I have decided to set myself a time limit for this project to keep me on track. I always find myself with things to do and many weeks I don't feel like I can find time to work on my personal projects because they fall low in the priorities list. So I’m going to work on setting certain days when I spend set time on my project. I will decided what days and times will be best as I go through this next week that way I can be sure that I find appropriate times to do work. So I have decided to spend six months on this project taking me to the end of august, which also happens to be my birthday. I know it may seam like a long lasting project but I think that is a good idea for my first one as It will give me plenty of time to do each stage and get to grips with fitting project work in. I don't know, as yet, how many garments I will actually produce but I am hoping to start on them around June or July giving me 2-3 months. I am also giving myself a lot of time for this project as I have to hold up a job to pay the bills and also be a part time home maker and as this is a personal venture for me and not a financial one I will have to put other things first sometimes as this is not vital and paying rent and feeding myself and my boyfriend is.
I decided to start my project with collages as I learned in college that this can be a good way to get the creative juices flowing. I will admit this, I hate doing collages and I have always hated doing collages, especially ones using magazine cuttings. I am a perfectionist and I find it very difficult to reach the standard of perfectionism I demand of myself in collage. I do however recognise how they can help me get a project going, so here goes. I had to opt for digital collage as I cannot afford a printer but this probably works well for me as it allows me to make continuous changes and use different affects. In a digital collage nothing is ever set in stone, or in this case glue. So above is the first collage I have made it is only a very simple one and did not take me too long. I am currently working on some more which are more complex by design. I hated this collage when I had finished it but coming back to it it has grown on me. I took all of the photos from the internet. I started with the photo of the boy, who I now feel may be one of the spouse twins although I am not sure. I used two layers and the eraser tool to make it seam like his head was being pulled open. I then took an image of the some ash rising from an eruption and placed that between the layers to make it seam as if it was rising out of his head. I then added an image of some lava flowing which I placed behind all of the layers. Like I say it wasn’t particularly difficult or a long process but it got me started with things. I do quite like it now, it is not my best work and I am not impressed by it but I think aesthetically it is okay. I will keep going with my collages and attempt to improve my skills and maybe one day I will start to like collage.