Another week, another early start. I think that the past two weeks of really long, busy days had caught up with me this morning, so getting up and motivated didn't come easily. I forced myself into the studio though, as I knew I'd feel even more rubbish if I stayed in the house moping around all day.
Starting the day with an Omni machine induction was interesting- I enjoyed the learning the method, but overall I don't really know how I'll be able to incorporate the technique into my current work. With this said, the machine has the facilities to produce larger sized embellishments- agreeing with the ideas given by Karen Nicol- large details are easier to see (and possibly quicker to produce) so maybe playing around with it will change my mind.
I was supposed to go straight into a second workshop on the advanced cornely cording machines but decided to prioritise group tutorial. As I am missing them to be in workshops it means I'm not seeing anybody else's work, and that couple of hours on a Monday morning with Fiona and the girls always give me the motivation and inspiration I need to start the week. So I headed up, still in a bit of a rubbish mood, which thankfully didn't last too long. Seeing everybody cheered me up massively, it was SO lovely to see how both Claire and Phoebe were getting on, and to also talk about my work with them both in, and after tutorial.
I felt as though I hadn't really gotten a lot of new things to show Fiona since our meeting last week- which was annoying as I'd been in the studio for long hours every day last week. I've been busy trying to finish all of the little projects that have been started over the last couple of weeks- producing more new work is means I'm losing track of my starting points and the tasks that I need to do in order to develop my work. As well as this, there's been CP, workshops, TIP interviews and a thousand other bits and pieces to do, which has slowed down all progress this past week.
I had my lace samples, and I was SO pleased to hear the positive feedback towards them- hearing that having skills to produce pieces like that will give me a fantastic chance in the industry was really encouraging, and helped turn my mood around straight away. It appears to Fiona that I am definitely going down a fashion designing route at the moment, which I don't mind, I just never really expected to hear that about my work. I am going to continue to use all of my machine skills to build up a portfolio of samples, as they seem to be my strongest pieces.
I also had some more research bits and bobs to run alongside both of my projects, including the ideas for paper-cut work, and other lace bits and bobs. In regards to my Elie Saab samples, we spoke last tutorial about the patterns found on his garments- and I have decided that I would like to incorporate the MMU School of Art architecture into my designs, to give the brief a nice focus point.
Another thing we spoke about in regards to samples were different medias that can be experimented with. I'd seen on Fiona's website a gorgeous commission piece, 'A Delicious Garden', similar to a lace cut pattern, produced on the laser cutter, so have requested an induction to test out this skill. Also, on the ground floor, a selection of work had been pinned onto the walls that I was recommended to have a look at for some more ideas- obviously I was first drawn to the delicate french knotting pieces, and also a larger sample that appeared to have been produced on the Omni.
I have decided that this week really is going to be about catching up with all of the little bits and pieces that have been started, and just in general feeling as though I can walk into tutorial next Monday with a clear explanation and brief for my work so far, and an idea as to how I am going to be managing my time for the last few weeks of the project.