Monday, December 21, 2020

FIBRE 300 - Fosshape

My art college, AU Arts, has done a great job of keeping students connected while beingn apart. There are some things I miss about being in class with others like spontaneous ideas and peeking over shoulders and wandering hallways. I miss networking with my fellow students, but we're still getting plenty of time to chat in small groups. I learned about a thermoplastic called Fosshape during one of these chats. There's a bit of a learning curve ahead, but I was blown away by how cool it is. There's also another product made by the same company called Wonderflex. The best part is that I can buy it at a theatre shop in my end of town even though it's a bit pricey. I thought I would use it for the third project, but didn't. Who knows down the road though?

Saturday, December 19, 2020

FIBRE 300 - Project 2 Ornamentation

I can't believe I have to go so far back to log this project. Sitting down was a luxury this semester and there's still some more projects to go. For project 2 we had to create an ornament of some sort. Some classmates made hair pieces, some made jewellery and others did ornamentation on fabric. With the art college closed, it was a challenge if you don't have a home studio set up. I didn't even have time to order the materials I wanted to use because the mail is so slow these days. I wanted to buy proper soutache braid, which is a thin flexible braid found on uniforms and such. I blogged about the technique for making soutache jewellery in my last post.

I opted for "fake soutache" with nylon cord. I wanted to use a nicer focal bead or piece of glass, but I was limited to what was in the craft stash and what I could buy at Michaels. It's a little embarrassing how much glue I used. I wanted to make a pin, but I ended up making a picture instead by mounting it on heavy duty black felt. The figure was made from layers of felt and built up.

This feels like a protoype for me. I would do it much differently a second time around. I would make the base from thick cardboard or hobby wood so that it would have enough structure to be used as a pin instead of being floppy. I would commission a bead artist to make me a beautiful custom bead too.

Budgie soutache

Sunday, December 6, 2020

FIBRE 300--My Fake Soutache

I can't believe I have to go so far back to log this project. Sitting down was a luxury this semester. For project 2 we had to create an ornament of some sort. Some classmates made hair pieces, some made jewellery and others did ornamentation on fabric. With the art college closed, it was a challenge if you don't have a home studio set up. I didn't even have time to order the materials I wanted to use because the mail is so slow these days. I wanted to buy proper soutache braid, which is a thin flexible braid found on uniforms and such. Here's a quick video tutorial on soutach.



I could have mimicked the look with oven bake clay, but I couldn't risk it with pet birds. I opted for "fake soutache" with nylon cord. I wanted to use a nicer focal bead or piece of glass, but I was limited to what was in the craft stash and what I could buy at Michaels. It's a little embarrassing how much glue I used. I wanted to make a pin, but I ended up making a picture instead by mounting it on heavy duty black felt. The figure was made from layers of felt and built up.

This feels like a protoype for me. I would do it much differently a second time around. I would make the base from thick cardboard or hobby wood so that it would have enough structure to be used as a pin instead of being floppy. I would commission a bead artist to make me a beautiful custom bead too.

Budgie soutache