Today I have began uploading all of my research file, by scanning it into the computer this has been a long process and is not yet complete, the porgrams are running extremely slowly and the data does not seem to be loading.

I have decided to included my research into the magazine as I would like to include it as part of the articles and inspiration. I have need to consider text now, I think I would like to write an editor's letter but not contribute much else to the magazine as I believe the images pseak for themselves. I think this will also help my original photographs to have more of an impact amongst photocopies.
The images are mainly black and white and have therefore chosen to have a colour front cover.
I have been having problems with uploading the magazinbe onto the internet and hope that this problem will be resolved soon.

The poster idea is not an option as the prices are very high just for one poster, so I have started an online magazine, I have called it D&D standing for decay and deconstruction.
I would like to call it the ruin and recover issue as it embodies my concept, I will have consider visuals to a high standard.

Final idea

I had the idea of making a look book but realised this would not be enough so would like to make some posters, I have had a look into the pricing an it is very expensive and can take some time, so it may not be the best choice.

I like the idea of putting a magazine together as I have been inspired by all magazines I have been reading, I especially like the idea of an online magazine, this would also resolve the problem of printing.

Last few stages

I showed my tutors the photographs I had taken so far and I know needed to consider how I would present them, I need to think about he scale, the colours, what paper I will use if I print them, its time for editing and selecting.
I need to think about who my audience is?
I have looked at lots of magazine and there is an amateur status, the only difference with some of the images is that the photograhers for the magazines have experienced models, large clothing budgets enough to accomodate stylists and makeup artist, but without these the images are on par with many of the images I have been creating, some so even with all the added extras.

I think for me my images are going to be more important that the message. I want to get the message of decay and something of ruin being recovered through my images.

Continuing on.....

I showed Kari some my images today and she really liked the idea of the polaroids ad thought I should make more of them as they made the garmernts look vunerable, she suggestend I needed to resolve some of the images as they were not considered enough, so I carried out another photoshoot taking some more pictures with the white dress and mending it with my own textile pieces.
This created some effective photographs but now I need to start editing them.

Thoughts

Some of the work I have produced so far has been very fine art based and has seen me researching artists, sculptors and jewellery designers, I need to consider some more fashion based photographers perhaps?
An icon of mine is Rankin, but is his work suitable for the look I am going for, I have been looking at magazines like Dazed and Confused, Wonderland, Vogue, Pop, Love, i-D and online magazines like I ♥ Fake Magazine, Ribbed Magazine and Esper.
They have all given me inspiration to for my photoshoot and my research file has given me ideas for what kind of poses and objects and scenes I would like to photograph, I will continue my photography over the next few days and weekend.
I have experimented so far by using a digital camera and a polaroid camera.
I quite the images produced on the polaroid, I could consider making more?

Changes

After a weekend and few days of not much production in terms of 3D work and experimentation I saw Susan and realised that I would like to go in a photography direction for the final piece as my concept considered making something ruined into something beautiful, which I feel I can express better in a series of photographs or some sort of publication, maybe a look book, magazine, poster?
I will look at more photographers like Jeurgen Teller, Corrine Day, Edward Bytynsky.
I will also make a trip to Frank's the bookshop to look at magazine as research layouts and editorial shoots.

Maybe a different direction?

Over the weekend and the last few days I stopped experimenting and doing any 3D work as I felt I needed to go back over the work I had done and really see if I was setting out to do what I proposed to do at the beginning of the project. Instead I collected more research and today and yesterday have been doing a lot of reading. I realised that my concept needed to be a little more detailed and found myself wanting to not create textiles.

I looked at my original inspiration ‘The 21 doors of Benito Mussolini’ by Robert Hausser again and was able to see why I chose it and why it was relevant to decay and deconstruction, I like the way that something dilapidated and decayed had been bought back to life to make something new and an attempt has been made to mend it. Showing the decaying and deconstruction process and make some attempts to mend it what I would like to show, using photography and my textiles.

Second Crit

Today it was the second crit of the project so far and we were divided into smaller groups, I was put into a group with other students who were working within textiles, this made me realise how I needed to develop and how much more work I needed to do.

I realised I needed to contextualise my project more as I was going off in a bit of a tangent, my prints seemed to be going in a very fine art direction. I needed to consider how I was planning to display the final piece and if it was decorative, would I hang the piece? Would it be something used for interiors or for upholstery. I needed to consider who my audience was and if I was trying to convey a message.

What was the rational of how the prints had developed, I could consider a sample book or fabric book, would I create large life-size pieces that would hang from the ceilings. I need to think a lot more about presentation. My fellow students and tutor thought many of my bleached materials were more successful than many of the others.

If I was going to develop on whether I was going to convey a message I could think about the textile industry itself and the value of it. Its poisonous nature and how it is a luxury industry but one of the biggest polluters and consumers of water and materials.

Today I started to work into the prints and I started to research into the more scientific side of growths such as the rotting and how it occurs I went to the local library and got books out on building decay and landform decay such as acid rain, weathering. How the earth naturally decays and deconstructs. I started to look at the shapes and forms or rusting and rotting and the textures.
This made me realise that if I was intending on creating textiles I would further need to consider the materials, perhaps create the texture of mould on a piece of fabric? I should look at materials like felt, wool an hessian and perhaps consider processes like devore, where the upper part of the fabric is eaten away much like rust each away at the surface of metal. I started to read and look at Radical fashion a book I got out from the library, I found more images and inspiration by looking at work by Margiela and Jean Paul Gaultier. Margiela has created work using sunlight and fading and the ripped aspect of clothes.

Printing

I started some screen printing today using many of my edited photographs as images, I started with fabrics from the college shop such as calico, white cotton, scrim in natural colours as well as white, I decided to use these first as test pieces to develop my ideas and to see if the images worked well as prints. The colours I chose reflect the natural colours found in aged or rusted or rotten products.

Experimenting with materials

I wanted to set up my own methods of decaying objects and find other ways in which to decay fabrics other than just burning them, something a little more interesting and different.

I loved the way that the decayed fabrics turned out as the nature of decay cannot be controlled it is organic and happens naturally and this is almost liek burning as you cannot choose how quickly it burns or which parts it burns you just have to wait and see.
The colour the burnt fabric creates is beautiful, the oranges, browns and blacks are all organic and colours which we find in nature, such as in the earth.
These are colours which I would like to base my palette around when choosing fabrics, dye and inks.
I loved the effect burning made on paper, the different photocopied edits I made would transfer nicely into prints, it is something I should consider...

Tutorial

After a tutorial with Susan I realised I need to explore a range of possibilities such as fabric manipulation, I should perhaps experiment with projecting images onto garments and using transfer films but i need to consider the scale and the detail I wish to show, I will have to extract the right parts.

I need to consider lengths an if they translate onto fabric, like some of the lenghts I have already made do I want to try different approaches on one length.
I could buy garments that exist and work into them with different methods and processes.

First Crit

It was the first day back and time for the first crit, I had compiled a research file and done a few experiments and sketches, I found that I had too many ideas and the work seemed to be broad as I was looking at different means of decay such as the beach, rotting, fraying, my tutor Susan said that the idea had been done before, I needed to say something new.

The examples of burning had been well recieved but I needed to start looking at the warn aspect of things such as the way you mend them, the way you change them. Ineeded to look at the depth of my concept more and carry out more research to carry out a successful research file.

I am going to start looking at how I can explore manipulating the images and research I have compiled.

Visits

Yesterday I went to the beach in hastings, it was great opportunity to capture different forms of decay and deconstruction. I was able to photograph some great pieces of rust from beneath the pier on the iron/steel gurders.

I also came across driftwood, broken fishing nets, frayed ropes etc which I was able to photograph, they were great examples of decay and deconstruction especially the way in which the threads untangled.

I was able to do a few sketches of some decayed and worn things I had seen such as a pillar and door handle.

I was able to take some great photographs of the inside of parts of a rusted car that had been abandoned.

Today I went to the Irving Penn exhibition at the National portrait gallery, although the subject matter was not entirely relevant to my project I found it to be a really good source of inspiration as many of the images were thought provoking.

The image of Alfred hitchcock showed him sitting on a worn and frayed carpet section, the colours and some of thebackground settings were inspiring. I loved many of the silver and platinum prints as the contrasts with use of light gave me ideas of how to photograph some of my own objects. The sepia tones and vintage look also portrayed an air of ageing or decay.

I found the exhibit useful and it sparred me to extend my areas of research and to look at more photographers for my file.

Now I need to collect more for a research file and begin to experiment with some idea and materials to create decay and deconstruction.

On Tuesday i visited the barbican to see the Ron Arad ‘Restless’ exhibition, It was a great opportunity for research and inspiration. I loved all the sculptural forms, the colours and the shapes. One piece in particular gave me a lot of inspiration 'The quick fox and the lazy dog' (pictured below). It was a highly polished curved and then bent shape place around and old rusted chair frame to which the seat was a typewriter. It had moss growing within and through its keys, there were parts that were missing or had been decayed.
I started to wonder if this was something I could adapt or achieve but create it using a series of photographs?
I took lots of pictures of the different pieces both as a whole and some of the textures, patterns and shadows created by several of the pieces they gave be ideas to create images from which I could perhaps create some prints.....

The Beginning

Its the beginning of the Final Major Project and so far during the easter holidays I have commenced by collating a research file of ideas and images, my subject matter is decay and deconstruction and is a continuation of what I produced in another project, I am going to explore the concept of raw edges and garments more extensively, I would maybe like to create a film or some textiles, or a series of photographs incorporating this theme.