Evaluation - All the fun of the fair

All the fun of the fair.
 
 
I documented my research for this project in an a4 Windsor and newton sketchbook, I chose this sketchbook as the pages are held to the spine of the sketchbook with glue not with rings or anything else, this is better as I can collage over the middle of the pages.
 
The first thing I was asked to do in the project brief was to create a mind map of the things I could research into that was based on funfair's, this consisted of things like clowns, animals, stage costumes, food, rides etc. This helped me manage my time researching and also helped me with what to research. During the summer holidays I was asked to create a full sketchbook of both primary and secondary research, as I was unsure what to do, I didn't do very well at this task and I am unhappy with the work I produced at home, although when I started back at college after the summer holidays and got inspired my work quality improved. As well as collecting secondary research such as images from pinterest, I also collected some primary research such as leaflets and posters and I also took many pictures on our college trip to Scarborough. I did many pages of research, the pages include different circus font's, circus animals which I did many pages on including a mood board style page, I did many clown themed pages including primary and secondary research as I did my makeup like a clown and took pictures to collage into my sketchbook, I also did many pages concentrating on clown outfit's and stage costumes as it is more textile themed I made these pages more layered, textured and tactile to make my sketchbook more interesting. I added sketches to these pages of outfits I made up that suited the theme. All the research I did in my sketchbook has also been annotated.
 
The next step in my sketchbook was to research a couple of artists that have created or designed art or clothing based on funfairs, the first designer I researched was Manish Arora as he created 'the circus dress' I included information about Manish Arora and pictures of the circus dress, I also annotated it very well,included my opinion on the dress its self and compared the circus dress to some other of his creations. The next person I researched into was Marc Chagall, although I am specialising in textiles i also wanted to research into historical artists to show that I can vary my work, although I did not have much to say about him because he has only done one painting which includes a funfair/circus theme. After Marc Chagall I researched into Versace as they designed a vintage collection using circus's as their inspiration after researching them I found out they did a collection of dresses that look similar to the dresses that showgirls wear in the circus,I annotated this research and added my own opinion. The last designer I researched was Alexander McQueen and his carousel dress, for these pages I added pictures of the dress, information on Alexander McQueen and my own opinion on the dress its self.

The next step in this project was to create two a3 size mood board's, I did this by collecting images off pinterest and layering them up making them looking tactile and interesting, the first mood board was based on circus and my second was based on funfair's. I was happy with the quality of my mood boards and feel I did them to the best of my ability. Using my mood boards for inspiration, taking shapes and patterns from the pictures I used, I created three a3 visual sheets, only using bright bold colours as the next step in the project was to create a tracing inspired by my visual sheets which would be exposed onto a screen to create a repeat pattern. To create the horizontal repeat pattern tracing I had to start off with a perfect square piece of paper and start by drawing a pattern/picture in the middle, then something at the top of it and something at the bottom of it so I can draw one line going from the top of the paper to the bottom, then I had to cut at the side of that line perfectly, then stick the piece of paper that iv just cut off to the other size of the square so both straight edges are stuck together, then I carry on drawing patterns/pictures that are suited to the theme in the blank spaces so everything is touching and so there are no blank spaces. After that is done I got a few different thickness black pens and used them to go over the lines, I also added broken lines and dots to create texture in my work, I then gave my tracing to the print technician who then exposed my screen.

I then spent a few days in the print room creating different backgrounds and screen printing onto the backgrounds I created with my screen, experimenting with colours and pigments and learning how to repeat print. After I created 20 samples we all gathered together as a class and had a design meeting, we rotated around the class and left a piece of paper on our 2 most favourite samples that each person produced. I then had to chose one out of the two that was chose for me to re create for my final piece. Both the samples that was chosen out for me by my class mates were both on paper and as I was doing my final piece on calico my final piece did not come out as good which I am not happy with. As I could not decide which sample to re create for my finial piece I decided to take aspects of them both to create a new one. I had to take a few scrap pieces of calico to test the colours on before I started my finial piece.

I found my time in the print room very good and educating, I used many techniques such as batik, screen printing, puff binder and devore and experimented with colours and techniques to create beautiful samples. Although it can be stressful in the print room when trying to get something perfect for a final piece for a deadline as you cant afford to make mistakes with so little time. I experimented with proction dyes aswell as brusho inks to create backgrounds for my samples, and i learnt a few codes for the pigment dyes.

I also spent time on the sewing machines, learning how they work and the different stiches they do. I did not enjoy my time on the sewing machines as I found them to be unreliable and in my experience they seem to break down when I need them the most.
This is the reason I decided to hand stich into my final piece instead of using a sewing machine.

In conclusion I feel like my strengths in this project was doing my sketchbook and my samples and I feel like my weakness was doing my final piece as I was not happy with how it turned out and I got far too stressed because the colours did not come out the same as in my samples, if I was to do something different I would spend more time doing my final piece. I feel like I have managed my time well ,apart from when I did my final piece. Overall I would consider this project a success although I would have enjoyed it more if my final piece was as successful as the rest of my project.





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