Today we had a lecture on how to develop a theme for our project proposal, how to write and research it. In the lecture were some questions that were meant to help us find an interesting theme that we can work with without getting bored. After the lecture i answered some of the questions, and decided to start my research in the library. In the library I mainly researched about Stones, Stonehenge and Easter Island, because i would like my project to have a historical background behind. I have found some interesting information about stones, but i think using the internet for research would be faster, so the next days I am going to use the internet as well.

• What inspires you? What do you find interesting, fascinating, important, etc...?

Today I went to the library to research more about stones, and what they are used for. I found two useful books, one of them is "A little history of astro-archaeology, Stages in the transformation of a heresy". From this book I've learned that people of Amesbury still keep their tradition and they gather "at the stones before dawn on the longest day of the year to see the sun rise over the Heel Stone.", also the book had some drawings that i thought that might help me develop some design ideas later. In the other book, (I forgot to write down the name) i have found other Circular standing stones in UK.

Project Proposal

Hidden stones

Progress and Achievement

At the start start of the course I knew only the basic things, how to draw and develop two or three ideas based on a poorly done research. In time my research got stronger and that helped my idea development, leading to an outcome that I was pleased with. I have learnt new skills and my execution of already known techniques got better. I learned how important model making is, as well as experimenting with materials. Being on this course also made me pay more attention to details and become more professional with final outcomes.

Pathway Choice

When I was choosing my pathway I was thinking to go to fashion design, however I came to the JFFA . I have integrated well here, mainly because I have a strong interest in fashion and I really like to make and create. I think it was a choice well made as I have learned things that are very useful and are going to last for my whole life. I look forward to becoming more professional and sophisticated and better trained in what I am doing, improve my skills in research and idea development.

Project Proposal Aims and Realisation

My project is about nature, history and culture related to stones and rocks. I have chosen this subject because my inspiration often comes from nature and I have an interest in history. I want to discover more things about stones and rocks than just the everyday bits of information we usually have on them. I want to use the research information I gather and make a contemporary piece with a historic story behind. I will work on the body, more specifically the chest shoulders and the neck. My research is going to be based on the shapes of different stones, their surface, what they were used for in the past, as well as their current use, different rock types, the colours they have, artists who used history and nature as an inspiration. I will research organic forms, and, because my project tittle is called “Hidden stones”, I will also research around the words protection, armour and hiding to show the mystery and the value they had. Current starting points for my research are stones and the rocks on the Easter Island, Stonehenge and other stone circles, stone tombs, ceremonial stones and ancient rock carvings. As for the material I am thinking to use fabric, metal or even stones. 

Evaluation

I will record everything related to my project in my reflective journal and my information file. I will carry a small notebook to add notes and a camera to record what i am doing.

Today I went to the Natural History Museum, and visited the mineral, rocks and gemstones collection. I have spent my day there and i have gathered information about stones, and took pictures, which i intend to use as surface inspiration. There were really colourful stones, and I really liked this burst of colours that came out of the stones. I've never thought that rocks and stones can be this beautiful. I think I want use colours in my project, and have a very colourful outcome.

Today I have decided to visit the British Museum, because I knew that they have an statue from Easter Island, and after reaserching about this island I really wanted to see it. It was smaller then I was expected to be, but it seemed to be really heavy. I also researched other statues made from rocks and and found out that rocks were also used as weapons. I liked the pointy and sharp rocks that were used as knifes. I learned a lot today about different cultures, and find out that rocks were their main material to work with.

17 February 

Today I went to the Science museum,but my visit wasn't very helpful as I didn't find any useful information for my project.

18 February

I went to the CSM library today, and I have found an interesting book " Glazes from natural sources", I have learned that rocks are used for many things such as for making glazes. I intend to experiment with glaze also.

19 February

Today I went to the Saatchi Gallery I was inspired to continue my research in more colourful areas. And I Think about making modern piece of jewellery/ fashion accessory.

My mom brought me some crystals and rocks from romania. I was looking today at their shapes and surface hoping that I could start developing some ideas, but I think I need pebbles,or bigger stones for my project. Tomorrow I will go the Hyde park and see if I can collect some from the ground.

I went today to the Hyde Park to collect some stones, but there weren't any, so i have buy from the store. I think I can find some in decorative shops, but I will ask my tutor on thursday about that.

I have done some research about artists who use rocks/ stones/ crystals in their works. 

I was really inspired by Hirotoshi Itoh's works, because he combines unusual materials with rocks, and some of his works have funny aspects.

Another artist that I liked was Gemma Draper, mainly I liked her work because she had these glazed things attached to rocks/ crystals and made little jewellery pieces out from these.

Today I had a small tutorial with my tutor, and he told me that should start putting my research into my sketchbook. Also he recommended me some artists that use rocks in their art works. 

I asked Karla about where i could get some stones as i couldn't find in the parks, and she told me that I have to go Brighton or buy it from the shops. As my mom is in town I can't go to Brighton, so I have to look into some decorative shops. 

I worked on my sketchbook today. I put the research I had, and also did some collage, I think I wanna concentrate more on geometric lines, and adding colour to the stones.

My mom thought me today, how to knit on stones, i like how it looks, I am going to design something so i can use this kind of stones, also thinking about using knit.

I went today to 3 shops and I didn't find any stones that i could buy. But then I have found some marble that is used for decorating the floor/walls, and bought that one. I like the shape, flat and thin, and also the combination of colours is nice too. 

Today I had my progress tutorial. and my tutor said that i was behind with my project and that i should start some idea developing. I do find starting the idea developing very hard as i still feel i can continue my research more. Also my tutor recommend me some jewellery designers that I could research.

I continued my research today, on stones, concentrating more on the part of art, and sculpture, and I did some collage based on that, and added colour and more geometric forms. 

The past few days I have started designing some ideas based on my research on arrows, I thought about making bags for arrows, or just  a wearable support. I feel really stuck in therms of deigning some real things.

I continued today thinking about design ideas, i drew some concepts that i might develop later. Mainly I am thinking to use metal as my main material, and maybe pouring it on the stones that i bought. 

Today I looked back on my research, and realised that everything i have researched had heaviness in common. So I have did some research on the position of the body when carrying something heavy. And developed some design ideas after.

I experimented today with some of my stones, and spray paint it , and when it got dry, it had a glazed effect, i really liked that.I glued some colourful things on another stone, to see if colour is going well with the stone colour. 

I continued designing today, and concentrated on the neck area , thinking about making a neck piece, a heavy one. I was inspired by the first part of my research, about all the workers that carried heavy stones to create art. and I was thinking to mage continue on the shoulders too.

Today I started working on my final design idea, I have made some paper model and test it on a mannequin, but the paper compared to the stones was to thin, so i had to make another model. Then i went to the metal workshop and started to make the base where the stones are going to be attached. Also i have thought about some technical problems today, and a way of attaching the stones. I showed my tutor my final design idea, and he preferred another design that i have in my sketchbook, i agreed to change it, because i think i choose the simple and the faster way to finish this project, and this other design was more challenging. Also he suggested to make the neck piece more rounder. So tomorrow i have make another one. I also prepared a part of my stones that i am going to use, by taking the glue off of them, using the sandpaper.

This morning i solved some technical problems, and decided to keep the knit and also knit on the stones too. I've went then into the workshop and made another neck piece, but i don't like this one either, I've attached one of the stones but it turned out to be very hard to attache it and i really hated how it looked. So on thursday i have make another one. I don't really know what i don't like about them, but it's really something there that is bothering me. I talked to my tutor and told her that i don't like how the stone is attached and she suggested that i can make a hole into the stone and then glue it to the metal, but i did't liked that idea either.

Today i called my dad to ask him some advice on how to attach the stones, but i did't liked his ideas as they were too complicated, finally i thought about making small round metal shapes that i can solder to the metal base and then  glue the stones on it.

Today i have discussed with my tutors my final design idea and i have showed them the changes that i have made, they liked my idea and Helmert suggested to make the neck piece higher. I made a quick metal model, and then went into the metal workshop and made the final one, as the next week is the last week before the easter break i wanted to finish all the metal work before the holiday, but it did't turn out how i wanted, it looked bad made, so i made another one, this time i was more careful, and i liked it more the last one, also i've decided to make it for men and not woman.

I went today to the Serpentine gallery and I saw there some really incredible art works, and some of them included stones, i felt like i have made the wrong choice and maybe i should've used more colours on my project, but now it's too late to change it, the gallery was really inspiring, i should've gone there earlier. Then i went to the saatchi gallery, but comparing these two i enjoyed more the Serpetine, mainly because it was really rich in colours.

Today we were at KX so i couldn't use the workshop. We had a demo of how the assessment is going to be, and we were given a list to check if we have done them all. After that i went to the BA jewellery student and used her tools to continue my work, i cut in tin plate my stone shapes, so tomorrow i could start spot welde them together.

Today at the workshop i've used sandpaper to make the sides of the metal smoother and then when i finished them all, i spot welded them to the metal base, i had to turn the temperature higher as it was breaking easily after i spot welded. After i spot welded them all, i used the fire to make it turn black, it looked really good black, i wasn't expecting to like it, but it was fine. A big mistake that i did was that i forgot to spot weld the sides metal. I did spot welded after and i think it is a bit misplaced, but i will try to fix that tomorrow. And then again i used the fire to make it black. After Karla suggested that i put some on the metal to prevent it from getting dirty and rusty. I did put some varnish on the metal and it became even more darker and it looked really nice, i tried the varnish on the stones but after it got dried there wasn't any difference, so i decided to leave the stones as they were. Then when the varnish was dry, I used some sandpaper on the part that the stones were going to be attached, and then i screeched it so the glue would stick better, and i had time to glue only 2 stones, I'll see on Thursday if the glue is good enough to hold the stones and the metal together, I really hope it is, because if it isn't i have no other solution of how i am going to attach them, and i am really running out of time.

Today i have glued the rest of the stones, but i think i did it bad, because i've put too much glue and it dried really fast, and i didn't clean it on time. I have decided to put stones on the sides as well, although i should have done that before gluing the stones, but it turned out ok. And i glued all the stones and finished with what i had proposed to do this week. Karla suggested to put varnish on the stones as well, because even though there is no difference in the look, she said that the stones are like sponges and it picks up grease and dirt, and the varnish will prevent that. So I put varnish on the stones as well. I am a little scared that the outcome won't be heavy enough, but still i have a lot of stones to glue on the knit, and if it's still not heavy enough, I will add more hanging stones. I will continue to work on my project in one week, because i'll be going to Paris, and in the meantime i will visit museums and see if i can associated my work with  anything i see there.

Today I started to kint on the rocks my mom gave me, as i couldn't really find any here. I kintted on 2, and decided to knit different models on each. 

Today I have cleaned my stones that i going to use un the knit, by taking the glue off of them, using the sand paper.

The past few days I have knitted all the rocks that i have (10) but I don't think that's enough so today I have used smaller rocks and knitted on them, but i'm not sure if i am going to use them yet. 

I have started today to knit for the metal. A big mistake that i have made was that i haven't measured how big i have to knit, and I had to start all over again because it was the wrong size. I still haven't finished it, but I will continue tomorrow. I think it is going really slow as i am not doing the basic knit, i am doing the 1 row knit one, purl one across, and the 2 row purl one, knit one across, but i think it's definitely worth the time, as it look much better. 

Today we had a talk about how to photograph our work or prepare it for the photoshooting, over the easter break i have decided to have a contrast into my work, and decided to have male model with darker skin so that i could achieve this effect. I also thought about displaying it on something dark, maybe a black painted wood. I continued today with my knitting, and finished the first part, and then I started to knit for the sides. 

Today I've researched some photos, of fashion photo shooting, i am not sure if it was helpful, as my piece can be worn just one way, 

Today we had a really helpful talk about how to write our 500 words evaluation. After the talk i went to buy glue and buttons, to attach the stones on the knit, I've spent the rest of the day finishing my knitting, and then i prepared my buttons, because it had some print on it i had to clean it and then i used sandpaper to make it flat so i can glue the stones one it.

Today i sewed the buttons and glue the stones, i have decided that i'm not going to use the little bits that i have knitted, because i like it better how the piece looks like with out it, originally i made them to hide/cover the stones, too keep a relation between the title and the piece "Hidden Stones" but i think that having the stones the same colour as the knit they blend together nicely without having to cover them. I finished the final piece, and tomorrow i have the photo shooting, and i have no idea how it will go, as my model never tried the piece on.

I had the photoshoot today, I choose a simple black background, to make the piece stand out. I really liked the pose where the model is leaning forwards, because the photo is capturing exactly what i wanted to show with my final piece, the heaviness of the stones. I am now deciding between two photos, which one I am going to use on my banner. Also I wrote today my banner text, I hope it will be easy for the public to understand what i hanged to create.

"My project is about nature - history and culture built around stones and rocks. I have created a contemporary piece that relies on historic background. My inspiration were the ancient works done with stone – statues and buildings, but also the hard work our ancestors did to accomplish it all. The main materials that I have used for my piece are stones, meant to make the design heavy, so that whoever wears the piece would carry on their shoulders a hint of the weight our ancestors carried."