cocktail sticks and cotton buds . . .

This was a construction project where we were only allowed to use low tech materials, in my case cocktail sticks and cotton buds. I created a sort of Archimedes Twist style piece that I later developed into body adornments with the theme of restriction and restraint. The concept was all about the way fashion promotes people contorting their bodies and enduring pain to look 'beautiful'

. . . and yes, I spent an entire day drilling holes through cocktail sticks! 

life drawing . . .

I especially like doing quick continuous line drawings of people waiting for trains, they all seem to have to same stance as they look up at the arrivals board searching for their train.

deconstruct, reconstruct . . .

This was a project where we bought charity shop clothes -a grey polyester M&S skirt suit and a blue cardigan for me- and took them apart to remake them. I looked at Margaret Thatcher and the sense of rebellion and unrest that surrounded her leadership and the rise of Punk to inform my dress and cape. Originally there were going to be more obvious references to Punk but it simmered down into the use of safety pins to embellish and decorate.

a sketchbook spread -I particularly like Maggie wearing my dress in the bottom left hand corner!