A trip to Pineda and Blanes

So I've decided it best to make use of my week off...I hadn't done any sight-seeing in a while so my good friend Laia suggested we take a trip to Pineda and Blanes. It was just over an hour in the car. Blanes is a nice little sea side town. Defiantly worth a visit. I spent the day taking photographs and drinking coffee, something which is becoming more and more of a problem. How on earth will I be able to go back to the coffee in England compared to what I have now become accustomed to out here! 1.20€ for amazing coffee at any cafe or £4 for weak and gritty Starbucks. I will have to go back on the green tea when I come home.

Back to Blanes....it was such a relaxing place, a lot less people and much more of the beach to yourself, though that's probably got a lot to do with the time of year also. I can imagine it getting very busy in the warmer months. But an ideal get away for me, I think I needed a break away from the city. I guess the city gets to you after a while. There is so much to see and do, I am going to make sure that I have been to as many places as possible while I'm out here, because there's not long left, and I won't have this experience again. I really want to go to Madrid, but it costs over 100€ via train. I will wait until June for that one, and only if I have money left over. 

Here's some photos from today's trip

 

Illustrative style and refinement

I have been spending a lot of time on refining my illustrative style. For a while now I have not been happy with it, I feel it lacks character...but only in a way which can adapt to individual looks. For example, a politically aimed piece that expresses disenchantment, apathy and sadness, verses an exotic, happy, bright and colourful piece and how I express that through my illustration. I need to find some way of drawing models in a way that is fitting to any type of collection I create. I will shortly upload a series of different looks and several boards which shows how I have come to what I believe to be a really artsy and fairly unique style. I am very happy with the outcome, and even happier that it comes naturally to me and that I can draw at speed with my new style.  (Boards to follow this evening due to posting on my mobile phone right now) 

Eco fashion project progress...

This week I have been working towards some designs for my Eco project. As per usual, I have changed my mind, I don't want to use shirts anymore, I thought of recycling old denim jeans, I had visions of all the jeans that get thrown away because the bottoms have dragged on the floor and ripped, this tattered old worn effect is actually quite beautiful, damaged by being scuffed on the concrete. I remember as a teenager buying extremely baggy jeans, when I was going through my skater/grunge phase.

Cavalcada del Reis Mags

The festival of the three kings, something I've never experienced before, an event mainly for the children, but that's ok, I thought...why not go and experience this different tradition.

I arrived at catalunya square to meet my good friend Laia, around 19:30, the metro was packed full of people all cramming on desperatly to get to the square before the event started. When we got there, not too far from our meeting point at Cafe Zurich, the crowds were horrendous. There were too many people. I didn't get a very good view of the carnival from where I was, and undoubtedly because of fully grown men standing on chairs from the nearby Cafe. The event lasted about an hour, and a lot of work had clearly gone into it, the costumes were great! Here are some photos that I took anyway...

After spending time back in England over the festive period, it was very hard for me to come back out here to Barcelona, I often thought of not coming back out and giving up on the whole thing, not because I don't like it here, I just miss my family that's all. I contemplated is this all worth it? How much money I'm spending over how much I'm missing out on back home. Also it seems fairly impossible for me to get any industry experience out here. I have decided that I am going to try to find a job, something that I can work around my studies. It will be good for me to earn some money to help with the expenses of living here. Tomorrow I will get a Spanish SIM card, so that companies can contact me easier, and I will also get copies of my passport done and some photographs. I will need all these things to apply for my NIE, its an ID number to enable me to work. I do hope this process is straightforward. A friend told me she found it impossible to get an appointment to apply of the NIE. Fingers crossed!!

Christmas market

Me and my flatmates thought to take a walk into town to visit the Christmas market here. I read somewhere online that it is one of the best in Europe. So, I had to go check it out for myself and also I wanted to see if I could buy my family something for Christmas.

Here are a few photos from my trip to the market, I walked around a lot today. The Christmas lights here are fantastic, I got quite distracted by them. I guess it makes up for not having any 'trick or treaters' on Halloween....or fireworks night. I have well and truly felt left out this year. I picked up a few good things from the market, a table decoration for 12 Euros, a pretty handmade pendant for 15 Euros and a Christmas stocking for 12 Euros. All in all, its relatively well priced and reasonable. Defiantly worth going to because you can get some really lovely stocking fillers for your family here and its all locally made. I really like the idea of buying local produce/products.

A new project on Eco Fashion...

I've not long come back from class, where I have been set another two projects, the main project is on Designing a garment that is inspired by eco friendly design. The side project is creating a fashion film. Both projects are set to run through Christmas and into the new year, this has both positives and negatives. The positive is that I will be able to work on my project at home using my machine, which is slightly more reliable than the ones I have been using out here. But then the negative being the fact I will be working all through the Christmas break, and this means that I wont be spending as much time having fun with my family. Something which has become increasingly difficult for me during my time out here, I miss them so much, and even though we have modern technology like FaceTime and Skype, its not the same as seeing them all face to face. Its only a couple of weeks and I will be home, I keep trying to remind myself.

This post was looking a bit bare, so instead of making a new post, I thought that I would just update this one. In my last class I had to come with three ideas for what area of Eco Design I would look into for my project. I proposed three ideas to my lecturer, the ideas that I presented were, Biodegradable dress, jewellery made from cable ties or reinvented clothing from charity shops. My lecturer preferred my last idea and to be honest, so did I, its more fun. At least I can go a bit crazy with the design. So anyway, in preparation for the class tomorrow, I have put together some inspiration on a board, that's the photo above. And I also designed a quick outfit, its only a very basic sketch but you can get the idea, I think I may use shirts to create the whole outfit, even the skirt, I will take different parts of them and make a new item, and I will do all of this with making sure that I do not waste any fabric in the process. This will keep well within the idea of Eco friendly fashion. This project will be very similar to a project that I have worked on before. Only the errors I made in the last one, I will rectify for this time around. Oh and the sketch that I did underneath, I have already changed my mind about it, I will still present it to my lecturer tomorrow, but I will be sure to be spending the whole weekend re-designing. I think the general idea of the design I have just done it way too boring and plain.

Project hand in and presentation in front of the whole class...

 

 

I was not too sure what to expect by walking into the classroom for my presentation today, as it's very clear to me that the students do things quite differently here. When you are used to doing things one way, it's a rather awkward feeling when you bring work that is totally different to anyone else's. Lucky for me, I didn't go first this time. During the past couple of weeks I have ben asking to look at other peoples' work, just to get some sort of rough idea of what kind of presentation is expected of me. I am used to portraying my ideas through materials, fabrics and imagery alone. Taking inspirations from various areas of design, almost everything but fashion. Here, they seem to like writing. For me this is difficult because I believe if you need to explain your ideas and thoughts then you haven't done very good research. But hey, I gave it a shot anyway, so this explains why this work is so different to things I would normally produce back home.

Then the poem that I remember from when I was younger, this inspired my design process, I thought, how could I take elements of this poem and turn them into a garment, by thinking of this it drew me on to other ideas,

Then I started on my mood boards and collecting images that I can use for inspiration. I would say that they are fairly self explanatory.

After my mood boards, I started to look and May queen inspired fashion, viewing some items by Dolce&Gabanna, and some fashion photography.

Then I remembered the Edinburgh Fire Festival, and how they feature several may queens in the display each year. I decided this was very relevant to my project and I loved the embroidery on the garments and the way the embroidered flowers only run along the bottom of the dresses, keeping the may queen in a way still traditional in the sense she is wearing mostly pale white. This then lead me onto the idea of maybe not hand embroidering the whole dress, maybe just the bottom, putting a modern twist on the traditional dress.

And now the 8 'looks' that I had to design for the 'May Queen' collection. I  don't think I have ever used such an awful mix of colours for designing before, but hey, it fits what I want it to do, so that's all that matters. This is another that I have noticed, I do things totally different, where I draw all of my illustrations myself, on the computer using various software packages, the students over here, they just take an image from a catwalk show of a model, they then draw the garment on over the top. But I really don't like this way of doing illustrations, it feels like cheating, but not in a good way either, they look like an obviously drawn on item, so really, you may as well draw the whole thing. I don't understand why not.

This was my technical drawing of my final garment. As you can see, I have changed my idea quite a lot throughout the project, I did try to do the PVC basket weave over the top of the garment, but due to lack of resources out here, and substandard machinery, I couldn't stitch the PVC together. I had to make a quick change of mind. no I knew that I wanted to use the PVC, I had to because it was the whole idea of using a modern material to represent a traditional technique. I made the decision to cut the PVC into really tiny strips getting larger at the ends and cut into shapes that represent leaves. and use the strips to make straps and shoulder decorations, and I have to say, I am very glad that I was forced to change my idea, because in hindsight, the PVC covering the entire white dress, would have been too much, and all I wanted it for was the representation of a thought.

Then came my embroidery research. I had to look at ways I could make this really beautiful but with as little time taken as possible, having done hand embroidery for many years, I know just how long certain things can take, and realistically, I am working to a very tight deadline here.

Then I was actively trying out a few techniques,  one that I have done many times before, it involves painting around the embroidery and making a smaller amount of work look much bigger, and I needed this because I was running out of time.

And here is how the bottom of the dress looked with all the embroidery and painting complete, and also where I sampled the transparency of the PVC before attempting the obviously impossible with the machines to hand.

These are the photographs from the photoshoot that I did, ok, they were fairly rubbish, but it was my intention to alter them so much that it really didn't matter about the background more about the light direction

Guess what? More problems...then a design breakthrough!

So my phone charger broke, in very predictable style of all apple products, for about 2 weeks I've been coping with my DIY jobby of stripping back the wires, twisting them together and hoping for the best...and up until now, this had been working just fine. So off the the apple store I go, feeling so poorly I had taken the day off uni, which is something I never do, I woke with aching in my whole body and feeling dizzy. 40€!!! For a charger!!! I feel like I've been robbed. This is probably why I exited the store and nearly passed out, the metro ride home was hell, it was so stuffy and hot, I made it home, just. Then slept for 12 hours straight, as I type this blog post I am still in bed. This is two days later! I just hope I'm well enough for Tuesday because I have history class then...

And not to forget the bunch of other work I have to do for Disseny de Moda projects...an update on that....I have developed my concept into a fairly good Idea I think anyway, I really love it...so much so that I intend on making the garment to my size so that I can wear it when finished with the project. The project will be based around May Day celebrations in engalnd. And a particular poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809-1892) called The May Queen. It really has captured my imagination for this garment and for the whole collection that will be designed based around it. I have presented my idea to my lecturer and he likes it, so now I have less than two weeks to get the entire project done. Made dress, and designed collection of 8 looks. Oh and also a description of the base of my project. The image above is a rough sketch of my design, its not finished and mega scrappy, I know. But at least I have my design down. There will be a plain beige cotton slip underneath that I intend on hand embroidering with a floral design to represent the May Day celebrations. The colourful structure surrounding it will be a PVC weave, basically strips of PVC hand woven together like a basket. This will represent the May pole. I am trying to take an old tradition and modernise it. So far, I think it works.

A short visit to Tibidabo

A few days ago I decided to take a short trip to Tibidabo, because in the two months since I've been here, I haven't actually done that much sightseeing. 

I took the metro to plaça catalunya and then switched to the train that goes to Tibidabo. From there I took the bus that stops directly up from where you exit the metro. I think it was number 96. But just ask at one of the stalls to the left of the metro...that's what I did haha. The bus takes you right to the funicular, then you have to pay 7.70€ I believe for a return ride up the mountain.

There is a beautiful church at the top of mount Tibidabo called Sagrat Cor, and to take an elevator up to the top it costs 2.50€ but really worth it because the view from up there will take your breath away. There are quite a few narrow stairs to climb to get right up and underneath the Jesus statue like I did, so be sure to take sensible shoes! And the exact height at where I was standing was 564.43m. The air is so fresh from this height. I didn't spend too long here though, the more I looked down the more nauseous I became. 

The fair looks straight out of the 50's era, with 50's songs playing through the park. I went for a little walk around and suggest you do the same, I suppose this is me missing the English countryside. But with all the stress and worry I have been going though with university and worry of how things are back home, it was so nice to just unwind for the day and forget all my troubles. Much like what I do back home. 

There is fantastic architecture here, something to do for the children, even a little area of wooden climbing frames and slides. Take a picnic and have it with your family in the park. It's a great family day out for all! 
 

What am I doing here?

 

This week has been somewhat difficult, I attended my 'Taller de Moda' class, with uncertainty as to my continuation with the class, or if I would look to swap to the 'Disseny de Moda' class which is less practical and more conceptual, like project work, also looking into trends. I presented my work and ideas for my collection, however throughout the class we were advised that a complete look has to be completed in toile by the following Monday, this just seemed such a jump up from the very basic ideas and research that I and everyone else had done, and I kept considering the amount of other work that I had to complete for the other modules. I had made my decision to swap. I had so much other things to do and revision for my history exam coming up soon, translating all the Catalan notes, doing all my pattern cutting classes, which is really hard to focus on because it is taught so differently here, then throw in a whole much of language problems I have, oh and not to forget textiles and a giant book I need to make full of knitting samples. Theory exams to go with that! I don't want to create bad work and I feel that if I am over rushed then my work will be substandard, so the swap was entirely necessary. In the photo above you can see some of my pattern cutting work, with some pages photographed from a really interesting book that one of the students had, called 'Pattern Magic' I must buy this book ASAP so that I can learn more of the tricks. There is also one of my toiles for a pair of overly baggy trousers with a skirt that I altered from a classic trouser pattern. It didn't really work so I turned it into a catsuit...as you do. 

The above photograph is proof of how late I arrive home...I pass the Torre Agbar every night when I come home from uni, it's so beautiful, I had to take a quick snap of this. The same day I went in search for fabrics to make another pair of trousers with a geometrical pattern. I discovered a great store nearby called 'Stocks Textiles' it's in Poble Nou. They have some lovely fabrics there and at a reasonable price. Because it's so close this will come in handy for me. I noticed most the well priced tweeds, I know I'm on a budget but I would really love to make some tweet classic pants in a toile....then maybe take them home and wear them. It seems a waste to make my toiles in calico right now...or maybe I just want more clothes for my wardrobe ha! And as you can see by the photographs of the pattern cutting, it's all from scratch. No blocks, really technical. Hard but I feel like I'm learning a good skill here...providing my Spanish improves and it starts sinking in finally! 

These mood boards were what I prepared for my new class on Friday, the one that I swapped to. I am fully aware that I am playing catch up here and I have a lot of work to do. The class is 3 weeks ahead of me, but even with all the work I have to do, I still tried to get some basic concepts and ideas together. Basically what I have to do for one part of the class is to create a final item of clothing influenced my a tradition that has become less popular, take it and reinvent it in a modern way. If that be a textile technique or taking inspiration from a festivity or event itself and working that into a modern fashion concept. I have to say that this really does sound interesting and fun as a project brief. I wanted it to also be something more personal to me, so I chose the English tradition of Morris dancing. Specifically during the event of May Day. 

I presented these two boards to my lecturer and he liked the idea. Obviously I am playing catch up and need to have way more work for next week with fabric samples of what I wish to do for my final garment. But all this aside it went well. And since speaking with my lecturer, I have thought of brining in embroidery, and using the idea of the May Queen wearing such a pale white dress, embroiling this dress with flowers from the celebrations, using PVC strips and weaving them into the white, giving a semi transparent image of the embridary below. In my head it looks brilliant, but it's hard for me to describe. When I get my act together with this I will post up some designs. 

Also for the class we have another project working in groups and we will work on trends, every group has been given a different fashion capital to base trend research on. For this my group, we are working on trends for S/S 2015 New York. This is the time I really could do with assess to WGSN. It would make life a lot easier for me, but oh well...another  challenge ahead...now we shall see if the trend forecasting events really help (I'm sure they do because they were so interesting!) the test of my trend knowledge eeeekk!! 

During the weekend I have had a homesick moment. That lasted the entire weekend. It involved me sitting in my apartment, moping. Seriously the whole weekend. I think that I was so traumatised by the busy weeks of highs and lows that I started losing faith in my abilities. Most days, I leave my apartment at 8am and I don't return home until 9pm. It's really really tough and has an effect on me mentally and phisically. I feel like a zombie. I am so frustrated with myself for not picking things up instantly, I'm letting it get to me way too much. Also it doesn't help that I miss my family, I didn't think that it would effect me like this, I thought that I was strong enough to be away from home for any amount of time. But I'm not, I guess it's fine when you're having fun, but when you're not, you just want some friendly faces around.  FaceTime doesn't seem enough right now...but who am I kidding? As if I would get any time to spend with friends or family if they did come to visit. 

I hope for a more productive and happier week starting tomorrow. I think I've sorted my head out for now. It's a challenge and I don't quit, it may be hard but I must keep going just to prove to myself that I can live in a beautiful hell and come out the other end. Quitters doing get far in life. I must keep going.