Monsters in the Wardrobe

 Mesh Test This is the start to my screen printing onto the mesh I plan to use for my hoodie. I started with the white because this if the background colour. I then added the black. It took a couple of coats because the mesh is black I needed to add more to make it brighter. My next colour is red veins. cant wait to see how it looks. Finished mesh 

My children's drawing of what they interpret to be "Monsters" First is by my middle child, Lizzie Age 11. This is what she sees as a monster, the eyes were a big focus on hers because she says that's the scariest bit. If someone stares at you it makes you feel uneasy. How can I make this a positive?    This one is by Cole age 13. This is a drawing of their biological Mother (they call me Mum). Cole has had a lot of mental torture from Ali which is why they see her as a monster! This one is done by Lucy age 11. She's a future artist and has created this image of a creature that has snake like bodies intertwined together. She has also suffered mental abuse.    Spencer is the youngest of the family, aged 7, so he sees monsters as something playful. Because he loves to draw he wanted to do two of his favourite colours. I want to use these as the starter and work from these and take elements of what I like and think will work.  

The subject of Gender is one which is close to me on a personal level. Two of my children are part of the LGBTQ community in that my 2nd child Lizzie is Trans (she was born a boy) my partners 3rd child is Non-Binary (they were born a girl but do not identify as either gender). In watching them develop their identities it became obvious that the clothing in which they found themselves were having an adverse effect on their mental health. Before they were able to finally express their needs properly they were made to wear clothes which were incorrect for them. The clothes became more and more problematic until it reached a point that it was like there was a monster in the wardrobe and the children didn't want to go near. We teach our children to try and own their fears and problems and so it becomes about taking control of the problem and in this case taking control of the monsters. They have learned to express themselves through exploration and have owned the monsters.  I wa...

Recycling old jeans This is a quick design I did because I wanted to make sure I was trying to use recycled things where ever I could. I wanted to try to make it look like a big literal monster but this was taking it to a costume place. I like where I was going with this design but it was taking me in the wrong direction and I hope to do a whole project using recycled items. Watch this space!

Mixing figures. When i spoke with susie she suggested that i might want to try a gender fluid shiloette. So i thought about how I could do this. I knew I had some make and female figures so I cut them up to place into shapes to them draw a gender fluid figure. I have then scanned them into my computer to work on top.

Fabric Dyeing                                                                                     Because of lockdown I've been finding it hard to source material so i chose to get a variety of white fabrics to see if I could dye and print onto them while being at home. I used calico for my first series of tests because I had this at home and from previous experience with this fabric I know its easy to dye and play with. First test I tried acrylic painted on bubble wrap then pressed onto the fabric. I wanted to look at the texture and pattern the bubble wrap makes. I felt this test went well. I like that it looks like sucker from a tentacle but maybe I need to try bigger bubblewrap. My next test was my favourite outcome. This is eyeballs drawn on using ...

  Screen Printing I ordered myself a screen print at home kit just as lockdown begun because I had started trying this at university. The kit came with instructions so I followed them to make sure I did this correct as the only way I had been shown how to do screen print was at uni. It is a very easy process. Start by finding an image (I wanted an eye) I knew I wanted to do 4 layers(colours) so I started with the black outline of my eye. I drew my outline with a blunt pencil to not to damage the screen mesh. then using the drawing ink, provided in the kit, painted over the top of the outline. This is where I now know I need to make sure I have filled all the area with ink because if not it misses the line. When this has dried (about an hour) it then time to apply the screen block, this is a rubber liquid that I applied on top of the drawing ink to create a barrier around the image. Before applying the block place some thick cardboard pieces so that the screen is off the sur...