the back of the page to transfer the image. As a result, the transfer turned out crooked. So I flipped the block over and tried again on the other side. It was still slightly crooked, but rather than redoing it, I simply trimmed the linoleum to fit the transfer. Above to the right is pictured my final transfer onto the linoleum. I decided to draw the shape of a crescent moon within the sun, and to add a vertical line behind the sun to help with the symmetry of the whole thing. My next step is to begin carving into the printing block. But first, I must complete my practice block, which is on the left. I am working on copying my design onto that block, and then I will practice carving so that when I do the real print, I will feel more comfortable working with it and will make fewer mistakes.
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