Kaleidoscope

I’ve started playing around with digital editing, using Pixlr app on my phone and iPad and laptop, i don’t have Photoshop and find it quite complicated to use, whereas Pixlr is more user friendly and i suppose a bit dumbed down so people who aren’t massive computer fans are able to use.
This first strip i just put four of my images in a row then rounded off the edges to give a strip of circular designs like a repeat pattern on a wallpaper.

In this one i used six of my collages, the original four from the first strip, then used the double exposure tool in the editor to impose another collage over the top two images then another collage over the bottom two. I used two of my more brightly coloured ones so even with the image thinned out over the other images, the bright colours still showed through.

For this one i used one of the vintage filters to change the tone of the image. This warm filter floods the image and makes it look older and takes the edge off the disjointed images that it is actually displaying.

This one is just a repeat of the second strip then repeated four times on the same size strip as the other ones. Again I used a filter that was called Pop Art to get the four colours. It’s OK but i think out of all of these i like the second and third ones best. This was just an experiment and a bit of practice for me at photo editing as i want to design a wall covering of my own and these quick ones I’ve knocked up don’t have the impact I’m looking for.

As part of my display for the degree show, I also want to have a mirror that I have collaged. I’m beginning to build up an idea in my head of how I want my final display to be, when I have finished my dollshouse I am going to start on this mirror I picked up from a second hand shop.
I have collaged a vacuum formed face that I came across a year or so, again with eyes. The 3D shape of the face with the eyeballs on it is quite interesting. I intend to cut most the backing away, attach it to the mirror and then collage the whole thing.
I love using found objects in my work, not only does each object add to different mediums I use but also I hate waste and love to re use or recycle things. The mirror is one of the objects we use almost without thinking about it every single day. We look in it and judge ourselves and it looks back at us. By putting the eyes on the mirror I am trying to show the feeling of being scrutinised and judged, even if it is only by ourselves when we look in the mirror.

With these images I was seeing what different effects I could create by using the same fragments of a face over different images then photocopy them to get a new image rather than gluing it together so it’s a permanent design.
I did these on my home photocopier and I’m not happy with the quality of these prints at all so I would like to try it again using the mfd printers at uni to see if I’m any happier with them then.
I do like the top image more, the bright, contrasting colours of the bottom layer of the image make it seem as though half the face is being seen through a heat camera or the like.

I’m now most of my way through the top floor of the dollshouse. The side that is completed looks great, I’m really pleased with it. One of my main feelings while I’m creating this is of my disagreement with how women are still represented in the media and the images that are portrayed about how we are supposed to look.
It’s also about the feeling of being judged not only for women in the medi but in everyday life, having people question what you wear, your size and many other aspects of appearance and never having been 100% confident of my own appearance and how people view me, this is a very personal piece of work.
Now I am going through all the changes that happen during pregnancy I feel like the eyes are on me even more, how much weight have you put on? Your boobs have got big, your bums sticking out and even things said as compliments can knock me. The people around me are very supportive and I’m well aware that media imagery is altered and what pressures they put on, but I still find myself conditioned to think I should be a certain way even if the other half of me screams ‘stop being so ridiculous!’
I saw a comedy tweet the other day about Princess Catherine with mock headlines from the major newspapers with three saying she’d given birth and one saying had she lost the baby weight yet. It made me laugh and also rang true with the attention the media puts on these issues and how even if people around you are putting no pressure on you whatsoever, in your own mind you can be the person applying the most pressure.

Just a couple of photographs of the progression I am making with collaging the interior of my dollshouse. It is very time consuming but it is looking more and more effective the more of it I complete.
I am finding it harder to do the actual cutting out of the eyes at the moment as I’ve been suffering from carpel tunnel so it’s taking even longer than it was previously but I’m persevering as I think it will be impressive in the long run.