Hi there
The feedback from my PDP, up to this point, was good and I am delighted about that.Now have to work towards final promotional materials, leading up to the Exhibition.  I'm also now able to move on with my research for Studio Practice 2, after getting a reasonable grade for The Emperor's New Clothes. I'm very pleased about that.It's a huge personal achievement.
I've also been compiling  my presentation for Contextual to present in class on 7th Feb. I'm heading to London on Monday with the College trip, so had to get that sorted prior to going. I'm not sure how it will be received, but any feedback will be vital and then I'll work towards the assessed presentation.Trying to decide what to leave out of a Pecha Kucha style presentation, and cover relevant points, is a real challenge. But I think it will be a style of presentation that suits me. I tend to talk too much and stray for the point within some presentations. Although, most feedback in the past has been ok.
 I'm still researching buttons for the completion of my essay  the use and function of the humble button I'm enjoying garnering knowledge on a subject that I new very little about prior to this research.
I will update again after London. It will be good to be able to do some primary research for my essay at the V&A Museum.And see inspiring artwork. The trip will be great for keeping the creativity flowing for studio practice 2. Images will be included within my next post.
Bye for now.
Carolyn

Emperor's New Clothes-final piece

Hi there

Well, the final piece was submitted as was the Statement for Assessment for the Emperor's New Clothes. Making the final piece was quite a challenge.Once the cobweb felted pieces were finished to I began construction of the heat manipulated body that they would be secured on to.

these are some of the final samples which were left to dry

Once the body was built I then tried several design layouts with the final pieces. The original design thought changed when I saw them mounted on the body. There were several layouts which didn't work aesthetically. But I was happy with the final layout.
The main problem building the plastic body was making sure that it would stand straight once I it was mounted on my tailor's dummy stand. That was what I was using as the base, to present the final piece.I melted and moulded a central pin, which was secured inside the body. This would be the pin to then enable the body to slide on to mu tailor's dummy stand.

tube from middle of tin foil package used to mould the circular pin

The body was heat manipulated to shape with my heat gun. The small strip of led lights inserted into the centre of the body, before being packed with more large plastic wrapping bags. The bags were from a local shop, they get their loo rolls and kitchen rolls delivered within this packaging. Recycle, recycle. it took twelve large bags to make the body. Plus the one used on the outer skin.
There were many different stages to the building of this final piece, but every single stage was such a joy to do. I really enjoyed the challenge of building this and I am very pleased with it.

front view of final piece, which was based on lies- the outer and inner turmoil that lies cause 

the photograph below shows the front section when the piece is lit

What Lies At The Heart?

I really hope that the feedback for this is positive. The feedback from my first draft essay was really good. I was so pleased about that. I've found out during my research, that the button is anything but humble, as the saying goes. Now I am working towards the draft presentation that is to be done, linked to the essay. As well as that, I have submitted my personal learning plan for Studio Practice 2. I'll talk to the tutors next week and see what has to be done in the lead up to the final submission of that. I proposed that I base my research and finals on Marlow's hierarchy of needs.

I need to return again to my website that I am building for my post graduation self employment. Wix.com is a great way to do this. I never thought I'd be able to  build my own website, but there we go. Life is full of surprises.

I'm off now to get on with the reading. We are on a reading week this week, and it gives me a good chance to keep researching and to try to formulate my presentation for contextual studies.

There has been a College visit to London organised for the beginning of February. Visiting some exhibitions etc. Really looking forward to that. 

Bye for now

Happy 2014 to all

Happy New Year
This has been a busy festive time and also trying to keep going with the developments for The Emperors New Clothes. The developments are coming along.

wet felted silk fibres depicting the start of a dark deep lie

addressing my phobia- plastic melted bowl with fabric transfer paints on voil and second layer of melted plastic. I like the shadows this made due to the small holes made with soldering iron. I've not made a three dimensional melted abject before. I enjoyed doing this, and will perhaps incorporate a n element of this technique in studio practice two, leading up to the exhibition .

still coping with addressing my phobia- silk fibres and wire crochet web of lies

 I have produced quite a lot of cob web felt samples. Due to wanting to approach the brief from the point of view of lies, I have decided to concentrate on a web of lies. This is a very difficult thing for me to do. I have had a phobia for years about the things that create webs, but I have decided that I am going to tackle that.I cannot type or say the word, yip, it's a bad phobia, but this will be therapeutic. Because I wanted to do more felting, it seemed that the cob web felting would create a good effect and help with my concept for the brief. I also wanted to use silk fibres. At the moment I am trying to create a plastic Emperors body shape which will be show the transparency of the lies he was told and also hopefully depict the fact that he was in fact wearing nothing. I'll see how that goes. I'm very excited about  the finished piece. I'm enjoying the crochet with wire that I am doing for this brief. I've crochet a little in the past. I wanted to try and increase my skills on this and the wire is giving me a good effect linking to my concept.
The College is back this week, and hopefully the feedback from the first essay draft will not be too terrible. I am aware that I have more research and critical analysis on this one, but the first draft will hopefully give me a good structure for the essay. I'll see what David says.
I have been trying to start to write the brief for Studio Practice 2. I'm finding this a challenge, but I just have to try and trust my instincts on this one. I'm keeping going with that tomorrow. That is to be handed in on Friday.

crochet wire woven into silk fibres and wallpaper paste,to create silk paper. The wire depicts a hard, harsh lie

cob web felting sample and a fabric transfer sample put on to plastic body. I was testing out the possibility of including some lighting. I want to include lighting within my artwork for Studio Practice 2, and this brief could be a good opportunity to do this, on a small scale. I'll see.

Hopefully I'll have images of a finished piece to show by next week.