Village Fete; improvements in preparation and making

For the making process this time I have my designs all sketched and ready so I can cut all of the shapes out of felt at the same time to the same size etc. I am hoping this planning will help speed up the making process. I am also cutting the shapes out slightly smaller than I previously did in my first attempt as I think they images will create a better aesthetic as they will be more detailed and intricate.

Cutting out the gingerbread men, pinning onto felt to cut out the next ones to the same size.

Robins, Faces and hats, Gingerbread men. I lay out all of the felt pieces cut to the right size ready to embroider and sew. This process is much more efficient now I know what I am doing.

Complete faces ready to glue to the card, need to use less glue this time but enough to make it sturdy! I don't want the card to go wrinkly again!

Mid way through the gingerbread man!

This is proving to be a much more efficient and successful making process which I will continue until the cards are complete.

Village Fete Preparation

I already have much of the felt that I need. Each A4 piece costs 45p, I need to figure out a way to estimate the cost of it in total dependent on how much I use. The card I bought cost £4.99 for 100 sheets, this will be easier to figure out. W want to make the profit margin as large as possible.

I began cutting out some gingerbread men shapes out of felt ready to sew and embroider to a different coloured felt background. Felt is really good to work with for cards and embroidery as it doesn't fray and is quite strong. This makes it sturdier when gluing to the card with PVA, the glue won't go through the material unlike on normal cotton fabrics which are flimsy.

I want to make the majority of the cards using felt but as it was taking a lot longer to do each one I started playing around with paper and card too to see what qualities they brought. I feel they do not look as effective as felt although I like the simple shape of the snowman. After coming to this conclusion I went back to the felt.

I am quite pleased with the result of the design however I feel I need to come up with some sketches and figure out exactly what designs I am making and how many of each. This will make the making process more successful as I will know what I am doing therefore it will not be as timely. I just made these ones up as I went along which took much longer and meant they do not look as good a quality as they could do. For the stitching to the background felt I am going to use embroidery thread rather then cotton thread as it will be inkeeping with the detail on the image. I also used too much glue to stick them to the card.

Finished snowmen. Although I do like these I am going to stick with felt and plan a little better to improve the process of making and producing the images for the cards.

Tacita Dean

This is the interview that was displayed on a different floor to the projection, Dean talks deeply about the meaning within the piece and the way she works which I find fascinating.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lefvPUYGvi0

I have tried to embed the video,  but for some reason it won't work for me, I will have to figure it out but here is the link!

London Tate

London Christmas lights!

I went to London this weekend and went to the Tate Modern and National Gallery for the first time as well as seeing the Christmas lights and many Chistmassy things among the mad business! There were some really interesting exhibitions on at the Tate including a massive film installation by Tacita Dean, documentary photography and interactive exhibitions.

The work by Tacita Dean as part of 'The Unilever Series' was a giant 13 m tall portrait projection displayed in the Turbine Hall, using 35 mm film which she had experimented with, chopped up and taped back together, added colour to, rewound amound other things. There was a short film on one of the upstairs floors about what she had done which was really interesting. She wanted to make a portrait film without actually uses images of people as we typically know portraits as.  I found this short film interview with her really interesting as it gave more of an insight into what she had done and how she had done it. When I saw the giant projection again later on in the day I had more of an appreciation of the concept behind it. It was fascintating to see the way she worked and developed this idea, seeing the process she went through, working vigorously on her own for hours. The experimentation with the film in the chopping up and reordering meant that she did not always have a plan of what she was going to do, this made it more exciting as she did not have a set plan she had to stick to. In the interview she talked about how she often gets accused as being nostalgic for using 35mm film as appose to digital. Although she says, 'Keep film and digital as two seperate medias. I am not nostagic as what I am doing is of now. Nostalgia is when people look back to a better time, I get accused of being nostalgic a lot but I'm not'

To my excitement as well, one of my favourite illustrators Sara Fanelli had her timeline on display in the Tate which I did know about but it had not entered my mind until I was there! There was also lots of interactive activities surrounding the timeline with her input in them including a post a postcard activity where you could add art periods/movements to the timeline that may have been missed. There were also virtual screens where you were able to tour some of the time periods in Art including Pop Art.

Photography; New Documentary Forms

This exhibition 'includes recent work by Luc Delahaye, Mitch Epstein, Guy Tillim and Akram Zaatari, as well as two important earlier works by Boris Mikhailov. Between them they cover subjects as diverse as the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, studio photography in Beirut, elections in the Congo, everyday life in pre- and post-Soviet Ukraine, and power production in the United States. Each room concerns one discrete project, in which the artist calls into question the relationship between the documentary value of photography and the museum as its proper context.'

Boris Mikhailov photographs Ukraine through the time of Communism and the Soviet Union. Some of the images were shocking and revealing of this complicated time, I found the photographs very interesting as there were many contrasting images within them. For example, the photograph below second from the top on the left of the soldier holding a pink flower. The soldier is a sign of war, conflict, power in his uniform yet he is holding a pink flower and smiling at the camera, seeming soft, a total contrast in the reality of what may be happening seconds after the photo is captured.

Boris Mikhailov

Boris Mikhailov

Guy Tillim captures events in The Congo around the time of election in 2006. He captures a time of conflict of unrest in a time of social and political change.

Guy Tillim

Guy Tillim

Guy Tillim

Akram Zaatari

Village Fete Proposal

As our brief is to devise and deliver a stall in groups for the Village Fete during the workshop I spoke to Joe Alexis and Emma Fish and we had similar ideas about what we want to do, we have teamed up to produce a handmade card stall. The cards will be Christmas themed and we are all using different making techniques. Joe is going to screenprint and I am going to use felt and embroidery. I have a few ideas about designs for the cards such as robins, gignerbread men I need to think about how many different designs to do according to the number of cards I am making and the time it takes me to make each card.

Initial Proposal

What is our stall?

Selling Christmas cards and possibly decorations.

How much space will we need?

• A table to put all cards on display. 
• Display the cards in boxes, show boxes? Making it easy for people to flick through. 
• Display an example of each design. 

Why is it attractive to our audience?

• As our audience is art students, students and teachers they will be interested in handmade crafts and buying them. 
• They will appreciate the time and skill in each card and their individuality. 
• They will be able to buy individual cards or sets giving them a choice. 
• The cards will be affordable and unique. Its Christmas card season!

Strategy to get people to the stall;

• Brightly coloured table cloth attracting attention.
• Plate of sweets.
• Tags with prices and offers e.g. 1 card for a decided price but 2 for a discounted price.
• Give people the option to mix and match.
• Sign saying what we are selling, emphasis on handmade.

We then asked approximately 10 people Vis Com how much they would be likely to pay for a handmade Christmas card and the majority responded saying they would pay £1.50-£2.00 as they are handmade and unique. They also said they would be likely to buy packs if there was a discount price. 


To do;

• Discuss between us how many cards we should produce each.
• Figure out a set price for individual cards and packs, taking into consideration the cost of materials etc.
• Buy parcel string to tie around the cards. 
• Think about how to make our stall as successful as possible, affordable pricing covering costs and also making a profit, make an attractive stall.
• Sketch ideas and designs for the cards, how many different designs to do?
• Estimate how long each card will take to make, think about the best way to produce them in the time we have and to a high quality.

Some Beautiful Paper

I went to London this weekend and whilst looking around some of the art shops I found this amazing paper made by banyantreecrafts, it is really beautiful and I wish I could afford to buy more! There were loads of different textures and imprints on the papers. The one I bought is brown and lightish brown where leaves have been printed or pressed onto the paper. I have put it on my wall, I may frame it.

'The traditional paper-making techniques used have been handed down through generations of artisans. This particular project is run by two brothers and their cousin, themselves second-generation Tibetan refugees, seeking to improve the lives of fellow refugees trying to build a new life in Nepal. It currently employs 160 people from under-privileged backgrounds.

Every sheet of paper is handmade individually on a muslin screen, making each one unique & giving a natural, uncut edge to the paper. After drying in the sunshine the paper is dyed using a variety of vegetable & chemical dyes, including Tibetan tea, walnut shells and pomegranate. Traditional hand screen printing techniques are used for the decorated giftwrap.'

In the shop there were many other handmade products including books, frames, purses, plates, ceramics, mugs, the liest goes on, all made with eco consideration and from across the world. Many of the products were made by Paperhigh who make a lot of books and paper in interesting ways using all sorts of materials such as bananas! On the website you can read about the history and the people who make the products.

I love paper making as I discovered in Communication Technology 2, I really want to do more, I wonder if I could do it at home too?

Village Fete Ideas

For the Village Fete we have to devise and deliver a stall to make as much money as possible for charity. We need to come up with innovative ways to make money, developing a marketing strategy to promote and run a table top business for the day and make it a success.

I have been trying to think of a few ideas of possible stalls and themes for it, ideas so far...

• Paper cut cards, transferring illustration using a craft knife
• Felt decorations
• Felt food, Christmas theme?
• Laser cut cards
• Paper stars 
• Pyrography illustrations
• Christmas tags to tie onto the handmade thing whatever it may be
• Stamps?

I need to consider these ideas and what will be possible to produce within the timescale, using materials and facilities I can and consider the cost of materials as to how much people will pay for what I am selling.