Studio Practice

 Hi there
Since my last post I have had a meeting with Mike regarding possible lighting effects for the middle section of my installation.
This meeting was to discuss how the internal tubular element would be lit. The polyester pop up laundry bags that I had connected to show him, would prove to be problematic it seemed. When the light would be angled from above or below in to the tubular section, the wires and any internal seams would be seen. This is something that I do not want to happen. It is also an obvious problem, that I didn't even think about. It would detract from the reason I want to have the central lit section. It is to represent the human spirit, and I think that it needs to be a clear light with no other inclusions. There was also a discussion about the led lights. If lit from the bottom then my design with have to incorporate a blanked off small section at the base of the internal tubular structure. This will house the led light, which will be operated from a very small lighting box.
It was a good meeting that really made me consider elements that I hadn't up till now. But they are all solvable. I have made a  small felted sample to attach to the spiral maquette. This was to help explain my design idea to Mike.

This is a very rough felted sample, with a clear internal tubular structure with a small wire circle at the base. The white material is a section of the polyester from the original laundry bag idea. Section were cut off the top and bottom of the wire sprung bags to enable me to connect them together. So I used the off cuts for this.

When I showed this to Mike, he understood my design idea and that the lighting is an integral part of the design.

So following the meeting I had to find another form of material which I could use to create the concept of the internal human spirit. It had to be a material which would allow the light to penetrate it, to enable the light to hit the outer spiral which will be covered with the felting and other materials.It also had to be a material that would not warp or loose rigidity when in the centre of the spiral. It also had to hold its circular shape, if suspended from the ceiling,and be solid enough at the base to house the light. I had to solve this quickly to move on.
When I was in the class on Wednesday a possible solution was found. Heavy Pelmet Vilene. This is used by mixed media artists and can be used to make three-dimensional artworks. I have small section of this to take with me tomorrow, Monday, when I head to Mike's workshop, to carry out some practical lighting experiments. I am also going to try lighting the connected laundry bags, just to see the effect. Yesterday I also bought a small section of a different type of Vilene, a slightly lighter weight, but stiff enough to stand on it's own if required, and I'll also try that.

This is the vilene with a small internal led light. I think from this experiment, that it will work well when fully light internally. But, I have to make sure that the materials on the outer spiral are well enough lit. This will be tried tomorrow.

close up of vilene showing small holes which would help to let the light through


I have been spending a lot of time trying to work out the design  for my installation, and this is something that I am really enjoying doing. The challenge of working in a three dimensional way, is really pushing me to think through in depth design solutions.Although I have created three dimensional costumes before, from re-cycled materials, this is very different. This is a really good thing for me. I feel as though I am pushing myself to try to achieve my goal. I am also a bit cautious, and have to make sure that I decide on the internal structure this week. The time is slipping away, and I have to be aware of that.
I have also been experimenting with creating some felted samples depicting shelter and safety.



This sample had organza inclusions within the wool. I'm going to heat gun the organza to enable the felting to form shapes through the shrinkage to the organza.The research for my sketchbook is continuing, but not as fast as I would like it to. I have been spending time on the design solutions. But for me, this is hard, if I don't see physical experimentation in front of me sometimes, I feel as though I'm not making progress. But that isn't the case. I have to solve any design problems first and foremost.


Bye for now.