Photography, Photoshop, and Indesign...

I loved today at college.

All morning messing about with cameras and lights, and all afternoon learning to use adobe in design to create promotional postcards (mine not yet done, but well on with).

I took some photos in black and white - more than I meant to, because although I intentionally switched to b&w, I then couldn't work out how to switch back....  (ahem!!!).    That said, some of the black and white ones are my favourites of the whole session - and I know that in theory you should photograph in colour, because you can always greyscale in photoshop, but I actually do think that photographing in black and white to start with gives a different feel to the pictures.  Or it did for me, anyway, because I messed about with the light balance differently.

Also, fab news that we can borrow lights as well as cameras from college, meaning that I'll be able to properly photograph every hat I've so far made, as well as the ones to come in the next few months.

Anyway, I went for the black background, which I really love - I like the way that you can bounce different amounts of light off it, and create completely different effects - far more than with a white background.  (I know lots of selling sites insist on a plain white background, and I'll do it because of that, but it's sooooooo dull!)

And of course, I loved messing about with the lights and lighting effects (made me feel quite at home, albeit they were photography lights, not stage lights).


So, some of the results (my favourites):

More to do with our tutor than me!

Again tutor, not me!

And again

This one's all mine, and perfect for a postcard or similar (deliberately framed wrong)

I just framed this one really badly - not deliberately, but I really like it.

This one was definitely tutor, not me, (though I let off the flash).  Done with a long exposure, and the waving of a torch around in the background.

Feltmakers, and random other thoughts...

Well, the deadline for the feltmakers competition was today, and hopefully, my entry will have got there this morning, just squeezing in under the wire!

I kind of left all a bit to the last minute, due to the ongoing work situation....

I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it.  If you'd asked me yesterday, I'd have told you I absolutely hated it with a passion.   Now, while I'm still not 100% happy with it, I don't think it's as bad as I thought.  Of course, I had seconds (well, about ten minutes) to take photos and pack it to go in the post (slightly squashed into the box), so the pictures are dreadful.

I'm also aware that the finish isn't all that good - not up to my usual standard anyhow.   Which is always going to make me feel rubbish about anything.  There's a marketing tips newsletter that I'm signed up to, and the mantra of the woman who writes it is 'don't get it perfect, get it done'.  I can see the wisdom in that, but I always feel rubbish when I have to resort to just getting it done, whether it's for work or for college.

And it didn't help that I had only one felt capeline to make the hat up - and a normal size one at that.  Because I did use a huge block for the brim section, I had to stretch it further than it wanted to be stretched - and then stretch the offcuts again to ensure I had enough felt for the uprights of the brim section.  Quite simply, I over stretched it.  That meant that the felt no longer had enough body in it to hold the shape without extra wiring, and I had to find a way to cover that up (the leather trimming that originally I was only going to put around the very edge of the brim).

I think I want to use this as a step on the way to the finished hat, and to make it again using two felts for the brim, so that the shape will hold without the extra wire, and with a different fabric used for the crown (currently experimenting with embroidery on Hainsworth wool melton).

Anyway, my dodgy pictures of the finished hat...

One thing for this submission I am happy with is the art work.  Finding that slightly odd, as that was all way more last minute than the actual hat.  And it took hardly any time at all.  Total time spent on it, about two hours (and that included one set of sketches that I decided weren't very good, and binned (also known as 'put into sketch book to use as support material for college work' :o)   ).

Design Board

Mood Board

I think these designs may make it into my final collection - three of them definitely, although not all in such a monochrome way as I've drawn them - I'm currently thinking of adding some mauvy colours and some greens, as well as silvery grey.




The random other thoughts.... I was browsing a selection of websites last night, and found a craft fair that has a 'new graduates' section that I think I'm going to apply for.  There are only five places available in that part of the show per year, so I may not make the cut, but if you don't try.....

I also e-mailed the big bridal trade fair at Harrogate for prices (always a 'let's hold out breath' moment when you get the ratecard!!), and they have a 'new faces' section.  So since I'm (outside college) working slowly on a bridal collection, that's also an option.


And finally, there are two more competitions - the Hat Designer of the Year, for which you have to design six hats to a theme, and the ITS Accessories competition.  Realistically, I can't enter both, because I think my head may explode!  I've been thinking about which to enter, and it occurred to me that the ITS is an open brief (i.e. you set your own research / theme).  So that has made the decision much easier - I can use my final collection for college as my entry to the ITS, so ITS it is!!!

Models....

I've signed up to a website called 'Model Mayhem' (as a milliner, I hasten to add, not a model, since I'm possibly the least photogenic person on the face of the planet).

I've been looking at pictures of models within a 100 mile radius of Leeds.  Firstly, to look at lots of pictures to get ideas / firm up my ideas (and to make my mind clearer on what doesn't work); secondly, to see if there's anybody out there who would be willing to work on expenses / for pictures, for a poor underpaid student!

I have to say, it's extraordinarily depressing.  There are some girls on there who are stunning, and have masses of potential.  There are others who are incredibly pretty, and dying to be models, but who you just know that they're never going to have that dream come true.  And then there are others still (some as young as 16) who seem to think that they have to be mini versions of Katie Price, or Jodie Marsh (huge hair, lashings of fake tan, make up an inch thick, pouty provocative poses, etc, etc) in order to be 'a model'.


It's just heartbreaking, both from a point of view that many, if not most, of these girls, will basically have their dreams crushed, and from one of 'whatever happened to feminism?'


Anyway, all of that said, I'm slowly compiling a list of models who are willing to work for pictures, or expenses, or are willing to negotiate, and who have some personality coming through the photos.  One of the things I'm finding interesting is that all those on my list look striking, but not one of them looks remotely like any of the others.


All i need now is something for them to actually model!!!

Musing on beginnings of final collection..... sampling.

I'm finally beginning to make some headway on my college work.

I felt a little at sea a few weeks ago - not panicky, and not worried exactly, but just as though I wasn't as far along as I should have been.   While I don't feel 100% caught up, I have made progress in the last couple of weeks.
(Of course, it didn't help that I got completely pre-occupied by a client (I'm self-employed) who is causing all sorts of fairly dire problems by trying to get out of paying my invoices, but that's an issue for another place (like the courts at this stage.)  Sorry, as I said, pre-occupied and verging on digressive ranting!

Anyway, back to the point...  At college last week (meaning the 30th Jan), after our computer class, I spent the afternoon variously photocopying and printing pictures for my sketchbook, and then messing about with some small offcuts of felt I took in with me.
The messing  about that time involved applying various ideas to do with cutting and slashing that I've seen in my research....

The first one is the idea that's behind the first design I'm making - all to do with interweaving strips of material to make a new shape.  For a while now, I've had a bit of a fascination for the idea of sheer brims, or brims that aren't solid.

This is the test sample (though it isn't going to look that much like that in the final hat).

The final hat brim is going to be much bigger (on a bigger block than that), and have much bigger gaps between the felt strips.  I've now made a mock up of the brim in paper (I spent the afternoon this week at college mainly cutting and working the pattern out).
I'm not certain what I'm going to do as far as the crown is concerned.  I have an idea to do with silk, and possibly embroidery, but I'm not certain.


The other tests I did last week are these:

Obviously, these are just very roughly cut - not measured in any way, just freehand, but I really like both effects.  I currently have no idea at all how I'll use them (or even if - I may end up not using them and saving them as ideas for the future), but so far so good.




Two weeks ago at college, we had a lesson with Sue Carter on a technique involving using lots of panels to create interesting shapes.
I'll be honest.  At first, I hated the idea of this.  Loathed it.  It reminded me of those paper baseball caps you used to get at air shows and motor shows in the 1980s.  I.e. dreadful!!   But through the whole of my millinery course, I've been trying to push myself to be open to everything, and to try everything, and take advantage of every workshop available.  Throwing myself into it, in fact (even when it's not that easy (hello be-hated sinimay!!)).

So I gave it a go.  The technique is one used by the Dutch milliner Eugenie van Oirschot.  I've looked at her website since doing the workshop, and while much of her ready to wear is just not my thing, I absolutely love a lot of her couture hats.  They are just incredible, and many of them are made using this technique.  http://www.lunehats.nl/gallery.htm


Anyway, I did my measuring, and drew my doodle - I'd been looking at pictures of fossils, so I ended up with a very spirally shape (thanks ammonites!).  I also decided to see what happened if I used more than the recommended 20 or so panels, so I cut 30.   That was a hitch that meant I had to finish at home, because complicated shape + lots of panels = aaaaaaaaages to cut out!

This is what I ended up with (my paper mock up).

I really like it, and I think I'm going to use it in my collection (but laser cut).   I don't think it's quite there yet, but it's getting there.  (Which makes hat design number two.)  I'm a definite convert to this way of making hats now.  One of the things I love is the way you can press the middle of the crown down, and the whole thing moves, and changes in shape.  Anyway, I'm thinking leather of some sort, though it will need to be a fairly stiff one to avoid being all floppy.

I also noticed when looking at Eugenie van Oirschot's site that she's made some of her versions of this style of hat from silk.  Obviously, simpler styles, because of how they have to be sewn, but it's got my brain working.  As I want to do some men's hats for my collection, I'm also thinking about the shapes for that (top hat, maybe???).

So, as far as I'm concerned, things progressing nicely.

I've just been looking at some of the A/W 2013-14 collections (and a few others).

I think I'm in love with the Alexander McQueen 13-14 preview - monochrome, with patterns and flashes of red, and lots of cut-out shapes.  It's stunning.
http://www.vogue.co.uk/fashion/autumn-winter-2013/ready-to-wear/alexander-mcqueen-pre/full-length-photos/gallery/10

I was also taken with the Gaultier A/W 12-13, which I hadn't looked at before, because I'm not really a fan of Gaultier as a rule, but it was in the highlighted shows at the top of the page, and the top hat caught my attention.  It has a definite art deco feel about it (for the women's pieces at least), which I love - geometric patterns and straight shapes, and veling headpieces that fitted close to the head, combined with a hefty chunk of Victorian gothic - corsets and top hats.
It's here http://www.vogue.co.uk/fashion/autumn-winter-2012/couture/jean-paul-gaultier/full-length-photos/gallery/58

Jewellery inductions, part two: Plastics

So, we had the second of our three days in the jewellery rooms at college this week.

Day two was plastics.  Specifically, acrylic, and vacuum form plastic.

I don't like the vacuum form.  Although I can see that it's very lightweight, (therefore good for millinery), and the process of shaping it over a mould is interesting, I just don't like the material.  It reminds me too much of packaging, I suppose, or of milk bottles or something like that.  I do quite like the matt side of the plastic (there are two sides, one matt, one shiny).  But not enough to get me past the fact I feel like there should be a milkshake inside it.

Vacuum formed plastic (high density polystyrene)

The flocking is interesting, but that reminds me too much of the Sylvanian Families bears I used to get from Fenwicks toy dept. in Newcastle, when I was a kid.

Vacuum formed face, after being flocked - ad the mdf mould that it was formed over (on the right)

The face mould was used to vacuum form these two pieces - using the different sides of the plastic - on side is shiny and one matt, and you can choose which to use.  I find the face in the matt a bit creepy, because it's a similar texture to skin. 

The acrylic, on the other hand, I love.  I really want to try to incorporate some of that somewhere in my final designs.  I think I like that there are more effects that you can get from it, and that you can polish it to a high shine.

I suppose I'm also coloured by the things I'm associating that with - I have a few vintage lucite reverse carved (intaglio) brooches.  And, of course, another name for acrylic is lucite...

A reverse carved lucite brooch

I love the way you can layer up the sheet acrylic, and drill into it and add acrylic rods of different colours, and the fact that you can use the laser cutter on it.  And that you can carve into it, and paint from behind (as in my brooches).

Layers of acrylic sheet laminated together to create a larger block

My laminated block of sheets, with short lengths of acrylic rod pushed into holes I drilled.

I also *really* like the acrylic rod - that you can put it in the oven and soften  it to make a shape, or that you can use it with a heat gun, to topically soften areas.  I found a few vintage pieces on google that must have used the same sort of process.

These would be sooooo easy to replicate for use as hat trimmings!  Or as the whole hat / headpiece, come to think of it.

Jewellery Inductions and Workshops.

Week One: Metals (specifically copper).

We're having our inductions into the jewellery (or jewelry, if you're American!) workshops for the next couple of weeks.  

I've been looking forward to this part of the course!

This week we were looking at things you can do with copper - and the processes you go through to use it.  These apply to most of the metals we might choose to use, but copper is relatively cheap, obviously, so good for practising and potentially mucking up.

First we used the torches to anneal the metal (i.e. heat it till it glows).  That alters the molecular structure of the metal, making it soft enough to work with.  Then you quench it with water (some metals have to be allowed to cool slowly, I've read since, but copper is fine quickly cooled in a bowl of water).  It's amazing how quickly the water makes the metal going from glowing so hot that it would burn you, to cold to the touch, just by dunking it into a bowl of cold water.

M. annealing her metal.

Then we 'pickled' the metal in a tub of weak sulfuric acid solution to remove (or in some cases partially remove) any blackening and charring caused by the flame, that might stain the metal when working on it (if making a final piece you'd be more careful to remove it all, obviously, unless you wanted actually to keep some), and the metal was ready to work with.

The annealing and pickling makes the copper turn a really pretty shade of pink.

When we finished with the metal, Liz, the tutor, showed us the various tools, and some of the processes that you can use on the metal.  The main ones were the letter and number punches, the metal rollers, and what I called, when I got home, the 'domey-blocky-thingy' (actually a doming / dishing block).  

The thing that caught my interest first was the metal rollers.  High pressure steel rollers, operated by hand, and a bit like a pasta machine, in that by gradually tightening the rollers, and re-rolling the metal through them, you can stretch and thin the metal.  Apparently down to foil-like thinness.

The word that caught my attention, though, was 'embossing'.  By rolling the annealed metal through the machine with another material laid on (or under) it, you can impress the design of the other material onto the surface of the metal.

I spent most of the next part of the session embossing things.  Here are my results:

I used a different material on each side of this piece - on this side, the spine-like design was pressed into the metal by a piece of paper cut to that shape.

On the back of the 'spine' piece I used a piece of hessian - the hessian was completely destroyed by the pressure of the machine, but I really like the use of the two together.

I laid a piece of sequin waste (the foil-y stuff with the holes in it) over this piece.  

The back of the sequin waste piece - I like this side as much as the 'right' side - the texture is a lot different.

I love this piece.  This pattern came from a skeleton leaf.  I thought it was amazing that something so fragile and delicate could leave such a clear impression on a piece of metal.

I embossed this one with a piece of lace (before I cut out the discs).  Not such a clear impression this time,  but I think it looks a bit like bark.  One of my classmates later coloured a similar patterned piece black, and lightly sanded the surface, and it looked incredible.

Next up came the jewellery saws and the drill.  

The saws are a bit - well, a lot - like woodworking coping saws, except that if you want to turn you turn the work, not the blade.  You have to turn the work and not the blade, because the blades are so delicate and fine that if you try to turn them, they snap pretty much straight away.  As I very quickly found out....  Twice....  

I found the sawing to be quite difficult - I'm used to sawing more substantial things where you have to put pressure onto the blade - with this, if you apply any pressure, the blade sticks, and snaps.  The key is to relax, and let the teeth of the blade do all the work.  I started to get the hang of it.

The drilling, to get a start point for cutting shapes out of the metal was much easier.  The drill even has a foot pedal to operate it, just like a sewing machine, so that was much more familiar!

I didn't draw a shape onto my metal, just randomly cut bits off / out:

My randomly cut piece of copper.

Next up was soldering.  Now I have soldered before.  I (very briefly) took electronics at school, and my Dad was a bit of an electronics geek, so he taught me how to solder.  But jewellery soldering is completely different.

For a start, you use silver solder, not soldering wire, so that you don't lose the hallmarking of pure silver on a silver piece of jewellery.  For another, this way is stronger.

So, we mixed up a bowl of borax, which comes in a cone like sugar in the 18th century, and which you grind with water to a paste that looks like milk.  The you squash the silver solder in the roller, and cut it up into teeny pieces, which you drop into the borax bowl.  

My bowl of borax solution, cone of borax, and squashed piece of silver solder.

Then to brush the borax solution over the surfaces to be bonded, and use the paint brush to add little bits of solder along the seam.

The solder will melt into the seam, and the borax stops the surfaces from carbonising and getting nasty mucky-looking staining stuck in the soldering, where you can't get at it to remove it.

M. heating her soldering

E. melting her solder.

And then it's back into the pickle pot.  This is how mine turned out (bit rubbish, but an ok first attempt at something that's a lot trickier to do than you think it will be).

My little mini soldered table!

Looks ok this side.

Bit of a mess of dodgily applied solder on this side, although I think it's because it moved when I put it onto the hearth.

That was pretty much the end of the day, but I didn't have to go for a while, so I caught up on some stuff I didn't have time to do earlier.

I stretched a piece of copper in the roller - the one on the right started about the same size as that on the left.

I cut out some discs (after getting the die stuck, because it didn't occur to me to take it out  the bottom (duh)).

I used the 'blocky-domey-thingy to hammer out some discs into domes.

I used the domey-blocky-thing to hammer out a couple of domes on patterned metal - using wooden tools on one (right), and steel tools on the other (left), to see what the difference would be.  ( I knew already that wooden ones protect the pattern, because the wood is softer, but I wanted to see for myself what the difference is.)

I think the thing that most caught my imagination through the whole day was the roller.    The whole concept of pressing a design into the surface of the metal, and the idea of rolling it to whatever thickness you want it to be.  But I think that the embossing (or a combination of thinning and embossing) might have possibilities I should think about for my final collection - some of the results make me thing of fossils quite a lot - and the one with lace reminds me of some fossilised tree bark...

Definitely a worthwhile and interesting day.  Can't wait for plastic next week!