Yesterday, was the presentation of our film about the issues of dementia. It went really well, and i enjoyed working with the group. Although it was only a 2 week project i've learnt so much, and now know how to make and edit a stop motion film. 

I've discovered how peaceful central saint martins is at 8.30 am and also at 10.00pm. 

The aim of our film is to make dementia easier to understand, its an illness which is rising - but still isn't talked about all that freely. The information we found was all really complex and 'sciency', so we wanted to use metaphors and imagery to help explain it. We used a fish bowl to contain the brain (fish have short memories), we used knitting and tactile objects as research proved that engaging the senses is important to restore memories. We gathered testemonies and displayed these through the use of sock puppets we made. 

These are a few images of our recording process....

And this is our film......

Continuing on from my previous post...

We are now at work on our short film about dementia. We are doing alot of stop motion and focusing on metaphors to explain the science behind the illness. Below is a fish bowl, which we dropped food colouring into, (my photo dosen't do it justice) the colours and patterns were beautiful! 

And, the team at work....

More to come in the next few days, we have till thursday. I love how even though im doing textiles i get to experiment with film.

Health & Wellbeing

... Something truly fascinating

In my latest project, as a group we have been looking into the issues surrounding dementia. I've talked to a few different people about there experiences of loved ones suffering with the disease, and the outcomes have been amazing.

A friend i spoke to said although her grandma was suffering with loosing her memory, she could still remember things from her childhood. She could knit and dance and enjoy music.

Another lady i spoke to, brought up the importance of telling stories. Of people sharing there experiences with the world, and even if they repeat the same story over and over, it dosen't matter because its new each time for them.

This whole idea of creating something, which gives people hope and joy throughout the course of  dementia - by looking into there history / stories and building an individual, tailor-made plan to carry them through.

more to come......

London in the sun is so much better than London in the rain, hears 5 reasons why...

1) It slows people down

2) People become more relaxed (help of a bank holiday)

3) The parks & commons are buzzing, its such a good atmosphere

4) You always get a fresh breeze when you come up from the tube

5) It gives you more motivation to get out and cycle/frisbee/run

This bank holiday has been beautiful, other than the one day i dedicated to college work (deadline today). We properly BBQ'ed with real Aussies! We frisbee'ed it on the common. Dwelled in the pub. Crashed in front of New Girl. Churched it with Jesus & perfectly formed cupcakes. Picnicked in the Park, by Buckingham Palace. & drank innocent on the roof. 

Its been lovely in the company of good good people.

So, to today....

hears a quick update of my work from the secret garden project i mentioned previously. Which i handed in aprox 10 mins ago.

My project was all based around this 'spell shelf' which i found in the garden...

Have a beautiful sunny day! xx

Natural Dye

Today, we had a great workshop on Natural dyeing. I was just in ore of how we can get such vivid colours out of plants! And in my head i just kept thinking...At what point did somebody realise that if they boil Woed we get blue? Quite a discovery, eh?

Or 

More bizarrely, the fact Urine is a good alkaline and helps the colour stick?!

Yikes.

Anyway, the session in images.....

 Indigo samples

Madder

Indigo solution

The beautiful colours

This is defiantly something i want to continue doing. We were taught by Penny Walsh, who is quite the expert, you can see her work here. She recently naturally dyed a dress which was worn on the red carpet at the Oscars.

Today, has been one of my favourite in London yet. It was so beautiful (sun burning hot!), and after a quick stint in uni, me and warren headed to Clapham Common with our sainsburys picnic for a long natter and some red hot Doritos. 

I live in the roof, and i love looking out over all the roof tops. Sometimes at night i just stand in my window and take in the noise and sky - its incredible. 

Its been too long since my last post, so this is going to be a cluttered round up of the transition from Swansea to London. 

1st stop.. Swansea

I had such a great break, literally fulfilled the definition of 'relax', and i feel much better for it now. 

 (photo Molly Whyte)

We had a fundraiser to raise money for our trip to Sri Lanka, and we got around £140 to give where its needed! It was a wonderful time, in a beautiful cafe called 'the front room' in mumbles. 

This saturday we are taking to the fundraising wagon once again, this time in London. I really enjoy talking to people about Sri Lanka, so this is the perfect opurtunity to raise awareness and connect with people over exciting projects! 

I've started now on my next project in uni, and its based on 'Secret Gardens'! I found this beautiful community garden not far from Clapham common, its called Eden at St Pauls. Its a really creative space and whenever i leave and come back the next day i seam to discover something new has arrived...

Its my kinda project! We have even been helping out at a 'Skip' garden behind uni in Kings Cross, and its the most amazing place! We made planters to hold our 'dye' plants such as woed, marigolds etc! Which we will use in our natural dye workshop next week. FUN!!!!!