Used concrete today. It’s my first time using it. I bought the rapid quick one, so it started getting hard very quick. I think it’s interesting that the temperature goes higher while the piece solidifying, so I think it might be interesting way to express some concept by create something and let “costumer” to make something by concrete themselves so that they can feel the heat.

Using it is a little bit more complex than using plaster. For example it’s much more quick to solidify, so I have to deal with it very carefully.          

 

1.4.18

Having this exhibition makes me realized that I’m quite behind of other people.

Few reasons and thoughts:

Time management is one of my biggest weaknesses. I think it’s a big problem from the beginning of this course and I should really talk about this with my tutors. Last time I went to study support and my tutor gave me a lot of important information about how to do the planning. Start from the deadline and plan from the end to the beginning. For example I need start to do photo shoot by April 7th, so I need to finish my piece at that time. If so, I got to have an idea of final piece 5 days before that time so I can have at least 3-5 days to make this piece. By setting some different mini deadlines I can effectively check my progression. Actually Tamzin talked about this with me at the first tutorial of this project, but at that time I think I should be fine and I will do that, but I forgot, so this also proved the importance of writing reflective writings.

Model making. As I said earlier that I was quite behind of other people, I haven’t got any models at this time, but I’ve saw few people who has a lot of models and some of these are well- made. At this stage, I’m fine with doing researches; fine with expressing ideas by using sketchbook, all I need is to more 3D experimentation. It’s shame that this is the last project we do in foundation course, but I think I need to do one or two more projects if I have time during summer break.

I’m trying to build up a personal mini library, to store the information and inspirations I see every day. I keep screenshots inspirations I see on my phone, I copy books I read, but I want to do it in a more systematically way. I might need to do some planning of daily life, but I’ll think about it later.

By seeing other people’s work and giving them feedbacks, I also realized something that I’ve/ never thought before. For example, there is a person at ASD want to build a “environment” which contains a playground, a park and few shops. The concept is to create a space for homeless people and let people communicate to each other more in order to makes them feel less lonely. He mentioned to have a ground for people to plant vegetables, and have some shops sending people free food. This is a project that really about people. I’m so sad that I couldn’t remember the details about that I wrote on the note, but this reminds me of when I having the interview on BA course, I talked about Lauren Kalmen’s work. Those impressed be a lot because I think it’s really challenging the relationship between jewellery and wearer. Jewellery used to be an object that offering people glorious, it was all about beauty, but now it’s not. People start wearing pieces that can express some part of their personality, and I’m really glad and happy to see that there are people designing jewellery that are not for a 晚宴. Recently I saw a piece that you can only wear it by plug a part of it in your 血管。I know that most of the people won’t buy it and I bet nobody will not wear that, but it doesn’t change the fact that I like it very much. I can’t stop thinking about this collection. For me it has a symbolic meaning, it brings me spiritual pleasure. It proves the fact that we are given the freedom to design whatever we want and to express whatever we think. Honestly, I have no idea that where would a piece of jewellery like that goes and I haven’t do more research about this collection, I will come back to it.

 

15.03.18

 

 

 

Had tutorial today with marion

I have to admit my project didn’t go on very well, because I was really lack of research ideas. I mean it’s not really hard to do research, but I think the problem is I still haven’t make sure that that I’m trying to express. The first idea was to create something that can make wearer feel safe and comfortable because I thought masculinity is about being comfort and confident about yourself. However, when I talked to Marion. She raised a question for me: what about gender? At that time my answer was I don’t want my piece go too much on gender because I don’t want to say it’s for male or female because of some of them are lack of masculinity. I want this word just be same as other adjective rather than be a word that contains a lot of underlying judgments and definitions.

But when I got back home and continued researching, I was inspired by another artist, no my direction totally changed. My experience from that is: if you have no idea or doesn’t know what to do, is because you’re working not hard enough.

 

12.3.18

 

 

 

Today ‘s tutorial is really important for my project I talked to Tamzin and Marion. I used to think masculinity represents only specific type of body and specific type of character. But firstly my point is to weaken this subjective label, and see each person as individual instead of they are were they are supposed to me men or women. They showed me a lot of references. For example, budgets for pirates are representations of manhood at 1850s. People who can conquer oceans at that tie are seen very brave because the seamanship was not very sophisticated yet at that time. So the budget and that kind of sea man thing became re objective presentation of masculinity.

 I was really stressed out because I got no clue till now. Before I really started I thought I would be fine because I got a decent concept. At the beginning I was going to do a bespoke project for the stylist I like-- Ib Kamara. But then I realized that there are no many things to research about him, and I couldn't list it all and just develop from that. I still need a concept. So I guess I need to keep on researching and see what I can find.There is an inspiring short film by Erwin Olaf. He lets three family members wearing totally same thing, but we still can tell who is who by their own role in the house. How we define people is a serious question. People are misunderstood not because of who they are but because they are “wrong” in other people’s eyes. It’s ridiculous to judging people by what they might look like. I’m not only talking about the appearance but also labels they wearing.

People talks about masculinity in many ways, but what I think is the most important.( I haven't got an very clear idea now though.)

For example, In the Japanese sumo-wresting culture, stronger, heavier and bigger competitor are more likely to win, and they are considered as overmatch.

5.3.18

Evaluation Workshop

  • If I could start my project again, what would I do differently?

     Well, honestly I will say I need to think more about whether I’m going to do talk about this concept. After going so far, I feel like this subject has a lot of potential to be talked about, but I’m not sure if I handled this subject very well. I got more time spent on that part to discuss my whole project and the process of my project. The final outcome is only one part of the project. For me, the process of researching, analyzing information and developing ideas are more important than the piece. So if i got more time, i would defiantly manage my time better and do more idea development around this concept.

  • What is the most successful and what is the least successful aspect of my project?

    I think the successful part would be drawing and the concept development. I have to say that at the start of this project I was really struggling because I had no idea how am I going to develop my research into design. I researched a lot of things like pirate thing, punk or other things that are connected with masculinity. But after I had progress tutorial with Marion, suddenly I feel like I know what I got to do. So I'm quite glad that I came cross this difficulty. But I feel like if I could plan my time on easter and after that more properly, I would have time to do a little bit more.

  • What are my strengths and my weaknesses?

    I learnt different methods of handling materials like concrete and leather. I can express my ideas with drawing clearly. I like hand making, and I think I would take this to my further study on BA course. However I’m not a 100% maker, so I would also like to investigate more skill into my project. 

     The time management is little disappointing, but I’m glad I learnt from it. The most important thing is there is always something unexpected happen, so I need to leave more time for these. I think it might be helpful if I leave few days before deadline, so my personal deadline would be in advance a little bit.

  • Assuming, I have achieved my intended outcomes, could I now take these concepts and ideas further and if so, in which way?

    The concept of contemporary masculinity is a really big subject, and I could talk about in a lot of different ways for different projects. If i got more time for this project, I would like to develop it into a social based project. I want to being my project into other people's life in any way rather than let it be my own project.

  • Looking back on my project, are there additional research, development or outcomes I could have come up with to improve my submission?

    I think if I got more time, I would develop this project into a performance. Actually when I was developing ideas, I had this thought, but at the end I have no time to find model and do these stuff so I did not make it. At least I got an idea about what do I need for a performance: a model, a place to shoot (and set design if necessarily). And I also need to shoot the performance, so I need time to learn how to edit a video. I’m planning to do it in summer. 

  • Did I achieve what I set out to do in my proposal?

    Well, I got to say that’s not exactly what I expected from the beginning, but I’m satisfied with this. I quite enjoy this process of changing and developing. I have to say I never experienced this huge change of a project before, but this trained me to adapt the reality quickly. I always think it's boring to design things as i would expected to be. Compare to that, I would really like to follow my research and do things I've never thought about it before. I would keep this to my BA course. However, I think it's also important to write down all the information I gain on each project rather than throw them away after crit. So viewing from that perspective, yes I did.

 

 

 

REVIEW WORKSHOP

 Has my project changed from what I initially proposed? If so, why and how?

 

RESEARCH & IDEA DEVELOPMENT

My research till now is fine, but I wish I spent less time at the beginning so I can do more on idea development now. My initial research started from positions that can stop people from speaking, and I am focusing on horse bite and the thing people wear when they straightening their tooth. i think I really like these structured and "machine-like" thing, so I might add some elements into my final design. I was also thinking to research the facilities people wear when they go under water, because that's also things around mouth. When you are biting that thing or whatever movement you're doing with the facility, you are not able to speak. The other interesting point of these facilities is their scales are bigger. I don't mind to challenge the scale of my design if I got more time, because the final outcome I have now is designing by the way it's structured. In other word, this design came from the idea of chocking wearer so he won't be able to speak. However, I think I could develop it bigger to consider more elements to use, such as mouth interact with other parts of the body.

 MAKING PROCESS

Actually the size of the concrete ball on final product is slightly smaller than I expected, because I couldn’t find the right size mold. At the beginning I was about to use vacuum form to make a mold, so I need some kind of ball to make the shape. They do have half ball for vacuum form but the size was too big.

Firstly I bought some plastic form ball in the art shop, but due to the material is unstable under high heat condition, the ball was distorted. Then I remembered technician suggested me to buy a tennis ball at pound world and try. I did. I cut it into two, but it’s hollow inside. The result it tennis ball would lose shape due to it’s hollow inside. I went back home and stuffed it with material I used before so it became stable and strong. The material is called re-shapeable form. It could be formed flexibly and delicately after you sink it into hot water and let it become soft.

At the end I finally made out this mold by vacuum form. What’s unexpected is, the mold also captured every detail on tennis ball so the model will not looks like a ball.

By had this series experiences, I realized casting is not that easy. I used to think I could always find a perfect ball on this world—it doesn’t sound hard to find a ball. However when I get started, I realized it is harder than I imagined.

So I bought a mold online, and made few models out of that. It's much better to work in a fine mold.

 

 

 

 

‘Hats’ Workshop – an Edward de Bono reflection activity

 

Positive:

At this stage, I can express my ideas clearly by using sketchbook. At the beginning of this project I tried A4 size, but I think A3 one is more suitable for drawing. I got a fine concept, and at this nearly end of the project I got fine research I think. At the beginning I was quite confuse because this subject is quite challenging, and I kept changing my ideas while working on it. The positive thing is that I’ve learnt much more skills like using concrete and deal with metal.

 

Negative:

Using black hat thinking, look at all the bad points of the idea/design. Look at it cautiously and defensively. Try to see why it might not work. This is important because it highlights the weak points to the design/idea. It allows you to address them before it's too late.

Looking back this project so far, one failure is time schedule. At the beginning of this project I haven’t got a clue of the research, so I did some research that wasn’t really used in the end (but I won’t say these are useless though). It would be better if I can start making earlier, so I can use my time more effectively.

 

Factual:

My inspiration came from horse bite. From the technique perspective, I assume it’s not really hard to make one. I haven’t really made any model yet, but I really need to start making from today afternoon. I think the position on the body, which is around the face, would work quite well. A concrete ball under throat and hang up to ears will chock wearer and unable him from speaking. However there are few details I need to try out while making models about how different materials are connected. (These problems are solved when I talk to technician in the following days.) 

Looking back when I finished the final piece, my experience is leave more time for yourself. There are few unexpected issues took me more time than I thought I would need. Thankfully I finished it on time, but next time I will leave as much more time as possible on making.

 

Emotional.

I guess it’s quite sensitive to let people put something in mouth. I also need to consider the cleaning issue if it’s in the mouth—what material would it be? It’s a quite emotional piece, and I’m going to express the concept not only through the piece but also the photography. I might make this serious of photography into a zine, so the jewellery piece would only existing in the pictures. That’s now my opinions about where does these goes.

 

 

How was the hats workshop different to my usual process of reflection?

This workshop gave me more perspective of thinking, and provided me questions I never though before. For example, I used to thinking in a quite negative way, but now I realized it’s important to think positively as well. It’s not just about telling yourself how good you are, but also objectively analyze what’s going on well and not well for this project.

Did the fast drawing task lead me to any new or improved ideas?

Actually this exercise was important to me at that stage. Sometimes I’m easy to stuck in researching and developing ideas, but can’t make decisions of final outcome. Having this workshop let me cut my drawing process and move to making the final product.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was home today and researching. I found a lot of information of Ib Kamara, but I'm still not sure how to get it down to research. He is always inspired by this how black culture-- ha's black, and when he was little his hometown was very poor. Everyday he wished his home won't be tore apart. He mentioned about buffalo culture which was a 19080s culture happened in America and I thought it would be interesting starting point, but I'm not really sure how much it's related with Ib. 

His graduation project is called 2026, which talked about menswear in next ten years and black masculinity. I think it's a interesting project because it's challenging about what our society have strict about ourselves. Restriction are not welcomed. He mentioned that Obama is his favorite person, because he cried infant of media. Looking back to history, most of impression of black male is strong, tough and fearless. But Obama, as a president of America, break this cola hard impression of audience and let people to express the truth, and gave black male real freedom to let them be themselves and be whoever they want.  I feel like this concept is amazing because it's very related to our reality world. I feel like doing a project as a designer or an artist should bring something to real world, to let every body on this whole world have a resonance to you. Staying in my own flat and doing my own house, thinking that this world is stupid and they don’t get my art is not good.

 

27.2.18

 

 

 

Helmert’s workshop about ideas developing is really helpful. While idea developing process, it is useful and helpful to make some test models. Try to cut part of it, maybe move some bit to another part, re-think how it’s combined and how it’s worn on the body. For example, after I draw my initial designs, I started think about details and use different collages to develop some part of my design. Actually I would like to do a little bit more search to enhance and develop more about me design. I would really like to rethink about the scale of my piece. I mean the position which is on the mouth is fine, but I can make a really big one on the body. I think it's really interesting to test scale on the body and challenge my piece.

 

06.03.18

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was home today and researching. I found a lot of information of Ib Kamara, but I'm still not sure how to get it down to research. He is always inspired by this how black culture-- ha's black, and when he was little his hometown was very poor. Everyday he wished his home won't be tore apart. He mentioned about buffalo culture which was a 19080s culture happened in America and I thought it would be interesting starting point, but I'm not really sure how much it's related with Ib. 

His graduation project is called 2026, which talked about menswear in next ten years and black masculinity. I think it's a interesting project because it's challenging about what our society have strict about ourselves. Restriction are not welcomed. He mentioned that Obama is his favorite person, because he cried infant of media. Looking back to history, most of impression of black male is strong, tough and fearless. But Obama, as a president of America, break this cola hard impression of audience and let people to express the truth, and gave black male real freedom to let them be themselves and be whoever they want.  I feel like this concept is amazing because it's very related to our reality world. I feel like doing a project as a designer or an artist should bring something to real world, to let every body on this whole world have a resonance to you. Staying in my own flat and doing my own house, thinking that this world is stupid and they don’t get my art is not good.

 

27.2.18

 

 

I was really stressed out because I got no clue till now. Before I really started I thought I would be fine because I got a decent concept. At the beginning I was going to do a bespoke project for the stylist I like-- Ib Kamara. But then I realized that there are no many things to research about him, and I couldn't list it all and just develop from that. I still need a concept. So, I chose contemporary masculinity as my concept, and I have to start my research all over again. So I guess I need to keep on researching and see what I can find.

 

26.2.18