#craft_development

[nana-dekoko]

Pattern making // Inspiration by Spenceroni 

Few months back, I attended the workshop with an Australian artist, Spencer Harrison for the 2017 K.W Doggett Fine Paper Calendar. We played around with some patterned paper with Spenceroni’s patterns printed on. We crafted around the theme of dogs and canine, so that was heaps of fun! The distinctive qualities of Spencer’s patterns are colorful, vivid and playful with a modern style. I was inspired by his pattern making involving overlaps, random placings and unique line work which are often depicted in his pattern making. He talked about his current obsession with repeated patterns, and presented us one of his personal project ‘Rhythm and Repeat’, creating patterns every week later contributing to some commercial work in textile design. (seen in the images above)  One of the interesting thing he has taught us is that sometimes the most interesting pattern can be found in cut out papers that are usually ignored or thrown away. From this new discovery, I used some left-over cut outs in my pattern making which, the negative space added an interesting visual approach.

Reference: 

Spenceroni: Spenceroni. (2016). About. [online] Available at: http://www.spenceroni.com/about/ [Accessed 7 Oct. 2016].

Rhythm and repeat: "Rhythm And Repeat". Rhythmandrepeat.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 8 Oct. 2016.

[nana-dekoko]

06.10.16…”you are what you eat” final artifact

I re-attempted the wood block inspired technique and overall I am very satisfied with the final outcome. I will note down the brief process:

(Photo: process of creating the junk-food patterns) For my second attempt I crafted the patterns much smaller and avoided using white as Georgia mentioned, it will print grey on the wood paper. It was extremely difficult and back-aching creating such small intensive patterns, I could’ve done this much faster digitally but the results wouldn’t have been the same–I wanted to maintain the raw-quality of hand crafting process. I had two options of making the kimono shape.

One. cut out the kimono shape and then applying the pattern

Two. create a whole sheet of pattern and then cutting out the kimono shape.

(Photo: cutting out the Kimono shape with the crafted pattern sheet)

Of course-option one was faster and does not waste any patterns made, however, the patterns will somewhat look awkward and ‘stuck on’. So I decided to go with option two that will have a natural pattern flow and cropping. For the base I used this beautiful shimmery deep-purple cardboard purchased at lincraft, almost similar to my actual Kimono! On the template, I outlined and cut out the desired kimono size and then pasted it on the back of my pattern sheet almost as if I’m cutting out a pattern for a doll dress.  

For the head, I depicted a kokeshi doll; a traditional Japanese wooden doll with a unique doll with an enlarge head. But when you look closely, the head depicts a burger, again, playing on the idea of merging two cultures together. This artifact will then be printed on wood paper by Georgia. // Rationale //  The theme I’m exploring through my exquisite corpse is culture and stereotype. I merged the distinctive qualities of my two cultures, Japanese and Australian to represent the idea of multi-culturalism, positively responding to one of the major social issue: culture identity and social justice. 

The Kimono represents my Japanese background and my Australian identity is portrayed by the typical western foods: hamburger, pizza, fries and hot dogs etc, responding to the brief ‘you are what you eat’. These are something we would never eat wearing a Kimono but these two ironic combinations perhaps break the idea of stereotyping in culture identity. The patterns and colours of the Kimono is said to represent age, meanings of occasion, statues being a part of ‘self-identity’ for an individual. From this particular reason, I chose to integrate the western food using traditional Japanese paper in the Kimono pattern, in a way that at the same time, it almost looks like a Japanese pattern. This meaning– we should not be judging by what we think we see, but look closely, to understand and discover what’s true.

Reference: 

Kokeshi doll: Wikipedia. (2016). Kokeshi. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kokeshi [Accessed 7 Oct. 2016].

[nana-dekoko]

06.10.16... Inspired by woodblock prints and Ukiyo-e art style

I scanned and printed out the crafted patterns to experiment and develop some techniques. I was thinking about how I could apply these patterns to create a kimono... as the patterns were rich in colour and quite busy with lots of line work, I didn’t want to draw out the intense kimono lines. Instead, I wanted the Kimono form to be simple and basic as possible to avoid clashes with the pattern work.

I was inspired by the techniques of wood block prints by several Ukiyo-e Japanese artists such as Utagawa Hiroshige and Hokusai Katsushika. Ukiyo-e art style was flourished during the Edo period in Japan, which commonly depicted female figures, kabuki and famous scenic landscapes in Japan–printed on textiles and later paper. Artists painstakingly carved elaborate patterns on wood which then the carved areas will be left white or the original surface colour. (In my case, the spaces will be left with the wood paper) The distinctive characteristics of ukiyo-e art style is that the colors are bright, sharp and vivid. This was coincidentally depicted in my crafted patterns! I read a lot of articles about these two artists, which is featured in the web magazine I work at. Please have a read of the some articles if you are interested in Japanese culture or art!  INTO JAPAN: http://intojapanwaraku.com/EN/

(Image: The famous “Fine Wind, Clear Morning,” known also as “Red Fuji,” from Katsushika Hokusai’s “Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji”, Source: http://intojapanwaraku.com/EN/3616) 

(Image: Isetatsu’s chiyogami paper drawn by Hiroshige, Source: http://intojapanwaraku.com/EN/3506) 

In reflection, I thought the result was unsuccessful, and thought it will be too difficult to craft. However, Georgia had gave me courage that it was working but suggested I should work with an even simpler form and shape. I could perhaps illustrate with the arms open wide. 

Reference: Woodblock printing: Wikipedia. (2016). Woodblock printing. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodblock_printing#Technique [Accessed 7 Oct. 2016].

Ukiyo-e: Wikipedia. (2016). Ukiyo-e. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukiyo-e [Accessed 7 Oct. 2016].

[nana-dekoko]

06.10.16.. Review and critique // Exquisite Corpse 

In our third week of craft specialist class, we bought in our ideas and sketches for peer review to receive some feedbacks. I roughly sketched out the shape and form of the Kimono, (I referenced back to my actual photos) and I drew and colored in the patterns to visually get an idea of my final artifact. 

I read Chloe’s free writing which allowed me to understand the essence of her creative process and ideas. Her theme was based around organics, nature and natural aspects of the environment. She demonstrated a strong relationship between nature and the human body through the ‘roots system’, being an important function to hold both the tree and the human body (veins) strong. Through image making, her idea was to use raw materials from nature including flowers, trees, vegetables, fruits and some real roots of a specific plant. It will be highly interesting to see the plant roots integrated in a human form to depict the veins, this will strongly emphasis the relationship between nature and human. Her exquisite corpse perhaps responds to the social issue of High consumption of energy-dense, micronutrient-poor food, but in a subtle way. Her representation of the relationship between nature and the human body emphasis that us human depend upon plants, and that is what holds us together. Plants not only give us the need of nutritions and vitamins but plants regulate the water cycle, oxygen, medicine and all the food resource come directly from plants. It will be interesting to see the work combined with my exquisite corpse that depicts all the junk food in contrast! 

In response, I received some valuable feed backs from my free writing. She was able to see the ironic juxtaposition of the western culture vs Japanese and the different stereotypes within both. After seeing some of my developments using traditional Japanese paper, she understood the idea of the ironic colour palette of the food pattern (e.g. blue Japanese pattern as a burger bun) ‘showing a merge between the two cultures and multi culturalism’. She also suggested I could perhaps draw the patterns if I were to communicate the concept differently.  Reference: Bgci.org. (2016). Plants - How Could We Do Without Them?. [online] Available at: https://www.bgci.org/news-and-events/article/0390/ [Accessed 7 Oct. 2016].

[nana-dekoko]

04.10.16.. full of junks and colour 🍔🍕

In my previous post, I brainstormed some themes I could work towards creating my exquisite corpse. Today, I physically crafted out the ideas with my hands.

I gathered some crafting papers with varieties of patterns, textures and colors. I’m a huge lover of papers and crafts, so I have a huge collection at home. Today, I mainly used traditional Japanese papers as I’m focusing on western motifs to create my Kimono pattern–I wanted to maintain an equal balance between the two.

As seen in the image above, the distinctive features of traditional Japanese papers are not only it’s colors and patterns but their unique textured surface. Each paper has its own unique paper-making method and technique (e.g. screen-printing, hand tie-dye, nagashi-zuki) that makes each of them different and special.

Although it looks blue in the photo, I used a dark-purple colored paper called “eating blueberries of the bush purple” for the base to work on. This hue is similar to the Kimono I wore for the coming-of-age day. The dark colour was also a great choice to bring out the colours of the patterns!  First, I attempted crafting these junk food using alternative colors of their actual colors. Colors that are almost accurate enough to identify what they were: green lettuce, yellow cheese, red-brown beef patties and so on. I was overall satisfied and happy with the first outcome, the juxtaposition between the warm and cool colours created a vibrant, strong and pop effect! However, I thought it was too obvious and the idea was literate. It almost feels like I didn’t appreciate the use of Japanese paper at all, but simply just crafting hamburgers with paper. Here is the result:

(Image: Experiment #1 I’ve also recorded a palette to indicate what type/colours of paper I used)

I re-attempted this by using the same papers but choosing different colours with more elaborate patterns that are almost completely different to what the subjects actually are. The idea behind this is to represent the western motifs as ‘Japanese patterns’. From this, my self-identity is represented in a complex way, almost concealed and hidden. My attempt is to represent them almost as a traditional Japanese pattern, but when you look close they aren’t at all, but hamburgers and fries. This idea visually speaks out about the stereotype the current society may have on culture identity. I think the result was much more interesting and new.

(Image: Experiment #2) I also used these shape scissors to cut clear patterned lines.

[nana-dekoko]

29.10.16... nuts!  We explored around possibilities with a specific medium I had never experimented in craft–food. However, Just yesterday, I attended a picnic event by NO WASTE YES PARTY in Melbourne; an organization by a ‘group of young people, passionate about reducing food waste’. What they do is that they collect eatable food from local supermarkets and Victoria Queen Market at the end of the day that was going to the waste, they then cook delicious food and organize an event for everyone to come and join. All the donation goes towards charities such as Table for two, their value is to ‘enjoy some good old fashioned tucker, all while making a difference.’ The picnic was great, good weather with delicious pastries from coles! Its quite terrifying to think how much food goes to waste just because they don't look good, or it has passed the best before date. On this day, a guy also made a quick talk about food waste and how it affects us and the environment. He taught us how all the food waste is dumped in a big hole with whole lots of dump on top. When these food waste is discarded and broken down into our landfills, it creates a nasty, and a very powerful air pollution called ‘Methane’ in the atmosphere. According to Froodly, ‘for every kg of food waste thrown in landfills, 3,8 kgs of greenhouse gases are emitted, and with 97% of food waste heading to landfills, this leads to severe consequences’. It was such a great opportunity to gain new knowledge as I was not aware of how powerful and scary food waste can be. This is why, I felt a little hesitant to chuck all the used food into the bin at the end of the work shop.  Anyway, today we looked at a spiritual symbol; mandala. We made an attempt creating a self-portrait in a form of a mandala, as we didn’t want the self-portrait to be too literate. Through the medium of food, we explored the thoughts and connection around food. I used some carrots, nuts, beetroot leaves, peas and corns? to create my mandala. Cracking the nuts was extremely hard, I had to use scissors and force it open... but the distinctive patterns inside looks interesting! Cutting the carrots with scissors was definitely something new for me haha.    Link:  NO WASTE YES PARTY in Melbourne Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/nowasteyesparty.melbourne/about/?entry_point=page_nav_about_item Table for two: http://www.tablefor2.org/home Reference:  "3 Sources Of Pollution From Our Food Waste". Froodly. N.p., 2015. Web. 29 Sept. 2016.