Work Today,...make a shoe into another article of clothing!!!! SCORE!

Nail biting descisons,..

As I said I have gone home yesterday evening back to Manchester. I was speaking tonight to my dad about my future and where I was intending on going next year etc how much it was going to cost etc and what I was going to do about it all. Let's just say this conversation was the straw that broke the camels back. I am stressed out over portfolios, projects, relationships, trying to be sociable, finding a job, trying to get onto a course, trying to rent out my flat, having no food in the flat and my friend arrive promptly at 4pm Friday to stay for the weekend. Oh and,...money. I still haven't received my alg support and am needing it desperately. I have no savings to fall back onto and can't ask for more money from home so promptly need a job. However I have no time for a job as I have to do everything that I do to take care of myself like shopping,cooking,cleaning and working on all my portfolio stuff for interviews. I actually have no portfolio for my interviews as of yet and so will have to buy one but fall into the problem yet again of being strapped for cash. Oh the never ending cycle!!!
As for next year I dont know how I am going to afford it and if I will get in and where I am going to live! I need to just collapse in a big heap and cry!!! Can't do that I have too much to do! ok so
Let's try and do something posatibenlike go to an exhibition,...can't do that have too
Much to do and not money to go! Kill Me!!!!
Ok let's speak to your
Friends that's fun. So go into college and speak them and say hey guys what's up. They all subsequently all burst into tears or look like they want to cry and or go
On about how terrible they all feel and the stress that they are under and how they thought this year was going to be fun and demanding but not completely
Take per their lives and make them depressed
And exhausted!!! I try to put a posative spin on things but it doesn't work. This has happened every day for the last 3 weeks. It making me re evaluate everything about next year. I am now saying do I want to do this and I know I love what I'm sound and that I want to do it as a career and I know that going to school down here will give me the best oppertunities but now it's a case of do I want to do this or is it something I know I have to do?!?! My mym keeps saying to me that I am an idiot and should come home. She did the same thing when she was my age except she was only an hour away and said that I was making it far too hard for myself. I know Shea right and if I had stayed in Manchester I would most likely be enjoying life a lot more now but I think coming down here has made me grow up in a lot of different ways than I think I would have done if I had stayed close to home. I love working although at the moment I ambeing extremely artistically challenged and I know this is what object to do to reach where I want to reach. I just need to keep sight of this. I honk anyone who reads this post and is having the same problems should try to find some inner strength to carry on with their passion nonmater how hard it is and no matter how upset you feel as long as you know that if you push through it you will find what you ate looking for at the other side no matter what stands in your way xxx

Deconstructing is slowly killing me

I have a project this time which goes under the title of deconstruct. So far I have cut up a leather boot and an old pair of jeans. I am about half way throungh deconstructing both and I am completely stuck as to what to do after. I have to sort of use the idea of deconstruct but team it with another concept. This would have been a great project had I got off to the right start and combined my deconstruct with another actual concept. Have so far had almost 3 weeks on the project and am completely lost. I looked at Jean Paul gaultiers 2005 fall collection for Dior and thought that was a good place to start but have since struggled to adapt the images I first saw to the objects that I subsequently chose. I have currently left London this week in search of new inspiration and I also wasn't feelin that great due to a combination of stress and a stomach bug so I am currently back in Manchester for a few days. My mum gave me one of her inspirational talks this afternoon over a cup of tea and I felt a lot better and soon got down to work. Started messing with was and trapping stuff in tea bags to see where that got me as my tutor suggested working on a clear material or organza as denigm would have been quite difficult to manipulate. I need to take the detail of the jeans and play around with it on more light weight fabrics which I feel will work really well.

I have sort of come to the conclusion that with Fridays interim crit looming i need to come up with something to show for all the hecticness that's going on in my mind and I am starting to have a few ideas as to where I should go. When looking back at the Dior images I immediately thought to use the boots to make a corset and incorporate the jeans stitching and pocket detail into a sort of skort/skirt idea but full length and elegant. I like this idea but I feel that it is a bit close to where I originally came from. My next idea is to use the boots with the organza to make sort of a rain coat idea with the boots as more of a hood/shoulder pad piece and then the organza or another fabric with the jeans pickets detail as pockets and fastenings further down the rain cloak or mac. Not really sure what to do and could use some input to see what anyone thinks as I seem to be going round and round in circles and I have to be up in like 4 hours!!!!! I think I shall keep looking for the time being and if anyone has any advice please post.it would be greatly appreciated and you would be saving my life quite literally please and thank you xxx

Just a side note here but is anyone stressing out/ feeling not too great at the moment? I just can't seem to Chanel my energy artistically it just seems to be wrapped up in things that are really negative like men issues and home sickness along with the slight problem of not being able to Hoover my flat at the moment. Oh well things can only get better I suppose! Xxx

Fashion shaping with emily!!!

Ok well I blogged last week about my trip to oxford street to find some fabric. Well I managed to find some and it was on sale too! It smelt a bit musty but worked a treat. Here are some of the images I took on my model and friend emily,...she hated me by the end of the day for doing this to her!

The Barbican: 30yrs of Japanese Fashion

This exhibition is well worth a visit even if you are not particularly into fashion. I look at it more as a sculptural piece for the body exhibition as much of it would never be worn in public. I went with my friend Linda from my class and another of her friends Venus who is in vis com at chelsea. We looked around and then sat and drew for a while. i was getting a few funny looks from passers by but the museum even provided stools for people to carry round with them and use,...so I couldn't resist sitting for a while and sketching!!!!!! Go and have a look on the website and especially watch the telegraph video on there,..very insightful! Barbican -> future beauty: 30 years of japanese fashion

This works really well for my new deconstruct project!

Fabric hunting

Ok so I need to find a cheap suitable alternative to a wool fabric at the 11th hour in the centre of London!!!!! This is not good!!!! I need something with a structure thats heavy wight and will not fray when I cut into it. All I can think of is fleece but most are too thin or not bound enough to hole a shape efficiently!!!!!! My tutor also doesnt think that buying a cheap fleece blanket would work and I agree. She suggested army blankets but I am not quite sure what she means. In my eyes what I believe to be an army blanket would be something like a thick horsehair blanket,...you know like the itchy ones tat you have under a quilt in a cheap hotel so that they dont have to buy duvets! I think that would be ideal however, trying to find an army surplus store nearby isnt possible and when I looked online for some they dont really exist within the range of a student budget!!!!!! This is killing me! So far I have spent 5 hours scouring the internet and have resound myself to the fact that I need to give up in a little bit and get some sleep. Am also now considering using a heavy weight curtain liner as I think it will hold a shape better than fleece but less firmly than felt?!?!?! I dont know will it work? MacCulloch and Wallis here I come,...the proof will  be in the pudding but at £5 a meter it means I am going to be skint for quite a while to come.

Love the styling in this video!

Ok well this video is just so good and I really now want to mess around throwing paint around,...If only I was a fine art student then I think this would be acceptable!!!! However no matter how hard I try I cant seem to get it to work on here so I have put a link to it on youtube where it does work if you are interested,..http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQ2NdiE59bI

Illustrator with Melanie

I did illustrator a couple of weeks ago. i have never used it before but a lady who comes in as an extra tutor came in and helped us to get to grips with it. I really enjoyed using it and am desperate to use it in my work as a development aide in my designs. Also having the knowledge of using such programs is really important when designing in companies now as well as on a BA course. I didnt have any of my fashion drawings with me on that day so I had to draw from one of my friends and this is how it turned out.

I feel that it works well as a working sketchy drawing and think I will definitely used illustrator again as I found it so user friendly! Definitely a recommend and you can download a 30 day free trial from adobe,..just follow the link  free 30 day adobe illustrator trial

cool postcard

Friend sent me this from the met museum in NYC. I just love it!!!!!!

Always good to look back

original

The focus of this point is about looking back. I didnt really realise how much in a course of 6 months my work has changed so much. I am much more experimental and not as controlled as I was which I think is definitely a good thing!!!! I really enjoyed doing my a level project last year and it was praised a lot when it was on exhibit at my collage. I got approached by a couple of papers for it to go in and article about 2 months ago. I agreed and although the dress wasnt as good in the picture in the article as it had to be deconstructed it worked out quite well. I still think that although its good to look back at work you should always keep moving forward otherwise you end up getting lost in old ideas and never really let go. This isnt a great copy of the article as my Dad sent it too me and apparently is useless at using a scanner!!!!! I shall have to teach him when I get back home in a couple of months. In essence, its always good to revisit but lets move on to new pastures people!!!!! x

2nd adaptation

Christmas

This year I spent Christmas in Florida with my family. We have a house out there in a town called Celebration. Now this town is the most idylic strange place on earth. It is around 10 minutes away from disney world and was only created by Disney himself!!!!!! Its like Stepford!!!!! And although this sounds really strange and bad and you would think that no place could be 'perfect' I just love it out there!!!!!! It is amazingly clean and safe and the people are lovely. I have amazing neighbours who are always there to lend a hand if we have any problems.When we got there this year our neighbours Jim Remelle and their son Ian had been into the house and decorated the table and hung up stocking for all our family members (there was 8 of us this year) full of different presents and had left us a huge ham in the fridge the size of a small sheep,..it took us around 2 weeks to finish it!!!!! We arrived late christmas day at the house and travelling through the town were in awe of the christmas decorations there. It attracts hundreds of people at christmas as the residents decorate their houses from head to toe with lights and decorations. Some houses even have their houses decorated so that the lights flicker on and off to a specific radio station.  There is also snow at regular time in the town centre,..SNOW IN FLORIDA!!!!!!!! It is the strangest place on earth but I can think of no place nicer to spend the holiday season.

Very random, random riches project!!!

The main reason we had flown out there this year though was to celebrate my parents 20th wedding anniversary with a vowel renewal on their anniversary. We all got dressed up and had a great time. The boys were all in suits including my grandad who insisted on wearing a cummerbund which he looked so cute in. I had so much fun on the day and it got ery emotional at times but we had a lovely day and celebrated with all our friends and neighbours out there in the evening. It gave me a great excuse to whip out the camera aswell and take some lovely photos to capture the day.
However the majority of the holidays was overhadowed by a large volume of work ehich was looming and a holiday project called random riches. Its still not finished but here is a quick preview,...hopefully it will get a bit for finished in the near future.

To check out the light is celebration and other christmas videos of the town,..check out the following link,..trust me you wont believe your eyes!!!!Celebration Christmas lights

Amazing find by Andrew

I was talking to a guy in my class at Chelsea after class today about my knitwear project and he pointed me in the direction of a lady called Sandra Backlund. She is an ex MA student from Central St Martins and her work is amazing. She has become my absolute knitwear idol!!!!! Most of her stuff is handmade however she is working on a line now for consumers as she has only ever done made to measure one off pieces before. I have had a look through some of her stuff for consumers but I dont think it in any way it captures the amazing quality of her hand done work,...just see for yourself!!!!!

www.sandrabacklund.com/info.php

Kool AID,...The safe way to dye your yarn and also make it smell oh so good!!!!

This is so so good. My friend Linda from Canada told me about this the other day and sent me a load of links to how to do it. Its really easy and super safe so can be done by a complete dying novice like myself. I really feel that I can use this in one of my projects at the moment which is based on knitwear so I am definitely going to give it ago and I shall post pictures to show how it works out. All I need to do now is order some kool aid from the USA but my Mum is out there at he moment so I may just give her a call and ask her to post me some,....will definitely be a lot cheaper than paying £20 for 20 packets via the internet when they are only 10 cence each out there!!!!!

Here are some links tht Linda gave me to some other blogs and some videos where you can find out more if you are interested,....

http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEfall02/FEATdyedwool.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezAoAM_ZBM8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbBFfjNBemo&NR=1

http://www.knitpurlgurl.com/2009/06/my-first-attempt-at-dyeing-yarn.html

Being really lame at using my blog,...

I have been horrendous at using blog this term. I got really into it at the beginning and then with all the stress of moving so many times this year I have just completely forgotten all about it. I ran across another girls blog from Australia a couple of days ago when scouring the internet. I really enjoyed working my way through it and decided that I definitely needed to make more of an effort. So here I am about to overload the internet with loads of stuff that I have been up to the last couple of weeks in an attempt to find some sort of order to all that is happening around me,...