Tutorial With Adele- 24/3/2011

Ok, so it has been no secret that this week I have been STRESSING!! To tell the truth, with us not having a final concept and having 5 characters and me as the only maker, I was starting to feel quite out of my depth. From the meeting with the actors a couple of weeks ago, I got the impression that there were multiple costumes needed for each character, one contemporary and one fantasy. Today Adele reassured me that there should only be one fantasy costume (two at the most) and the contemporary can be sourced. (Phew!!) Adele also assured me that the costume does not have to be completed as long as my though processes are clear throughout my work. Adele told me that the beauty of this projects is that it is more about the creative processes and my samples and artistic experimenting than it is about having a beautifully finished product.

Adele and I agreed on what I would need for the hand in. We came up with:

• A Supervisor's Folder- although in my case it would be more along the lines of a workbook, as i would need to include sampling and making ideas as well as all the supervising details.
• The Structure for the Fantasy Costume- whether it is finished or not, I hand in whatever I have for the fantasy costume ( and have designs of what it should be like)
• All the samples I have created- including ones that went well and ones that weren't used in the final piece.
• Images or a rail of contemporary costumes- All the sourced items in outfit combination pictures, or together on a rail for hand in.

Adele also gave me some helpful suggestions towards what i should do samples of or look at to make samples next week. Harriet (the designer) today gave me some images to look at as well, the colours are really bright and fun, with layering and lots of texture.

I need to look back on the photographs for Coyote Was Going There and Moonfleet as theyre of a similar style to what we're looking into. Even a bodysuit with various shapes and formations attatched. 

The samples I am going to attempt are: 

• Stitching into fabrics, or trapping fabrics in between layers. I want to make a them look scrappy, and used. Messy but in a creative way.
• I need to ask at the workshop about using vacforming. Any synthetic material can be Vacformed. I especially want to look into using Plasterzote also.
• Using Aquafilm, which is a fine plastic-like fabric that you can stitch into, and then when it comes into contact with water, the film dissolves, leaving just the stitched design.
• Adele suggested that I also talk to Alison about having a tutorial on Image Maker, as this could be a very successful way to mimic some of the pictures I am using. 
• Another thing that Adele suggested was that I use puff binding, and then screen print on top of this, as she has never seen it done and it could create some interesting effects. 

At the end of this tutorial, I felt a lot more confident about the work ahead. I now need to finalise my work plan and set myself definite deadlines and targets to make sure I stick to a plan of action. I also felt more confident about my skills as when talking about ideas for the fantasy costume, I realised that I had learnt extra skills from helping out on other projects, for example learning how to make a lycra bodysuit, which would mean that I could make one rather easily and the whole project seemed that little bit less daunting! But I still need to keep going. I feel coffee will become a close friend in the next few months...