Keeping momentum

Between sorting out and refining my sketchbook for hand in this friday, this last week has been a hive of helping people on projects, both for University deadlines and external projects - due to deadlines everyone has sent out a call for aid, and as I have finished my sessions and my sketchbook is very nearly done, with a lot of time remaining for my dance leader costumes, I lent a hand. Asside from being able to help out with a lot of different projects to make sure the work was finished on time, while I am a designer this has given me a chance to keep up my making skills.

This last week I have altered two shirts and made multiple patches from a glossy chequed fabric for Tanya Pye ( http://tanyamariepye.blogspot.co.uk/ )for her Mad Hatters Charity Tea Party (being held in Portsmouth), hot-stoned rhinestones onto the replica Queens corronation dress for exhibition that was made by Heather Coad, and helping Andrew Layton - a fellow Moving Tides young designer - by cutting out and overlocking his 'wings' for the seahorse costume's to be worn by Westfield School while he was away for the first year costume students 'vampyr' filming shoot.

Here are a couple of photographs of the hot-stoning work I have done;

For the thistles, the placement of the rhinestones was well plotted out, the points clearly defined but where they needed to be placed outside the embroidery was a case of laying them out carefully judging the placement by eye, based on the origional photographs of the pattern. While a very fiddly job it was nonetheless theraputic and an interesting, simple technique to learn that creates a great effect.

I have also put my name down to be a dresser and helper for the Battle For The Winds performance in Weymouth that I designed for as part of the Concepts in Context unit earlier on this year.

In the mean time we have had our summer briefing (a timeline of the twentieth century), and a clue into the opportunities on offer for the Specialist Practice unit that shall be starting in the Autumn Term directly after the end of the summer holidays which have made me incredibly excited about the coming year!