User:L. van de beek

Lieve van de Beek

Images from intro-week

Fantastic forgeries

Grotesque , Anonymous , 1850-1900, Bronze patina over lacquer

Getting to know him

When I was walking around in the museum I saw this little guy and felt or him. He is small but the way he looks he has a big personality but still he looks to me like a scared and alone creature. He is weird and not a known animal. He has legs of a bird a body that looks like a snail shell and head that can be a dog,dragon or frog like creature. I saw him in the intro week and didn't really looked at the information about him so a few days later I went to see him again at the Boijmans. Then i saw that on the information bord of his display there was only info about 3 items and in the display where 4 objects. So I went to the information desk and they didn't know what he was he also was not on there only archive. But a bit old sercuriy guard that had worked long at the Boijmans helped me and he was almost certain that he was the Grotesque by Anonymous from 1850-1900. This was still not real information for me because what can I find about anonymous?

This was a start of some fun and interesting research moment!

I first started trying to search with Boijmans in my head en the the : Grotesque or grotesk beest and I found this photo. Its a sort of 3d photo.

Brons Boijmans 3D, wim hoppenbrouwers, 2014

This was stil not more information about the object so I went on searching on google,pinterest,flicker and tumbler. I started to try make different kinds of words to use to search online. I tried just using Grotesque this didn't really work so I used other words next to it like bird, beast or something like that then i thought of hybrid. I will go more in to the word hybrid later on. But with the combo Grotesque hybrid i finally found something in google images. If you look at the animal on the right there is an animal that looks a lot like the little guy of the Boijmans. ( I am still thinking about giving him a name so I can talk easier about him)

Twee monsters bereden door apen, Arent van Bolten, ca. 1604 - ca. 1616

So seeing this was for me the feeling that my search really started now. I went to the site of the image it was a blogspot of someone that had a page about Groteskology. And there it said that the drawing was from a Dutch artist named Arent van Bolten. And it had lots of other drawings of wears animal like creatures and information about him. ( im going to make a small page about him) Then I went searching again but with his name trying to find more about him and images. On Pinterest i found an images of a statue just exact the same as the one at the Boijmans. it was again on someones blog and it said it was in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam. So i went on there site and found him again. I search further and found another and another and another.

Rijksmuseum 1610-1630, Victoria& Albert Museum 1600-1650, Harvard Art museum 1610-1630, the Detroit Institute of Arts 1610-1630, Auction site Artnet 1596

I went to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam to look if he was really the same creature. Before I went I looked up where I could find him in the museum on the site. The are starting to put there hole collection online. You can look at art work and zoom in en make your own digital collection which is much fun! Here is a link to there site direct to the Grotesque statue

Grotesque on Rijksmuseum.nl.

When I was looking around on the site of the Rijksmuseum and I went to there online shop just for fun to have a look what they sell. And guess what?!?!?!?! He is for sale as replica in the shop! I was so surprised! So when I was at the Rijks I couldn't help myself and bought him in the name of research!

on the online shop, on display in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, on display in de museum shop, my own Grotesque replica

description of him

To make a replica i must observe him and try to make a good description to work with as well. First I want to scan him analoge with my eyes. I am going to try to find out ,out of which parts of animals he is made of. And now I have my own replica from the shop I can have a close look at him.

On the online shop they have made a description of the animal. The description is :The body of a snail, the legs of an ostrich, a head that is birdlike yet human: the silversmith Arent van Bolten was fascinated by such bizarre monsters, as is evidenced by his numerous design drawings and prints. This statuette may have once served as an incense burner or an oil lamp.

Legs

If i look at his legs they look like bird like legs. In the folder of the museum shop they describe him to have legs of a ostrich. So I'm looked up some pictures of ostrich legs for comparison. The legs look a like but his feet of the grotesque has 3 toes and a ostrich only 2 in the front of the foot. So the legs ar much like the ostrich tall with muscles but the feet are not the same. The feet also have skin between the toes it looks more like a water bird like foot.

Body

The body is covered with a shell but what kind of a snail shell it also is the same on both sides so its very unusual. I'v looked up some shell examples. And the shape is more like fossils of shells. The one that looks most like the shell body is the fossil of an ammonite.

Head

When I look at the head it makes me think of the Chinese statues of lions and how there head looks like.But i can't be quiet sure because in the shop folder it says its bird like, maybe because of the way of his expression like a hungry little bird.

Trying to find similar objects and images

To get some ideas of in what kind of way i want to replicate my object I tried to find object and images that could fit in the same category. So the images i found our very diverse and can look just the same but can also have just some elements. I already had found the same all over the world like i told in the beginning in the section : Getting to know him.

Here are drawings and other images that made me think of him, with for starters of course the drawing of Arent van Bolten. And i found images from all kinds of periodes from old till new that have the same essence as him. The second image is a drawing of Christoph Jamnitze he lived in the same period as Arent van Bolten and was a goldsmith almost the same profession as van Bolten. You can see clear similar shapes in the drawings. the third image is a detail of something in a book from the 16th/17th century. The fourth image is a drawing from 1545–1560 and they are attributed to Andrés de Melgar. They are sketches for ornaments on buildings. The fifth image is a drawing by Peter Holtswijller from 1565 its a design for a trophy or something like that. The sixth image is from our century. Its a illustration of Rovina Cai she made a collection of illustrations of mythical creatures this images is of a Simurgh ( a dog/bird like creature). Image number seven is a sort of collage the creature has bird legs and head and a body of what looks like a bullet, the tail of the creature is some sort of leaf. And the last image in the row underneath is a artwork of Benedetta Bonichi she makes al kinds of images with X-rays. And this artwork looks like a human/bird hybrid. This artwork gives me inspiration for what i want to make I like the idea of making something mythical more realistic. This artwork gives the idea this creature is real and this is a real xray of it.

If i imagen how he acts i think he has the same funny character as Kevin in Up. Here is Kevin in a little gif where he is some sort of annoying smart ass. Also Kevin thinks he is the superior.

And I also found pictures of objects that have same elements. The first image is a Nautilusbeker from around 1600 so from the same time as the Grotesque statue but this one is way more luxurious. Gold a precious shell and great details. But it it has bird legs, shell body and a bird head that looks like the grotesque but with a glamoured look. The second image i found , I have chosen it because of that its a lamp. Because at the Rijksmuseum they think the statue may have been used as a oil lamp. The third image is a window display of Louis Vuitton. Louis Vuitton has been working on very creative displays the last few years, its always fun to see a new one. Here they display there bags on sort of table's with bird legs, it looks like the bags have legs and they can just walk away. For me the Grotesque Hybrid is already alive in my head so seeing the robotic bird like thing in the fourth image it makes me think of him walking around maybe in the second stage of the assignment. In the fifth image its like somebody already gave him more life , which makes me think again of Kevin in up all those bright colors. The sixth image is a taxidermy artwork with the name : the bird that couldn’t fly. IF you look at others they are actually almost al birds that can not fly what is a weird and sad thing. Birds should fly so if they can't are they still birds? If we play with evolution i think my creature will become like the seventh image. A sort of robotic version that replaced parts of himself with spare parts of other robots.

Its pretty hard to find good similar objects so there are also images that are sort of similar or far far family of my object. The first image in the row below is the same sort of object as the first object in the row above. Only this object is from 1970. The sec on image is an old artifact from 200 B.c this object is a bear with turtle shell. Its not like m creature but i think they have the same essence strong animal character in a shell. The third image is for my a abstract representative of my object. Because you have a birdcage in shape of a shell with a small bird in it. It's the pet/homedecor version of the grotesque. The fourth is just a similar to a detail of the grotesque its the shell part that looks like the Ammonite shell. And it becomes sort of a hybrid by being part of a human face its a sort hybrid hairstyle. Then with the fifth you see taxidermy hybrid art by Thomas Grunfeld. It's not really like my Grotesque but this hybrid Ostrich/cow has the same clumsiness and weird look as the grotesque. The last image is a picture of some bookstands I found on ebay the are bookstands from 1920 Art Deco style. The birds on the bookstands look like they could walk of the stands and just go on walking like Kevin from Up.

And you can almost find gifs about everything even someone made one of the sketches of Arent van Bolten with the Grotesque.

Hybrid

In research class we made a sort of mind-map about our object. We had a big paper and we had to write down things we thought where the most important thing about the object. And out of this mind-map i found out that the most interesting thing was that the creature statue was a hybrid animal. So the word hybrid was the most interesting and important but what is the meaning of hybrid?

So hybrid is about combining to elements together that are different form each other. With this in mind I tried to find images in all kinds of design and media. Sinds i'm from fashion i will start with som designers/collections that have the hybrid vibe.

This is the fall/winter 2014 collection of Thom Brown , I really like his work because of the playful creative story like creations he designs. In this collection he worked with accessories that give the models the look of being a animal/human hybrid (with a Alice in wonderland vibe). I like the way of material use the fabric that is similar in suit and accessories.

But hybrid does not always has to do with animals. In the collection of Natalia Grzybowski, a Sydney-based fashion and textile designer. She made a collection named hybrid. Her creations are something else. The delicate prints are so feminine and soft, yet the garments are so structured and ultra modern.

Also when you look at fashion with hybrid in your mind smart textiles is also a good medium for inspiration an creation. There is a very nice Ted Talk presentation by Lucy McRae that is about the future architecture of fashion. tedtalk with Lucy mcRae She works with technologie&crafts and uses this to make creations of evolutions of the human body.

The work of Ana Rajcevic, is build out of elements of skeleton and other anatomic features. She wanted to make an 'new breed' of jewelry/accessories and also created a new breed of humans in the pictures. For her its a new breed but you can also say a hybrid.

If you look at animals there are artist that really use them as a inspiration or media. Like Thomas Grunfeld who makes hybrid in the form of taxidermy. He takes parts of all kinds of animals and put them together to make new creatures. His work is very mythological,story telling and inspiring for me. I like the way he creates new things with using parts of something else. Also there are other artist that use taxidermy as there work form.( Enrique gomez,Sarina Brewer, Damien hurst,Cedric Lequieze).

the idea of my design of the replica

For me the Grotesque is already real and almost alive but now i want to make it look like it is or was. So what my idea is for my replica to give it a bit of a twist. I want to make a replica that is transparent and show the inside of the Grotesque. I want to create his skeleton with 3d design on the computer with using existing skeleton 3d scans/designs. And I want to use te hybrid meaning in the design using digital crafts and hand crafts in my design. The inside(skeleton) will be probably 3d printed and the outside will be hand made. I want to make a mold of my replica out the shop and make a sort of latex skin copy of the mold. And then i can cover the skeleton with a transparent skin like form to make ik look as the object. I will make a new entry with my proces en experiments. My inspiration of my idea to replicate the Grotesque:

Sketches/illustration of the skeleton :

First i made a sketch by hand in the train. By sketching his skeleton just trying to imagine how it would/could be like in can think what i can use for making his skeleton. I wil paste in to gather with parts of all kinds of animals and wil try to find 3d models of them. first i want to try it simply in illustrator just a simple fine sketch. here for i used live trace on drawings of skeletons i found online and took parts u wanted. I used the legs of a flamingo skeleton illustration , a tail of a chameleon sketch , a ribcage of a bird. By first using live trace i can see the lines of the image then i use expand > select the image and ungroup it so i can take separate lines. And by using a photo of the grotesque on the background I could figure a the scaling of the parts. Its still a bit of a rough sketch but it looks like a weird skeleton. The skull is a bit weird , that is because i used a skull of a dog and put his upper jaw as a lower an the lower as the upper to mimic the mouth.

3D scuplting/printing the skeleton

I have downloaded the free 3d program Meshmixer of 123dapp and started trying to get the shape of the grotesque. And I'm downloading skeleton parts of the human which are free online on there site to use to make the skeleton of the grotesque. And i made a gif of it how it is now 16th of september.

After playing around a bit tryin to get to know mesh mixer I went on working on the skeleton. Because i could only find free 3D models fit for this program to be human bones i decided to work with what i can get. So I used the base of the human foot,ribcage,spine,finger bone and skull models. Here you can see my proces:

When i went to the digital station where i can 3D print I asked what would be best for printing the hole skeleton at the right scale. After looking at my design so far we decided that it would be easier to print the bones apart and put them by hand together. I actually liked the idea of putting something digital by hand together because it feels then more like digital taxidermy (digital vs crafts hybrid technique). So last friday (19th september) I started printing parts. I only just made the feet , the under leg bone and the tail (that is inside the shell). To make the prints there had to be extra material printed to make it possible to get the shapes. Later i had to cut the extra material of with a hot knife. This was very precise work because i could very easily cut in the original print. And it felt lie i was really cleaning fragile bones of a animal fossil.

And at the moment i am working on the rest the bones and wil be printing again on monday 22th of september. And when i have al the bones cleaned and ready i wil start putting him together. And then when i have made the skin a can cover the bones with the skin. Thats why i really want to make a transparant skin so you can see the bones. So i printed the other leg bones and the ribcage. I'm very happy with the scale of everything so far its very fragile looking but also very realistic because of that.

In a discussion at the 3d printing workspace with a classmate I finally found out the name of the little creature. His name is Smyth ,with the myth from mythical creature as in hybrid.

This Wednesday (24th sept) i had finally finished the 3D model of the skull. it was bit difficult to get the rights shape i first tried it with the human skull model but it did not work. So i tired again with a skull model of a dinosaur. And with some changes and time i finally had the right shape. And i tomorrow i will go and check if i can print it.

Yes today i have all the bones printed (the 25th of September). When i came home i cleaned the skull of the rest material. I had to repair some bits because of the thin lines in the skull but it looks great i'm happy with all the parts.

And i now see that i really want to print all the parts again because i want one with all the bones apart and one thats put together. So i made with felt a sort of mat where i have cut out abstract shapes of the bones and put felt underneath so when i put the bones in the right place the stay where they should stay (when in find or make a box where it will fit in).

So I now i have one skeleton totally printed and i wanted to print ale the parts again for the one that i wil put together. And i have had some difficult days with the 3D printer. Monday i wanted to print a gain and one printer didn't print right because of that the cartridge didn't work right so i tried te other Ultimaker but it got overhitted. So eventually i pretend one set of leg bones. And today i went to my appointment to print again but Emiel was sick so i couldn't work at the station. Therefore i went to the fablab but they didn't have the right color white so beter luck next time!

So I finally have printed all the bones for the relics of Smyth with the bones apart. And for the on that will be put together with the shell. With the on that is in the glass box where the bones are separate i put them in place with pins just like they use pins in taxidermy.

creating the skin

Oke this morning (17 sept) i went to the ceramics workplace to discuss the idea of making a mould of my replica ok the Rijksmuseum. There i found out that because that i don't have any experience with making moulds its not possible to make this without it. And it's also a object thats almost impossible to make a mould af because of the details and weird shaping. If you make a mould it's a mould with at least 5 parts if it was possible with the legs. So I ams trying to figure out what to do. I did make half a mould with :SILLICREATIONS & SILLIS its a sort of diy mould for little things and also used for food moulds. It sort of a clay made of to parts that you mix than apply to the object fold and pressure it in the silicone and let it dry for 2 hours then you take it of and let it dry further for 2-3 days.

Now i'm thinking of maybe just brushing latex over the replica to try to make a skin like thing. But I'm also working on a new idea for the outside of the grotesque. A more display/taxidermy way.

So after talking with Jon about the idea of skin and taxidermy he gave me the name of a studio that maybe could inspire me. Its the duo/studio of Maarten Kolk & Guus Kusters the have made sort of birds made with a 'faux' taxidermy technique. And I ams making bone parts of grotesque and put him by hand together and I wil do some tests for the skin inspired by there work and inspired by a moulage technique called Shingo Sato. Shingo Sato on youtube

So this weekend I started to put latex on the replica( of the Rijksmuseum). Tried first on the a little spot to check that there will be no damage. this was ole so i brushed the hole shell part with latex and i let it dry. After it dried I carefully took it of the replica and had a sort of rubber skin where you cane see the bubble shapes of the shell. It is a very soft jelly like thing so it won't hold shape on its own. So i think i need to do other experiments for making the skin.

I tried a new skin experiment with fabric i really like the fragile look of it. and the shapes that i am able to create just by pulling fabric together. I'v started with the shell and also covered the mouth. I covered the parts apart so i can still take them of the replica. And because i used a stiff fabric the shell can stand on it's own and holds shape. I used a little piece of fabric and started putting some pins to keep the fabric in place. Then I started to hand sew parts together and put coupes in place to form around the shell.

Now the plan is to work a bit more precise with this technique and try to take it apart again to make a pattern of the skin. So i can reproduce it in other fabrics and materials.I first tried it again with the transparent fabric but because its a lose woven fabric it shaped around when i started pinning the fabric in certain places. Wherefore i used a sort of white cotton I normally use when i make tests on the mannequin, its beter and more strong material. And then i started pinning places around the shell shape trying to find al the shapes in to the fabric. the pins wouldn't stay in place therefore i started the sew the fabric in place. I did this on only on side of the shell because its the same on both sides. When i had the feeling i found the shapes I went across the sewing with a black pen so when i take it apart i can see what will be the pieces of my shell pattern. Then when i took it apart i scanned it so i can go and trace the lines in illustrator making it bit more sharp. And because i scanned it and made it from the original and printed the pattern on the same scale there is no changes in the size.

Here you can see the proces of shaping the fabric:

Taking it apart:

Then i had the pattern and cut it out of the paper so i had patter pieces. Every pieces has be cut dubbel out of the fabric and the ones with SV has to be cut on the fold line of the fabric. First i chose to make the shell with latex fabric and i made one with construction mesh fabric. The latex one doesn't hold its shape on it own and the mesh is holding shape. I also checked what would happen if i covered the mesh with the latex. Im still not sure so im also going to do a test with a changeant fabric.

This is a test with neoprene fabric, both sides inside en outside are interesting and its holding the shape.

Now i wanted to see how a print cab influence the shape by creating structure. Therefore i wanted to laser cute and grave the pattern of the shell. I looked u aan close up image of a ammonite shell and used illustrator to create lines with live trace. And used this print in the pattern shapes in mirroring effect. And because i wanted to work with neoprene i tested the strengths.

This is the neoprene colors i ams using its 2 color sided so maybe there is some color of the other side that will become visible.

These are the pattern parts with the lines of the ammonite shell: Next i will go and put them together. I put them to gather and like the result. The shell fits together and the pattern flows nicely throughout the shell. Still not sure which on i like most. The black neoprene with the pattern looks allot lie the colors of the brons but i ame still not sure.

Here are all the skins i made. I put them on the replica of the museum and checked how there shape is. And how the look a part of him.

Here you can see the almost end result of Smyths skeleton with the shell on. Without the shell i falls over by the weight of his skull but when you put on one of the shells he is perfectly balanced that he stands on his own! Now i only have to make the decision of the shell color an prepare him for in a other glass box.

My idea/design of the transformation

I don't know really yet what i want to do but i want to think about transforming my replica idea in a sort of wearable piece. This is some inspiration i found at the moment.

I really love the skeletons with jewels but i don't think i can use this at the moment but maybe i can use it with another assignment!

When i was looking at the patterns of the shell from my replica i saw when i put them in a certain order the actually have sort of shapes of the human skeleton. Here you have images of the upper body skeleton front and back , the second images has overlay lines of the patterns. I want to build with the patterns i have from the shell and replace them on a other shape the human body. So by making the scale of the patterns bigger the will fit on the body. Its a bit inspired by the image above of the lord of bones from the game of thrones. And it also makes me think of work from one of my favorite costume designers Eiko Ishioka from the cell (movie).

I have decided to try to use the jeweled skeletons anyway because I just can't stop thinking about the images they are so weird and beautiful. I want to use the pattern idea of fitting it to the body. I want to try to use the vacuum form the patterns with jewel shapes in it.

Oke the idea of using the vacumeform is canceled its just to far away to make sense. So i decided to use the pattern of the shell on the body but i will use leather it replicate skin like material. I used a pattern i found in the illustration of Arent van Bolten. This mimics the shapes of Smyth in the leather. And by using the laser utter i wanted a sort of scarification effect. And the patterns i put together like i saw in the skeleton before. And so i made a sort of shoulder piece. This shoulder piece could have been worn by people that lived with Smyth in the wild and made this piece te wear to honer him.

This is the result on the mannequin its not perfectly fitted and in shape, I'm going to make a picture on a model when i have the time. But im happy with the result the print flows over the design and the shapes that are created on the shoulders because of the misplaced patterns are very interesting for me to work with later on in other assignments.

research visualisation

Written Assignment

What is my craft?

My craft is the craft of making and designing clothes known as fashion design. I have always been interested in all kinds of crafts and disciplines in the art world. Because of this broad interest of mine the view I have of designing clothes has always been very open for experiments i like to approach designing from a different point of view. I like to design wearable pieces that have no restrictions in movement but also no restriction in the design. I work with stories behind my work and form them in shapes. And when i saw what clothes can do to complete a story I decided i want to try to work towards designing costumes. With the craft fashion you can work towards all kinds of disciplines. But in theater and movie costumes the craft and discipline of fashion can be a blank canvas you can start over and over on with every story you work on. And with every story there will be other restrictions and opportunities.

What are the tools and media of the craft of fashion design.

Normally in fashion design these days you meanly use a sewing machine ,work by hand and work on paper or on the body to design patterns.

I like to design working with collages in analoge(cutting out shapes) combined with digital (deforming and changing colors with photoshop) and sketching with materials on the body (could be a mannequin). But like in art there are many disciplines in fashion where the techniques of designing and use of materials are far from the basic sewing machines and fabrics. Like in avant-garde fashion you see more use of unconventional materials combined with fabrics. And with these kind of materials there are always new tools you will need to fabricate a garment. And I like to use these designs of avant-garde fashion to inspire me to find my own new fabrications or techniques.

The borders of fashion and how there are new media technologies.

It de depends what kind of clothes you think of but it think there are no borders and if there where borders they have been broken en put further every year. The last few years there have been lots of new techniques in smarts textiles. Smart textiles is a approach of linking computer techniques in to fashion/fabrication.Computerized garments that can move or change. These techniques are a movement of action and reaction in fashion.

Also the 3d printer and the lassercutter have been used allot lately in fashion. But because of this there has been so much that there is a small window for new ideas with these techniques. Just like in the history of fashion things are being repeated and renewed. But there is still lots of improvement and development in the future.

Examples of contemporary practitioners

There are many designers working en discovering to work with new technologies. Just to name a few. In the section of computerized garments Hussein Chalayan is a great example. He made a few collections with moving garments like his collection of spring 2009. In this collection his garments transform and change shape.

http://chalayan.com

Then you have Ricardo O’Nascimento he made a dress called : paparazzi lover. This dress reacts on people getting closer and flashes lights to get the attention towards the wearer to make this dress he collaborated with the designer Anbasja Blanken. In 2011 he made a sort of knitting machine called : TK 730 , the machine converts text that you type on the machine to a knit. Every letter is an stitch and so what you type creates a new textile. To create this project he worked with a team.

http://www.onascimento.com/index.html

In the section of 3D printing fashion the first person that pops in my mind is of course Iris van Herpen. Iris van Herpen is known for many experimental and avant- garde collections. But one design is really known as her dress and that is her skeleton dress of 2011. She works with all kinds of materials and new techniques like the 3D printer but also the laser cutter.

http://www.irisvanherpen.com

The use of the lassercutter in fashion gives designers the opportunity to create lace,structured fabric and other fabrications on to fabrics. Like Rene Verhoeven made a glove of a piece of leather. By using the lassercutter in a pattern she made cutting hit pieces it created space and a sort stretch in the leather like those foam protections for fruit.

http://renee-verhoeven.squarespace.com

My position in the practice fashion in relation to newer technologies.

I like combining different techniques doesn’t matter if there digital or analog. Mostly i have been making my design with not so much new technologies. But with this minor I want to discover more these technologies. About there potentials that they can bring me in my designs. But there has been done already so much with these techniques that i want to mix them up. At the moment I am working with a hybrid animal and that made me think. What I want to do is making hybrid techniques , not really new but bringing to together and create a balanced mix. So I tried to mix the lasercutter and a moulage technique. To make a shell form in fabric with a engraved print. and by using a material like layered neoprene de seams blend in with the engraved print making a more fluent form. And now I want to try to find other analog an digital techniques ,that have been used just for what they are supposed to do, that I can mix to find a ’hybrid technique’.

---

new tools of my trade

First of all what is a tool of the trade? The online dictionary of Cambridge says that : a tool of the trade is something you need to use to do your job. So if you are looking at new tools of my trade there all kinds of things what i already discussed like the printer and the lasercutter. But if you read the explanation of ,a tool of the trade, it does not be the same a just a tool. Because just a tool is a piece of equipment that you use with your hands to make or repair something. A tool for or of your craft doesn't need to make something it can also create or just be. Because if you look at my craft of designing clothes it is also designing tools because a piece of clothing is in a certain way a tool. But lets go back to the ”new” part.

When I was talking about my position in the practice fashion in relation to newer technologies I was thinking of hybrid techniques. And about combining digital and analog. With the new assignment about making a tool of the trade I wanted to use inspiration of shapeshifting/shifting and use light and shadow illusions.

(shape) shifting new tools of the fashion trade

What does shifting mean? If you look it up on the http://dictionary.cambridge.org shifting means : always changing or moving. And if you look up shape-shifting it says :an imaginary person or creature that can change into a different shape or form. So (shape-) shifting means something that can change from its original form or shape. Its about seeing/beeing something one moment and mother moment there is something different.

In fashion there has been some designers making shapeshifting clothes like i already mentioned Hussein Chahalyan he made a collection of electronic dresses that changes form. But he made more collection within the theme of changeable clothes. Like in his collection fall 2000 he made a collection that was not electronic but was shape shifting by hand. His most known design of this collection is the table dress. Next to this kind of (shape)shifting designs in fashion there have been designers that have made ink/paint for fabrics that can change color. Lauren Bowker made a collection with this kind of ink, this ink reacts to the changes in temperature and wind.

http://chalayan.com/afterwords/ - http://seetheunseen.co.uk/collection-archive/air/

Daan Roosegaarde with V2_ and Maartje Dijkstra and Anoukalso designed a project INTIMACY which falls in the category of shifting. These garments are about the relation between intimacy and technology. There is a black and a white garment and they are made from opaque smart e-foils. These can become transparent when there are close and personal encounters with people. Here there is a shift in the transparency of the garments this creates a moment of revilement and surprise.

https://www.studioroosegaarde.net/project/intimacy-2-0/

This moment of devilment and surprise is also visible in the work of Hussein Chahalyan and Lauren Bowker. With al the new technologies we have i think looking for these moment and creating these keeps the imagination alive. And makes people find new boundaries and will keep creating these moments of revilement and surprise.

light and shadow illusion tools of the fashion trade

In my research for inspiration towards light and shadow creating tools i found just a few that really worked with shadows. This because with shadows for me there stays a bit of a mystery. Where do they come from? of course they are made by the object that creates the shadows but sometimes this can be very surprising. Some shadows look very different then the shadow maker because of the light fall or other simple influences. And also the interpretation of the viewer can be different from another viewer. And here you can also play with not just with the shadows and there illusions but the way they will be seen.

One designer (Maiko Takeda) I found made accessories out of metal with a mesh pattern that created images on the skin of light and shadow. These designs arent digital but they are innovative in the way of using light in clothing. It has an illusion and surprise element in design. I think just like the work of Lauren Bowker its interesting to need certain conditions to make it work. This gives value to things that have no price like air and light.

http://www.maikotakeda.com

But if you look at playing with light you can also look at playing with projections and holograms. Because this is a sort of evolved way of using light by adding color and images. Alexander mcQueen used a hologram of the supermodel Kate moss at his show 2006 fall collection. Holograms weren't yet used at fashion shows so this was very innovative.In scifi movies and series from the classics until the new ones the use of holograms is still very futuristic. you have holograms that are like Skype talk but also hologram computers and these are just special effects in movies.

http://www.alexandermcqueen.com/experience/en/alexandermcqueen/archive/?years=2006#id_article=220 -Starwars scene hologram - Tony Stark interacting with his 3D holographic computer

And I found interesting works that you can also categories as a ”new” tools like the work collaboration work on the face trace projection OMOTE. This work is a projection on the face that works with face tracing. If you look at this project you are taking virtual reality into the reality. But still its a projection of facial art so its not actually there. Another work that can fit in this same category is NECLUMI an interactive jewelry projection. Its work by panGenerator and they also question the fact will we be willing to abandon atoms of gold for light waves? This question is perfect about the value of things that are actually virtual reality in reality. We are comparing something valuable like gold to light waves that is actual now worth nothing.

http://www.nobumichiasai.com/jp/main.html - http://www.neclumi.com

Looking at the shadows,holograms, projections and virtual reality makes me question the value of immaterial things. As a story telling mind i thought back to one fairy tale of my childhood the story of : The Emperors new clothes Hans Christian Andersen. The plot of the story is :

A vain Emperor who cares about nothing except wearing and displaying clothes hires two swindlers who promise him the finest, best suit of clothes from a fabric invisible to anyone who is unfit for his position or "hopelessly stupid". The Emperor's ministers cannot see the clothing themselves, but pretend that they can for fear of appearing unfit for their positions and the Emperor does the same. Finally the swindlers report that the suit is finished, they mime dressing him and the Emperor marches in procession before his subjects. The townsfolk play along with the pretense, not wanting to appear unfit for their positions or stupid. Then a child in the crowd, too young to understand the desirability of keeping up the pretense, blurts out that the Emperor is wearing nothing at all and the cry is taken up by others. The Emperor cringes, suspects the assertion is true, but continues the procession.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Emperor's_New_Clothes

For me this is about the vanity of the emperor and his need to have the most special an valuable things. But he gets tricked in wearing invisible clothes what are in his eyes very exclusive clothes. And everybody acts like its real but its not ,this makes me think about a sort fairytale version of virtual reality.

A valuable moment in the fast world

I think that we are living in a moment of technology evolvement thats going so fast. We don’t take any time anymore. Everybody is in a hurry and therefor taking the time to look around you gets hurried and put away. We are all looking at screens and we are missing beautiful ”real” moments. But this does not mean i think we should leave technologies behind to look up from our screens and see beautiful moments. There are great works of art that are digital that make you look up and be in the moment.

A great example is again from Daan Roosegaarde that he presented on the tv show : De wereld draait door. Just before he was going to the opening of this work. When he was talking about this project het said that he wanted to create a moment that is not downloadable. He got the assignment to make an artwork for Amsterdam central station for it’s anniversary. but because its 125 years old and renovated he could touch the station it self. He could not put something on it. So he created a moment of a rainbow that is only visible an hour after dawn. It works with special lenses of liquid crystals that break up light into a rainbow. Also it works with a round lamp that only lights up the glas of the station. He wanted to create a magical moment for the travelers of that passes the station on there way.

https://www.studioroosegaarde.net/project/rainbow-station/

If you look at taking the time to look at something the work of Jiyoen Song with his one day poem is also the right fit in this category. This art work shows the words of a poem on the ground and floats by like credits after a movie. This happens because of the movement of the sun and so you can read the poem if you take the time. These projects are both about time but in different ways. They are showing the possibility of playing with changing light.

http://jiyeonsong.com

Augmented Reality

Augmented Reality could also connect to the subject of needing the right environment to see something. But here with Augmented Reality you most likely need some sort of software/ app and a something like a phone to see something. Is about live, direct or indirect images which virtual elements are added. This works with QR code in which the added elements often have sensor data or information from the surrounding area.

There are all kinds of apps that work with augmented reality. There is an app SnapShop Showroom where you can place furniture in a room on your phone. And you have a few where if your in a city and you use one of these apps you can see what kind of restaurants there are or get information about monuments when you sight seeing. Here you have something that you can't see with your own eyes you need something like your phone (with a camera and app of course) to see these images or maps.

http://www.dutchcowboys.nl/augmented-reality - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augmented_reality - http://deepknowhow.com/2013/04/04/top-20-augmented-reality-apps-for-android-and-iphoneipad-users/

facial-recognition and anti recognition

In the subject of viral reality its al about being somebody else : camouflaging yourself with an alter ego/character. But we live in a big brother world with al the security camera’s. In al our police shows we know about facial recognition software. With this software they can use facial tracing and compare photo’s on file to find out who is on camera. Even now we are going in to a future of google glasses that have also camera’s to observe the surroundings. But there are people against this because they are concerned about the facial recognition. It is called Anti-Google Glass visor glasses it is about preventing the software of make the facial trace of the recognition software.

It is a very simple working thing actually its just about confusing the software. Here they work with bright led lights around the eyes and nose. Because of these bright lights it films just a white light spot around that part of the face. Hereby the face in not totally visible so the software will not work since it can not trace any facial characteristics.

This sort of anti recognition is very opposite from the Paparazzi lover dress by Ricardo O’Nascimento. Whom I mentioned in the beginning as een example of a contemporary practitioner. Here the dress/wearer wants to be seen and the attention. Seeing these total opposites i think its easy to say that its personal if you want to be seen or not. And it’s even then still about perspective. Look at people on social media sharing everything they only show what they want. Hereby creating an image for you about them but are they really like the photo’s and information they share? So you can make 3 groups of people ,the people that want to disappear (or not seen) in the digital world, the people that want to be seen , the people that show a certain image creating a sort alter ego and maybe even a forth that just really doesn’t care/know about this.

After doing some tests with my project making caps i decided i can't take it towards anti facial recognition. This because of it doesn't disturb seeing the face enough. So i decided to try to go back to the part of illusion and questionability. It is about the moment and the interpretation someone can have of a shadow.

Where i have been working on with tools of the trade and my conclusion

The tool I have been working on is a cap that is a sort anti digital work that is also about the digital world. I wanted to work with the theme (shape)shifting. While doing research about (shape)shifting I found out that i really was inspired by the works of Hussein chalayan, Lauren Bowker but didn’t want to go in that direction. I wanted to create more of an illusion. I made a few short stories where shifting and illusion where the theme to find the subject i water to work in. I finally decided to work with the illusions of shadows. Here i found the work of Maiko Takeda what I actually was trying to do in my first tests. These works are all about the shifting towards revilement and surprise. The cap I have been working on plays with light and shadows and it works with the surroundings.

And the work of Maiko Takeda and my own work made me think about the value of it. And about the value we give things in the modern digital world. Like the work NECLUMI where they question if we would be willing to abandon atoms of gold for light waves? And if you think about how something that is not touchable but digital can be worth so much (digital) money.

Also in my research i came to the subject of virtual reality i came here from the digital valuable work point of view. About people playing online games and spending money on clothes and armor that is not actually there they are just pixels. Looking at living in an digital/online world its also about illusions. About being somebody els or showing a different version of yourself : an alter ego. I made a few tests with animalistic prints trying to create a sort of hybrid human with the shadow and light play. I liked the results but they weren’t really working. The print was all over and didn’t really morphed with the face.

Looking at alter ego’s and appearing as somebody els made me think of a project i found called OMOTE. The work OMOTE shows different faces with projections on a model. Here they use facial tracing with dots. I tried to make a sort of more analoge way to do this facial tracing. By making an base cap with a checkered grid cut out. This made shadows on my face and by measuring my face and comparing the actual measurements of the grids made a sort calculation where shadows could emerge in certain light. This was an idea i had and it was successful but just in very simple shapes.

Now was the question what do i want to make in simple shapes on the face what is actually useable as a tool. From the digital world /virtual world and facial tracing i went researching facial recognition. Facial recognition software can be used to find out who you are. By an image and comparing them with other images with face tracing software like the dots on the face of the OMOTE project. People that you can call paranoid are creating things to prevent this its called anti recognition. There are glasses with led lights that blind the camera’s from tracing your face. And there are people trying to find ways to paint your face to confuse the face tracing software. In these examples i found my simple design of my shadow cap. With my shadow cap i wanted to create the moment of anonymity. The cap only lights out you eyes in certain light creating a sort of a ’bivakmuts’ image. This makes the wearer unknown in certain conditions and plays with the idea of not being face traced. Eventually if i work further on this project i could make more tests with these shadows. Trying to make actual other faces with these shadows and light on to people. Here you also disguises the face but more towards the alter ego of somebody. I really liked this idea but it became clear that the dark and light part wouldn't disguise you enough and also it was hard to find shapes to that would confuse this facial recognition software.

So my new tool of my trade is about my statement of shifting illusions and the value of untouchable objects. This fashion accessory plays into this statement. The wearer can show for a moment an image that can have multiple interpretations . Its about the question what did i see? And you can just see it with the right light on the right spot of the face. So it has no meaning when the light is in the wrong place because the images will not be in the right place. And when they are in the right place i tried to use images that people can fill i them selfs. Like a simple shape of an eye on the forehead. This could mean the third eye , the evil eye and also see it as the eye of protection and even it could men nothing to somebody. And this i liked to play with just like the shadows and light that are unpredictable how people look at something is the same. But you can try to create a moment for a story in there own mind.

I think i want to use this accessory idea in my graduation collection. I will work it out a more and then use it in the subject of my collection. Then with the presentation of my collection (fashion show) these accessories will create these reviling and surprising moments.

Demo GPS

For a little project we got to work with a sensor. I asked to get one assigned because I didn't which one i wanted to work with and it would be new for me anyhow. So i got the GPS sensor a sensor that stands for Global Positioning System. It can locate where it is working with satellite signals. First i needed to get a GPS sensor which i could only find online for about 30-40 euros so i asked at school of they had one i could use. Thankfully they did but didn't know how it worked. So i tried to find info this was a bit hard because in was not in tis original box but with a bit help from Simon we found some serial numbers that where correct.

With this info i could check out a bit how it worked and found a tutorial on the ardiuno site. Here they explained how to get it working. But the sensor didn't want to work when i did exactly what the tutorial said so i was scared the sensor was broken because the light didn't want to go on. But with help from simon he checked if everything had the correct response to electric current. And we found out that the GRND was not marked ad the right wire. So after switching a few wires it worked!. Then i used the code of the tutorial online.

And after i got it working a had to figure out which info in generated i needed to locate me on a site where i could put in coordinates. And there i found i didn't need al the information just a few numbers. the Longitude and Altitude which where also a bit to much numbers i just needed the degrees and minutes. So i rewrote the code with a bit of intro how i could write code by Remco. And after i knew which codes i could delete and how i could at code i tried to make it easier to read. So now you could only see the Altitude and Longitude. And it said Ahoi Mates here you can find where you arrrrr , a little pirate joke which fitted with the gps in my eyes.

http://playground.arduino.cc/Tutorials/GPS

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Positioning_System

I first thought while working on my shadow project the gps sensor has nothing to do with the shadows. But actually it does because your location can influence how shadows are because of the sun. Also because of the time of that moment but where you are standing is also very important and influential.

Tools of the trade

the theme

The theme i want to work with in the practice of fashion is fabric manipulation. I want to make a tool i can use to manipulate fabric to give it the ability to shift. Shifting in shape,color,drift,alter or stir. I want to create a sort of shifting texture i can use in my collection letter on. maybe not this fabrication but the technique in want to create is changeable to texture I want to use or imagine. `maybe the fabrication is changeable by movement of the wearer of the fabricated fabric working with stretching or unfolding.

fabrication or manipulation of fabric by hand is something i like to work with. I have worked with fabrication and manipulation of fabric in previous work. I worked with patchwork made tufted fabric and fabricated a texture with a denim project.

The first discussion we had in the class about our first ideas was very helpful for me. Because it made me think more about what a tool is and what is means and now i know i don't ned to make something like a hamer or something. So now i'm going back to brainstorm with the just shapeshifting in my head. It doesn't need to be fabrication in the way i first thought.

After a lot of thinking i made up 3 small stories to inspire me en help me further. the first story was about a sort modern icarus story about wanting to fly and changing in a flying human. The sec on about a mirror suit that is like a camouflage and self reflection for the viewer. And the third is about shadows and how they can look different from the object making the shadows. After a talk which idea i can work with i have made the choice to go with the third. This because i can work with a story around it and also the viewer can have a own idea about the shadows using there unique imagination!

Shadow

Because i sort of changed the theme a bit with shape shifting towards shape shifting in shadows. I looked up some interesting theories and quotes that wil help me out.

Quote by Leonardo da Vinci:

I mostly like the first part : Shadow is the obstruction of light. Shadows appear to me to be of supreme importance in perspective, because, without them opaque and solid bodies will be ill defined; that which is contained within their outlines and their boundaries themselves will be ill-understood unless they are shown against a background of a different tone from themselves.It really explains how you can look at shadows differently because of simple things like perspective so it will show differently or as da Vinci said ill understood.

Trying to test shadows i tried to find shadow simulation programs. Here are some examples where you can see what your shadow would be like if you fill in the coordinates and date. And i found a sort of children's version where you can learn about what happens when the light changes..

http://astro.unl.edu/naap/motion3/animations/sunmotions.html http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/gamesactivities/lightshadows.html

inspiration

For inspiration i have been looking for multiple themes in for me in shadows: shadow theatre ,shadow art ,accidental shadows and more.

If you look at shadow theatre its been around for some time and has changed in different forms. If i look at history i think of the shadow puppetry that is known from asian culture but it was also used in France. And it has changed over the years. Also in theatre there has been use of shadow play ,by making a different shadow then expected in old movies to performers.

Shadow Art is creating shadows and giving a illusion. This has been done with piles of trash and even post its. It is beautiful to see what people can create with shadows and how unexpected they can be.

Accidental weird shadows are all around us. sometimes you find them just by luck or you can manipulate them to what you want. Its like something in the corner in your eye. Shadows sometimes look different in certain perspectives. Like a dog shadow thats more like a dog out of a horror movie. A stack of books with a cigarette looks like a man smoking. And in the third image the shadow of the viewer looks visible and also looks to be a part of the person in fronts coat.

Looking at these shadows and thinking about i want to do i got stuck again. Because i keel going to theatrical work and it has no real use a costume idea. So after a talk at class i had the advise to look back at my practice and try to look at what kind of light sources there are at photoshoots or fashion shows. So here are some light examples:

And also in photography there is a lot of work with light. The light sometimes gives the model a flawless skin ,also of course photoshop but lighting can really influence the way you see things like skin. And working with black and white photography there is a nice contrast in light and shadows. This is also seen in film noir where they also play with lighting but also with shadows.

Photography by Solve Sundsbo,Sun Down by Michael David Adams,Tippi hedren

To get inspired i also need to study shadows. Where are shadows going and where are they coming from?? It is more of a lighting study how you can use light to really place a shadow in a certain way. searching i found a few images that are about the use of shadows and studying them for theatre or for making portraits. The shadow that you create with your body can change if you are standing outside al day at the same place because of the movement of the sun. Your shadow can for instants begin from in front of you really tall/long and at midday its underneath you like a cirkel and then it grows again behind you.

After some research i found this artist (Maiko Takeda) that already worked with shadows in accessories so very inspiring but also confronting because I don't want to replicate someones work. Her works are metal sheds with a pattern of holes to create images on the skin of the models.

What is valuable in a virtual/imaginary world

Looking at shadows and the way i feel that shadows can create something so interesting and valuable but is so valueless because its not something you can touch and is not actually there. It made me think of that things that are digital are also a sort of valuable things that are not touchable so how mouth value can they have? Al our money are just numbers on our online bank account we create made up characters to play video games in a virtual reality? We are living in a digital world where we create things that are not really there.So when is something real and valuable. virtual reality is being something ore somebody else just for a moment just like some shadows can be something just for a moment

there are so interesting project there are done that are related with fashion towards virtual reality. And also towards creating things that are in a certain way valuable and valueless at the same time. One of the projects i think is very interesting is a project between Japanese media artist Nonumichi Asai with makeup artist Hiroto Kuwahara and digitale image engineer Paul Lacroix called OMOTE. Its a face track projection where a model gets beautiful projections on her face that change from neutral face to geisha makeup to a sort robotic face. What i really like about this is that the model has just a few dots on her face to track the movement and the projection gives the illusion of the changing faces. This is for me really inspiring because eventually it is a projection it is not really there.

http://www.nobumichiasai.com/jp/main.html

idea of the tool

the tool

Okay i finally have an idea for a tool its inspired by the portraits I have found with the shadows. The idea is to make a sort of hat or cap that creates shadows on your face or more. So first i am testing with the shapes of hats to crate a good shadow on the face.

The idea is that the hat will create a shadow on the face (and maybe more) ont the wearer. This can create illusions or can be used to make it look like the wearer is wearing something that is actually not there. So i tried some new experiment of trying to create a necklace out of light and shadow. this is al about the value of valueless. And i tried to make a shadow print with pied de poule.

Being inspired by virtual reality and being somebody else just for a moment I want to use my idea of a hat that creates shadows. I want to create the other reality moment within the shadow of the hat. So I started some experiments with a transparent cap where I am trying to make shadows on the face by sketching with a dark marker. And thinking of virtual reality or being something else and looking back to my work with the theme hybrid I want to try to create human animal hybrids.

test 1 of shadow animal/human hybrid. first i needed a sort of base to make de cap zo i first replicated one i had and mede an new one trying to make de cap longer (for a bigger shadow). For these test i ame just using paper because its fast en easy to work with by cutting en pasting stuf on and of. This first animal humanhybrid test i drew a tiger face on a piece of a transparent placemat and discovered because it was dim transparent it first didn't create a shadow. And so i cut out al de parts needed and suddenly it did make a shadow. But i could not se the tiger face totally only the print i made it was a tiger print but also could be seen as a zebra print. I'm happy with this test but it made me think that a print is maybe better to see. therefor i'm going to try again an animal print in my next test but not a face just de print and maybe follow the facial lines just like the facetrace dots .

here i tried a peacock feather pattern.

Here i tried tot make a fishcake/feather pattern following facial contours.

here i tried to trace where the shadows val with a sort of line pattern. and then tried to put shadows on my eyes and nose (panda?)

Here i tried to make it possible to make a sort of calculation where to cut things out to make a sort "bivakmuts". I saw that the squares i had cut out became almost 2 times bigger on my face in the light. So with this i could sort of predict where is needed to cut out shapes for the eyes. this time i made it in illustrator en used the lasercutter. And id tested it outside and it worked!

I think i'm going to use the "bivakmuts" version because of the analogue way of hiding from the camera's as a statement and as a fashion statement. My prototype is just in paper and vilt but I also eventually i want to make it in the real materials of a sun-hat. This upcoming holiday i'm going to London here there are shops that have millinery supplies (hat making). Here i hope to find a material and then i want to make finish the design by making it in a very simple normal looking hat material.

I found my material it is a straw fabric that is specially used for making hats. I tried it on the lasercutter and if cuts trough without burning thankfully. And i worked further on designs. I first made some tests with the theme eyes trying to work from my first prototype. So i made one trying to place eyes cutouts that would give light on your eyes in form of an eye. This didn't really get the right result. and the second eye design was making allot of eyes cutouts for confusion. This did give an nice image. But i mostly liked the eye i placed on the forehead this gave me a new idea.

Looking at the eye on the forehead it made me think about the interpretation you can have for it. An eye on the forehead can mean : the third eye ( meaning seeing the future ) , the all seeing eye ,the evil eye maybe even other meanings. This made me think about what made me like shadows. That there is an "illusion" of a shape that you can have an idea about and an other person can see something else.tThis interpretation made me try to find next to the eye on the forehead and the "bivakmuts" (because this can also bee seen as a superhero mask sort of or a panda look) another design. I chose to use tears shapes next to the eye. This can be looked at just tears from emotion but also as a gang tattoo (which means that you killed someone or that you lost someone in prison) And even just maybe clown make-up?

Sinterklaas surprise

For Sinterklaas we had to make a sort of small demo/surprise for someone else and then they could guess whom it was from and what is was. I made a box with wad that i made that could make 2 shadows. From one side in the light the shadow looked like a an profil of a face and from the other side it looked like an bug. This was inspired by the trash shadow art and one of my favorite books about shape shifting of Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis.

I got a unboxing video of Lotte. And she said she knew it was from me before unboxing but she really understood it was from mee when she saw the shadows. She didn't really give more info. But i was happy with my result myself.

movies

movie storyboard&text 1:

storyboard has changed

movie storyboard&text 2:

storyboard has changed

          The 5 most significant things about this tool:

1. This tool creates a illusion of something that is not really there by the play of shadows and light.

2. The shapes look like something valuable but because it is actually a play of shadows and light it has no actual value.

3. With this object there is always a play of shadows and light visible but only in the right conditions the real image is revealed.

4. By combining 2 & 3 makes the actual moment where the conditions are met a valuable and rare moment.

5. This tool is created for a fashion related scene. But it if the design of the shadows play can also be ment for other scenes just by the shapes it can create.

movie storyboard&text 3:

Statement

/ notes