After the presentation at Archway, I went home to work on my homework. I noticed that I have been using paper throughout the whole process and not using much fabrics threads and yarns, so I decided to use mostly yarns for my collection. After finishing the 7th sample I made with yarn, I realized something was wrong. I made a huge mistake focusing too much on the textiles and colors, and the brutalist quality was somehow completely missing. I went back to my sketchbook and realized I did not capture the strong and geometric shapes that reflect the brutalist characteristics. Nor repetition. As I looked through the drawings, I could almost see the existence of space, which was also missing in my samples. I did not want to continue with what I had,so I decided to make a brand new collection, using yarns. It was very hard to show shapes working with yarn and I am not a skillful knitter, so I attempted to manipulate the knitted yarns like fabric and tried to make them 3 dimensional. It was interesting when I distorted them, they created patterns like the shapes I developed in my research

1. How have you challenged scale today?

Today was all about transforming the data we have collected onto pieces of white paper. I loved the first exercise we did. It was amazing to see what I could come up with based on my textiles collages. Transforming 2D into 3D brought 'colors' to the white paper as the structures we built created space. It showed me that textiles should not be limited in a flat surface, it can be structural, like fashion. 

2. What exercise completed today would you develop further?

I found the paper yarns we made quite interesting. Not only the material we use was uncommon, but also the the structure. I loved playing with the idea of space. It was about using a 2D material to transform something that's usually 1D into 3D. I could not imagine a 'sweater' waved by yarns with structures. It would be amazing. I definitely want to develop this exercise further, because other than the change made on dimensions, we also experienced collaging different yarns together, considering the composition and how they would interconnect together.  

3. Which piece of work has been your most successful and why?

I would say the first exercise has been the most successful and I think I used the research from my work very well as I could see elements from my textiles collages very clearly. And I liked the outcome a lot, I think they looked very delicate and beautiful.

We went to a very new and exciting place for our class in the morning today at the Barbicans. I loved the environment there but to be honest I did not feel very motivated overall. As I was doing my observational drawing, I realised that although I used a variation of materials and colours, the drawings look very much the same, which was probably what upsets me. I did not have a chance to make any changed but I will spend more time working on it on my own time.  As for the collage corresponding to the environment, although my group members and me we were all confused at the start we fixed it after talking to Katie. The ground looked very interesting with all the rectangular tiles in shades of red, so we chose to use it as our 'canvas' and waved yarns over top of it. Fortunately I became more engaged this afternoon. We produced textile prints in 3 stages, and I learned that textiles are not limited into 2D, they can come out of the flat surface as well, to have structure. 

Today was the first day in fashion&textiles. I looked at people's work and the materials they used which really inspired me. We used elements from our research drawings to develop ideas. The drawing I thought I would take the least from actually gave me most amount of ideas. When we drew our shapes on other people's sketchbook I realized half of us like me chose pink so I secretly changed the colour to purple, which in my opinion created a better result because when I drew on other people's sketchbooks, I considered the shapes and colours that were on there already and incorporated my shapes in a way that I thought was appropriate and interesting. Last time I transformed my 2D shapes into 3D I missed the point of doing it. Now I knew that tapping the shapes together seam to seam is like patterning making and sewing the seams together, creating a new form.  Last time I made the paper garment, I used very geometric forms, so today I drew really organic ones. But I realized the shapes I drew was to big and I was running out of time tapping all the seams together, so unlike last time where I used all the shapes today I ended up using four. Next time I would not make the shapes so big because I want to have more elements to manipulate with and also save time. But the result was very different from the last one, which I was happy with.

It's been an exciting week in fashion and textiles. The best lesson I have learnt was how to do primary research and how to communicate fashion with drawing and collaging. Before this week I always looked for photos online and works done by famous artists, and I neglected the things around me. Now I know that ordinary things can be presented in a very interesting way and they can be transformed into structures, shapes, patterns and prints. Blind drawing and continuous-line drawing really helped me get to know the way our bodies are built and the relationships between each part of the garment. Different fabrics create different textures, winkles and drapes as well.  In class, we use lines, paper, fabric, yarns, thread as a language to help us communicate our ideas. I enjoyed drawing illustrations by listening to music, which we did this morning. It helps me change my drawing techniques because the way I looked at the garments as my mood changed with the music. We also used paper collage to represent the garments that the models were wearing. In the afternoon, we worked in groups with people whom we don't usually work with. It was really unexpected that our team work went very well. We started with which parts we were interested the most and it seemed like we all enjoyed making things with our hands and everyone seemed a bit tired of drawing illustrations. I really liked how everyone share ideas and everyone was listening.  Then we made the decision that we can build a textile installation with things we had, such as black garbage bags, transparent plastic, masking tapes, and paper, etc. We first worked individually, making whatever we wanted. Then we started organizing them together, putting them up on the window. We arranged each piece until it was at the best place. And my team members would give suggestions on what worked and what did not. And it was really nice to see what other groups had done. I really liked a video that a group made. It was like what we did on Tuesday, making prints and projecting it. I saw lots of colours, especially purples and blues. And they put their prints in many layers and turned them around. It looked magical. And another group worked on shapes and constructions and designed a really gothic- looking costume with black garbage bag and plastic bags filled with air as a crinoline that supports the dress. We could all get creative with daily objects and made them into fashion and textiles. 

THIS IS THE MOST HAPPIEST DAY SINCE SCHOOL STARTS!!     

I suppose this is the last week of diagnostic pathway, and finally it comes fashion!  This morning I was drawing in my weirdest positions, and I could literally feel that the strangers passing by were looking at me drawing on the ground, but it was okay I enjoyed it. I tried to look at the structures around me in a different way so I could find different shapes and patterns, and I drew with mostly markers because they gave the best results. Although I tried with fineliners, charcoal, and pencils, they could not create defined shapes but ones that were rather blurry.  Then we looked for shapes from our research, re-positioned them and overlaid them, creating a new pattern. I felt free as I drew because I knew it was completely acceptable to have a crappy page and my sketchbook looked messily colourful, which I loved so much. And we transformed 2D shapes into a 3D structure by taping the edges together seamlessly. It led to the project which we would be doing in the afternoon, where we cut out shapes and then tape it onto our partners like dressing them up. I really really wanted to blame my partner for cutting out the most weirdest 'shapes' ever but it was really fun as I was trying to figure out how everything could work out, and the result was something that I would never think of. Then I made some sketches from the garment I made with different methods, such as blind drawing, contour drawing, and continuous drawing. Today was really inspiring in terms of how we could do research, find shapes, transform 2D into 3D, and document the results. 

For the last project within the 3DDA curriculum, we studied architecture and built models as groups. It was surprising that, in this course, I felt the art side weighed more than the scientific side of architecture. We were encouraged to think freely and boldly, moving out of our comfort zone. I had to admit that I had literally no creativity when it came to architecture, but this project was not as bad as the chair project. Our task was to build two purposeless models that stand by their own, and later join them together. It was really fun working as a team as we were all engaged in group discussions and solving problems in terms of what shapes to create or how to make the models more stable. The highlight of today was in the afternoon, when we are asked to join another group and combine our models together. We found a group that used similar structures like we did, but we were separated by the tutors because they wanted us to challenge ourselves, so we were paired with another group that had a significantly larger scale. It was hard to join two models but in the end we decided to make a bridge that went up and down as a connection. There was some problems in terms of the length of the sticks and keeping the model stable.  Also the sticks kept coming out from the joint so we had to fix it all the time, which bothered me a bit. But the final outcome was successful, and the lines looked cool and beautiful. Although we accidentally created a weird shape that drove everyone mad, we learnt to accept it. One of the guy in my group was interested in architecture but found it very restricting when he worked as an intern in a company in Montreal, so he wanted to do fashion inspired by architecture, which inspired me a lot. Although I am not a fan of fashion with geometric shapes, but I thought it would be cool to build it as a strong shoulder piece, or a piece of jewelry if it were in a very small scale. 

We moved from JFFA to product design today, which was from an area that I had many interests in to an area that bored me. Function takes a lot of space in product design, more than form, but I generally like things that are visually compelling. I have to say that I liked nothing about today's class except for the observations we did as research. Through the observation I noticed many habits people share in common or have differently from other people. But we all tried to find the most comfortable way when sitting, which inspired me a lot. So when I started designing chairs, I tried to make them multi-functional and as comfy as possible. I loved this way of making observations because it was helpful for my design.  I could relate everything to me or things that I noticed because I had experienced myself and my design will persuade me the most.  I will definitely use it again in the future as a way of researching. 

How did your experience of the PD+C area compare with your expectations? Which pathway are you considering for part 2?

As I was reading the project brief last night I knew I would not like today's project because I never had any interests in furnitures. I hated shopping IKEA when my parents bought a new house, and I never really thought about the design behind any products because I always thought they were just the way they should be. However my opinion upon that changed indeed after the presentation this morning, when we looked at the design process and revolutions happened within the design industry over time. So just like what I expected PD+C area did not excite me at all, and I did not see anyone in my class had done something that amazed me, making me think that "how did he/she come up with this idea?"

At this stage, I realise I am very interested in subjects that work with our bodies and rapid pace. Fine art during the first week was very relaxing, although it required thinking. But I don't like the idea of working slowly. And for graphic design, I never felt I had any connections to graphic design. I just feel like it is other people's job instead of mine. JFFA excited me the most so far, where I got to work with bodies and my own hands, and it closely relates to fashion. Yesterday was the most exciting ever since my course started. I know I always like fashion, which is the reason why I am here. Although it was a really good opportunity to try things out, and I opened my mind up, I still feel like all these other areas are distractions, distractions that are interesting. And this feeling grows stronger. I hope next week will come sooner, because I know I will not like the project on Thursday either. 

Today I did a really bad job managing we time and I did not finish my final outcome until the end of class. I wasted an hour on figuring out what exactly we needed to do for the final outcome, because I had the wrong understanding on the project description when I was reading it last night, and I could not remember whether the tutor had mentioned the requirement or not anytime today. She came to me and asked what my idea was and I explained, but neither of us realised I was on the wrong direction. I drew down the storage room by the corner of room 102 in 3 different angels. No students are allowed to enter this room. But this room was cube-shaped and had 2 windows on each wall, so I could see the boxes stored inside. But as I changed my position, some parts become hidden. I thought it was a really good place for seek and hide and wanted to design typography with these words. And I wanted to play around with different angels and make the letters 3 dimensional. I used photoshop to overlay the pictures I took of the storage room in 3 positions, so I can see all the angels on a flat surface. And I drew the letters accordingly based on the lines formed on the photoshopped image. I could not achieve my idea in reality because it was a really large scale to work with. I think I achieved what I wanted for the letters although it was still not yet finished. But I would consider change the background colour from black to a brighter colour since I wanted the tone of voice to be playful instead of gloomy and intense. And I would add colours on my letter to create an relaxing atmosphere as well.

Project deadline. Today we have to present our final outcome within our group of six people. Before I gave a brief explanation on what I was doing, I got a lot of feedbacks from my peers. They commented that I focused on things people often overlooked or think ugly. I collected them, holes on the wall, and gave another life and beauty to them. They saw my work as simple and deconstructive, made out of a white piece of fabric and imperfect circles caught randomly by people. Some parts, the seams, were torn open when people were finding different ways of wearing it. For this project I choose white fabric as my material because I wanted to mimic the white wall but gave it a stretchy feature so people can interact  with it. I choose white also because of the minimalistic style created when I was collecting photos of the holes. When I think about wall it makes me think of prison, confinement, and rules. It limits our freedom. And holes are like an escape from this prison. Before there were any holes on the white fabric, it was not a "wearable" piece. The act of people cutting holes on it represents how they cope with restrictions. When people wore it, they  tried to find the most comfortable way, so the seams were ripped open, which represents how people break the boundaries to chase for freedom and comfort. But there isn't one way to deal with limitations, so as people were wearing it, they individually found a different possibility. But it was a little bit ambiguous in terms of why I cut the fabric in the shape it is. I hope I could find a more relevant way of designing a shape rather than drew it randomly. 

I stayed at home, thinking about what I could do for my project due tomorrow. It was very hard to relate anything to holes, and I definitely did not want to create something that looked beautiful with circle elements but had no meaning behind it. Then I put on some music just to attract my attention away for a moment because I knew I could not come up with something nice if I push myself when my brain was empty and messy. Pink Floyd really saved me today. I put on The Wall, and it suddenly reminded me of the story behind this album. The wall and break down the wall. I soon sketched out some ideas related to this two concepts. After finalising my ideas I went to buy some white stretchy fabric and cut it out and stitched the pieces together. I then asked my friend to cut holes on it, and ask to put it on. She was a bit confused but did what I asked. 

Today we learnt different methodologies used by artist when they make art and present their ideas from a collection of things. For my collection I brought 14 spools of thread, each with a different colour, different length and width, and a pair of small scissors. We were required to try 3 techniques that we just learnt and make art with what we had. I tried metaphor first because these threads made me think of people as we are all different with different looks, personalities and abilities. To show the difference between these threads, I lined them up randomly. Then I realise if these spools of thread are people, then the thread represent the relationship between us. I put these threads together and they got tangled up very easily. Then with scissors, I thought them as something that could untangle the messy relationship between people. To demonstrate how we deal with the relationships with others, I took a short video unravelling all the threads that got tangled up. Sometimes I could separate them with my hands very easily, but sometimes I had to tear the threads apart. For the worst situation, where all the threads got so tangled up and became a dead knot, I had to use scissors to cut them apart. 

My group mate asked:" What do you think of when you hear the word 'masochism'?" "Ropes," I said. "NOOOO NOOO NOO NO," she shouted, " you can't think this way."We had barriers linking "masochism", "light" and "hide". So we brainstormed,  trying to find all the possible similarities between them. Instead of thinking "masochism" as "ropes" and "kinky fuckerys", we looked more deeply into the psychological  side of it, such as satisfaction brought by certain role-playing, or mental trauma caused by domestic violence from a young age, or it could be some kind of fetishism involved with the accessories. We found out that these three words all have its bright and dark side. The tremendous pleasure from pain, or the dreadful pain from an unpleasant experience. The brightness and warmth, or the darkness and coldness. Strong and Weak. I got lots of ideas after that and it was really good to work with people who have a very different way of thinking, which leads to different possibility rather than a dead-end.