Me in the Final Costume

Final Evaluation

Working on the Project Moving tides has made me look into a new way of making costumes and seeing how carnival are so successful and what makes a carnival costume so effective- what works, and what doesn't. Getting back into design has been a real joy for me as during my 2nd year though I feel I have learnt a lot by choosing costume construction; I have missed the design side which I feel much more comfortable with. I have always enjoyed designing fun, creative things- rather than historical pieces and from this project think that carnival designing, and costume workshops is a career I would like to pursue. 

From this project I have developed my knowledge on the background of carnivals, designed a range of costume possible to be made and worn by children with the theme ‘Oceans of the world’, developing some of the designs and presenting them to the steering group then from there coming up with my final design of a Fire Fish, made experiments and prototypes of how the costume could be made, then took them into a year 5 classroom to teach various workshops in costume making.
           Initial costume designs allowed me to be creative and exploitative again something which I have really missed. Some of my designs weren't big enough for a carnival parade and being told this by my tutor has really encouraged me to really look and analyse each of my designs and think of other ways to make them successful- even though I wouldn't be using them. Designing for carnival is great as you can never be too 'over-the-top', bright colour's- even going to far it can be classed as 'tacky', large shapes and structures, movement, and unusual-cheap material's is what carnival is all about...and I think no one have ever been told to tone down an idea ready for a carnival setting.

At first I found speaking to large number difficult, I have always struggled explaining my point, often muddling my words and meanings when nervous to large groups; I work better talking to small number and one-to-ones . From this project I have improved on presenting to groups in both steering/moving tides meetings and with the workshops with the children which has improved my confidence. Producing this blog has been extremely beneficial; I hate putting all the written work into my sketchbook- I like my sketchbook to a collection of inspiration and creativity keeping the designs and written work separately has enabled me to be more organised. My blog allows me to sort out my thoughts and backing work without feeling the need to ‘try and look pretty’.

When taking the lesson plans into the schools I was pleased to have produced templates and set designs for the children to work from so although they all worked from the same plans they all had their own personalities and ideas within each of their costumes. One thing I am proud to say is that each and every part of the costumes was made by the children. I did do some prep work in order for them to do this but from start to finish their costume have been made by them, I enjoyed being able to push them and teach them new things. Many of them had never sewn before, yet all of them attached their bells to the elastic; some did struggle; but all had a successful outcome by the end of the workshop. 

On day of the Carnival unfortunately the whole event had to be cancelled due to the weather and flood warnings but this is the nature of open air event. This was disappointing for everyone involved but understandable as if someone got seriously ill or hurt there would have been a lot more complaints and questioning of why the organisers did nothing to prevent it. The Journey getting to the carnival was more important to the carnival itself. The children have learnt new skills and enjoyed working both independently and as a group.  Because of the cancellation I could not see what my costumes looked like amongst others and how successful they were in a carnival setting, though my last workshop at Southill School we had a trying on session.  I was very happy on how consistent the costumes as a group. The use of the bells around the ankles was exciting for the kids and encouraged them to dance and have more movement in the way they walked. The repetitive patterns on the fins and the circles on the headdresses were very bold, striking, and could be seen from afar. The T-shirts were bright; I was very happy with the tie-dye effect and the vibrancy of the dyes, and the headdresses were fun, quite comical, comfortable, and allowed movement when they walked; all the parts to it bobbed up and down.

If I were to carry out this project again I would make the leader costumes more distinctly different to the Primary costumes just to make them stand out more and make it clearer to the street audience who the leaders are.

Though I knew my school teacher said she would get things finished between workshops; I now know the abilities of children at the ages 9-11 and maybe would simplify some activities just to allow for more time so that my teacher and children wouldn’t have to put in more time to get it all done. Some activities the children struggled with- such as the orange shapes for the fins, I could have made it simpler by having less shapes, but bigger shapes to stop it being too fiddly.

I have learnt that children often do not like coming up with their own design in a similar way to yours as it often worries them that they are doing it wrong, others will go out there way to make it look at different to yours as possible so keeping to a template or a couple of different templates so they can choose how theirs looks it the most successful way.

I have thoroughly enjoy developing my designing skills, and to go from start to finish researching, designing, experimenting then making has been quite a new experience for me one which is unusual from many project at the AUCB where it is quite common to either design or make, in this project I have improved both areas.

Workshops evaluation

The next step is the procession which I am very excited about and really looking forward to. The test of how successful my costumes are will be seen on the day of the carnival. I am really hoping they will stand out as a group and be effective in repetitive patterns and movement. Hopefully they will withstand the weather on the day as it's anyone's guess on what it will be like- my fingers are crossed for a warm, calm day. This could also affect the children's comfort levels. I have them in short sleeve t-shirts and shorts, If it is a cold day, some changes such as a black or which t-shirt underneath the orange t-shirt will have to be worn and black of which tights or leggings will have to be worn under the shorts with the morris bells elastic over the top. My main concern is that the headdress elastic will come loose if the weather is partially windy, or if the children have been playing with them, or they haven't been stored in a safe place- to be on the safe side I will be taking a stapler and fibreglass tape with me just in case there are any last minute repair jobs.  

4th Workshop 31/05/2012

This Workshop was about getting everything finish and ready for Carnival day on the 12th July.

Tasks for the Children to finish the Fins

Using the scraps from the scrap store staple them to the bottom of the fin for extra movement. It also allows the children to make their own decisions about how there final costume will look. Another job that needed doing was using the small cable ties attach the elastic to the fins and cable tie the fins to the t-shirt. 

Then me and helper had to put the headdresses together using the glue guns.

Problem solving

• The school's glue guns were cool melt guns therefore they wouldn't slick properly so I had to nip to B&Q to get a hot melt glue gun, this slowed us down a little but we manage to get most of them done.
• On the trying on session we realised the PVA glue used at schools is watered down so that it lasts longer which meant some of the shapes were coming off the fins. Luckily the helper agreed to help more when I left for the last workshop and so several parents sewed using a sewing machine  a straight line all the shapes just to make sure if it was a windy day nothing would come off. This was very helpful and I was very thankful for the help.

Final Trying on Session

4th Workshop preparation for the 31st May

This week there is lots to do in preparation for the next workshop just like last time!




The card shapes need to be laminated with glitter trapped in. Then cut out with 1cm around the edge so they will be waterproof.


The lines need to be drawn on the fins with fabric pens= 66 fins then iron in to make sure they are all waterproof.


The plasterzote needs to be cut into fine strips


The gems need to be ironed onto the t-shirts. 16 per primary in orange. 30 for Leader in green and Purple




....and my sketchbook needs finishing for Friday's hand in.

3rd Workshop- 24/05/2012

Task One

Put together the headdress shapes by bending them around and measuring, putting a rectangle of fibre glass tape down, then stapling the elastic the headdress in the appropriate places. Then covering the staples in more fibre glass tape so they wouldn't go into the head.

Task Two

Painting the designs on the mask area copying the templates stuck to the walls of the classroom using the colours Orange, Gold and green.

These were the finished designs on the masks of the headdresses

                                            Task Three


Sewing the bells onto the elastic. I showed them how to do it. Several times before they went off to try it. Tie a knot, sew twice through elastic twice through the bell, once through elastic and tie a knot. Each bell done separately.


Luckily my teacher agreed to get them all finished by the next session.

                                         

This afternoon there were people in filming the Class for the Moving Tides DVD, this meant I swapped round some of the tasks so that it would be more exciting for the camera crew, lots of different things going on.
                                                  Task Four and Five

The children to be split into two groups. One group to go with the teacher to cut off the elastic to do the 'Big Reveal' of the tie dye t-shirts.
The other group came with me to place three/five pieces of fibre glass tape on the plasterzote and make 3 holes in the primary rectangles and 5 in the leader rectangles where the tape was, And thread the cable ties through. So they were ready to attach to the main headdress.























Problem Solving/ What I learnt:

• As the weather was so hot I found the children were a little distracted and it was harder this time to get them to concentrate so was more challenging to get them to follow instruction, such as the cable ties some of them were put in the wrong way round.
• Last week I struggled getting them to come up with their own designs for the card which is to be laminated, this week I struggled to get them to follow the designs in which I came up with them to copy. Though they haven't followed the design 100% they look great as a group on the Mask part of the headdress. 
• I think the children really enjoyed taking the elastic bands off the t-shirt to see what the dye revealed.
• The bells-some people found it easy (especially the girls) and had finished by the end of the workshop and were helping other class mates to get it finished. Others really struggled and had never tied a knot before so one-to-one demonstrations enabled me to show each child clearly how to do it. I found the best way was to show them  how to do it once, then they show me they could do it while I  watched that way i knew if they understood or not.

Preparation for the 3rd Workshop-...on the 24th May

Luckily I had two weeks to prepare for the next workshop as there was a lot to do for next time!


1.
I had to Dye the T-shirts the next colours- This was a much deep orange all over, then red on either end dipped-dyed. So all 33 T-shirts were done, then I had to get them dry. Then I could undo 3 Leader t-shirt and start putting the iron on gems on them. The other three leader costumes had to be taken into the school with the primary t-shirts for the extra children to undo.

2.

Next job was to start sewing the elastic on the sewing machine back and forward to make them really strong for the calf's for the children to sew bells to, and the wrists; which is how the fins would stay to the wrists. 

3.

Using a stencil I made I had to cut out all headdress shapes in Plasterzote and the extra rectangle bases for the cable ties to be attached to so not to irritate the head with something digging in. Which = 33 headdress shapes. 27 Small rectangles, and 6 large rectangles.  

Southill Primary Sail

During the Kinetica weekend we had to put together the structure of the the sail's which will be carried along with the school group. The fabric was then to be taken away by my school and decorated. My School designed there own sail. Using my colours Orange, green and purple. The textile process used for these sails was Batik (A Resist technique using hot ,melted wax then painted with Procion dyes mixed with soda ash, excess dye washed off, to be left with a bright, colourful and waterproof sail-well the dyes won't run) I think the colours are great, even though it is based on an Octopus- not the Firefish I don't think it matters too much as the colours work really well with my costumes. 

Workshop 2 10/05/2012

                                Task one- 
Stick down the shapes on the fins
Last week we cut out the shapes, this week was the job of sticking them all down.
As the tables were quite small in the classroom, the children worked in table groups arranging the shapes first then sticking down when they were happy they were symmetrical.


                                Task two- 
Decorating the card to be decorated for the headdress. I had already cut out the green circles so there would be some continuity amongst the group. I let the children come up with their own shapes of swirls and patterns for the main shape and then decorated them using white card which they painted in florescent green and iridescent mauve. So even though each will have there own shapes and designs so they are all different, they will work well as a team as they all will have the same four colours- Orange, dark green circles, florescent green, and mauve with glitter to finish.


                               Task three- 
Tying up the t-shirts ready to be dip dyed.
Took the ready dyed prototype, Took two examples of the leader t-shirts tied up and did a demo with the other leader t-shirt then did a check once they were all finished.


Extra Task By helper- Going around cutting elastic for calf's and wrists

Problem Solving- 

As they had struggled cutting the circles last time I cut some of the circles for the card they decorated.

Too much elastic used- no choice but to buy some more.

As the Children didn't get everything done, my teacher has kindly agreed to finish everything for my next session ( a helper will laminate next session with the school laminator) 

As the children were hurried , and worked as a team it meant that when working on fins from the team, they didn't want to be as neat as when working on their own so it meant that not all the shapes were covered in a even layer of glue up to the edges. So to solve this problem to make sure all are at the same standard my teacher said she would check all the fins to make sure all the shapes have been stuck down properly by my next workshop.

What have I learnt?

• Not to be precious about my design and the overall look, though it is important that as a group they do follow my design and will be recognisable to the design and each other. But if you say they can come up with the design they will either worry that there ideas are the wrong ideas, or do something completely different from your example...For example, instead of the blobs on my prototype want there names in the card, or messages of 'I Love mum' etc..

• All the Children work at very different levels so when one child finds it very easy and gets it done within minutes, not to presume everyone will be 'in the same boat'. I new that some would find it easy and some would find it more difficult- I thought it would be that some would be their speed that differs but not, that some children wouldn't actually be able to do it at all. 

Workshop 2 Preparation...Ready for the 10th May

As not everything that I was hoping to get done was completed in Workshop 1 I decided to fiddle with my lesson plans a bit and move things around so I would have more time to do the preparation for workshop 3.

• All the helper T-shirts were dyed Orange
• All the primary and secondary t-shirts were dyed the base colour of a light-ish Orange
• Many Green Circles were cut out for them as they struggled with the circle cutting last time.
• As there are so many small black circles needed for workshop 3 I have started to cut them out now, and recruited my family into cutting some each as I kept getting repetitive strain injury in my hand which causes it to swell...very happy for this help! 

• Finish cutting out some of the shapes needed to be stuck onto the fins.

I tried Cycling to the Scrap store in Bournemouth to pick up some more orange rip stock fabric as we ran out in last weeks workshop due to the children not being quite careful enough to fit the shapes on using three time the amount as my prototype. They had ran out of this so the leaders design has changed a little and there won't be quite so many shapes on them.

Workshop 1 03/05/2012

Introduction of My design 

I brought in my design and photos from inspiration, all spoke about past Moving tides carnivals and passed around photos of previous costumes.

Task one

Painting the Fins- Everyone painted their own fins, apart from the leader fins where they were spread out onto the tables so everyone could lend a hand. 

Task two

Cutting out the shapes for the fins. I brought in a large amount of templates so they could draw around then cut out.

Problem Solving

• Using over 3x the amount of materials as the prototype. Has resulted in me having to try to squeeze the leader costumes out of the scraps as the scrap store has run out of the orange rip stock fabric needed.
• Because there was less space on the tables than when I pained the fins we couldn't fit everyone fins on the table at the same time. to solve this problem they worked in teams of two to get there fins painted so there would be more space.

What I have learnt?

• As this was my first workshop, there were a few things I hadn't thought about before going in- the size of the tables. When I made my prototype I spread my fins right out so I had as much space as I needed. There table were 1/4 of the size which meant it was all a bit cramped. 
• I used kids scissors when cutting out the ripstock orange fabric and it was fine, though when I got to the cutting out, some were really struggling and I realised i hadn't taken into account that their scissors weren't brand new so some were really really blunt so they needed more help than expected.
• Children are not as conservative of materials, and though even told and demonstrated they will always draw their shapes in the centre of the material equalling in the use of a lot more materials
• Some of the shape cutting was difficult for some children and they found it a little fiddly, resulting in them struggling a bit. So helpers had to help speed them up a little and my teacher agreed to get it all finished by the following workshop. So less shapes, but bigger shapes would have worked better for this.