It's FMP time...Final Major Project!!!! Eeeek.

It's been a couple of weeks since my last post and sometimes life just gets in the way but I've still been a busy bee at college. I've got plenty to show you (If you will stick around!)

I've been trying to further develop my bacteria concept and decided to experiment further with my eva foam moulds I had made down in 3D. In my sketchbook I had highlighted 'LAYERS' but didn't want this incorporated into my silhouette...Hmmmm I had to get my thinking cap on. Had a mooch around at home and found some Oasis floristry moss and some organza scraps along with some spare merino fibres. Whipped out my sewing machine and free machine foot and had a go at creating a layered, filled foam mould..I was very leased with the outcome and I think I could push it further, if I were to develop this textile concept...I could pull the merino strands through the organza.

After developing my sublimation print samples, I had another textile concept idea as I was very keen for my textiles to take on the visual of a living organism/mouldy petri-dish/Microscopic slide.....I felted the loose merino fibres and some of the Oasis floristry moss into my sub print poly satin instead of using the puff binder to really bring it to life. I forgot to use an embroidery hoop to hold the tension when using the free machine foot and If I take this further I will need to look into supporting the satin with some kind of interfacing...Watch this space.

I'm really pleased to be finally showing you my final concept, colour and customer profile boards....These boards I really struggle to produce but in essence they are actually very simple. I take the  simplicity away by completely over-thinking it and making them into a bigger ordeal than what they are. Forward thinking into Year 2...Overthinking is something I really need to work on if I'm going to cope and manage, and to help combat this and calm this trait down, I've been practicing Mindfulness. I think it's working but perhaps ask me next year! lol.

Concept board

Customer profile

Colour board

I've named my collection-Colonies as its been inspired by science (bacteria, microscopic organisms, mould and fungus) To bring my final boards together, I took into consideration how to bring them together and look cohesive, like they belong together...That they all link and you an see the connection. The name of my collection was alo chosen with consideration as it had to be science and bacteria related. Colonies definition- Several individual organisms (especially of the same species) living together in close association.

And last but not least.......Starting my range plan. I'll talk mor about thi in a later blog post in the week. Thanks for reading my loves. Portrait artist of the year is on TV and I want to fnally put my feet up. Abi xxx

Bathtime Blog!

Round 2 of this weeks blog post and I'm living it up dressed as the Hulk with my weekly facemask treat. It's usually Sundays  but It's been one of those weeks!

Yesterday I had my 1-2-1 feedback, I was nervous to say the least but I was really pleased with what my tutors had to say about me and my work so far! I've still got so much to learn and didn't hit some of the unit requirements (I'm very good at reading the brief and keeping check) but I'm not too worried. I'm doing so much better than I anticipated.

 So....I wanted to quickly show you how I came about making my interpretation of enlarged science bateria/mould inspired petri dishes. Using clay from the ceramics department, I made these moulds....Fashioned them into some sort of 3D, textural petri dishes (left image) and from these I was able to create my foam 3D dishes (middle image) and then to complete my sample and bring it to life (well the idea I had in my brain) I used the felting machine and 100% Merino wool and felted, very lightly into the 3D parts to make it look like furry, fuzzy mouldy areas. I'm so pleased that I've been able to create my vision and bring it to the table. At this moment I'm thinking they might make awesome pocket openings! Watch this space!

Anyway...I have a glass of wine in the bath. *CHIN-CHIN. Abi x

Bacteria baby....Bacteria!!!

Would you say I was nuts if I told you that I'm incorporating bacteria into my garment design for my new brief?......I think I'm flipping bonkers!!! Last week saw me in a creative block...Absolutely nothing was coming from my creative brain, It was like somebody has disconnected the plug and I just didn't work anymore. Well I'm pleased to say I'M BACK IN FULL WORKING MODE 🙌🙌🙌 Whoop Whoop.

I really must Thank my studio buddy, Chelsea. She sat down with me, took my work and wrote down all the things I couldn't see and helped me to look at my development pages differently, expanding on what I had already got and thus..Unblocking me (to  a certain degree!)...I've been kinda flowing ever since.

So Yeah, Bacteria!

There's a little bit more to it and some extra processes involved but in a nutshell..I'm not going to be using 'Live' bacteria but It's been the catalyst of inspiration for me. Today I got my hands dirty in Ceramics and did some hand building. On a side note...Is anybody watching The Great Pottery Throw Down? It's so bloody good, even Ryan stays up to watch it and I've taken an interest in learning that craft. My tutor Jo has her own studio so I'm hoping to get involved there over the summer. I'll be throwing jugs in no time. 

In my research development I had highlighted and identified magnify bacteria, enlarging bacteria so with clay I created my own magnified bacteria colony on a petri dish (It may not be scientifically correct but It's all my own work) Take a look:- 

In the first instance they don't really look like anything but I made these clay moulds to use down in the 3D department (I'm really enjoying collaborating with the other departments) on the heat form Vacuum machine thingy (Can't quite remember its correct name)...I'm made a slow motion video of it in action.

And Heres the finished press....

I'll be working into these a lot more to really bring them to life! I'll reveal in a blog later on in the week. I'd love to know what you think so far? 

Abi xxx

Creative block...I wish it would block off!!!

First day back blues...*sob sob! It's only because I miss this gorgeous face so much!
 Time with my little boy seems so much more precious to me than ever before..He's growing and changing so much, so quickly 😔

MOMMMMM!! Stop taking
photos of me!

Today was my first day back at college and well....It was a day of
UN-productiveness for me! I had a complete block, creatively. Nothing would flow, no inspiration for my work, blank pages I just couldn't put pen to paper, scribble or anything! My last brief (Opposition) inspiration came immediately and I flew with it. This time around I've been staring at the same blank pages for a couple of weeks now, letting it manifest into a bigger problem, completely overthinking it and blocking any creativeness. I'm sat at home writing this feeling rather deflated......BUT I'm still smiling. I'm going to be working on myself a little, stop overthinking and just let inspiration come and go to town with it, need to stop being so regimented in my working and loosen myself up a bit. On a different note..I have lost 6 inches of my hair!!!! Check it out...Whit-woo

  

Last week we all went to a trade show called MODA at the NEC. A fashion wholesale show of some description. It was great to see some catwalks in action and get inspiration for when we organise our own fashion show....So exciting! Here are a few piccies.

As always I like to also let you know what I've been up to in my photography work.....Here is a quick, short timelapse of my recent self portrait..

And not forgetting....myself, Ed and Steve (@IGblackcountry) launched our first Instameet. Here is the sign up link is anyone is interested in attending. Sign up here

Thanks for reading guys and gals. Much love. Abi xxx

A moment of reflection.

The start of a new brief always fills me with great enthusiasm  and Inspiration but I'll be honest and say..It's hard to keep the motivation going. Life appears to get in the way, I caught the dreaded lurgy and had a week off college, I lost academic hours due to helping out other students on photo shoots, leaving college early due to inspection and taking part in a fashion event but really what it's highlighted to me is that I just need to be a bit more organised in my college work and in my home life. I really didn't think I was going to make the deadline submission for tomorrow but I could have cried tears  of pure joy, handing in my coursework today, one day early! Large G&T for me tonight.

My print inspiration came from a photograph I had taken of the Milky Way over our New Year break. I crystallized the image in Photoshop and placed it inside the Astronomical symbol for Oppostion...One big problem though, I hadn't made the line that is joining the 2 circles together thick and dark enough. Unfortunately they just look like circles and when I printed onto my final garment, the joining lines were not visible at all. *Note to self-Do a test print of the final print!

After I did my final print, I joined right sides together to start to pin so I could join the seams. I couldn't get my head around why one was larger than the other as I had cut the 2 pieces together in one go! There was a 4 cm difference off the bottom and a 1cm difference around the sides. Literally wracked my brains for 10mins as It was really bugging me and It dawned on me..It was the front  that had shrank and it was caused by the heatpress when I applied the sublimation print. The heat had really affected my 80% poly 20% cotton blend. Polyester being a synthetic fibre had reacted to the heat. I worked out that this equaled a 3.5% amount of shrinkage for that panel. Luckily enough my garment is very oversized and could handle the shrinkage. I had a little bit more of a disaster when It came to hemming the bottom curves..I had not put in enough notches and lacked the technical abilities to hem this correctly. Another lesson learnt..*Don't be afraid to ask for help!

On a positive note though..I am so bloody pleased with my range plan. My fashion illustration skills are really coming on. I'm being consistent throughout and using my fashion model template I made. I feel super confident illustrating this way. I'd like to make some outfits from this range and It's something I'm thinking of doing at home. 

  

I've got to say...All in all I'm super pleased with myself. or this brief our tutors wanted us to work independently as possible and to be self directed. A concept I wasn't thrilled with to start but something I've really embraced towards the end. I've proved to myself that I can actually do this..No matter how tough life gets! On reflection..I'm happy with my final garment and It's not to dis-similar to my original vision. I should have intensified the colours for my final print as they  came out rather faded and not as punchy as I would have hoped (despite doing a test sample..It just didn't work out!) and I could have done with adding some kind of interfacing support to my seams to help support the structure of the curves. I'm ok with it though..It's the reason I've come into higher education again..To Learn. Anyway...Cheers. G&T waiting for me. Abi x

I grew crystals on a glove (random) and I've been inspired by John Lennon!

I didn't blog last week and for a very good reason. I was laid up in bed with a mild strain of the flu (Flu B) and I'm not 100% still to be honest but can't afford to be poorly when I have deadlines to meet and garments to make...EEEEEKK!

Our brief this term is called Opposition (I may have mentioned this in my last blog post) and It's very much self directed. A teaching/working concept I have struggled with due to my own lack of skills and knowledge in fashion, design and textiles. My tutors are always on hand and they are still teaching us and supporting us but we are being set free to explore our own creativity and see where it takes us. It's something I'm embracing and I'm excited to see where my creativity takes me!

Researching about Opposition I was quickly taken with two subjects-War/Politics and Astronomical Opposition. From my research I learnt that Astronomy is quite on trend at present and It's also something that interests me a lot. I've been enjoying astrophotography and I thought I could incorporate some of my own photographs. I found an awesome astrological manipulated image on Pinterest and my design development kicked off from there. I also found an actual astronomical symbol for Opposition..Everything really started to fall into place and I've been really focused on building this idea concept....Winner, Winner, Chicken dinner.

On a few occasions now, I have chatted with Rachel about the idea of growing crystals on fabric. Again this is something that really appeals to me and I could imagine creating a gown of grown crystals for a fashion shoot or something. I set myself a little challenge at home to grow some on a glove (I had lost its pair!) It seemed a shame to throw it away so I put it to good use...Check out the photo! After making up a heavily concentrated saline solution..I soaked the glove in it  for 2 days and then let it dry out for 5 days. I was so pleased with the result. Its got my mind whizzing!

Photos are coming soon..I promise! I'm going to start blogging a couple of times a week. Break up the blogs into easy, readable and digested write ups, rather than one long post about the whole week. Anyway...Some piccies below.

Salt crystal Glove!!!! Amazing!

Astro John...Outta Space. Peace

Concept Board including my own
 image of The Milky Way

Design for Oversized, conceptual Sweater
with my image, printed on in the pposition
symbol

My Milky way photograph, manipulated, crystallized
and put into Opposition symbol

As I was quite poorly last week I didn't shoot my week 27 self portrait but I did manage to edit a couple of pictures from a workshop I attended some weeks back! You can check  them out here on my Facebook page and I'm super excited to announce, We (@igblackcountry) will be announcing our first Instameet very soon...If you are interested then head on over to our Facebook page here or follow us on Instagram @igblackcountry to keep up to date.

Night Night folks xx

Finally found something I don't need any help with #partytime!

Good evening Loves..How are you doing? I'm feeling pretty rotten at present. Think this cold bug/virus has caught up with me but I'm soldiering on as any awesome mom-wife-student would do. Got quite a few photos to show you as always..I like to photo document some of my work as I go along..It also means I can use the photos in my portfolio when I hand in each brief (no...I don't mean pants lol)

The start of last week started out with doing something I've found out I absolutely love...Basic block drafting and Pattern drafting. I really love the technical, mathematical precision of it. Something I never thought I would say but there is something so satisfying with starting with a blank piece of dot and cross paper, working through the 'recipe' and then you see your pattern. It's certainly the way of working I like best and as creative as I am, You give me some fabric and a stand and ask me to drape and hang with no pattern, Well I just can't cope. It doesn't come natural to me. I like it constructed and precise.

The postman delivered these beauties too last week from devere yarns I've been waiting super patiently..Actually I may have stamped my foot on few occasions but they are here...The orange one is photo luminescent thread..IT GLOWS IN THE DARK *WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT. Yep, It glows in the dark and the silver one is Sterling silver thread, I know right! Sterling silver. I'm super excited to be using these threads as part of my textile element for this terms brief. I'll have some piccies on my next blog to show you what I'm doing with them but in a nutshell..Im going to be hand embroidering constellations onto my garment. Watch this space...hahahaha..Get it, Constellations-Space ;-)

 Now don't ask me how I have done this but I've only bloody drawn something that actually looks half decent..This bloody skeletal hand. Calm yourselves all down..I'll be taking commissions very soon. Hehehehehehehehehe! I'm a messy artist, quite the opposite to when I'm pattern drafting funnily enough. This skeletal beauty was drawn using dipping ink and a basic calligraphy pen. They are going to become my new best friends when it comes to drawing..

My week finished off with being the model for my college buddies University portfolio. I was modelling her wonderful creations. It was great fun and I really enjoyed being on the other side of the camera for a change.

Talking of being on the other side of the camera, My self portrait project is coming on really well. Week 24 can be seen here and Our igersblackcountry page is going really well too..If anybody is interested you can check it out here. We are so excited to showcase our amazing region and although its only been one week in the making, we have been featured on our first blog...You can view that here and read all about us!

Nighty Nighty Folks...Thats enough talking from me. Abi