Category: Field yr 3 Technical File

My binded technical file includes the majority of the samples I have made during my experimentation since we started this project.

• The first sample is a digital stitch on sand coloured Linen that I have experimented with for a potential upholstery piece, however the fabric resulted to be too raw therefore not in line for my target market so I decided to keep as a second best outcome. Furthermore the design has been further manipulated on Photoshop for a more apropiate outcome that have become my main Animal design that I am very happy about. It represents detail, sketching skills and the goth feel that is my style signature.

• I definitely wanted to integrate some digital stitch in my collection but I wanted it to be simple in order for me to use it as blenders because the collection is already rich in both colour and motifs. This sample however resulted to be simplistic and unfinished.

• I refined the aesthetics of the digital stitch samples by using a simpler motif but in a more effective way. I wanted to give a simple but complex and sophisticated look and also a tactile feel to it. I therefore used wadding in between 2 layers of fabrics (beige linen on top and calico on the bottom), hooked it and stitched on my sandwiched fabrics to understand if the process would work and see the final look. I did two experiments, one with just one layer of wadding and another with two layers. It was a success and loved the outcome. I then used the 2 layered technique for my simplest final pattern with red on petrol green linen, and the one layered wadding on the more complex pattern that I printed with red on blue velvet.

• I have experimented with laser engraving that I was very happy about, however the choice of the right fabric for a more appropriate outcome would require further research and experimentation that I chose to leave aside in favor of the main outcomes I had to focus on.

• Laser Cutting is one of the workshops I have enjoyed the most and the engraved Mdf Ibis is a result of that. Sarah Barker also loved it however, to fit in my collection it would have required further refinement that I didn’t have time for so I decided not to use it in my collection.
• I have also printed some initial samples of my first designs with fashion formula, to see how colors would result on different fabrics. I also printed my colour palette as a 20×20 sample on organic cotton, as well as my main animal design . The fabric in this case resulted not to be appropriate for my collection because of its intrinsic beige/yellow base. The same in regard for my colour palette that resulted to be to dull, so I decided not to use it in my collection. The moleskine fabric chosen for my Ibis leaves
  seemed very interesting , but what initially seemed beautiful and high end resulted to be dull and having a cheap feel. I wasn’t happy about the silky satin or the faux satin either because the colours resulted to dull. I am very happy I printed them in time to be able to have a comparison and make an appropriate decision for the final samples. In the end I opted for silk, velvet (short pile and marbled), linen, vegan leather (leatherette), fashion satin and interior satin that I have placed on the same page with my printed colour palette.

• I reprinted the Ibis leaves main on a beautiful high end and very expensive short pile velvet together with a secondary design from my turtle sponge. Unfortunately it didn’t look close to what I expected, the colours were dull and the scale of the design too small. Therefore the sample ended up in the technical file. However the yellow secondary sponge was more beautiful than expected and it will be exposed on the rail as part of the collection. Since I have ordered them before starting the second term I had the time to reorder my main ibis leaves on marbled velvet and it looks just perfect.

• I also integrated in my sample book the digital designs of my collection that I have printed on silk paper and didn’t showcase on the rail. I printed my whole collection on paper in case something would go wrong with the fabric samples. In fact it did go wrong when it came to print my scarf and dress, there was a damage to my fabric that fortunately was just partial and didn’t affect the final product outcomes that I wanted to exhibit in my show: the scarf and dress.
• The technical file also contains my colour ways printed on silk touch paper:

It has been a lot of fun making things for my exhibition. Being a maker I couldn’t have imagined not making at least part of the things I needed. From less creative things such as cutting wood sticks for my 2 meters long wallpapers:

to creating my own signage and flat head mannequin for my scarf from plexi glass:

And my business and post cards holder in plexi glass. For this I created a vector file for the cutting and engraving of my flower and bee design. After some research I created my model and made it easy to assemble and very effective and nice to see even when empty:

I also created my own sample book using digital stitch, laser cutting and book binding skills:

My final outcome and first video  I’ve  learned put together as a result of this amazing workshop. I will definitely buy the application and some tools to create interesting content for my social media both with my designs as well as work in progress:

Anna Bress, a TV Journalist was invited by the Center of Entrepreneurship to host a workshop here in Cardiff Met teaching us video editing and some basic rules to make interesting content to post on social network. She worked for BBS and also with freelancer journalist teaching them digital skills. 18 months ago she started her own business teaching video editing, to create content, to companies, to make them more independent in creating their own professional content. Four hours of workshop very well spent. When I signed up for it, it kind of scared me the amount of time but I could have listened to her way more. I loved her professionalism and engagement and how she made every aspect of it interesting, I could have listened to her for hours and hours. I will definitely be using all these skills in my practice. This is a summary I managed to write down while listening and learning:

Motional hooks work very well with engagement. The traditional way of leaflets doesn’t work anymore as it used to be. Nowadays 70% of the population is on Facebook. People are more and more attracted and to videos than photographs and these can be done now by common people without the need of expensive equipment. The quality of the phones today is very high and professional. From 2011 when phones started to have high video standards, journalists started self shooting their own pieces getting rid of the camera men. Another interesting data is that 85% of videos on social are watched with the sound off, therefore the text in association with video has become very important. Have relevant background behind the subject when filming or interviewing.

Recommend investing in:

• MICROPHONE. there are 2 types. A lepall (boya 14:99) The more expensive one (49:99 smart tlav+). A hand held microphone, chenifec 23£ is good already (better is around 200£). Stay far 20 cm away.
• Stabilization such as selfie stick or a TRIPOD if the interview is too long. Cheepest amazon basics 18£ and works perfectly, it has an extension and a hook down to put wait on it not to tramble on an unsteady floor (wooden) especially with a lot of people walking on it. Newer brand is 36£ and more stable for higher budgets.
• Tripod for phone or tablet that can be attached on the tripod. There are 1.99 on amazon, very basic but serve the purpose.
• LIGHT – always go for natural, 1 meter from the source of light for example a window. The light always on the subject, never behind him. If the situation requires artificial light adjust accordingly.

Video: open the camera, click on the screen to focus on a point, if you click longer on it it will block on it and get everything else blurry. Normally the camera picks up a face but if there are more that one in the room it is good to lock it there so it doesn’t get confused.

Resolution: Standard Hd – 1080px works great, the 4k is 40.000px. and much higher. Filming in 4k is not necessary but it has to be at least Hd and it can be transformed after. If i film far away and i want to crop it afterwords it should be 4k otherwise cropping an Hd would get too blurry. Not many people watch in 4k neither on tv nor on socials but it has to be considered when filming in distance in order to crop it and for the future.

Frame the subject in the picture. You don’t move around with the camera while filming, it is very amateur. You take the wide for 3 or 4 seconds, the mid, close ups and even more close ups. After that, Kine Master will help with editing. Every project has to be then saved or moved to the cloud,  the app doesn’t perform very well when it has too many videos to deal with at once. You have to chose your edit format first.1:1 works more and best for social. In the app go to: Media —> All –> chose the 3 videos (wide, mid and close up). Click and drag the videos after to change their order if necessary. If a video is upside down, select it and flip it with the Rotate/Mirror setting. To cut, stretch out the video if necessary to understand where to cut, a light touch on it, and go to trim, trim to left or right depending on what is needed. Go to volume to reduce the volume accordingly if I have to talk over it and be careful that the volume level is green, under the mid lines. You just need 2 to 3 seconds of the same image or video, it is the necessary time for the brain to register the information and not get bored.

Careful when using imagery. Pexels and Pixebay are some of the websites that provide free images. I Movie (for Ios) is similar to Kine Master as setup and it s free but after learning Kine Master she wouldn’t go back to I Movie.

Recording the screen is another important tool. Screen Record is an app used by Apple and it only registers what is on the screen. Call Recorder is an app to record phone calls but you need the approval to use it. You can record what you see on the screen. AZ Screen Recorder, however records external sounds too and it is an app for Android.

For the interview: strong introduction, 4 questions and strong ending. You can hear people talk for 10-20 sec and then start layering with photos. Layer –> Media –> pull it out or do split screen while muting down the new layer’s sound. 5-8 words when doing voice transcription in words for videos. If its 30 sec long it is doable, if longer than 1 minute it will take time to be able to split the video every 5-8 words.

There are other useful apps such as: Microsoft Hyperlaps for timelaps. Record 5 min at the start, 5 in the middle and 5 at the end for long processes such as decorating a christmas tree for example. BIGVU is an app that allows to transcript on screen what is needed to say and can be easily readable when filming oneself.

In an interview, Paul Simmons and Alistair Mcaulei, that form the Timorous Beasties team, said that nowadays there aren’t many artists capable to draw. This made me realize how little time I have spent on developing my drawing skills and that I was actually part of that category that they described. However it was after a discussion with the talented Jenny Evans, 2018 Textile graduate from Cardiff Met, at a Mingle event held by the Centre of Entrepreneurship, that I truly realized how important that was. In fact she told me how companies approached her for interviews during New Designers, because of her sketchbooks. This happened last year and in that same moment I decided that I had to start learning to sketch and draw and so I did. I found lists of artists that gave free tutorials, on different websites. You Tube is a very useful place to learn drawing while hearing about best materials and tips. Instagram has many short videos of work in progress that I find extremely useful.

These are just a couple of tutorials I have been studying with great results. Especially the first one really helped me to start fast sketching with a few initial lines the shape that defines the bird and how to continue with the details.

 

 

 

This has helped me to understand more the perspective and lighting and also to notice those little details that characterizes the subject of my drawing. I used a mix of flowers and birds I did to construct the first hand repeated pattern with Sian that has proved to be very useful.