TRANSFORMEXPLORATION OF MATERIALITY IN TIME.

ADDING // JOINING DIVERSE MATERIALS

The range of different prope¬rties in the materials made it quite challenging to join them together in a way that would allow the two to hold together effectively. The synth¬etics and the plastics I found the easiest to manip¬ulate and blend because of the nature of the materials and how it could easily be heated or melted. With the paper mater¬ials, subje-cting them to liquid would easily allow them to mould around different shapes. A constraint that i const¬antly encountered was the inability to heat some of the materials to a point where they would become malleable to become useful. I think the workshop work out be very useful in thinking outside the box in ways to join fabrics without the need for a sewing techn¬iques. Just because turning to sewing machine to join materials together has become second na-ture. So some of the solutions that have been disco¬vered by doing such exercises as these could help solve this problem and help us come up with a more inter¬esting outcome. The first workshop has overall been a good intro¬duction to working on projects in a different manner. Instead of doing drawings and making patterns we’re going straight to handling the materials and taking a real tactile approach. This gives a good feel of how the final outcome may be like and it just feels much more organic to work in this manner.

AD

DIN

G /

/ JO

ININ

G D

IVER

SE

MAT

ERIA

LS//

PAR

T 2

This

wee

k w

e ha

d fa

shio

n ph

oto¬

grap

her D

ru B

lum

e¬ns

heild

com

e in

to th

e w

orks

hop

and

give

her

insi

ght i

nto

wha

t she

doe

s an

d th

e in

ner

wor

kings

of h

er c

reat

¬io

ns. S

he s

poke

a lo

t abo

ut h

ow s

he a

ppro

¬ac

h’s

her w

ork

and

wha

t she

is d

raw

n to

. Thi

ngs

such

as

how

she

out

so

urce

s m

odel

s an

d w

hat k

ind

of c

lient

s sh

e w

orks

with

. Wha

t I to

ok a

way

from

the

who

le ta

lk w

as h

ow s

he c

ould

ach

ieve

so

muc

h w

ithou

t su

ch a

big

bud

get a

nd th

e ap

pre-

ciat

ion

of h

er w

illi¬ng

ness

to a

ppro

ach

anyo

ne o

n th

e st

reet

to m

odel

for h

er s

hoot

s. A

lso

the

fact

that

she

ha

sn’t

real

ly ha

d an

y fo

rmal

fash

ion

train

ing

befo

re b

ut w

as s

till a

ble

to c

hurn

out

som

e re

spe¬

ctab

le g

arm

ents

in th

e sh

oots

. Eve

n th

ough

she

do

es m

entio

n th

at th

e fa

shio

n si

de is

com

pl¬

etel

y se

cond

ary

in th

e sh

oots

ther

e ju

st u

sed

mor

e as

leve

rage

. Res

ea¬

rchi

ng m

ore

into

her

wor

k on

her

blo

g I h

ave

seen

that

she

can

eas

ily a

dapt

to m

any

diffe

rent

kin

ds o

f sty

les

depe

ndin

g on

wha

t the

sub

ject

is a

nd a

lso

who

the

clie

nt is

.

This

wee

k w

e al

so b

egan

talks

abo

ut h

ow w

e w

ould

app

roac

h th

e ic

e w

orks

hop,

and

how

we

wou

ld m

anag

e th

e lo

gist

ics

and

the

asse

mbl

y of

the

piec

e. W

e sp

oke

thro

ugh

vario

us c

hall¬

enge

s th

at w

e w

ould

enc

ou¬

nter

, suc

h as

if it

wer

e ne

cess

ary

to s

tage

a h

uman

mod

el o

r jus

t us

e a

man

ne¬

quin

. In

the

end

we

chos

e to

go

with

the

man

nequ

in ju

st b

ecau

se it

wou

ld a

llow

us

to h

ave

mor

e cr

eativ

e fre

edom

. Mea

ning

th

at th

e fin

al p

iece

wou

ld h

ave

no w

eigh

t res

tr¬ic

tion

and

now

here

on

the

body

wou

ld b

e ou

t of b

onds

eith

er. T

he o

vera

ll for

m w

as a

lso

a m

ajor

ta

lking

poi

nt b

etw

een

the

grou

ps. T

here

wer

e m

any

idea

s th

row

n ar

ound

lead

ing

us in

man

y di

rec¬

tions

. In

the

end

we

deci

ded

that

eve

ryon

e w

ould

con

duct

ther

e ow

n ex

per¬

imen

ts a

nd n

ext w

eek

we

wou

ld c

ome

back

toge

ther

and

ass

ess

all t

he d

iffere

nt a

venu

es a

nd tr

y to

pie

ce

them

toge

ther

. I fe

lt th

at p

roje

cts

like

this

with

so

man

y co

oks

in th

e kit

chen

wou

ld n

ever

wor

k ou

t ver

y w

ell.

Just

bec

ause

ther

es a

lway

s go

ing

to b

e a

certa

in p

eopl

e th

at w

ill ta

ke c

harg

e of

the

proj

ect a

nd le

ad it

one

dire

c¬tio

ns th

an o

ther

mem

ber o

f the

gro

up w

ill fe

el it

s go

ne to

o fa

r in

one

dire

c¬tio

ns to

lead

the

who

le g

roup

in a

noth

er. I

t will

be v

ery

inte

r¬es

ting

how

it a

ll com

es to

geth

er a

t thi

s st

age.

The

who

le c

once

pt o

f the

ic

e w

ork

shop

has

gre

at p

oten

tial t

o be

a g

reat

pie

ce o

f wor

k if

exec

uted

pro

perly

.

In the time between the last week and this week’s studio we have all been trying to create different little experiments with ice. We had all been assigned different experiments to try out. Gabrielle and I were handed the task of coming up with a piece that would fit around the shoulders and neck area, which also had the potential to extending on and over the head. We had heavily considered whether or not we were having a live model or a mannequin. This would obviously restrict the size and weight the piece would be. Gab and I initially wanted to explore the use of making an ice mold by vacuum forming it out of a plastic sheet, but all the vacuum forms in the university were either in repairs or weren’t hooked up and working. Which was a real shame as this would of allowed us to churn out molds very quickly and quite accurately. I had the initial idea of layering elongated piece of rectangular ice over the shoulders that were different lengths. But this ultimately was going to be too heavy and much to difficult to produce in the short space of a week. In the workshop everyone brought very promising experiments. One that I thought that looked very impressive and would work well for next weeks Ice dress was the use of the balloons that had been hallowed out. Even though the ice left behind didn’t form a full sphere; it did leave a semi circle that still looked very effective. A lot the little experiments don’t directly relate to the body but instead would be used to hang off the underlay dress. Which would ultimately be used as a base for all the ice pieces to hang off on.

ICE // ADDING AND SUBTRACTING//PART 1

It ha

s fin

ally

com

e th

e w

eek

whe

re it

all c

omes

toge

ther

, al

l the

pre

p an

d lo

gist

ics

of m

ovin

g th

is v

ery

tem

pera

men

-ta

l mat

eria

l cal

led

ice.

Jul

iette

and

I ha

ve b

een

prep

arin

g ou

r ice

bal

loon

s th

e ni

ght b

efor

e, w

hich

end

ed u

p be

ing

mor

e tim

e co

nsum

ing

than

we

ever

imag

ined

. We

used

a

mixt

ure

of c

olor

ed c

halk

carv

ings

, ink

, and

wat

erco

lor i

nk

in th

e ba

lloon

s to

ach

ieve

the

diffe

rent

col

ors

that

we

had

prev

ious

ly di

scus

sed

with

the

clas

s. I

n th

e en

d w

e di

dn’t

end

up u

sing

all t

he 3

0 or

so

ballo

ons

we

had

mad

e.

The

colo

r pen

etra

tion

of th

e di

ffere

nt c

olor

ing

met

hods

al

so d

iffere

d. T

he in

k w

as th

e m

ost v

ibra

nt a

nd in

tens

e ou

t of t

hem

all,

and

the

chal

k sh

avin

gs s

eem

ed to

be

the

wea

kest

in c

olor

inte

nsity

. W

e al

so m

ade

sure

to m

ix up

th

e si

zes

so th

ey c

ould

be

easi

ly pl

aced

on

diffe

rent

par

ts

of th

e bo

dy. W

e al

so a

dded

little

stri

ps o

f thr

ead

just

to

mak

e it

easi

er to

tie

onto

the

dres

s. W

hen

it ca

me

dow

n to

put

ting

ever

yone

s ic

e cr

eatio

ns o

nto

the

dres

s, it

was

all

quite

rand

om, b

ecau

se w

e w

ere

all w

orkin

g w

ith a

mat

eria

l th

at d

idn’

t hav

e a

lot l

onge

vity,

eve

ryth

ing

had

to b

e pl

ace

on v

ery

fast

.

ICE // ADDING AND SUBTRACTING//PART 2

Also the fact the human touch would emit more heat on the ice causing it melt even faster would also prove to be a factor. Once the desired amount of ice balloons were on. Pieces began to melt very fast and started to drop away and trickle down with colour that had been imbedded in the ice. This worked out to be quite effective, even though the whole aesthetic of the piece wouldn’t be prove to very pleasing. The video didn’t work as the way it set out to be, just because of the rain it had to be moved to different areas. And we weren’t able to get good footage of the whole piece melting away. Which was a little disappointing as this would have been the most beautiful part of this whole experiment. The photos turned out quite well, with some detailed shots of colors dripping of the dress. From this weeks studio I have learnt that its quite important to set up the right recording tools such as cameras, videos etc, so that you have a way of presenting the work. Because even though an experiment may not work out, the videos or photos can almost make up for a lot of it.

//ICE // ADDING AND SUBTRACTING// PART 2

ICE

//

ADD

ING

AN

D S

UB

TRAC

TIN

G//

PAR

T 3

ICE // ADDING AND SUBTRACTING//PART 3

PHOTOGRAPHY AND EDITINGBY RAH MCVITTY

STIFFENING // TRANSFORMING

This workshop involved the process of stiffening; applying different stiffening techniques on are that would be subject to movement. Having ac-cess to wax a range of starches and glues in the workshop worked really well and everyone came up with different methods and ways to apply each individual technique. The bees wax especially had a great scent to it, even though I personally didn’t like the effect it left on the jacket that I had done. While the ordinary white wax looked much more effective one the grey toned denim jacket that I used. The normal wax also held much harder when dried compared to bees wax which seem a lot more malleable. It was also really interesting in the way you applied the hot wax and whether or not you allowed it drip down or held it in one place and allowed a large chunk to dry there. The other interesting things was that when applied to areas where required a lot of movement in a garment such as the shoulders and near the cuffs. The wax cracked away revealing a really interesting appearance that worked really well. I think its quite important to think about how you want to apply the wax before you do as it can just look extremely random and misplaced, but when done right you can come up with some very effective outcomes. Apart from the melted wax applications there were also a range of starch that we experimented with all with varying successes. The potato starch even though maybe not holding the most strongest and not smelling the best either, worked pretty well and had to applied by brush as spraying it would cause all the potato bits to get stuck in the nozzle. I feel that this weeks workshop with the focus on stiffening has been one that I have really enjoyed and would look at doing for my final piece. The whole concept of applying a stiffening to a garment and subjecting it to motion and seeing how that effects the piece I find really inspiring and something that I may want to push further. This would also allow a very compelling documentation of this process of a hard rigid stiff application and allowing it break away by either motion or heat or a number of factors.

FRA

GIL

E /

/ S

UB

TRAC

TIIO

N

FRAGILE // SUBTRACTION

For the fragile workshop the brief that our group faced was to come up with a process that would allow a piece to deconstruct and break away easily and would be interesting to document. There were a lot of initial ideas thrown around; with the use glass light globes burning away cigarettes. But we had trouble sourcing the materials and also funding the experiment became an issue with these initial ideas. So after talking to Miriam and discussing ways to evolve the idea of burning a material away and revealing some-thing different also being able to document this burning process, we all decided upon incorporating incense. Which were in the end were much cheaper and also much more pleasant smelling than cigarettes. We also initially had some troubles of finding solutions in ways we were going to attach it to the body, whether it was going be thrown over the mannequin like jewelry or whether we should make a piece and use it as a base for all the incense to attach onto. In the end we decided to use a hot glue gun that would glue all the individual incense together than finally this would be glued onto a calico top that we made. This would give us much more flexibility with placing the incense in a way that would look appealing but more importantly place the incense in a way that would burn more effectively. In the end it all started to look very American Indian like, but when it came down to burning the actual piece we had some major issues with safety issues which has seem to scar our studio from day one. Though there were at some stages some outbreaks of small flames it was largely controllable. As a whole I was quite satisfied in the way it turned out, especially when there were so many issues we encountered along the way, and many that were out of our control. Would I possible use any of these elements of the experiment in the final probably not, but it was definitely a good learning experience with how to work with fire and being able to control it.

FRAGILE // SUBTRACTIONincense that had been burned off the form, along with burnt calico and paper

FRA

GIL

E /

/ S

UB

TRAC

TIO

Nin

cens

e th

at h

ad b

een

burn

ed o

ff th

e fo

rm,

alon

g w

ith b

urnt

cal

ico

and

pape

r

TRA

NS

FOR

MAT

ION

//

THE

TRA

NS

FOR

ENC

E O

F O

NE

MAT

ERIA

LS P

RO

PER

TIES

ON

TO A

ND

AD

JOIN

ING

ON

E

TRAN

SFO

RM

ATIO

N /

/ D

etai

led

shot

s of

unr

avel

ling

the

vest

reve

alin

g th

e st

eel w

ool t

hat w

as u

sed

for t

he ru

stin

g pr

oces

s of

the

vest

.

For this weeks workshop task of transformation I decided that rusting would be an interest-ing technique to take up. Being able to insert different metals and allowing the rusting to take places in strategic placed areas would be an experiment worth doing. This week we given the task to follow through a much more resolved garment instead doing little test and swatches. So I decided to come up with a more resolved vest, with a draped collar that would allow rust-ing to take place on. The vest was made from a dense rayon twill fabric that came in white. Being a natural fiber I thought the results maybe effective. Adding the vest into the solution of vinegar, salt and bleach, I left it dilute over the space of a week. Everyday I would document on the results that had occur, I found of the duration of a day it had already rusted heavily in the areas where the steel wool I had inserted and held by elastic bands had instantly rusted. The steel wool was already going to rust as soon as it touched water, so that wasn’t that surprising. But the spoons that I had placed and tied in hadn’t done much at this stage. They took much longer to shows signs of rusting, around day 3 the spoons started to show small areas of rust.

Also after a week the areas where the spoons were sitting had torn right through the material. I think the stress caused by the pull of the fires caused it to weaken and tear apart. Overall results of the rusting I don’t think the rusting marks were that interesting, just because they were expected and it ended up looking a lot like tie dying because of the elastic bands that I used to secure the rusted objects which wasn’t the desired outcome. After the transformation process I am left much more interesting the break down of the material, than the actual rusting. Especially the random areas where materials were exposed to extreme stress the laddering of the individual gives out a really worn down look. Through these exercise I feel I’ve been more on the look out for achieving an aesthetic that suits my over all aesthetic that I could use or incorporate in a final more resolved piece.

TRANSFORMATION // THE TRANSFORENCE OF ONE MATERIALS PROPERTIES ONTO AND ADJOINING ONE

TRA

NS

FOR

MAT

ION

//

THE

TRA

NS

FOR

ENC

E O

F O

NE

MAT

ERIA

LS P

RO

PER

TIES

ON

TO A

ND

AD

JOIN

ING

ON

ES

teel

woo

l tha

t had

bee

n tie

d up

by

elea

stic

ban

ds a

t thr

ee d

iffere

nt p

oint

s. T

hese

wer

e th

e re

sults

whe

n th

e ve

st h

ad b

een

take

n ou

t of

the

solu

tion.

LEATHER // EXPERIMENTS

The initial experimemtational period of moulding leather, as in the picture on the left this is a super soft calf leather that has been heated and dipped in warm water to see if it would change the properties of the leather.Eventhough the results were not desired the leather did become less soft because the moisture may have been taken out in the drying process.

LEATHER // EXPERIMENTS

Leather experimentation with different ways of applying the wax, whether that be brushed or dip. The timing alsobecome very important in these initial test, as how long the leather is allowed to be immersed in the wax drastically changes the overall effect of the wax on the leather. Because the wax is constantly drying working at fast rate becomes very important.

LEATHER // WAXED SHOE

LEATHER // WAXED SHOESome photos that had been taken from the workshop of the visit i made to the brunswick campus footwear department. Andrew the technician that is sole person the runs the workshop, was a large help and guided me with how i should go about putting together the waxed shoe concept.

LEATHER // WAXED SHOEThe initial trial period of how i wanted to shoe to fit the foot, and how i would go about making a flat piece of vegetable tanned leather fit the foot in a way that would allow it movement but not restrict it either. The idea was to have to leather that surround the foot to move and be able to mould. whether that be from natural wear or from the wearer adapting it to another shape. The image on the right is off some experiments undertaken on the vegetable tanned leather.

LEATHER // WAXED SHOEThe first trial leather shoe that was made from the vegetable tanned leather, which was quite hard to work with because it was quite hard and difficult to work around, espicially for something that requires accurate sewing. This was with the waxed set in, i have also tried to have the laces set into the body of the show so that the wearer could pull it out when they needed to. But the lace became very firm and difficult to handle.

LEATHER // WAXED SHOEThe front end of the trial shoe i had chosen to fold over to see how it would fit on the foot. and see what kind of shapes i could create to form around the foot. Even though it does look quite strange and big, it does funtion quite well.

LEATHER // WAXED JACKET

LEAT

HE

R /

/ W

AXE

D J

AC

KE

TS

ome

initia

l toi

les

that

hav

e be

en m

ade

out o

f the

pig

skin

leat

her,

the

mas

king

tape

on

the

leat

her w

as

used

as

a gu

ilde

line

in w

here

to p

lace

the

lace

d ar

eas

whi

ch w

ould

be

used

to p

ull in

to a

mor

e de

sire

d fit.

Thi

s is

pre

wax

sta

ge. T

he a

im o

f thi

s ex

cerc

ise

was

to s

ee w

hat t

he la

ced

pullin

g sy

stem

wou

ld e

ffect

th

e ov

eral

l gar

ent a

nd s

ee if

it w

orke

d w

ith w

ax.

LEATHER // WAXED JACKETAn image of the pleat that will be placed along the side of the jacket, the aim of this design feature was to achieve the idea of the garment transforming when the body moves, Pleated panels that had been strategically placed would allow the wearer to move freely into he or shes desired position. The pleats would initially be waxed shut and held quite securely, but when enough force anc stress had been ap-plied, effectively the pleat would open up. The pleat has also been redesigned in a way, inside the pleate there is a second one under so if the wearer put extreme pressure in this area, it would give you even more range for movement.

LEATHER // WAXED JACKETThis is some of the trials of the pleated detailing that was done in the pig skin leather, a number of dif-ferent trials had been done because i wanted to achieve the most crisp pleats i could get with pig skin that i was working with. Obviuously you couldnt simply heat the pleats to keep them in place, i turned to alternative methods such as glueing a line in the folds of the pleats to create a stay. Also try seperating all the panels of the pleats and sewing them with a raw edge, this became problematic as the areas that got very fine, it became increasingly hard to work around. I ended up settling for top stitching the folds down, which seemed to be the most effective method.

LEAT

HE

R /

/ W

AXE

D J

AC

KE

TA

toile

of t

he ja

cket

that

will

be w

axed

in th

e fin

al, f

eatu

res

a la

pel t

hat f

olds

on

to th

e fro

nt o

f the

jack

et

that

als

o fits

in th

e se

am o

f the

low

er p

anel

wea

r the

poc

ket i

s al

so s

ituat

ed. T

his

crea

tes

a cl

eane

r fini

sh

and

allo

ws

the

lape

l to

stay

pla

ced.

So

this

wou

ld n

ot a

llow

wax

to p

enet

rate

the

unde

rsid

e of

the

lape

l, w

hich

wou

ld c

reat

e a

grea

t con

trast

bet

wee

n th

e na

tura

l pig

skin

leat

her a

nd w

axed

fini

sh.

LEATHER // WAXED JACKETWorking on the sleeve detailing of the elbow area, i wanted to achieve an area where it would allow the fabric to some how extend and allow the wearer to have full range of movement but at the same time have an extremely tailored fit in the sleeve. So allowing for this movement i have placed pleats in the elbows, that i have mapped out where the areas which requires the most movement. The pleat would initailly be closed shut by the wax, but when stress is applied the wax would break away and would be functional.

LEATHER // WAXED JACKETPreparations of final assessment photo shootphotographer // Nadeemy Betrosmodel // Paul Facchin

LEATHER // WAXED JACKET // BACK DETAILING

LEAT

HE

R /

/ W

AXE

D J

AC

KE

T //

PR

E P

HO

TO S

HO

OT

LEATHER // WAXED SHOESShoe fitting pre shoot, working with bending and moulding the vegetable tanned leather into desired position

DARA//INGPhotography // Rah Mcvitty

Photography // Nadeemy BetrosCreative Director // Jessie KielyCo Editor // Aleisha Whitson

Lighting // Juliette BoothVideo editing // Zachary Bradtke