WYTHNOS NAW - week nine

Well this week did not start as planned, 10:30pm Sunday night and the joyous cramps arrived meaning one thing, I knew I was going to be out of business on Monday. Which I was, I spent the whole day in bed in pain, drinking lots of tea and binged watched a new series everyone is talking about called Rivals. It was actually amazing and can't wait for season 2. It was also good for me to have a complete rot day, I've been working on my projects every single day and didn't really take any time off to take a step back and although this wasn't the kind of day off I'd like, it was needed. I didn't feel too guilty though because I did attend a critical writing lecture in the evening, although they pretty much just went through what was on canvas but it was a good recap. I'm gutted I missed the timeline lecture though with John, still waiting for him to put up the slides but otherwise I'll email him and see if he can give me 15 mins to go through it, it's super important to get right so fingers crossed he doesn't mind!

Tuesday however I was back to normal, still full of cold but my body wasn't attacking me now. The weather though, was. It snowed overnight but I wasn't going to let that stop me from getting into uni as I had a lot planned! I managed to get in for 9:30am and iron my shirts, grab all my work from the MA room and get prepared for my 1-2-1 with Kayla. We talked about so much I'm going to paste in my notes because otherwise I'll be writing for hours. The discussions we had made me even more excited than before and I really am passionate about this project. There is so much I COULD do but I know that I don't necessarily have the time to do it, but we spoke about reaching out to industry experts (my friends haha) to do parts of it that maybe I am not great at or don't have time to because as much as I would like to learn these things, I must continue with it once I have finished my MA for my own personal development.

On top of the projects I am doing now, we talked about semester 2 and what I would like to do for dissertation and transdisciplinary practice and Kayla agreed that it flows really well and all links together which is great. I feel so happy with how this project has developed and it really does feel natural and not forced. The only thing I feel I'm forcing at the moment is how to critically write my Project Proposal, but I know it will click and then I'll be speeding away.. just waiting for that day and hope it comes very soon.

Straight after my 1-2-1, I had booked into the photo studio to do some draping on the stand with my shirts, including the one I screen printed. It was so much fun and I know it's going to help me to develop ideas for how my designs or collection could look. I think I actually do want to do Womens wear even though I usually focus on the male gender, but it seems more natural to do so with the Welsh Lady inspiration and also everything that is going on in the world today with Womens rights, time for me to put the focus on Women!

The afternoon we did Riso Print, which I've never done before but it was really fun. We made a mini zine all together, each putting 2 pages together and then picking 2 colours for the printer. I collaged mine a bit more and overlayed some pieces. I think I would use this technique again in the future, maybe for a branding project or as part of my portfolio, I'm not sure yet but it was so simple and quick, it feels worth it!

On Thursday I finished my critical review for my project proposal and it feels so good to have that weight lifted from my shoulders. It didn't take too long and I truly believe its because I stepped away from it for almost a week and had the time to reflect and then hyper focus again. I even went back and checked on my introduction which I want to revise a bit in the next week. I still need to do the timeline but I have my 1-2-1 with John this Monday so I think we will talk about it then.

I came into Uni on Friday and took photos of everything I had produced so far so I could spend the time over the weekend doing my portfolio pages in preparation for our review on Tuesday with Kayla and Paul. I'm quite shocked at how much I've managed to bash out these past couple of weeks because it has felt so easy and fun. I finally made the laser cut love spoon in the fab lab too, it took me so so long to do and poor Rory I think was getting a bit fed up, but we persevered and it was so worth it. It looks amazing and I can't wait to find a way to include it into my designs.

I rented out a camera for the weekend to take some photos that Kayla and I had discussed but the weather was so grim over the weekend it didn't end up happening. Instead I decorated for Christmas, did all my laundry and made some more weaves but this time in fabric I'd taken from the sewing room.

To Do:

• Revise introduction

• Do my timeline for my Project Proposal

• Edit photos I have to include shoes in nature

• Continue with portfolio pages - draping on the stand, draw over, use prints i've made etc

• Wrap up any things I need to do in Uni before going away