LUX 2018: Pom and Pom

This week we attempted to create our desired body shape by using an existing Kane-mail bubble light as our main body piece. Kate also found some green UV Dye and hand dyed white yarn to get our desired green 'glow'. We also discovered some fabric that had a UV quality which we then shredded and came up with a really cool shaggy effect. Both materials gave us the kind of shaggy look we wanted, so we started to trial how they could look together, and also attached to the kane mail.  We decided that we liked the look of the green UV dyed yarn matched with longer orange UV fabric strips, so Kate will continue to only dye with the green.  We thought choosing a main colour pallette over multiple neon colours would give us a better idea of how an overall body could look in the end. We then also realised that although we loved the sound the Kane-mail made when it moved it was far too bulky and heavy to be used.  Kane-Mail suit Dyed yarn Orange shredded fabric with ...

http://www.daniellewilde.com/swing-that-thing/hipdisk/ These images show some research we did into what our body shape could look like and what materials we could use to form it. Unfortunately we didn't get many images of our testing before destroying it, but we did find the idea of using pipes for a rounded shape was really good, and we tried it with kane mail over it. 

Our Original idea of what the creature could look like stemmed form creating a shaggy, hairy looking body that someone could wear on their body. From drawing it out it seems we've turned out with more a blob shape that doesn't so much look like a human body like the original drawings we did do, but more like a big hero 6 baymax like character that is rounded and has a large belly that emphasises that rounded shape. 

This week we have begun testing and trialing the way we can create a 'pompom' texture for the body of our creature. We've been searching in many different stores and online to see what we can find in the way of materials that can be used for this, and have discovered a few different techniques that could potentially work. Kate developed the idea of stitching rows of wool down onto calico to create lines of shaggy wool that will hang off the body like fur. Both Zoe and Kate have focussed on developing the stitching technique for the 'fur', while Sarah and Will are focussing on the overall body shape of the creature, and what materials could be used to make this, and also looking at what lighting we can use to make the fur and the body come to life. We've played around with the idea of having an extension off the body in the form of a tail or some long arms, w...