Proverbs for moving image title...

The opening title is important as it must capture the essence of the work and be as brief and familiar as possible to the audience for a clear recognition of the aim of my moving image piece.

Here is a short list of english proverbs found that I have whittled from the many:

A social climber,

All that glitters is not gold,

An englishman's home is his castle,

Cleanliness is next to godliness,

Don't wash your dirty linen in public,

Good fences make good neighbours,

Money talks,

Never judge a book by its cover,

The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.

From this list I shall pick two that I find appropriate.

Practice makes perfect...

13.4 metres of hemming completed in 24 hours...

So after an intensive day of hemming I completed what I consider to be possibly humanly impossible of hemming by hand each side length of fabric. Which had to be cut and measured to finally create the form of what can now be constituted as fully working set of window net curtains.

Video footage of experiencing the space

Location of filming found...

Through searching high and low for a good spot in London I simply overlooked the perfect spot, situated a stone throw from uni which I pass nearly every day.

Here are some of the photos and vids of my exploration of the space as an environment to epitomise the juxtaposition of the class that is displayed through the curtains.

 

Fabric printed

Whilst on my way home from collecting my print I thought to take advantage of the sunny and breezy day. I quickly threw the fabric over a court yard pole and crudely filmed it move to get an idea of possibilities for the next stage of this project which will be filming the piece.

My trip to the metal workshop...

From speaking to the metal workshop technician about the display of my curtains I was left to consider the following two possibilities...

Option 1

Extendable legs to construct a portable washing line to which I will be able to take the curtains around london for shooting...

Option 2

A frame that I have customised from the chelsea scrap yard. I got the technician to remove any unnecessary bars from the frame to allow for a frame to possibly hang my curtain on. the only issue which will probably prevent me from using this is the fact that it is very heavy and takes two people to carry.

 

Printing footage

The following are visuals of some of the film footage I have taken of my piece being printed. This footage will be used possibly in one of films which document the production of the piece. 

Location, Location, Location

With the design finally finished I have begun to scour locations around London to capture my net in situ and etc...

The locations I am yet to decide on are area to photograph and film the curtains...

Here are some photographs I have taken of appropriate places to capture my work:


HACKNEY

BERMONDSEY

OVAL

CHELSEA

A way to display my 70% grey print...

I have handed my files to be printed with Cameron Gilmartins, the print will be done within three days from file hand in.

When choosing the final colour and material to be used I had to seriously consider the transparency of the material. With this in mind I enquired with the representative of the company with my final choices and confirmed the appropriate way in which to have my design printed.

I went for the image to be 70% grey on silk chiffon, the material was very close to the density of visibility of that from a typical voile curtain, and due to natural light bleaching the print I couldn't have the print any more lighter than 70% or the image would be practically invisible to the eye when hung up

So...

Whilst my piece is being printed I have now a couple of days to create a frame to suspend the curtains. This frame will be needed to hold the piece without having to alter its surroundings i.e. drill holes for the washing line and etc.

I originally had a look at what was in the market and even had to return something I thought would be ideal for the curtain.

So I am know going see if I should make a custom make a frame at a metal workshop. And figure the deciding factors for the display of the piece.

FINAL DESIGN (not in actual colour choice)

Shades decision

So from my earlier post about my indecision of what shade of greytone I was considering to use for my design I thought to resolve this dilemma by simply transferring the gradient image I created onto fabric. 


The image was first printed on tracing paper and I then also used Image maker a product that allows the ability to transfer photocopies onto fabric.


The result were then stuck onto a window to assess the clarity of visibility of print which allowed me to discern shades of greytone against each other.

   

Corrections

With dealing pattern, staring at a small screen doesn't help especially dealing with the nature of something that is to be printed. So I printed my second draft designs in A1 scale and circled in red all the corrections that are needed to the design that I couldn't quite see clearly on my laptop.

Second draft of curtain design

Shades

It is important that I decide on appropriate colours for the print especially as this can risk visibility and the contrast of the design against its situational surroundings i.e. the visibility indoors or outdoors on the two fabrics I have chosen.

To eliminate chance I want to at least close enough see what possible results I can obtain. To do this I have created a graduated gradient pattern as an example to print and possibly manually try and transfer onto fabrics I obtained from Shepherds bush market earlier on in this project.

Its crucial to consider this factor as anything printed on fabric is visibility bleached by the sun light.

The shades of colour im considering come in form of grades of grey: 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40%

Torn between Sheer...

I had my consultation with Cameron Gilmartin this morning. The information I collected form this visit has proved vital to the setup of finally printing which I have booked for tomorrow.

FABRIC:

Silk Chiffon: £8.41 per metre

Silk Viscose: £8.42 per metre

WIDTH:

140 wide with a max printable area of 135cm

COLOUR:

Viscose silk brings out print but may be stark where the organza is very transparent so the image will have to have a good line weight for visibility.

TIME:

Possible 3 day turnover at twice the normal price as normal printing time is 7-10 working day, and as next monday is a bank holiday I am to worried to use the longer cheaper service.

COST:

4 metres of fabric @ £8.42

4 metres of print @ £148

Set up being a flat fee of £15

33.68 + 192.00 + 15.00 = £240.68 + £42.12 VAT

Grand Total of £282.80

Date booked for print will be 11am 24/05/10

Capitalism a love story

http://www.film4.com/reviews/2009/capitalism-a-love-story

Though this film has not so much relevance to my project it does skirt around what I found

in my research earlier on in the project.

Also in terms of the filmography for which I am still deciding upon for my film short to

accompany the curtains I like the way in which Moore has sliced reprographic visuals with

a modern twist.

Revised print date and consultation

With the extra time now on my hands before my consultation on monday. I decided to print out the near to complete designs to see the clarity to which the lines appear on paper print. I visited The Colour Company, where i handed in my design to be printed as a real size proof for me to assess any changes and so forth that will need to be made. The files I gave though being black and white and relatively small in megabytes it crashed the printer system... so I am currently reviewing the images to straighten out any possible issues that could arise on the important print day.
 

Change of plan

Well after not being able to confirm that chelsea textile department could steam the fabric I wanted to print on (steaming is crucial in fixing the dye so if water comes in contact the dye doesn't run) I decided to not use it as a service due to the nature that the cost of printing the fabric (at least £150) may amount to nothing if someone touched it.

I promptly have booked a consultation with Cameron Gilmartin to find a best suiting material and arrange for it to be printed and steamed as quick as they could.

Companies...

The search for printer on fabric has been very difficult as there really aren't hat any to choose from. From the couple I have found and received quotes from I have discovered three possble places.


1) Chelsea print
(provides the cheapest service and quick turn over, only factor is the fabric needs to be heat pressed and the textile department do not help other courses). Essentially you can print but if a drop of water hits the fabric the dye will run.


2) The Silk Bureau
Popular service that provides a 7 day turn over.


3) Cameron Gilmartin
The most expensive of the three (twice the amount of Chelsea), but can provide a three day turn over including being heat pressed.

Test sample

The cost of printing my piece is steadily increasing so being conscious of this factor, I did a test sample to work out the dimensions of scale and how well the printing is transferred from screen to textile.

As working with fabric with a fabric outcome is not what I have usually produced on the course.

Factors I have considered:

- to not print on silk organza for the simple con that the print doesn't come up well on the piece. Though the organza itself is my preferred material due to its particular warp it has good level of transparency.

- as an alternative I have decide to go with Georgette a fabric that has a denser warp so a better clarity of print and easy to get printed on. The only con of using this material is the fact that the material available to me is not a white but a off cream which i am unsure to if I like or not.

- lastly the timing of getting this print done on time is a factor that has toubled the design process. As from contacting various printers there turnover rate is simply longer than expected or desired typical 7 days from hand in to the printers. Also especially as im competing for printers with many textile courses. But in In no way do am I going to let this effect me.

The images of the test sample quickly hung up (in no way is this an indication of how the final print will look).

Flocked off...

So after discussions about the production of my piece I thought of possibly flocking onto the fabric print. This I thought would add a tactile dimension to the work in which particular areas would be flocked to create depth and highlight significant areas of the design for them to stand out in comparison to the rest of the print.

I approached the textile department of Chelsea to see if I could utilise the facilities, but unfortunately there is loads of admin and red tape preventing me to use anything and there would be too many restrictions.

As much as I am disappointed with this hiccup in the design progress I have evaluated the use of this process against what I feel is necessary to embellish the print and feel happy with having to use my embroidery skills as a suitable substitute.

Sticking to my true intentions...

After resolving how I would classify the differentiations between classes and taste. I felt the initial sketch ups of my net curtain have been distracted by my ideal of making a beautiful piece. But by doing so my design has been distracted from the statement intended. 

I have revised the layout and have grid out a new way to include the imagery used in my design. What is important is that as the methodology of making the piece wont be made from traditional hand made lace that i should at least keep the design at least comparable to the nature of what a net curtain is. 

Below is a quick screen grab of the new layout, which is more refined and loosely based on the structure of net curtains found in my research.

The eight icons of modern class

Appropriate Materials

Suitable outcomes for my final piece are out of the following:


- Printing on Silk a sheer fabric that allows for semi transparency whilst holding onto the images


OR


- Lazer cut onto a fabric or thick paper, fabric is preferred as when cut by laser the heat of the laser seals the fabric wherever it cuts.


Tomorrow I am printing a test sample on fabric to see how it looks. 

In the middle of the motif of the eight signifiers will be drawn out map of London to which I will shade the significant areas to where would best demonstrate the taste of such items on the curtain.

The particular areas are shaded by determining by splitting the city through the fairest way of establishing income based upon council tax figures in according to boroughs. Below is the wealthy followed by the less so fortunate.

The Eight Signifiers

The design for the curtains I am creating centres around a central circular motif that displays icons that signify the following eight stereotypical visual identifiers that distinguish between class or having good taste. Though these icons could be said to be temporal and particularly of now they will still always hold a stigma that is associated to them as signifiers.

In no particular order:

1, The supermarket to where you grocery shop.

2, The newspaper you read.

3, The car you drive.

4, The jewellery you wear.

5, The clothes you wear.

6, The language you use particularly slang.

7, The style of house you live in.

8, The breed of dog you own.

For both the curtains I shall draw the answers to these questions in respondence to the stereotypes commonly held.

Below is diagram to which I will place the visual identifiers within the circles. 

Film update

With time looming I have organised deadlines of production and slots to photograph and film my piece.


Though there may be little discussion on my blog about the film piece I am aware of its significance. The film will frame the project, being a documentation of the production of the net pieces sliced with footage of the nets hung up on a washing line in slow motion. The contrast of the pace will help create a dynamic to which the viewer will experience the work for all its detail.


The significance of using a washing line, is the common tradition of how it was thought important to air out your clean white nets in public as a statement of house cleanliness and wealth of which one is able to have more than one pair of net.


These initial thought will be developed once the the nets become a physical tangible material this week.

The Background

Here are the initial workings of the base pattern to which I will overlay the visual identifiers that I am identified/drawing.

NB - I must consider the weight of the lines of which my work will be vectorised with, as clarity to the viewer is important to me.

ICONS

Here are the digitalised images of my drawings for the icons that I will use on my curtain design.

 

Visual Identifiers

Earlier in the week I sent out a capture form to my peers asking for what they believed were visual metaphors for social class or status within todays society.


The list is ongoing and include what I call modern visual identifiers:

Cars, Handbags, The way you wear your handbag- on the arm/elbow, Nails fake or the way they are painted, Feng shui (however its spelt) at work your nobody if you haven't had it done...fashion yuk, Fake tan or tan in general, For Arab men-platinum (not allowed to wear gold for religious reasons),For Arab women the detailing on their abayas and their shoes (only things on show), Watches,What you drink, Where you shop (waitrose or co-op), Bling, Knives/guns, Hoods, The area you live/gang, Diamonds, Clothes that act as a uniform, Breed of dog, sovereigns, knuckle dusters, sports/ team clothing, hair gel, false nails, eyelashes, knobheads that wear shades indoors, beauty products (cosmetics, perfumes, creams etc), fur, choice of books, music and films, choice of food (organic, non fat etc), designer furniture and household goods, badges, swastikas, tatoos, the dark mark from harry potter :p, fairness in Asian societies, piercings, mowhawks, religious branding - crosses, ash (Hinduism) etc, gender based differences in clothing...


Using the list I shall try and define the eight most key identifiable items in which we associate with the two types of class I am looking at. This list will be hand drawn and vectorised for me to form a playful pattern that subverts the norm.

The Statement

Associations of class naturally accompany the use of net curtains - which will be highlighted by two juxtaposing outcomes; one to reflect 'chav' culture, the other the upper class 'Sloanes'.
With net curtains traditionally used to conceal and protect privacy, my final piece will act to subvert this through heavy irony. By incorporating specifically chosen material goods into the pattern of the two separate curtains, ideas of consumerism, class and wealth will be ostentatiously celebrated, rather than hidden, by the lace.

The Beginnings of a Drawn Outcome

As I have come to the conclusion of what my final outcome will be, I feel that It is important for me to present more of my work to demonstrate my application of the knowledge gathered. 


I have begun to started to hand draw the many icons I intend to display on the curtains. All of which i shall latter assemble into forming a cohesive pattern to duplicate.

FInal Intentions

It is clear from my previous blog entries that I have a clear understanding of the medium I am working with. It is now up to me to be explicit to what my final piece shall be visualised as. So within the structure of limiting myself to five bullet points I am going to summarise the outcome:

1) I will produce two net curtains (the rough dimensions of each net being 36"x54"). With the intention that they may be longer or shortened if needed.

2) The two net curtains will be looking at topic social class and taste, and the exploration of the classes particular taste in material goods through stereotypes that are manifested by the common cliches found visible to the eye (dress attire, jewellery, valuables, acronyms etc). The purpose to question the value we assign to such goods as a reflection of oneself in an increasingly visual literate culture.

3) Net 1 (Bad taste) Will be a visual homage to the lower class example the Chav culture found in british society (looking at representation in popular media like the show Shameless).

4) Net 2 (Good taste) will be a visual homage to the upper class example the Sloanie found in their own cultured habitat of status and horse riding.

5) A possible short piece of either footage or set of photos to capture the curtains.

Shadow play

Whilst going through a blog that I follow I noticed this image, as simple as it is the purpose of me posting it was to simply point out the beauty of when lace cast a shadow. So even if the person viewing lace work and cant make out the patterns weaved, the shadow cast by the light will always reveal the forms and shapes.

Picked samples for initial try outs

From the market and consulting the owner i came to the conclusion to select 5 samples of material on which I will experiment on with my image work for the final piece.

In every picture I have placed a quick illustration that I have created half tucked under the material to show the density of parallel weave and the visibility to the eye. Obviously the images dont capture the fineness of visible differences in transparency.

Sample 1
Transparent PVC
Price £2.50 per metre

Sample 2

Egyptian Muslin
Price £2.95 per metre (150 cm wide)

Sample 3

Ready made Voile

Price £1.95 per metre (91cm wide)

Sample 4

Cotton Muslin

Price £1.95 per metre (150cm wide)

Sample 5

French Voile

Price £1.50 per metre (150cm wide)