WEEK 9

Final Week

This was the last week of the final major project and this week was more about finishing the loose ends and making the project complete and at the best standard that I can achieve. So I went back into my sketchbook and looked at pages that needed an extra touch to make them much better, such as extra design work and looking at different fabrics I could of used for the collection of my FMP. Once I completed everything that was needed for the sketchbook, I created 3 A2 sheets that gave an over view of research, development and the final view of my final outcome and what it looks like on the front and the back. I enjoy these sheets as they are so clear and they give a clear understanding of the project and how it moved on, from start to finish.

REVIEW OF FINAL MAJOR PROJECT (FMP)

Seada Merkulaj

Seada Merkulaj ‘Emotions cause Destruction’

1. Briefly describe the final outcome of your project and the progress you have made, and if applicable how it differs from your original Project Proposal:

‘E motions cause destruction’ follows the idea that the causes of destruction is from our emotions and they can be either good or bad. This idea developed from the idea of war and what caused war to occur. I was specifically looking at World War II; America vs. Japan. America decided to stop any imports on an island and Japan was furious so they created a sneak attack and it continued from

there until one day the Americans through an atomic bomb and demolished civilisation in Japan. The disagreement between the two countries began this, which made me think about how disagreement with a loved one or a friend can cause destruction, either in the relationship or in another way. Anger is a common feeling that makes us do stupid things sometimes but also realised the happiness does too, like in weddings and parties, we tend to break things as well as our organs. So I experimented using different techniques to allow me to get the shape, any details and colour and fabric. The final idea differs from my first initial thoughts at the start of the project, as I was looking at the most obvious topics and was pushing for a final outcome that I wanted and that change as I developed further into the research, etc.

2. What methods have you used to show how your learning has effected your project eg. FMP Blog/ FMP Plan/ Sketchbooks etc, and how has this helped with development of your work:

I began with a simple plan that was included in my Project proposal, but it never worked out as the first week I had an assessment deadline for a previous project and I had limited time to do research. I then began to slowly give myself goals everyday and expect to achieve by the end of the day, so that I stayed on target. This helped a lot especially further near to the deadline as I was able to push myself.

3. List the targets met (from the original FMP Plan and any that were added later):

• -  Sketchbook
  
• -  A final outcome
  

• -  Blog
  
• -  3 A2 Sheets
  
• -  Notebook
  
• -  Lookbook –(This was added later as I believe it was a much better way to show my final
  piece)
  

4. Reflecting on your overall final major project, please discuss any developments which have continued to the final outcome:

The different workshops that were created for us to learn and get new skills, helped a lot for my development in the FMP. Knitwear helped a lot on the development, of the mixing of colours and to present a story linking to the project. It required me to understand the Knit equipment and the basic way to knit and how I can create it to my final major project by learning the different techniques.

I am satisfied overall on the final outcome of my final major project as I related the project in some context to myself and that it reflects on my theme in a good way. I was mostly independent during this project and it allowed to me grow and face my fears such as, starting the first page of my sketchbook and rough sketches are okay too as they show the mind working and developing different ideas.

5. Please state what advice you received from others during your FMP, and discuss what you found particularly useful; you should refer to group reviews one-to-one tutorials and feedback from evaluation groups.

When the FMP began, we were told that we would and should at least have a tutorial once a week, the second week we had a group tutorial which was great as you can see other peoples concepts and look at research they have done so far. In the group tutorial they liked the path my concept was

going down but they didn't give much oh how I can progress and make my work much stronger. However the one on one tutorial with my tutor were so much better, as she can focus on me only and that as I progressed more I didn't want to reveal much of my work, I wanted it to be secretive. The Mid-term review was great as I could see what grade I was working at, but there was hardly any feedback for me to be able to get a better grade. My tutor gathered information of what everyone is doing wrong and where we should progress more on which was a helpful evaluation.

6. Key Points to take away – things to change about my approach (give at least 2) eg improve time management, what skills you have developed and how this will affect your future course/ career and things to continue doing to build on (give at least 2). What are you going to do next year?

One thing I will take away with e is that ‘never can have enough research’ and that I should stick to a schedule and push myself from the start of the project not to take it so relaxed, so things don't end up being last minute. Time management is a huge think I need to be constantly working on, as some weeks I am really good and sometimes I relax too much which doesn't get me anywhere. During this project, I believe I have discovered the style of my designs as in the previous project it wasn't as strong and looked less resolved. My skills have developed on the use of machines I can use that I have not previously ever used, which also required me to understand there required software’s. I will use these techniques in the future, as ideas for development and exploration on fabric. I have changed my opinion on pattern cutting, understand it much more that before and will be practicing more as this allows me to create my won bespoke pieces without the help of my tutor or someone else. Next year, I will be going off to do my undergraduate degree in Fashion Design. 

WEEK 8

DAY ONE

In the last post I mentioned that I was going to go fabric shopping and select what I wanted, I  decided first to get samples of different fabrics that I thought worked really well with the design and then I selected my favourite which was the denim but got two tones as I wanted it to be mix and match and then red satin ribbon for the tie. I believe that the two tone of denim worked really well and gave that sense of destruction and joining together in the different forms as on side of the sleeve is long and the other is shorter. I was pleased with the final outcome as it looked commercial and represented my theme well, however I do believe that maybe I should of taken a risk and gone for something much more adventurous, rather than simple. I think I was afraid that it wouldn't appoint to the direction of my theme. I would of preferred to do the trousers instead of the skirt as they portrayed a much more different aesthetic in comparison to the skirt. A lot more was going on than the skirt. I then planned what I wanted for the photoshoot and how I wanted my model to look like and the style of the shoot. This allowed me to some research for props and to be able to get them the day after, and thats what I will be doing.

DAY TWO

I went around looking for props and got red 4m paper roll and a dusty pink A2 Board as the colour tones worked really well with the blue denim as they made it pop from the contrast of the red and it compliments the dusty pink. The shoot went really well but as I was near the end of the shoot being over it allowed me to have less time than I wanted but still manage to get the shots that I desired and worked really well in showing the clothes. I continued to do some work in my sketchbook as I wasn't able to get my images until later, I wanted the images so that I could create a small lookbook on exhibiting how they were styled and different close ups to get the real understanding of the theme. The photoshoot was useful as it allowed me to understand lighting and camera and the ability of having such a large white backdrop.

DAY THREE

Managed to get my shots and spent the day editing them, the lighting on some of the shots came out dark, which was unusual so I had to put extra effort and play with colour so that they matched all the shots and wasn't one odd orange and then one pink. Then I selected a font that represent me as a designer to have to present my garment. Once I finished editing I played around with images and placed them on sheets to create a mini cookbook and it worked well but some of the images came up-side down, even though it looked wrong it sort of worked with my theme. I think the photoshoot and the shots were very successful as they captured my theme clearly and the colour just worked so much better than having just white. One thing that I regret i chose to have a my model make up free and I believe that I should of added a little extra so that it gave it something much more, as she looked a bit tired and poorly. Next week I will be looking back at my sketchbook adding touches and creating the A2 sheets to give an over view of my whole theme and the work in my sketchbook.

      

WEEK 7

DAY ONE

As I said over the weekend I will do the beer experiment, that's what I did and it was so much fun, my sibling got involved and they thought it was such a great way to release stress, that she wanted to destroy more but I restricted the destroying process to only 5 bottles as I thought it would be too much to have a lot and I was relating it to me personally. It's not like the Greeks who smashes the most but we like to drink our beer and only a couple bottles end up getting smashed. I was able to attract the shapes that were created from bottle smashing, which then I manipulated on photoshop by compressing, enlarging, repeating, flipping to create shapes on the model. This technique was very successful as it was great for retracting the shape and understanding how the shapes will sit on the body of a woman. It was easier for me to play around with the shapes so that I am able to develop from it after and the that's what I did, I designed and merged some of the details on the the designs to bring everything together!

                             

DAY TWO

I designed from the shapes of the beer bottles and details and then selected my favourites, and the garment that I wanted to bring to life and make. To do this I got body measurements of my model and used a simple dress pattern to get the basics. Once I managed to draw the pattern piece, I altered the design by applying the measurements of the model and it was my second time doing this and before I despised it as it looked very difficult to understand. But after I got some help on how to alter the pattern I understood and completed altering the complete garment on my own. This part of the process was the most time consuming as if you make the pattern piece well, then everything else will flow well. I began with the top first when creating the pattern piece, then I made a toile from the pattern and it turned out really well. The only problem there was some faults in the toile, as the shoulders were like a bardot, I wanted the front and back pieces to meet with the shoulder but the front piece of the top was much smaller, this made a gap and the pieces did not meet at the top point. So I changed that and the length of sleeves and measure how far I wanted the cut down the sleeves. I drew on the toile and I think it helped much better as I knew what I needed to do to make it and I could get the measurements that i needed that I could apply onto the pattern piece after. Apart from the small alterations the toile was very successful for top half of the garment. Once I do the next pattern piece, I will create a toile for that as well and then I can begin with creating the actual garment with the chosen fabric.

DAY THREE

I decided what I wanted for the bottom half of the outfit, a skirt and I created the pattern piece and the toile and it fitted really well on the model apart from the fact the waist was too big and I had to change and alter the shape a little to fit the model. I then decided that I wanted to include a zip into the skirt so that I help the garment much better and it fitted and was positioned well on the hips and waist. I did the same thing to the skirt as I did to the top by writing notes on what i needed to do better and make it look as fitted but oversized as possible. Over the weekend I will decide on the fabrics that I will use for my garment and begin begin to make my final outcome.

WEEK 6

DAY ONE
This week I continuing to research further in the idea of destructive relationships and how anger causes us to create and do some bad things that can effect us or people around us. So as I mentioned that I selected certain types of clothing from the charity shops and then I began to take pictures of the clothes on the stand separate in different ways and then complied altogether to see how well they merge, and I liked how the denim jeans and the bold red cotton t-shirt stood out. Then one by one I started to destroy each piece of clothing in any way possible and even recorded my friend tearing the clothing and she said that it gives you so much relief. Its like when you have so much build up of everything in your life that it helps you let loose in a way that is not as violent and aggressive as people choose. Doing stand work was very useful as it allowed me to experiment with fabric as I had only experimented with materials such as; paint, plastic and wool for knitting. Wanted to bring the experiments back to clothing to allow me to develop ideas from the stand work by designing, taking details, shapes or the way how things look connected.



DAY TWO

So the next day, after I demolished the clothes; ripping, cutting and tearing them, I highlighted some details from the photos that stood out to me that I later on developed into designs, I used them much more as detail rather than the shape of the garment itself. By doing this allowed me to understand which detail was reoccurring and what worked the best with the type of clothing shapes I was aiming for. As they were rough some of the designs did not work as well and just looked awful for understanding the whole concept of what I was trying to perceive. When designing I enjoyed it but as I was doing a lot I did not manage my time as well as I should have as, I should have been doing this week before but as I had the week of being confused and lost it resulted to causing me to be behind on some stages of the FMP.

                     


DAY THREE

Once I selected my favourite details I chose to create collages using the detail at different sizes, so that I can see how it works at every capacity of its shapes. As well as collaging with the shapes, I decided to do further more designing, to allow me to develop further on ideas with the detail and not just be basic with them. I thought it was a good idea and it would be beneficial to use the selected details and create collages of them mixed all together and what works will with what and what doesn't work as well. Using photoshop and collaging the different details is much less time consuming and more effective way of play around with your ideas and your able to change the shape and size of the details. I am able to produce much more than if I did it all by hand. I was use this technique further on in the future as its effective and the least time consuming to come up with different ideas as your not constricted on size of the shapes. After this I developed the idea that our emotions causes us to destruct, we looked at anger, next to look at the opposite happiness. We destruct mostly at events when we are happy, like parties, festivals, weddings, etc. Which clicked to me at greek weddings when they smash plates at the end as a meaning of friendship to join both families together, so me as an Albanian, sometimes at our weddings and parties beer bottles get broken as they hold them over there head when dancing. So I decided over the weekend to dance around to music and drop bottles and see how they look and the shapes the beers create when smashed.

WEEK 5

DAY ONE

This week I was dreading as it was the Mid-point review, so our tutors could see how we are doing, and I knew I had little work and that I need to do so much more. I just felt that I have not clicked with my project yet and I was confused and that was with holding me to producing much more work. So when I came in the next morning I wasn't expecting the best grade, as there was not much physical evidence. So as soon as I got my sketchbook and grade, I decided to have a tutorial with my tutor and she was surprised with the amount of the work and then gave me advice how to continue to work on for the next couple of weeks. The work that I have already produced is at a great standard, it has a lot of potential as one of my other tutors commented when she looked through my sketchbook. It gives me hope that I can actually achieve the best and what I am capable of. So from the feedback that I received I managed to work out on how to develop further with research and where I was going to relate the knit sample as it looked a bit random.

DAY TWO

To over come the problem with the knit sample, I made sure that the knit sample linked so I researched further into war and the after effects of a war and what causes a war to occur and the answer for this was 'Disagreement' and I believe that it is a strong point for not just war but other reasons that causes destruction. I thought this was a perfect place for the knit to connect with the research. From the knit sample I designed some collages on Photoshop, then from that I developed further into designs of garments. I decided to go and learn how to use the embroidery machine as, I had seen some other people using it and it looked so intriguing and formed some beautiful images and art with thread. So I can use it for later on for my final design if I think its appropriate for my final design and I was thinking of creating my own labels for the final product as it just adds to the end product.

DAY THREE

I finished with developing designs from the knit collages and samples. Researched further on from destructive relationships, this came from the idea of disagreement with a lover, family member or a friend and how it can be a destructive relationship if its constantly like this. Then looked at the psychological terms and how to know that you are in a destructive relationship. A book; 'The Emotionally Destructive Relationship' by Leslie Vernick suggests some questions and if you answer certain things it shows that you are in an destructive relationship. I read through the questions and used it to follow through as that emotions cause us to destruct, they can be happy to confused, to angry. I looked at anger particularly and planned to do some stand work of demolitioning clothes that I got from the charity stores but chose them particularly to represent a lover and certain colours. I used a red t-shirt as that connotes;

'Red is the color of fire and blood, so it is associated with energy, war, danger, strength, power, determination as well as passion, desire, and love. Red is a very emotionally intense color. It enhances human metabolism, increases respiration rate, and raises blood pressure.'

Week 4

So this week I experimented with different techniques to create samples that can relate to my them.

DAY ONE

I have previously done a draping workshop but it was more expressive and free form, so I thought ill give this one a go as it was more structured, creating a basic pattern on the stand, it required a lot of techniques ad practice to become better. I thought it was important as it was a different way to create a pattern but I need a lot of practice to be a pro at it. I will take this forward to help me create a basic shape pattern and then I can change it by adding extra bits, they can just be measured straight from the stand.

DAY TWO

As I continued researching and developing the destructive army path, I looked into Japan and the bombing Hiroshima and how violent and deadly it was, so I was inspired to create these slightly comical images. Used the bright, bold brush marks from the children experiment and mixed it in the bomb explosion, like paints is exploded. Lifting the mood of war. It was risky but I thought it was a great way to create a connection between the fun and the sad, depressing side of life.  For a part of my plan, it was to acknowledge that I shouldn't be controlling what I want my idea to go forward to be, so I thought if this idea emerged as an idea, I may as well take initiative and explore it and if it fails or doesn't work, then don't include it in the work. I believe that it slightly worked but I continued to look more in depth into the August 6, 1945 poem by Alison Fell. To explain the day and what it was like she described in a child friendly way, mentioning Marilyn Monroe's, most famous moment when her skirt blew up, mentioning nursery rhymes, and reptiles.

DAY THREE

Learnt how to use the laser cutter and understand some of the basics of Adobe Illustrator. From the laser cutter I created some shapes that related to a photoshop experiment that I transformed something serious into a little comical by using the brush marks from the children experiments. So I used outlined the shape around and made it etch the image like a photograph, which gives it some texture but like a weird reflective shape. I tried the laser cut on plastic and I think it was great but I don't think it will look as cool on a fabric, unless you laser cut it.


So from the knit samples I created some manipulations buy changing the size and the scales to and then sculptured the shapes tracing paper to use the shape created and do some rough designs.

Week 3

During the Easter break, I manage to undergo some experiments that allowed me to evolve my idea on children destruction further on. So I invited children and gave them paint and paper and to be able to do whatever there heart desired. Then from the pieces of art they created, I used some of the shapes and manipulated on photoshop to creates rough designs. It worked well but after my tutorial my tutor helped me realised that they created something, they didn't destruct something as I wanted it to portray.

DAY ONE

Start of the week, as I mentioned that I had a tutorial, I was able to show the work that I managed to have done so far and I think these are useful as it allows another perspective on your theme and how you can look at it in another way. It was really relevant as it opened my eyes on what I had done, I forced the idea to quickly on children when there are different aspects of destruction, like emotional destruction; relationships, war, etc. At the time when thinking about destructive children, I was thinking in my head that it would be much more fun and not as serious as looking at war, etc. What I needed to do next was to understand how it feels when someone breaks up with you, or when people destroy your personal belongings, destruction of society?! So I will develop on further with these ideas and begin to do some stand work and designing. 

DAY TWO

With the useful feedback I received I continued to look at destruction in the army and different wars that I am familiar with. World War II was the most outstanding as how the war ended, one atomic bomb ended all destruction between countries. This reminded me of a poem I had researched before for English Literature, it was called; August 6, 1945. I continued analysing the poem and the context behind it.

DAY THREE

The next day I thought I'll try something new and learn how to knit, learnt the basics at the start, I would say i am not the best but I still tried and created some samples that related to war, the after math of destruction from the holes and blood splatters only done by thread nothing else. Weaved in red thread and shaped like a blood splatter, in a small section. From the swatches I am going to go ahead and do some photoshop manipulations layering the samples, enlarging/shrinking, twisting/ making it thinner, etc. To modify it in anyway possible so that I am able to develop and do some designs but drawn this time, from the shapes gather from the page.