Final Design

I have now come to creating my final piece for my sweets project. Having drawn up some initial designs and put some more thought into what I would like to create, I have come up with this as my final design. 

I think this would be an effective final piece as it highlights everything and all the samples I have used throughout my project. The idea of a sweet shop with shelves, came from my initial inspiration from Grumpy's sweet shop in Llandudno, where I visited at the very start of my project. As well as this, I have also taken inspiration from my artists and designers, particularly in the samples I have used within the piece. 
I have included photos of my final piece below, I am very pleased with the overall outcome of this. I feel I have successfully created what I set out to do at the start of the project, in an interesting, detailed and yummy-looking final piece. 

Initial Design Ideas

So I have now moved on to the final part of my exam project, designing my final piece. I wanted to explore all my options, from a fashion piece, to a flat or 3D piece. So I used all the inspiration from my project so far to come up with these four design ideas.

I think having made a fashion piece in my last project, I would quite like to do something different. So I am leaning towards one of the two flat/3D pieces, and could perhaps come up with another idea that is a combination of the two for my final design.

Sweet Inspiration

To bring a focus to my inspiration and bring all my ideas together for designing my final piece, I decided to create a mood board. My mood board features everything I have taken inspiration from during this project so far, and so will hopefully help me decide on what to make as my final design. As I have used a lot of fashion based designs as inspiration, it would make sense for me to produce a fashion piece on a mannequin. Although I do like this idea, due to my love of fashion, I think it would be wise to explore all my other options before deciding on my final outcome.

 I feel my mood board, alongside my sample work, will definitely be useful when developing and designing my final piece for this project. 

Development of Samples

In order to get the best grade I can possibly get, development of my work is essential. Whilst experimenting with techniques, it was suggested that to improve I combine a few of my samples together, and therefore techniques, to create exciting new ones. So I kept this in mind when creating my final samples for my final piece. As well as this, I also wanted to make sure I linked my work to my designers' work, so I've added a few techniques and ideas in to ensure I do this. 

Below the photos show some development of my final samples.

Sweet, Sweet Sample Sheets

Recently I've been very busy creating my sweet inspired samples. Using the inspiration captured in my visual sheet and from the designers featured on this blog, I have experimented extensively with different techniques to create a wide range of unique samples. 
I then went on to mount my work on sheets, as I fancied a change, having done my last two projects in sketchbooks. 
Some of the techniques featured in these samples include: shibori wax, string and foam printing, felting, use of melted plastics and fibres, use of acetate, layering of materials, use of angelina fibres, stitching into photographs, trapping materials in plastic wallets and distressing various surfaces with the heat gun. Most of my samples are made from a combination of these techniques, as I like to experiment to see what works best.

My next step is to continue experimenting and developing my sample work, and then decide which samples I would like to use in my final piece.

A Sweet Treat

I've now completed the first part of my project, my visual research sheet. This is made up from all the different sketches, paintings, and mixed media pieces  I have created over the past three weeks. During this time we were really encouraged to experiment with our work and try new techniques, some which I learnt off YouTube, to try and achieve the highest grade possible. 

To create the actual visual sheet, my larger a2 and a3 pieces were cut up and patched together with some smaller sketches and some of the photos I had taken for inspiration. 

I will now use the ideas captured in my visual sheet as inspiration when experimenting with a variety of different techniques to create and develop my sample work.

London Fashion Week AW13

Looking for furthur inspiration for my textiles work, I've turned to the catwalks of London Fashion Week for AW13, where I'm hoping to find some interesting and inspiring designs.

John Rocha showed simple, yet original, textured designs that spoke volumes in terms of size and wow factor.



These are amongst my favourites from his collection, using diverse techniques to create interesting textures and volume. These bright colours link in with the colours I'm using in my project and I think it would be interesting to try and recreate some of these textures myself. The pink one in particular reminds me of fluffy candyfloss.

In contrast at Malene Oddershede Bach we saw bright vivid colours printed on chic black.

I really like the striking effect the use of the bright colours on the black background gives, and feel this could be something I could bring to my own textile design work. This could be recreated through paint splatter or by using prints in the shapes of sweets to provide a clear link to my work and create some individual and diverse designs.

House of Sweets

One of my favourite designers at the moment is Henry Holland, and his brand House of Holland. I particularly like his 'Buzz Kill' collection for S/S 13 and within that the colourful almost tie dye, paint splattered pieces.

 

 

I really like the effect Henry has created in these pieces and I feel I could use something similar to reflect the different colours of sherbet, as it tends to mix together and create new blends of colour. The lollipop I'm using also has a swirl of bright colours, this could be interesting to try and recreate using colourful dyes. 

In Henry's 'Pre 2013' collection he also used a lot of coloured stripes. When I saw this I instantly thought I could link this to the coloured stripes on some of the sweets and the rock, as well as the pink and white striped paper bag.

 

 

I think seeing as stripes are very on trend for this S/S 13, and they can be drawn straight from the sweets themselves, they are definitely another area I could look into when developing my sample work.

For more House of Holland visit their website here: 

www.houseofholland.co.uk 

Candyfornia Dreams

Whilst trying to think of artists and designers I could look at and use as inspiration for this project. A Katy Perry song then came on my iPod and suddenly it dawned on me. Her. I've always been a fan of Katy's music and style and after seeing her Part Of Me movie and seeing her live in 2011, I'd become aware of how she uses sweets, cakes and other candies to create 'Candyfornia' on stage. The genius behind her costume designs though is model turned stylist/designer Johnny Wujek. Katy is known for wearing quirky food related outfits, and she works closely with Johnny when he's coming up with new costume designs, in order to always make a statement. 

Johnny always aims to be innovative and push the boundaries when designing costumes. For example the peppermints on this dress (above) would spin when she came on stage, creating a exciting and clever effect. 

He also has experimented with various other sweet themed costumes, all which I think look amazing and would like to draw inspiration from when creating my samples and my final piece. 

Johnny Wujek uses masses of embellishment, simplistic printing on latex and even 3D cakes and sweets amongst other techniques to create stunning stage costumes; all inspired by the simple, yet yummy, theme of sweets and cakes. I personally love his work and feel like I could definitely take inspiration from it when creating my samples, perhaps trying some of his techniques out for myself.