And not necessarily in that order…

Six hours left until I have to turn in all of my documentation for my FMP. Of course this means I have had about (probably less than) three hours of sleep, and I am furiously typing away and trying to cover anything I may have missed at four o’clock in the morning. I will sleep when I’m dead.

The final piece is hung, it looks like this. I’m not posting it directly on the blog because that photo is pretty terrible, and because there are a couple of people around me who have stated that they want to be surprised. They will remain surprised! Unless curiosity kills them and they click that link.

If they do then it’s their own fault.

Anyhow, I just thought I’d talk about the process and what led me from an idea of light-up armour, into a final piece that is obviously not.

The armour itself is created by taking sheets of vacuform plastic, cutting them into the desired shapes, and then sticking them into boiling water until they become pliable enough to bend by hand. It’s not as effective as vacuforming obviously, but it can be done at home, and one is still able to come up with interesting shapes.

Note: do not use YOUR HAND. The steam will scald your hands like it did mine, and you will be generally unhappy. If you choose to copy me and burn yourself horribly, it’s on you. Maybe try to use some silicone-coated tongs? I used pliers eventually, and they left tool marks. :(

If you looked at the image of the final piece, or perhaps the post with the image of my sample, you will notice that there are sort of lace-y-looking details around the edges. This was inspired by a number of things. I originally wanted to make some sort of filigree design that I could shine light through, old-timey tron style. I didn’t have much time, though, and was making all of the designs with a soldering iron. In retrospect, things might have been a bit easier had I taken the time to get my things laser-cut, and then vacuformed. Or vacuformed and then laser-cut.

Hindsight is 20/20.

Anyhow, I created a couple of samples with scrap pieces of plastic and they looked like this;

Needless to say, the one on the left looks really cool and the one on the right looks a bit like garbage, yeah?

I’d done the one on the right first, and the second one was sort of an act of desperation. I was reminded of a few things. The first being a blurb in an article in Advanced Photoshop Magazine a few years ago on tips for how to draw lace. In the article, it was essentially a series of small circles in a pattern to emulate lace. So I tried do the same with the 2nd sample. (The one on the left.)

You may be wondering how I made this connection, and I can assure you it did not just come from nowhere! There were two previous pieces I had seen that had inspired me to try it out. The first being this amazing marble bust that I had seen over the summer during my orientation course.

Bust of Madame Victoire de France by Jean Antoine Houdon

You can’t really see it in the photo, but if you click through the link, and blow the picture up, you’ll see that Madame Victoire has a rather delicate-looking piece of lace fabric draped over her chest. This had always struck me as incredible, being that the piece is obviously made of marble, but looks so soft and life-like. I’d sketched it at the time (Which must have been back in late July) and kept the sketchbook stored away in a corner of my flat for months before I had thought about it again.

The second piece that inspired the lace-like designs on the armour is perhaps a little more obvious to me, and a little less obvious to anyone else on the planet. (Since I don’t really talk about my work at all, ever. Even time with the tutors has been admittedly limited.)

Over the winter break, we did a Christmas gift exchange project. We were supposed to have created a gift for our partners over the break, and then share them with our partners upon returning to college in January during an unveiling ceremony that was more than a little bit mortifying. I created a papier-mâché tea cup for my partner Beci, it was lined with gold foil and had no handle. She supposedly “loved it”, but I think she was just attempting to be kind.

Originally, I had been given the option of doing an extra, voluntary project as a response to the piece Beci had created for me. It was meant as another piece to pad my interview portfolio, but I never really got around to doing it. I had had the idea of emulating lace with laser-cutting, or just hand-cutting paper and other materials, rather than with knotting, as you traditionally make lace.

So I thought back to this idea, created the sample, showed it to my tutors, and then ran with it. The outcome is actually really really cool when done with a soldering iron, but I think if I get a chance in the future, I would not mind using a lasercutter at all. I think the amount of detail I could get is much greater, but there is a sort of organic look to the armour I wouldn’t have gotten if I hadn’t done most of the work by hand. I am pretty happy with how it came out, in that aspect.

Now you may be asking yourself, “What the hell happened to the lights, Kat?”

Well, I did try.

It all came out looking a bit lite brite, didn’t it?

I essentially ran out of time and I had the option of making two shit-looking pieces, or one nicer, though non-lighting piece. I was pretty upset about it before the hang, but after I received so many unprompted compliments on my final piece, I am satisfied with what I have produced. I think in the future I would like to try and work with EL wire or luminous fabric, but stay FAR away from LEDs because they are a pain to work with. Though… I imagine the other two must be as well!

Ah well. So much left to do before the final turn-in, and only about three hours left to do it in.
Gotta get cracking.

On the bright side… I’ve gotten my funding and my offer to a BA course in costume next year.
The only thing left to do is pass this course.
Fingers crossed!

It’s about 12 hours before I need to leave my flat before the hanging of my final piece, although the entirety of my project will be due on Wednesday. I’ve decided to forgo anything that lights up (ie: listen to my tutors) as I was beginning to stress out from the entire thing. I’m about halfway through finished constructing the final piece. Been boiling pieces of polypropylene and bending them with my hands while they are still soft. It leaves me with an interesting, still-clear piece.

So my final piece will be CLEAR armor. That doesn’t light up. I’m really disappointed with myself and my time management, but right now it’s about getting a final piece that isn’t completely humiliating and is high enough quality to put up in the show. That and my health was starting to suffer from all of the stress. I’ve been getting stomach aches and losing sleep, and it’s just not worth trying to get a piece that lights up when all of my tutors seemed so against it in the first place.

Although Shane did seem a bit surprised when I showed him the sample I’d made so far (in the last post.)

I know that if I try to finish everything now, it will all look a bit shit, so better I have ONE good thing that is slightly deviating from that I had previously expected rather than two sort-of shit pieces that don’t really look anywhere near as good as I would like.

Something to focus on in the future? Time management. Here’s a preview of what the final piece will look like;

That is a face of disappointment.

RUSH RUSH RUSH RUSH ONLY A WEEK LEFT UNTIL EVERYTHING IS DUE.

As of yesterday, there are no more taught classes going on at Camberwell. Sad sad stuff. Also as of yesterday, I have spoken to all three tutors about my project. They all seem much more interested in the materials I am working with, as opposed to anything that lights up– citing that I “don’t really have the time”.

This is disappointing, but if I can manage to finish the first set of armor tonight, I might try to see if I can’t make a second set with all of the plastic I seem to have leftover. (I seem to have enough for two.)

Also, Marlose made me feel like a bit of a dick yesterday when she informed me that I have NOT been working with perspex, but polypropylene. When… I am pretty sure other people have been calling it perspex.

It wasn’t until I got home that I realized that perspex and plexiglass are the SAME THING? I would never in a million years have called it plexiglass–because I know what that is.

Jesus, some things you would never think get lost in translation– especially in the same language.

Anyhow, here’s the design from the Wallace Collection that inspired me;

The one on the left.

and here’s what I finished last night before I gave myself a second degree burn with hot glue.

Cool, huh?

I’ve been boiling the plastic, as it’s vacuform plastic (supposedly polypropylene) and thusly a thermoplastic. It’s been the best way to get the fastest results, the only thing I don’t really like about it is that it’s prone to get too marks. It would be fine if the piece weren’t clear.

But it IS clear, and so maybe I should invest in some silicone tongs.
And some work mitts.
And some safety glasses.

I’m a health and safety disaster waiting to happen.

It’s pretty much decided that I will make a piece of armor for my FMP. I’m short on time thanks to poor time management and my life exploding for the thousandth time so I am sticking to one piece instead of the original planned two.

I would have liked to have made two historical garments; one stereotypically male, one stereotypically female. Immediately my mind went to armor for men and some form of corsetry or dress for women.

Because I have run out of time and  made a corset for my last project, I decided that I would perhaps just focus on the male stereotype.

I have made two samples based off of patterns I found on the Armour Archive. One of them being a fingered gauntlet and the other being some shoulder spaulders made out of card.

Rachel Wingfield, the co-director of loop.pH was suggested as an artist to look into at the beginning of my FMP (a million years ago).

Now I can totally see why. She works with luminescent textiles and organic materials. I really enjoy her reinterpretations of lighting! Very ethereal and otherworldly.

I specifically love her Digital Dawn Window Lamp. She uses electronically conductive and phosphorus printing inks in her work. It’s just incredible!

Dreaming Up Tron: Legacy’s Sexy Sirens, Wicked Light Cycles and Other Killer Visuals | Underwire | Wired.com.

Okay, I lied. Just one more. The initial concept for the sirens in the film is quite interesting. Though I found that I didn’t really like the way the high heels were executed, and the suit itself was not tailored enough around the torso to give her a flattering enough look. If you look at the “final look”, she looks a little… chunky?

Probably one of my favorite character designs overall, though. Wish there had been more use of white as well as black.

Well, other than Castor’s costume. Could not stop staring at Michael Sheen’s crotch in ever scene he was in. Can anyone say ‘embarrassing bulge?’ YIKES.

Tron: Legacy design team interview: Light Cycles, suits, architecture and more – Den of Geek.

Really great interview with Costume designers Neville Page and Christine Clarke, vehicle designer Daniel Simon, and environment designer David Levy from the Tron: Legacy design team.
Really inspirational stuff! I specifically like what David Levy says about an ‘ emotional response’ that takes you back to your past. Seems really relevant to my FMP.

I think that’s enough Tron for now. Maybe some stuff about artists.

-Kat!

Tron Legacy Costume Designer Christine Clark via Geek Sugar.
Definitely a little more interesting than the last clip, but I want to know what this light-up “material” is?

Why does the interviewer keep asking if the fabric is ‘bioluminescent’?

I do not think this word means what she thinks it means.