Material studies

Skulls and femurs:

The objects which will form the 'skeletons' for the garments for this collection i have been looking at the skeleton itself for inspiration but looking at contemporary ways of depicting this..

The Catacombs are very interesting; in the way the bones are assembled. there are some interesting patterns and texture that could come from this. I have mainly come across the skull and femurs in the pictures. Even the early pictures i posted from the Killing Fields contained all skulls and femurs. Im not sure if this has a significance or not... but i would like to concentrate on this for one of the objects that i will be building the garment around.

http://michaelfairchild.com/landscapes_wildlife/

Looking into creating this piled bone pattern into the wire-mesh - using the lace as the 'hidden' garment and dissolvable to sink in and react with the object creating the shape in the fabric.

Photoshoot ideas..

For our photoshoot i wanted to do a installation with no models and in a studio.. these garments will be anchored around the space to create this ghostly feeling. As we are using our burial garments only i think this would be quite a clean a minimal shoot that will work well.

Aitor Throup is such an amazing illustrator and designer; the movement in his drawings and installations are so modern.

This installation is fantastic, so creepy but would work in our magazine context

http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/24/view/3525/aitor-throup.html

Burial Garment

I left my Community dress to dry out.. here are a few early photos!

Once it had dried out the fabric had such a different hand - although it was still very weak (even the polyester - above)

PROPOSAL/OUTCOMES: Death and Decay

The exploration of Mass burials and genocide in relation to the studio Death and decay has given some key words:

Continuality – of grief

Community

Systematic / Uniformity

Layers – hidden? Personality

Unidentifiable (bodies and spirits)

This project has shifted away from the initial mass burial research and is focused on the textile influence from the soluble outcome. Although there are still elements from the earlier work that has been carried through all of my experiments.

FROM THAT - I have focused on creating layers of a garment to essentially create an artifact or sculpture through the process of manipulating the outer layer(soluble). This will inform the collection in conjunction to my research into:

• How two layers or garments can become one garment – different textiles working together to form one end sculpture or garment.
• Looking at technique and fabrication for the undergarment – how does this work directly with the soluble? Can this harden and hold after changing the outerlayer. Some fabrics may take form better than others? Can the soluble fabric c-exist with the undergarment without being seen after dissolving? This would give a better finish to the piece (even if the hand became stiff.
• How a body or shape can mold a garment from the inside – such as bones or a box.

However each garment (there will be 3) will have:

GARMENT COMPONENTS:

1^st Garment – This has two layers that make up this piece.

1. The overgarment - this is derived from the research into mass graves and uniformity. As a community is turned into a slave labor camp and people become numbers,, nothing separates a one from another. Using this idea to create overgarments that are bleak, systematic structures that hide the personality which is apparent in the garment below. The textures and colour beneath the overgarment are unknown to the onlooker but only the wearer.
2. The undergarment or hidden garment – This is a garment that is the under-layer. Research into fabrics and their relationship with the dissolvable will determine shapes and detail.
3. The object or ‘body’ – The garment will work with this to create a sculpture and either become a part of the end ‘garment’ or just inform identity.

Process: Dissolving and Manipulation – This is the process of molding and allowing the garment form one piece rather than co-existing pieces.

• The Overgarment dissolves, but not completely, into a moldable layer that starts to interact with the Undergarment and the object or body that is beneath. Fabrics, shapes and textures become apparent in this process.
• This is a process that will be documented at the time through photographs and film for the 2^nd garment to be understood comprehensively, as this process is fast.

2^nd garment: The Artifact or Sculpture – What is created through the combination or layers or garments.

The garment becomes one piece where the dissolvable fabric has interacted and set with the undergarment, this also shows the object or human remains through the shape of the artifact. This could be set with the object or taken away from the object.

• There were some key components from the initial cultural research and burial garment that has influenced how my research and design development as shaped:
• Continuality of garments – this isn’t necessarily a known physical tie like the burial garments but is apparent through fabric bonds, this could be soluble or rope of some sort.
• The hidden garment – pieces have two or more layers with a bleak outer layer that becomes a façade for the
• Colour Palette - Using a monochromatic palette that will work with the plain outerlayer, however textures and material themselves will be predominate in the collection. Tones of white will be dominate through the research and some green/black tones (possibly)
• Objects or shapes – these are what the garment is placed on and essentially forms the molding

The Big Dig 11/09/2010

My garment was buried about 50cms - 30cms below the surface of mygarden - it was very easy to dig up because of the large rainfall we recieved at home.. so the garment was very wet and smelly when it came out of the ground......

Sorry about the large amount of photos but this is the short list!

The Linen shirt - it deteriorated very fast, it was coming apart everywhere and was easily ripped. I also put lupin seeds in with the shirt (the yellow and white sprouts you can see) which started growing on and around the linen.

Lupins growing into the shirt...

Lots of worms were in the soil!

The dirt made some fabulous colours in the polyester chain dress...

The linen breaks apart in my hands.

Silk/Cotton blend is quite fragile as well

Cotton Cheese cloth is much more resilent than i first thought.

Im not actually sure what made this stay white - possibly the organic fertilizer?

The creases in the fabric once the dirt was put on has left some parts quite pale in colour.

The Linen:

The Polyester undergarment - I love the pattern from the dirt with the black seams

The dress once pulled from the ground - getting left to dry....

LACEandLINEN

Some experiments I have done with the lace + dissolvable fabric

I would like this fabric to harden quicker and create a stronger finish. I first imagined this PVA hold that is like a plastic over layer. I would like to create this effect somehow.

Using the soluable fabric as the second skin to this lace - Before dissolving.... the texture and fabric type cannot be fully determined at this stage:

1st Dissolving:

After Drying first dissolve:

2nd dissolving:

The lace after everything is dissolved

Gathered lace - tied with a soluable tie:

The tie slowly dissolves and the gathers collapse...

Once the dissolvable tie has broken the lace drapes at the neckline

Molding a heavy linen over the mannequin with the soluble fabric once it is malleable:

After the fabric has re-set and created a hard-ish rounded shape

Creating a overgarment out of either all dissolvable fabrics or a mixture of dissolve and a fabric I have been working with for previous overgarments (see Burial and Dissolve experiments) this garment tells nothing about what is underneath – nothing of shape, colour or texture – it is the same as the garment you see next to it. And through a process (dissolving in this case) the overgarment collapses (and may become a part of the undergarment in the form of drape) and the undergarment is revealed. The dissolvable fabric works with the undergarment (this would be residue of the overgarment or a layer over the garment that is designed to dissolve onto the undergarment) Creating a mold of the shape that is underneath. This is a garment that is captured at a time and place rather than a timely garment – although artifacts remain after the garment-sculpt is set.

This would be great to film this experience or using photography to evoke the time through a flip book?

It would be nice to still involve the community/continual garment aspect where possible. If the garments are not attached in the undergarment then maybe just in the overgarment.

Collection Research and development:

I am predominately using my dissolvable experiment and the dissolvable textile itself to inform the collection

Looking at the idea of a textile changing form through a process – such as applying water or heat to create a 2^nd garment.

Heat Manipulation:

Water Manipulation:

Dipping garments in silver -

Viktor and Rolf - garments that become sculpture:

After working with the dissolvable fabric i have had ideas of creating garments that have a 1^st and 2^nd garment life - these could be different forms, different feelings or different colours.

Other ideas for sculpture and creating shape....

http://www.kingmanstudios.com/pages/art_scene/sculpture.htm

I found this great site - http://beautifuldecay.com/2009/04/11/lucy-mcrae-bart-hess/

which has a lot of interesting works...

Lucy Mcrae and Bart Hess:

This film is a great way to show how different materials interact with each other. It is a simple but effect way to demonstrate the effect at the time...

Chlorophyll Skin from Lucy McRae on Vimeo.

Using the dissolvable as a 2^nd layer or adhesive for the undergarment – once the fabric is moldable it will stick to the undergarment and takes a shape permanently like a sculpture.

I still would like to carry on with the research I did previously into Mass graves-

Either looking into the community and continual garment aspect or the idea of having an undergarment and overgarment - the overgarment being quite systematic and bleak and the undergarment being something that represents the wearer, having secret compartments and hidden meaning to each piece.

However I’m not sure whether adding all these elements that I have attached myself to this semester is the right answer… this could make the collection messy and over-designed.

It would be nice to have a continuation within the works without the physical connection, or there was a connection at all it could be an accessory or drawstring which is quite subtle?

Dissolvable Garment

This follows on from the research into hiding the wearers personality within the garment – keeping a basic and bleak outer shell with a lining being a part of the wearers personality.

The pants I have made are knee length shorts that are folded from ankle length. The outer layer is a lace fabric and the lining being a plain navy linen. This is folded up and sewing into a dissolvable fabric yoke…..The plan is for the fabric to dissolve and the garment collapses into the lace covered pants. This also has a drawstring that goes around the waist and falls down with the hem of the pants becoming another continual part of the garment – attaching to the next wearers pants (if this was mass produced.. which it is not because I am not rich and cannot afford more that 1.3mt of lace)