pics

did a photo shoot on Tuesday (thankyouthankyou), so I now have images of the most recent stuff that's done... here's a couple...

semester finale

This semester went by in a time warp- it seemed both too fast and neverending at the same time. The blogging got pushed aside in favor of getting other stuff done, but I'll attempt to post the thoughts and musings from this semester to give it all more context. I got the pics of my final crit setup uploaded so here they are....

social design project 2 in progress

Been working on refining my idea and prototyping. I was trying to figure out a way to tie in the idea of trash into the overall form of the bracelet (starting there, will expand out), and I hit on the idea of using a plastic bag as the form. I did a quick prototype out of a bag from a roll of vellum.



Overall, I think it conveys the idea, but I want a more crinkly look- like you get from the cheap grocery bags. Those were too wide, but I found a couple bags that I thought would work. I decided to fill them with alginate so that they would hold the right volume and form for when I mold them.
Here are the 2 bags I used all alginated up.

Not sure which one will work better yet, but I'm planning to do the silicone mold Monday and go from there. Potential Casting materials so far are: slipcasting plastic (translucent), a flexible rubber, I'd also like something that is totally green. The plastic references the actual bags, the rubber would be sanitary and easy to clean, so I'd like something that is completely biodegradable as well- I'm thinking maybe corn starch?

London Design Festival- 100% Design

Some of the awesome things from 100% Design...

Susan Bradley Design's Oscar (outdoor carpets)

noodle's digitally printed roller blinds and wallpaper (these remind me of x-rays somehow...)

Vitamin's Urban Creatures, Urban Gnomes, and Hoodies


Thorunn Arnadottir's Blush radiator (there seems to be several reimagined radiators... are they making a comeback somewhere?

Smarin's LivingStones (I can so see Liz having these....)

Ulrika Jarl's Stardish and pendant lamp


Freedom of Creation's Trabecula tray
Ok, so I thought that this tray was pretty sweet. So I chcked out their website, and this group also did several other things I thought were great when I saw them- the RP chainmail pieces, and they have a trabecula table which Doug showed us in CAD last semester....



U+'s Wobble Chess Set and Shatter Cup and Saucer- didn't realize Umbra had gone awesome.




what I could do without: the crazy amount of Tord Boontje clones... and the deer fetish (wtf?)

wearables

So one of my Independent Studies this semester is on wearables. By this I mean the integration of fashion and costume into my work. I'm excited to actually things like pattern-making and better sewing skills than my current DIY version- which while it can get the simple jobs done, not pretty. For the first project I'm looking at making a corset using the bone/vein structures from last semester.


Met with David on Monday, and he gave me a tremendous list of people/sites to check out. Also now have ~a dozen books either in hand or requested from the library to read....
So here's some of the people I've been looking at:
Alexander McQueen- Love,love,love. Have for a long time (like a decade+). His aesthetic is spot-on for me.


Lucy Orta- I love the multi-purpose and urban survival aspect.


Thierry Mugler- again Love. Before McQueen and clearly an influence, and in addition to the aesthetic, I also love the theatrical quality of it all...


Francesca Lanzavecchia- amazing mashup of function+ style and repositioning (total Jan word) medical braces as fashion.
also: Hussein Chayalan, Shinmi Park, Gareth Pugh, Junya Watanabe, Troy Hortubise, Rebecca Horn, and Nancy Grossman

work pics

So after my midterm, i started working with some new forms that have a more direct correlation to the body. Here are the bone/aorta pieces on my desk, also tested out the medical adhesive last night and it works well. So also pics of a swirly talon and a bone on the body....



Realized that it is going to take quite a while to get everything glued on properly. Must remember to budget the time for that...

So after several weeks of trying to balance all the new stuff with old stuff, I completely ignored getting this off the ground. So now I'm playing catch up, and trying to get this blog into the daily juggling act. On to the updating...
The first half of the semester is over and done. I now feel like I have a routine, and am more at home there. My space has accumulated stuff, and the slightly frightening part is that my studio at home still looks full... or overfull depending on who you ask. Here's my space as of a couple weeks ago:



Pictures of projects underway upcoming soon, I promise!