Today I edited the photographs from the garment photoshoot. I was quite happy with the result but I will want to improve my photoshop skills as I use mainly other programs and apps that destroy the quality of the images.

Today I did some pattern cutting and knot draping for my garment. I enjoyed the process a lot as I had missed pattern-cutting. Fortunately, I had just enough space for the bodice and sleeve I was pattern-cutting.

I had to change my sleeve pattern as I realized that the size 12 straight sleeve block wouldn't give me as much volume to the sleeve as I had wished, so I added two sizes up to and extend the width of the sleeve by 30cm more. That was the only struggle I went through.

Sewing the sleeve and bodice together was quite simple, although the weight of the added knots once I draped them on, made the garment look flimsy. If I had tougher fabrics, it wouldn't look as badly constructed. Either way, once I hand sewed all of the knots with the hair, the piece became more visually appealing.

Today I worked on the video editing of my performance piece and because there were some effects that weren't available on iMovie, I taught myself how to work on Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro, which are professional editing programs. I feel empowered to know I edited the whole video on a new and more complicated program because it means my editing skills are improving.

I struggled slightly with sound editing as I had to add reverb to the end of the song I'm using and it takes a lot of steps to get to achieve that sound. other than that, I followed some tutorials and through trial and error, I managed well.

Next time I make a performance piece, I'll want to have better quality videos as the quality was quite pixelated in some of my footage.

Today, I wanted to make sure I had written about a thought that has been lingering over my head for the past few weeks: That being that I've made my project to do with witchcraft, love spells, and the idea of homoerotic unity within witches.

Although many people may associate witches with Halloween and fantasy films, I wanted to make sure that I portrayed my adoration to the community as its past is extremely real and saddening. Many witches were tortured and burned alive simply for having their beliefs and usual lifestyle.

I want to make sure I don't dismiss the hurt and neglect that the community suffered and still suffer for it has been made fun of and disregard for far too long.

My research on witchcraft is a balance between the real and religious parts of witchcraft as well as the etherealness and magic of it all. I want WICCA to be truly represented through my work as I realize that witchcraft is a powerful ritual that takes years to perfect and not a mere costume with an intriguing aesthetic.

Today, I also had a short discussion with Chris and Liberty on Microsoft Teams where the tutors gave me some clarification on some of the deadlines, and Alina even gave me some great Witchcraft references that I'll be using for inspiration for the final editing of the performance art video.

Today, I felt really unmotivated to produce any work as the frustration from being home, dawned on me. I believe the lockdown has taken a mental toll on some people but I had the opportunity to express my feelings to Ella.

We came to the conclusion that nonetheless, any frustration and exhaustion from working in the same environment day upon day, was an act of pure dedication to the project. The fact that the quantity of work has been slowed down due to the lack of materials and equipment/resources hasn't made us stop at all, which shows determination from our part.

Even though we aren't being marked, we still strive towards finishing the project, the best way that we can due to the situation.

I feel extremely blessed to have someone like Ella to reassure me of my doubts and frustrations. We communicate freely with one another and I'm grateful that I get to talk and express myself so effortlessly to her as she is in the same situation herself, at times.

We talked about other subjects such as the pressure we put on ourselves to produce as much work as we would if we weren't in lockdown: For example, the fact that we don't give ourselves breaks from work, even though some days, we don't necessarily do any work, our minds never shut from it and therefore we never really give ourselves a break to rationalize and step outside the bubble of producing work.

Weekly Goals:

Last week, I told myself I would write down all my weekly goals and I'm happy to say I met them for the previous week. I finished all of the sketchbook work I had planned to do as well as the majority of Workflow and the beginning of filming for the art performance video.

For this week, I plan to continue updating Workflow and go back to Part 2 Workflow anc check if there is anything that I can do to elevate my grade, as we're being marked on our Part 2 only. I'll also finish the final illustration for my final garment and hopefully start sewing.

In the meantime, I'd want to make the 4/5 portfolio sheets with the research and exploratory work I've gathered and produced over the last months as well as finishing and editing the performance art video.

Brewing the Potions and Staining calico:

The following day to the making of the potions, I decided to brew them so that the senses of each potion were heightened. Straight away, the scents were extremely stifling. It was even hard to breathe around the potions as the smells were so vibrant and intoxicating. Brewing them together was a personal and beautiful experience, I even got emotional when stirring the ingredients together, as the colours resembled the soups that my mother makes.

I found myself emotionally connected to the generational bond that food and potions have particularly seen in witches, as most witches have practiced witchcraft due to the sharing of wisdom from generation upon generation.

I particularly enjoyed submerging the pale calico and see it change colour as the potion boiled over, through and around it.

Today, I decided to start a small sketchbook for making lists on what I wanted to achieve by the end of each week, both personally and creatively towards the project.

By the end of this week, I wrote that I wanted all sketchbook work to be done which includes all design development drawings and collages and some other drawings that I have to finish, this is an exception to the final garment pictures and art performance stills which I'm developing.

I wrote that I wanted to update Workflow completely, for example, write down all the daily reflections that I have written on my PRJ and caption some of my experimental work on my Digital Outcomes Page.

Finally, I said I wanted to continue shooting some videos towards the performance art video, both for my personal project and for the collaboration with Ella.

Today, I experimented with ice and hair sculptures, feeding into my exploration on the connection of body through hair. I was very pleased with the results.

For the creation of the pieces, I used small plastic containers that I gathered through time from hummus containers, I used fake red and blonde hair from the wigs i'll be using on my final piece and performance art piece and water.

I started by adding the coloured hairs into the small containers, I wanted the two types of hair to intertwine in small knots and balls, so that I could represent the bond which, personally, sex requires.

After freezing them so that they could hold shape for a few hours, I had to remove them out of the container which I did by passing water over them so that I could easily remove them without breaking.

I believe the pictures turned out really captivating. I specifically liked how the ice added extra texture to the hair. I would have liked for the blonde hair to be seen more visibly in all of the experiments, but it was more visible in the flatter pieces, where the container was smaller.

I still felt that the bond between two people was visible. I like the idea of preserving moments temporarily: Just like many sexual interactions, one reaches a type of climax that doesn't last forever, so I wanted to create pieces that would eventually melt as a portrayal of sexual climax and connection of body overall.

Design Development on Underwear Ideas

I made a checklist of all the things I want to accomplish for this week as well (not including more design development and toile making for my final piece and  more test shoots for the final performance piece).

After yesterday's Peer Review I felt very motivated to do the work I had been advised to look into.

And I started out by making a mind map of all of my project's concepts and experimentations I have done, planned to do and the new ones we came up with yesterday. This helped me ground where I was in the project and how I can move forward with the ideas that I already have. 

Add picture of Mind Map.

Test Shots of the Short Video and Photoshoot I made to inspire visual direction and texture towards the project.

Talk about problems with space and lighting and how that made you feel frustrated due to the fact you don't have the right infrastructures to produce better quality imagery in terms of space. This would allow me to get better shots of me and my environment.

Talk about the idea behind the photoshoot and what led you to do it.

Talk about the brushes and how you want to further that idea of connection of body through the physical merging of both coloured fake hair.

Sketchbook work.

Today I went on a walk and came across this mattress on someone's door. I was intrigued by its shape and remembered that Alice wanted me to use the shape/textures etc of mattresses for my design development.

I'll be using mattresses to inspire some texture and textile techniques onto my project.

Today, I felt really hopeless at what I could create with the materials I have at home and what I can afford from online shops that are still open.

I asked for some advice and did a small peer review with Ella. She helped me realise that I can do the best I can with other resources, specially by going digital to the things I can't physically produce at home.

I'll still create various forms of final pieces such as a final piece and a performance art video which will most likely include the final garment or its progressed toiles.

I'm interested in what kind of materials I can source and merge together at home without the need to buy that much.

I believe this would link well to my project's concept of sexual transcendence because the physical restraint of not having a wide range of materials will make me think of ways I can produce wearable art pieces with objects and fabrics that are true to the body, excluding luxury from pleasure. This would make my project feel a lot more grounded in the belief that connection of bodies doesn't come from the goods that one owns or uses for their own benefit, but through the forces of the bodies and minds' energies alone.

I'd want to use materials that are natural to us such as water, dirt and the resources I already have at home such as calico, underwear (to further develop on my initial underwear draping).

I think the physical restraint of resourcing materials will also link to the idea of witchcraft and how witches used materials locally sourced to produce their witchcraft hair knots. It makes the project feel a lot more personal due to the fact that I'll be using my own hair in my visual experiments or my own objects to represent the spiritual and effects of witchcraft.

Today I completed some sketchbook pages on the climbing rope sample details because it was something that I enjoyed creating and I want to delve into the concept of bondage in unusual ways such as using climbing rope and knots rather than classic bondage knots as well as the knots from witches spells.

I felt happy about them because it was something that I wasn't so sure It would make sense if I delved into but Alice agreed that the use of climbing rope was quite intriguing.

I'm planning to update the timetable I did at the beginning of the project because I feel like the project has gone in a very different direction so it doesn't make sense for me to not update it. I'd also feel more confident moving forward cause I know I need to start developing work faster has its been quite a slow week.

Today I did some sketchbook pages on sexual connotations towards underwear and my next draping session that I have planned to do with the underwear.

I'm planning to manipulate the underwear fabric to gather and connect in the ways I want it to gather. I want to use elastic in my sampling and draping session as it will allow me to come up with more interesting and stretchy shapes. This links to my research on movement for example through Damien Jalet's choreography that I analysed earlier on the project.

Progress Tutorial with Alice:

Alice really helped me realise the direction of my project and the many artists and avenues that I could look into.

Tomorrow, I'm going to go to the library so that I research more carefully into witches and spells and their use of knots and myths.

As well as that, I'm going to be looking at witches in a very visual-led manner because Alice's advice was to guide myself more visually rather than conceptually as it can restrict me creatively.

I'll produce various sketchbook pages using the new research material as well as design development and other draping sessions with the underwear etc.

Today, I developed an experimental sample that I'm very content with. I'll definitely experiment further with the sample's shape and different variations of the sample.

The sample is made out of rope which I untangled and unravelled, which gave me a thin layer of fabric to embellish knotted cherry stems. This is a response to my research on Birth Plates and their spiritual connotations.

At the moment, I'm worried that my sketchbook isn't an exact representation of my thought process as I keep going back and forth to develop pages. I'll try to concentrate on getting my message across, in a clearer way from now, as well as giving myself space to extend my ideas fully.

GROUP TUTORIAL WITH CHRIS:

Chris' advice upon explaining my project to him was to go back to the female body and research more thoroughly into the female hymen and the phrase "popping your cherry" instead of leaping into its connotations so quickly. 

That way, the project is well informed so that I can make more abstract references rather than making the project a cliché by researching only about bondage as it is quite a big leap from female sexuality and the spiritual connection of bodies, which is my aim for the project.

Lastly, I've decided I don't want to delve so much into the concept of "popping your cherry" as it has negative stigmas relating to virginity within the sexes. Instead, I'll be portraying the female hymen as it is, through a careful examination into the stretching of the hymen which would allow me to use stretching as an experimentation method using materials and fabrics.

As well as the research on the hymen, my research on the physical and mental connection of bodies would allow me to link it to bondage once again, but this time, in a more sophisticated and well-thought manner, rather than just through the connection of the cherry stem knots.

This tutorial was exceptionally important to me because in my mind I felt like I was leaping but I didn't want to admit it to myself. Chris's reinforcement made me realise I needed to do more research into the actual subject if I wanted my outcome to have a real purpose.

Today, I focused on my secondary research collages as they help me understand the depth of my concept and where/how I want to take it forward.

I think that the collages I've been developing on my sketchbook are successful but I'll only be able to step out of that comfort zone by drawing along the secondary research in order to create a new perspective and deeper comprehension.

Today, I went to the "Tim Walker: Celebrating Collaboration" Talk at the V&A which was a conversation about Tim's creative process with Tim himself and other artists such as set designer Shona Heath, model and art historian Edie Campbell, artist James Spencer, etc.

The writing below is the notes I took during the inspiring talk. I felt that a lot of what was said, I could use on my project as secondary research as well as concepts that I could expand my project on.

Today, I gave in my proposal for Part 3's Project. I was quite excited to share my project's concept with my peers and get their feedback as I had already done Workflow and sketchbook work during half term.

When presenting, I felt confident sharing the thought process of my project as well as my research and experimentation; The proposal helped me structure what I was going to present and I it is already being quite beneficial to make sure that I stay within the aim of my project but expand it into more interesting concepts.