well not sure how printing is going, ill just keep going!I have been sourcing stuff for the degree show, and has not been a breeze,I am finding what you want and what you can get has been a bit of a pain .
Moving on to other work I have been doing ,and research into medieval badges and byzantine church artifacts, I have been experimenting with my own badges and depicting a story of the subject i am interested in.
The badges were cheap popular ornaments from the 13th century to the middle 16th century. Most badges were cast out of molds, using led tin alloy. They were manufactured and sold in large quantities, and distributed among all classes.
Some of the badges were pilgrims badges, pilgrims bought them as souvenirs of the places of pilgrimage.
The sale of profane or non-religious badges ( and erotic) Badges took place in a commercial manor . Pedlars and story tellers sold them on market stalls.
Grayson Perry writes “As well as conventional religious badges depicted satirical proverbs, erotic jokes and fantastic Hybrid creatures. I enjoy badges as they bring home to us for that of many. a pilgrimage was a holiday and involved a lot of fun as well as religious devotion ” I felt that being able to see both collections simultaneously allowed me to see the similarities between contemporary culture and that of one that existed 600 years ago. I could see that, just as we do today medieval cultures traveled far and wide to see a specific person or object.
From pointy hats to a dress, I was thinking how do I suspend the dress without using a half mannequin. After wrestling with a coil of wire and masking tape, I think I have come up with some sort of construction , although I will review this idea when I visit the studio later today. Dare I go back to the print room after my disastrous printing experience!! Well no doubt I will blog about it later.
Off to pick up a projector for a bit of experimentation with a film I have made, the idea is to project my film on to a muslin dress,” part of my project” so plug in and let the magic begin…well the computer is working but there is no projection, after faffing about for a while ah ha! It helps when you switch it on, this is like de ja vu from the bad print day! Yay, this looks like it may work! The aim is to create a spiritual feel to my work by projecting the film onto the dress, the film I am experimenting with is about disguise , based on a Capirote which is a pointed hat that is used in Spain. It is part of the uniform worn during holy week/Easter in Mediterranean countries “Penitentes” ( people doing penance for their sins) would walk through the streets with pointed hats. It was a way of self injury, however, they covered their faces so that they wouldn’t be recognized.
On Tuesday I headed for the printing room thinking on how I could to get my prints looking good , preparation is the key here.. Thinking to myself this is rather like a ritual, I had my lovely new paper at the ready and being extra careful, soaking the paper for the right amount of time, and trying not to get any smudges on it, on go the plastic gloves now to ink up my etching plate, then carefully place the plate on the press, cover it up with the blankets and wind it through, then to carefully fold the covers back to reveal the plate and then peel it off the special paper, so what went wrong ? Everything ! Then it happened again arghhhhhhhhhhh!
Thinking plan … how to display my degree show, what do I need , what works. what doesn’t, its time for sourcing materials and more experimentation. I cant believe how quickly this is upon us.
