Kaleidoscope

I really enjoy making these collages. One of the good byproducts of pillaging magazines for eyeballs is that i find these faces that i just have a feeling i need to keep to make another face out of. I just know with some of them that they are not for the bin but are destined for the sketchbook!
Ilike this first image a lot it is made from three different images of different women but they all had similar features which i think makes this image look almost like the same person but either disjointed or made out of many different expressions.

I think this collage is cute, I have taken the good looking blonde and chopped her up a bit and changed her identity and effect on the viewer. All of the original images i used for this one would have been pretty, made up girls and I’ve used that are still pretty features in their own right and by putting them together create a slightly off key look.

This image is effective because of the effect of the mixed skin tones through the smaller gaps, although this is a small image in my sketchbook i think it transfers quite well into a larger size.

This one is a bit more abstract as most of the front face has been cut out, not just chunks for the eyes and the mouth and because it is a colour image mixed with a black and white one. The hair covering the face of the black and white one almost looks like metal such as chain-mail, rather than hair because of the tone in the black and white image.


These two images are relatively simple, the first image’s top layer was impressive on it’s own and i did not wish to cover it up. Although i like it it is one just for the sketch book and not for display. The second one I like slightly more, mostly because it has no eyes at all, the top layers having been cut out and the bottom layer just being all fringe.

Really like this one, makes me think of an original Star Trek woman who would have bedded Captain Kirk. Although the glue made the paper ripple i think this kind of adds to the look of it and makes it look like the image has a shimmer over the top.

Slightly different again because the chunks taken out are bigger than the face itself and also it’s only made from two images. Both were quite striking original images and still make an impact.

This one again has the mixed skin tones of three images on it and i think the bottom image with the heavy make up and coloured hair almost seems like it matches the colours of the top image of the blues in the models necklace.

One of my favorites, made from three images, the eyes are too big for the face and the thumb on the lip of the second layer with the components of the other two images, makes a slightly imposing image. Having the top layer off centre also helps add to the uncomfortableness of the new image.

Cleared my work space out today, mixed feelings being up in the studios when all this is going on. I’m really excited but also getting emotional about the fact my time at uni is almost over. Think being highly hormonal is not helping and that finishing uni is not the only big change in my life that is happening very soon, as in normal circumstances I don’t think clearing up my stuff would upset me! Seeing my three years at uni reduced to four plastic boxes was a bit sad though.

Got a bit of work to do in the area i am moving into, there is paint on the walls and floors as well as a bit of sanding and general tidying up needed to be done before the space is ready to exhibit in.

First coat of paint on the walls and a bit of sweeping and scraping material off the floor and it’s already looking a lot more presentable. next thing on the to do list is actually finishing some work to put up in it.

This is a small plan out of my sketchbook of how i want my area to look, obviously it’s incredibly basic! I want almost 3/4 of the wall covered with wallpaper and i want to display the dollshouse on a table not a plinth so i will have to find an appropriate one that will fit with the work. The mirror hanging in the middle and then my collage sculpture at the end of the wallpaper so this is like a small installation. Then on the remaining wallspace i want to display some of my collage faces.

I have picked the pattern that I want to use, I don’t like the colour but that’s easily enough changed now i am starting to get the hang of using the photo editing technology.Although the sample id from a modern design, the pattern still has the old fashioned style i was looking for.

I have used 6 of my collage faces with the double exposure tool to create the wallpaper that I am happy with, the images are not blatantly obvious but still visible as faces. i now need to decide on a colour to produce the paper in and then work out a way to produce long enough sheets of it to cover the amount of wall I want and then how much it’s going to cost me.

It’s between these two which one i choose to use. I like both of these colours, they have a vintage feel and suit the Victorian pattern and the look i want to create. I am going to print off a few samples so i can see it in the flesh and decide which I like best.

My first rough attempt of making my own wallpaper. I have narrowed it down to two designs that i want to put my own images on top of. This first image is the basic strip of collage images that i had made stretched over one of the patterns i had found, then repeated. I used the double exposure tool to impose the images ove the pattern and stretched it so the faces were where i wanted them to be. This was a very rough first try and far too obvious that it’s two images meshed together.

I like the colours of this pattern a lot more than the first and i quite like how I have over lapped this photo but i think without zooming in, it’s not easy to see that it is a face at all. While i want it to be subtle that there is images in the paper i still want it to be identifiable and i think this paper is too fussy.

I’ve been looking for patterns and designs to create a wallpaper from. I have an idea in my head for the degree show, i want to create a Victorian style wallpaper with an old fashioned style print, then super impose images of my collage faces onto it.

These sort of patterns remind me of old houses that haven’t changed for decades, the walls stined from age and nicotine and peeling from the walls. The wallpaper that was in my dollshouse before i began to cover it, was stained with damp and age and the dollshouse itself deteriorating which was another reason i thought this older style would be better. Also the mirror i have started is an old dark wood and i could see it on a wall with a pattern like this.

I’ve looked on the internet at different styles, first of all i looked at 1960s and 70s thinking i would create one in a psychedelic style but then decided that a Victorian / start of 20th Century style would go with the rest of my work better.

I also looked at designs from packaging and similar items, the top design is from a Primark gift voucher card and the bottom design is from a gift bag from a jewellery shop.