Monday 3 November 2008

Buttons, zips and poetry.

The latest assignment in my current Opus module has been about materials. We have had to look at a particular culture and how they use certain materials. I started by looking at the region of northern India, Pakistan and Afghanistan where garments are richly decorated with materials such as mirrors, coins, shells and buttons which offer symbolic protection to the wearer.


They often use items such as zips around edges and openings, not as functional items but again as a form of protection as in this jacket from Pakistan.

What I love about these modules is they are like journeys of discovery and can go off in all sorts of directions. Looking at buttons I got to look at Pearly Kings and Queens and from there to the fabulous work of John Galliano who has used bright coloured buttons to decorate garments.


Back again to zips on edges and I started to think about shark's teeth!

We then had to look at modern waste materials and how we might use them for protection and from this evolved my version of protective edging like teeth - rows of "teeth" made from crisp packets! The added "buttons" are from bottle tops from fizzy wine... oh how I suffer for my art!


From here I wondered what this would look like as an actual edge on a cuff...

... and what if I used the coloured side of the packaging and made extra rows...

... and then made this as a cuff too! I'm now starting to plan a whole jacket covered with these protective elements but think I might be getting carried away!


Completely changing the subject some of you may have seen Ali's post about sprucing up her kitchen... all part of a little game going on this week called kitchen poetry. Details can be found on Simple Sparrow. I think mine might be less poetry and more limerick but I thought it would be fun to play! And so today in my kitchen.... my shopping!



A pumpkin to make some pumpkin bread, a squash to make spicy butternut squash with cashew nuts and fruit just to eat!

20 comments:

  1. Your module looks so fascinating and its wonderful to see the development of your ideas.Thank you for sharing.x

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  2. Well I found your interpretation and discoveries on your module really interesting. Don't you just love to learn, and find out new 'stuff'? I think it's one of the best things in life.

    I'm really enjoying seeing the kitchen poetry going on around Blogland at the moment.

    x

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  3. Gina your work looks as fabulous as ever.

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  4. How cool are those teeth! I love tales of the thought process.

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  5. Lovely teeth and 'buttons'! Though I think you could have used gin lids - really, it would have been worth the extra effort ;-)

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  6. Am really loving the crispy cuff! How cool is that!? Huge amounts of crisp eating and booze swilling seems a small price to pay for such lovelies!
    xxx

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  7. Your Opus course is incredible and very, very scary to mere mortals like me! I'm always in total awe of what you come up with for your projects!

    Off to investigate the poetry thing now!

    Lucy x

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  8. Do the jacket, do the jacket , you know you want to......

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  9. I love how you develop your ideas. Your crisp packet cuffs are great and the fizzy wine buttons are inspired!

    It must have been awful having to consume all the wine and crisps needed ;-)

    xxx

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  10. WOW!!! your crisp packet teeth are amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and the wine bottle top buttons! I watched a programme about John Galiano the other night. Hope your bread turns out as delicious as mine did! x

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  11. I'm with Lucy and Lesley - the sacrifices you have to make for your art....!!!!lol

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  12. I love the crisp-packet-edged cuffs Gina, they look brilliant! You have such wonderful ideas - I guess that's why you're the teacher, and I'm the student who has really struggled with her homework!

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  13. Chip packets! When we were kids we used to lay them in the oven and shrink them then put a hole through them and use them as keyrings. I never thought to put them into a garment, though! I love your divergent thinking!!

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  14. I love the crisp packet cuffs - would make great evening purses too. I want to do your course too...

    Celia

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  15. oh my, you have such fantastic ideas - there's no way i would have thought of all that - fantastic cuff design.


    xxx

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  16. Oh wow, the crisp packet shark teeth are seriously fab- they look great! Do you eat all the crisps or do you have help?

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  17. I really like the direction you have gone in. The original shell/teeth/spines stuff must have arisen from using available materials and by-products of hunting. You forage in Sainsburys, and this is what you create! Very cool.

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  18. gina - so fun to watch your interpretation of the module i just finished. you and i went in completely different directions and yours is fascinating. great work on the 'teeth' theme.

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  19. Your prairie point cuffs look so elegant - no-one would think they came from such a mundane origin. That is taking recycling to dizzy heights. Your Opus module sounds challenging but most enjoyable.

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  20. Your module looks so interesting Gina! And I just love those cuffs (who would have thunk of using crisp packets - great recycling).

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