Artist Statement.

As an artist, architect, 3D designer, I work hard to develop models that speak to both me and others about the issues of todays society. The world is not pretty, no matter how hard people try to pretend it is, how often they believe these things will not happen to them, life is inevitable and life is unpredictable. We can go to the beach, we can play in the sand and we can paddle in the sea, but misfortune is still inescapable. War, drugs, death is still happening. You just have to take notice and look. Really look.

'Vintage beach' is what it says it is. I have explored through 3D design the styles, fashions and landscapes of English beaches through the 1960 period. I have experimented with wood, plastic, fabric and film to portray my ideas to allow people to really view my work and get a feel for what it is about. Throughout my final project I have explored through a range of artists, methods and materials, gaining a wide range of knowledge to successfully juxtapose my final piece, empowering the audience to see beyond the sadistic humour of my deigns and understand the real issues the population faces.

Sketchbook Artist research.

1. Jamie Reid

Jamie Reid is an English artist and anarchist with connections to the Situationists. His work, featuring letters cut from newspaper headlines in the style of a ransom note, came close to defining the image of punk rock, particularly in the UK. His best known works include the Sex Pistols album Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols and the singles "Anarchy in the UK" and "God Save The Queen", which was based on a Cecil Beaton's photograph of Queen Elizabeth II, with an added safety pin through her nose and swastikas in her eyes, this was seen as the single most iconic picture of the punk era.
For my page on Jamie Reid's work I have tried to replicate his work, however, with my own twist on things.  I have taken the "God save the Queen" quote and using his style of letter cuttings I have pasted this over a recent photograph of the queen. As I could not find the photograph he had used for the single cover art, I used this one of the queen as I thought it would have worked just as well. I then used more examples of his work which also display the paper letters cut from newspaper headlines. In a lot of Jamie Reid's work he uses short phrases and words such as 'pretty vacant', 'no feelings' and 'liar'. I cut these out and displayed them around my page as I believe this is a big part of his work. 
I chose to look at Jamie Reid work as it presents a unique vision that articulates key issues of that time. I like how he uses passionate anger and sadistic humour to portray his attacks on politics and civil liberties, coalescing political drive. Jamie Reid's work will not affect or influence my own, however, I have enjoyed studying him and his work.

2. Keith Haring

Keith Haring was an American artist and social activist whose work responded to the New York City street culture of the 1980s by expressing concepts of birth, death, sexuality, and war. Haring's work was often heavily political and his imagery has become a widely recognised visual language of the 20th century. 

One of many consistent ideas, sexuality was a predominant theme throughout Haring's work. Through much of his art there are scenes of penetration, in a bodily and sexual sense. These scenes are often filled with monsters, skeletons and beasts, which almost always add a nightmarish feeling to the work. The theme of AIDS permeates Haring's late work, most likely because it had a heavy influence on his personal life. Midway through Haring's journals there is mention of the disease claiming his friends' lives, and later passages show Haring worrying increasingly about his own HIV status. In his work Silence=Death Haring portrays multiple figures covering their eyes, mouths, and ears. The piece is intended to illustrate the oppression and invisibility that AIDS victims felt in the 1980s. Works like Haring's helped to give those living with AIDS more visibility at a time when many were suffering in absolute silence, with no voice, no visibility and no support from those around them.

In July 1987, Haring visited an AIDS specialist. On May 1, 1987, he mentioned in his journal rumours that were circulating throughout the art community about his AIDS status. Haring died on February 16, 1990 of AIDS-related complications.

For this page I wanted to portray a strong focus of Haring's use of colour in his work and his very distinctive style. I collected a range of images of his work and used them to draw from, for this page. I then used gauche to paint them. I wish I had drawn them slightly bigger or maybe have drawn a few more in the middle as I feel the page is very heavy in the top left corner with a big space at the bottom of the page. However, I do like this page as it is bright and colourful and I feel I have portrayed his work well. One thing I do not like about this page is that I have smudged a lot of the black gauche by accidentally resting my hand in it, I then found it difficult to cover as it smudged further when painted over. 

I chose to look at Keith Haring as his methods of portraying his messages are in art are very well and subtly done, which I think is hard to achieve. I love how his work his made less aggressive and sadistic by his use of doodles and colours. His colours is something I would have liked to take forward in my work, however, I have already chosen to display my work in a pastel colour theme.

4. Bubble Palace - Antti Lovag

Antti Lovag was a Hungarian architect.He is best known for his Palais Bulles (Bubble House) design.
The Bubble Palace was built between 1975 and 1989 by the Hungarian architect Antti Lovag, who wanted to design a home that mimicked prehistoric human dwellings in caves. Its undulating lines, circular spaces and lack of corners were the trademarks of Lovag, who said he considered the straight line to be ‘an aggression against nature’.
I chose to look at the Bubble Palace as I was intrigued at the experimentation of organic architecture within this design. I like how the house has been developed and transformed throughout its designing and building stage even now in its restoration process forty years later.
For this page I washed the background with a mixture of terracotta, yellow and burnt orange water colour paint, using a sponge to create a textured effect. I chose to use these colours as the original colour of the building is terracotta. Using images of the building I collaged them onto the page. I like this page as I find it simple yet effective, however, when I painted the background it caused the paper to dry crinkled, making it difficult to stick the photographs of the building neatly on top. 

5. David Hockney - Pool Paintings  http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/hockney-a-bigger-splash-t03254 

David Hockney, is an English painter, draughtsman, printmaker, stage designer and photographer. An important contributor to the pop art movement of the 1960s, he is considered one of the most influential British artists of the 20th century. 

Hockney made prints, portraits of friends, and stage designs for the Royal Court Theatre, Glyndebourne, La Scala and the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. Born with Synaesthesia, he sees synthetic colours in response to musical stimuli. This does not show up in his painting or photography artwork, but is a common underlying principle in his designs for stage sets for ballet and opera—where he bases background colours and lighting on the colours he sees while listening to the piece's music.

Between 1964 and 1971 he made numerous paintings of swimming pools. In each of the paintings he attempted a different solution to the representation of the constantly changing surface of water. He began to leave wide borders around the paintings unpainted, a practice developed from his earlier style of keeping large areas of the canvas raw. At the same time, he discovered fast-drying acrylic paint to be more suited to portraying the sun-lit, clean-contoured suburban landscapes of California than slow drying oil paint. 

For this page on David Hockney I have looked at his collection of swimming pools, focusing on his use of colour and movement within his work. To display his work within my sketchbook, I printed a selection of his swimming pool collection off from online, collaging them in my sketchbook over a blue watercolour wash. I would have liked to have attempted to recreate his work, however, due to time restraints and my lack of skill and technique in painting, I stuck to collaging to present his work. From his work I have considered a similar colour scheme, taking the pale blues and pastel colours he has used. 

6. Tracey Emin  http://www.traceyeminstudio.com/biography/

Tracey Emin is an English contemporary artist known for her autobiographical and confessional artwork. 

Emin’s art is one of disclosure, using her life events as inspiration for works ranging from painting, drawing, video and installation, to photography, needlework and sculpture. Emin reveals her hopes, humiliations, failures and successes in candid and, at times, excoriating work that is frequently both tragic and humorous.

For this page I chose to look at Tracey Emin as I feel she is a very honest artist and very open about herself in her work. I like how she uses materials that have personal significance to her in the pieces that I have looked at. I have tried to recreate some of her work, however, I have used paper instead of materials. I cut out lettering from different types and colours of paper and used them to duplicate some of her slogans such as 'She went out like a 40" and 'I do not expect to be a mother'. I believe this page is somewhat successful as I feel it is a good attempt at her styles, however, if I could redo this page I would make the lettering bigger and I would actually use materials like her instead of paper.

Samples.

For my final piece, I began experimenting with how I could portray water in my model. I started brainstorming ideas on what materials would best replicate water in colour, texture and movement. Finance was a huge problem. Most models that include water use resin. Although resin would be one of the best substances to use, it is also the most expensive. Using resin to replicate the water is not the most practical. 

As my brother is an architect that has created models that includes water, I asked him what he has previously used. He suggested I use Perspex. I chose to use clear Perspex as I felt blue look too unrealistic to represent water. To try and replicate the texture and appearance of water when the waves break or it ripples over rocks, I glued stones and pebbles to an angled piece of MDF, to portray the natural slope of a beach, and using a heat gun, I heated the edge of the perspex until it began to bubble, then butted it up to the stones until it started to flow over and around them. Doing this did cause some of the stones to break off under the pressure, so I used more glue from a glue gun to stick them back down.

I did not like the look of this water sample once it was complete as I felt it was a poor representation of the ocean. The plastic did not mould around the stones as well as I had hoped they would, therefore I will not be using this method in my final piece. 

The second method I tried was inspired by a video I found on BuzzFeed. It used glue from a hot glue gun that had been painted with nail polish. In the video the end result of the water looked quite good so I thought I would have a good. I used a plastic wallet for a base for the glue to go on. The video made this look very easy, however I found it very hard to get the glue to come out and in the right places I wanted it to go, as it was also hot glue it cause the plastic to melt underneath it which was not displayed in the video. When the glue had dried I went over the holes that had been created through the melted plastic and then painted it using blue and white gauche paint. I had no access to nail polish like the video suggested. I mixed the paint until I had a range of blues that I could work with. I then dabbed the paint on the glue to try and replicate the blended colours of the sea like the way it had been done in the video. I was not successful. The paint would not stick to the glue when first applied, making it very hard to blend in other colours. The paint also dried looking very dull, so maybe using nail polish would have been the better option, however, if the sample was turned over, the plastic wallet gave a glossy effect making the samples look slightly better. Although I do like the texture the glue gives, I do not like these samples and will not be using them in my final piece as I do not feel they are of a good enough standard and replicate water as well as i was hoping they would.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngaAgLjwYqE

The last sample I collected of water was using Tyvek. I was introduced to this material by my tutor who showed me that when it was heated, the material warped and shrunk into different positions. The Tyvek could also be dyed to display different colours. 

I started with a strip of white Tyvek, using brusho inks to dye it. I gave the strip a wash of blue adding in greens and purples to give the effect of light and dark sections as the sea is not one solid colour. After I had left this to dry, I used a heat gun to heat the Tyvek up, causing it to distort and twist until I got a rippled effect on top. 

Although I find this process fun and interesting, I do not feel using Tyvek to portray water is one of the better samples. Despite like the crinkled effect the heat gives this material the colour and appearance does not match that of waters.

After experimenting with different materials to replicate water, I don't feel there are any that will work as well as real water would. Therefore in my final piece, I will add real water to my model, adding a few drops of blue food colouring to give it that blue colour the sea has. 

Design sheet - Projection.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2C63jnZL8PI

The further I got into my project I realised that I had began to digress from my main subject of choice, 3D, and had started to focus on fashion. As I did not want my project to be fashion based, I felt that my project needed something to make it more appealing and interesting. As I had started looking at Mods and Rockers and Hippies and their fashion styles, I found events that had occurred in the 1960s based on these social groups. One being the Mods and Rockers beach war of 1964 and the other being the Summer of Love in 1967. After I looked more closely into these events, I started researching other events that had taken place that had caused big social and political change. Other occurrences I researched were the assignations of JFK, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, the building of the Berlin Wall and the Vietnam War.

I then began brainstorming ways on how I could present the idea of incorporating world happenings into my final piece. I thought about positioning the figurines in my project to make them appear to be fighting like the Mods and Rockers War or protesting like the Summer of Love, however, as these events have already taken place, I didn't feel like it would fully be my own ideas and work if I portrayed them in my own way. So I carried on with the idea of creating my original ideas of a beach scene, but create a projection to go behind it of old news reels and documentaries of each event I researched. 

To create this projection I used YouTube converter to download each clip I had found on the events, then using iMovie to edit them all together. This is the first edit I made of the projection. I like each of the clips and the order they go in, however, the full video is too long and needs editing further to shorten each clip.

Corporate Business Card Designs.

For my own corporate business cards, I wanted them to relate to my project but not in an obvious way. Therefore, I chose to create my business cards based on the colours used in my project and theme. As my project is based around 1960s beach I chose two colour schemes to work from. The first being bright and colourful like I feel the 1960s were, to portray this I chose bright oranges, reds and yellows. My other colour scheme is based on the beach side of my project, therefore I chose different blues and greens.

Inspired by watercoloured backgrounds I have seen before, I used the different colour schemes to create a wash on a plastic wallet, I then placed a business card sized piece of card over the top, removing it to create a blended pattern. I also tried the same process with coloured marker pens. I found then when placing the card over the pen wash, the pattern I desired worked better if I then moved the card around over the top, if I did not do this, it created a dotted look, which I did not like as I think it looks boring and unprofessional. I feel that the marker pens worked a lot better than the watercolours did as they were a lot more brighter and blended better too. My favourite out of the two are the orange and yellow pieces as I deem they work a lot better together and blend more than the blue and green cards did. 

As I wanted my business cards to be of a decent quality, I had them professional made on vista print. Before I uploaded my designs to have them made, I looked through their templates to see if there were any similar that I could choose from. These are two examples of business card templates that were similar in pattern and colour to my own.

For the front of my business card, I felt it needed a logo to go along with my name and chosen subject. I wanted something related to my theme to make the business cards more personal. After coming up with ideas such as a beach setting, bucket and spade and umbrella, I decided on using a deckchair as I felt it looked the most professional as well as relating the my beach theme. I used a clip art image, removing its background on photoshop and pasted it onto my designs. On the back of my business cards I included my name and chosen subject, as well as all my relevant contact details. I experimented with using more clip art to go along side my contact information as I really liked this idea in other examples I have seen.

Out of the two examples, I chose to print the blue watercoloured one. Even though the common one people liked was the orange one, I felt that the blue related better to my theme and people would understand it more. When editing my cards, I removed the '3D Design' from the front as the dark blue it crossed over made it very difficult to read, so I deleted it, put it on the back and made the name and logo central. I would have preferred to have had my font white to make it easier to read, but as the deckchair was black and could not be changed, it did not look right having the font and logo separate colours. However, I do think that the black font does make it look more professional. I am very pleased with my business cards as they do look very well made and do relate to my project even though it is not very obvious like some I have seen.

Creative Business Card Analysis.

1. Disney - Beauty and the Beast Mirror.

I like this idea of using the mirror from the beauty and the beast as a business card as I feel it is quite a clever and creative idea. However, it is not the persons own design as it has already been created for the film, therefore is isn't as creative as it would have been if it was their own work. I also feel that the card is very poorly made. The image used has a huge watermark across it, making it very obvious the image is copyrighted and again, it is not her own work. I like how they used tinfoil to portray as the mirror, however, the text on top has just been cut and stuck down making it look very unprofessional, rushed and cheap.

2. Dreams - Day and Night Cushion.

I really like this creative business card as I feel the designer has really thought out of the box to come up with ideas related to her project. I like how they have not only differed away from using just paper for their designs but also used different shapes instead of a general rectangle like corporate cards. I think using a pillow to support her dreams and nightmares topic is clever and shows that they have thought about related objects to display their business cards in. I also think the print they have used is very relatable and is also very well printed. Although I do think the business card could have been sewn together slightly better, I really like this business card.

3. Movies - Dress.

I feel like this is another good example of a creative business card as it uniquely portrays this persons ideas for their final piece and chosen topic. I feel it is very obviously linked to fashion and that this person has created maybe a dress or coat for their final piece and that their chosen topic for this final unit has been based on films due to the strip of film reel. I like how they have added a further piece to the business card that displays their contact details instead of just having it on the back of the card, this is something I could maybe take into my designs for my own creative business cards.

Design Sheets.

For my first design sheet, I used secondary photographs, taken from Pinterest of the beach and events that occurred in the 1960s. As my model for my final piece is going to be of a beach scene, I used photographs of both Brighton and Scarborough beach. These were then collaged into the corner of my sheet. My final piece is also going to consist of a projection of world events such as the Cuban Missile Crisis and the JFK Assassination. Photographs of other events I am focusing on are displayed on the bottom of the page portrayed through a suggestive film strip. At the top of the page I have draw a collection of vintage suitcases, these show how my final piece is going to be presented, in a vintage suitcase. I also plan to make small scale beach huts to fit into my model, to show this I have chosen to create a paper cut of beach huts, as I enjoyed experimenting with this in my sketchbook and thought it would be a creative way to portray the huts on my design page. My final piece is also going to contain small figurines that I will paint on, influenced by artists such as Rudi Gernreich and F.C. Gundlach for bikini designs. Yves Saint Laurent and Paco Rabanne may also influence my bikini designs. As I ordered the wrong size figurines for my final piece, I ordered some more the correct size and used the others on this design sheet. 

In my project proposal I wrote mainly about how I was going to look mainly at fashion and fashion designers within this project. However, when I started I thought that the subject was beginning to take a more fashion and textiles route instead of a 3D one. I also didn't feel that my final piece was going to look interesting enough compared to my mental health project the previous year. As I am interested in history and the 1960s thrived with many world events, I began looking events that took place on the beach such as the Mods and Rockers war in Brighton 1964. I thought about making my model a scene from this event, however did not feel this would support my own ideas and work as it is already a previous scene. I then started looking at ways in how I could portray the events, settling on creating a projection on news reels of the events that happened. 

For my second design sheet I have experimented with colours creating three different colour schemes for my final design. The first selection of colours I chose to look at is taken from 'the swinging sixties' and what I would typically portray the colour scheme to be based around the 1960s period. I have taken bold and warm colours such as yellows, oranges and red as I believe these colours strongly represent this period. 

The second colour scheme I chose to look at takes a less bold approach and focuses on more pastel tones. I chose to look at these colours as I believe they represent a more vintage vibe than the brighter colours do, something that I am trying to portray in my final piece. 

The final colour scheme I chose to look at is based on F.C. Gundlach's futuristic styles, achieved by the monochrome colour scheme. I like this look very much in Gundlach's work and think it would look very well in the way I paint each of the small figurines, however, in the rest of the model I don't think it portrays the sixties very well, therefore I won't be using this a main colour scheme.

My favourite look out of all the palettes is the pastel one as I feel it would be the best option in portraying the vintage beach theme I planned to created. 

To create this page I mixed gauche paint to achieve the colours I wanted and used a piece of card to scrape each colour across the page. 

Primary Research - Exhibitions.

The first exhibition I visited was the 'The Sixties' at the York Castle Museum. On display were different fashion garments such as dresses, coats and underwear allowing you to see what was in style back in the 1960s. Also on display where old newspapers, magazines, vinyl records and posters showing different events that occurred in this time. As my project in based on the 1960's time period and the fashion from this time it was very helpful and influential towards my work as I know have a better understanding of how to design the figurines in my model for my final piece. It also gave me a better understanding of the colours that were widely used throughout this decade, which can then give me a colour scheme for my for my work.

For the pages in my sketchbook on 'The sixties' exhibition, I took ideas from different pieces of artwork to use for my background. On some of the glass windows in the exhibition, large flowers decorated them, therefore I took this and used it for my first page. I cut out a stencil of the flower and used it to design my sheet. I used black and white paper as that were the colours of the flowers used on the window. For the background of the second page I painted it a pastel pink as a wall in the exhibition was painted this colour, I then used different coloured card to experiment with making a multicoloured strip that was used in another piece. I don't think this worked as well has I had hoped it would however I still think it looks interesting. I then used images I had taken at the gallery and used them to display in my book. If i were to change anything about this page I would have draw more and made it look more interesting as I feel it looks too boring with just images stuck on a page.

The second exhibition I visited was the 'Fashion & Freedom' exhibition at The Civic. Displayed here where garments designed by fashion designers and university fashion students portraying the 1914-18 - now style. I don't feel as though this exhibition was very inspiring for me towards my project as I felt they were more costume clothing than clothing that was actually worn in that period. However, there was one or two pieces that I did like out of the exhibition and could maybe take the colour scheme through into my project.

For this page I used photographs I took from the exhibition and collaged them onto the page along with the exhibition flyers promoting the work. I am not a fan of this page as I feel it looks very boring, if I could change this page I would add more colour and maybe some fashion illustrations of the clothes to make it look more engaging.

Final Piece.

To start my final piece I began by lining the suitcase. I did this, as I intend to use real water to portray the sea, therefore lining the suitcase would stop the water from ruining it as it is made from cardboard. I started by experimenting with different materials to use. Firstly, I tried a foam sheet, I cut a section off, placed it inside a mould and then sat water in and left it for half an hour to see if it let any water through. The second material I experimented with was Perspex. I decided that this would be the better material to use as it is clear therefore you can still see the suitcase through it. I drew around the suitcase onto the Perspex sheet, using the bandsaw to cut it out and the disc sander to smooth out the edges  and slowly take back the sides where the plastic board didn't fit until it did. Once the sheet fit, I used a sander to rough the surface of the Perspex sheet so that when the water sat on top of it it gripped the the surface giving a rippled effect. This way sand would also grip better. To fit all of these pieces together I used four block of wood for the top to sit on at an angle that I wanted my beach scene to be at. I then used silicon to seal all the pieces together. This way water would not get through. 

To create the beach huts that will be displayed on my model, I used a long rectangle piece of wood and cut them down into the right size pieces I needed using the Band Saw. I measure each piece roughly using the model figurines I have, I then used the first block as a template until I had eight in total. For the roof of the beach houses I used a thin piece of wood and cut out sixteen rough pieces using the Mitre Saw, sanding them to the right size after using the disc sander. Once all of the pieces were the same size, I used superglue to glue the pieces together. I started by using PVA glue but as it was too wet, it began to make the pieces bow as they were so thin. PVA also took too long to dry and caused the pieces to slip whilst I was holding them in place. 

Once all the pieces were dry I used my Pinterest board on Beach Huts for inspiration on how to paint them. On each side of the beach huts I roughly drew out a door over one of the figurines, then using a ruler to neaten it up. As I wanted some of the beach huts to have a striped pattern I measure out each side, dividing it by numbers until I had a round number for how thick each stripe needed to be. 4mm Portrait, 3,, landscape. When the designs and patterns where drawn out on each beach hut, I used gauche paint to paint them. 

To create a weather look on my beach huts, I needed something to slightly dirty them in certain places such as on top of the rood, underneath the overhang and around the bottom where the sand would be. To achieve this look I tried using oil to make them look aged, however this did not work. I sampled the corner of one beach hut, using old grease from one of the machines, dabbing small amounts on with a paint brush, wiping the excess off and then blending it in to create a dated beach hut. I really like the way using the grease made these beach huts look as they now look apart of the piece instead of really standing out. 

As I changed my idea half way through, and decided that underneath the top layer of my model I wanted to put a lower layer in using folded clothes and have it as an opposing layer of dark and bad things that happen on the beach and in coastal towns. As I had previously sanded down the top layer to make the water grip, you could not clearly see underneath, therefore I pulled out the top layer, marked around it onto another sheet of clear Perspex and using the band saw and disc sander cut it out. 

On my final piece I am having 1:50 scale model figurines, posed in different positions commonly found at a beach, such as sunbathing and swimming, they will also be painted in bikinis. As I am unable to make my own model figurines due to lack of time, money, machinery and knowledge, I bought a pack of beach setting models from online. These contain many different models varying from male, female and children all in different poses.
As I am wanting specific poses for my figurines that I am unable to buy, I am going to have to repose them myself. Once the models came, I began experimenting with different ways on how I could reposition them. I started with making small incisions into the limbs that needed to be reposed using a fine saw, then using a soldering iron to slightly melt the plastic to allow me to bend it and repose it. This however, did not go to plan, the soldering iron caused the plastic to melt and stick to it, also while bending to try to repose it, some of the limbs just snapped off anyway as the plastic was too brittle. Therefore I had to use super glue to glue the piece back together. I found it a lot easier to just saw off the part that needed to be moved using the fine hand saw and superglueing it back in the right position it needed to be in. As sawing caused some body parts to disappear or become shorter such as shoulders, elbows and knees, I placed a small blob of superglue on the end of whichever piece was missing, turning it over so it created a bead and then spraying it with mitre bond to allow it to set. I could then glue on the rest of the limb. Doing this however took a lot of time and patience as the figures are very small and once arms and legs began to be removed it made it very fiddly to glue back together. In some cases such as gluing hands and feet back on, tweezers had to be used to grip the figure while using another to glue the hand or foot on place. As superglue was the best option for this task because it is the strongest, it also made this job very difficult. There were many times that I glued my fingers together or glued the figurine to my fingers, often resulting in me pulling of the part I had just stuck together whilst trying to remove it from me. I also often snapped off bits I had just glued down when reposting another limb on the same figurine. When I did this I had to file off the lump of glue left as it would make the limb too long, and reattach it.
Once all the pieces I needed reposing where done, I needed to file off the excess glue. To do this I used a small electric hand file that allowed me to fit into the small places a normal file could not reach. This drill helped me to quickly file down the models making there new poses look more professionally done. There were problems with this file however. Filing over some of the new joins caused it to snap off, therefore I had to re glue it back together and then refile it. On some of the models I also filed too much away leaving lumps and holes in some of the figurines arms and legs. To fix this I placed a small lumps of superglue over it and filed it down so it looked smooth again.

Once all the figurines I needed to create little scenes within my model were complete I needed to paint them. To do this I used enamel paint, specifically used for painting models with. I started by repainting the base of all the models a flesh toned colour as some of the reposed models had joints made from superglue so it was very obvious which had been emended and looked incomplete. After I had painted the first coat onto each model, I left their hairs so that I could stick their heads into blueback to keep them upright and to stop anything touching them which could possibly rub off the drying paint. The paint pot instructed that each layer of paint would take an hour to dry, however, I found that this was not the case and that the paint in fact dried a lot faster allowing me to quickly add a second coat. The paint did dry slightly streaky and darker than I thought it would have, but once the clothing was painted on it was hardly noticeable and the tone did not look too bad. 

Once the skin coats were dry, I switched the bodies around placing the feet into the blue tack and painted their hair. For there hair I used 2 shades, one blonde and the other a dark brown. I would have liked to have had some with their original black hair however I did not have black enamel paint. I did not realise this until I sat down to start painting them or I would have bought a pot when I was purchasing the flesh coloured pot. Instead for the hair I just used two shades of dark brown, and when I needed black in the clothing i improvised with a dark navy blue an added a few coats. For the hair, one of the brown shades would not work as when it was painted on very oily so that it would not grip to the plastic. I tried stirring it several times, however, this made no difference, so I continued using the other shade of brown I had for the other figurines. 

When all the hair had dried, I needed to separate the models into piles of which level in the model they were on and whether they needed to wear swimwear or be fully clothed. I started painting on the clothes for the fully clothed figurines, painting them in a selecting of three colour bottoms, either trousers or shorts and different style and coloured top. For the models that had a role in my final piece, I painted on them to portray their role better. For example, on the bottom layer there is a girl that has been murdered and buried, therefore I painted both man and women with wood on them. When all the fully clothed ones where completed, I moved onto the swimwear. As I was running low on time I decided to just separate the women so I could paint onto the with 1960 inspired bikinis. I used Pinterest for this, using my boards and pinned photographs to use for inspiration. Among these where styles such as the Mandain, Rudi Gurnreich's work and other vintage 1960 swimwear. For the other models that needed painting with swimwear, I used their outline to paint over in bright colours. I wanted to paint them in pastel colours however, I had no access to pastel coloured paints and could not afford to buy them. Therefore I made do with the bright coloured ones and kept the rest of my model within the colour scheme. I am very pleased with the outcome of these figurines, After 8 hours of painting, I feel very proud of the final outcome and feeling very good about them compared to how I did before and during making theme. One problem I faced with making these models are that I did manage to snap off weak limbs, mainly legs, when painting around them. These where then pushed to one side and regaled later on.

Next was to make a pier and jeti for my final piece. Using Pinterest and google images I researched what a pier looks like and how it is structured. Then using a protractor and adjustable square, I measured the slope of my model to work out how long my pier needed to be and how long each post needed to be. Once they were measured I cut these measurements out of dowel to create the circular pillars and long, thin strips for the base of the pier. The pillars were then stuck to thin pieces of wood, measured to the width of my pier. I filed out small grooves for the pillars too sit in and glued them in using superglue. I also cut out small tabs in both the piers length and width pieces so they could easily slot together. These pieces were glued together using wood glue. A small amount was placed in every tab and squeezed together, all excess glue was then wiped away. For the planks of wood on top of the pier, I measured the length from one side to the other, making sure I added an extra millilitre or two incase I was wrong or the wood splintered. Long thin strips were then cut down to 48mm on the bandsaw until I had enough to cover the entire base. for the planks between the dowel, I used the disc sander to remove excess so it slotted in nicely. Each piece of wood was sanded down to remove all burs before they were stuck in place using wood glue.
To achieve a weathered look on the pier, I used a blow torch to run over the pier to slightly burn it to achieve an old, tattered look.

For the Jetty, I used the same wood I used for the planks on the pier, however, cutting them to 70mm so that when the beach huts where placed on top, there was a walk way in front. I then changed my mine, deciding to place them longitudinal so they covered more surface length ways. I then placed each plank in a staggered joint to make the jetty more stable. So that the jetty was on the same level as the pier as well as being stronger, using wood glue, I glued the planks of wood onto a strip of MDMF, that i measured out using the shortest lengths, reducing it by e few millimetres so that there was an overlap. As not all of the planks of wood were the same size, the last piece did not fit properly. Because the piece it was next to was not as wide as the others in its row, it left a small gap between the two strips of wood. To fix this I glued in a piece of wood laid on its side, cutting it down once the jetty had dried. Once the glue had dried, using the bandsaw I cut down the overlap on each side and removed the excess wood from the sideways strip. I then used the belt sander to rub down the jetty so that it laid nice and flat and all pieces were of the same thickness. To complete the jetty, I used a blow torch to burn the wood to give it a weathered look like I did to the pier.

I am very pleased with the outcome of my pier and jetty as I feel it looks very well made and works really well within my final piece.

As the base of my model consists of folded clothes to represent the beach, I needed to coat them in a substance that would allow them to dry rigid so that when the model was moved about, they would not move and the figurines placed on top would not fall over. I started by mixing PVA glue and water into a tray and soaking a pair of shorts in them, ringing out the excess water, folding them up and then leaving them to dry. As the clothes were soaked through and left to dry in a cool room, they took over 24 hours to dry, and they did not dry stiff. I then tried coating them in neat PVA glue instead of diluting it in water. This also took a while to dry and still did not leave the pair of shorts any harder. My next idea was to coat them in clear, quick drying varnish. Using a paint brush I saturated each item of clothing I planned on using in my model with the vanish, leaving them to dry on a piece of news print so that the vanish would not stick and damage any of the tables. After a couple of hours I checked on them, finding that the vanish was working and the clothes where beginning to become rigid. I gave the clothing garments and second layer of vanish and left them over night to be able to dry. 

In my model I have designed my figurines to be involved with ice creams vans. Therefore I needed two for my project. As I was unable to find previously made ones that were financially efficient and fit the scale of my figurines (1:50), I had to build my own. I started by printing off a blue print for a transit van, editing it until it was the correct size for my model. I then cut this out and taped all four sized to a block of wood. Using a method I had previously used for the project before, I used the bandsaw to cut it out. I started by cutting out one side, taping it back together, cutting out another side, taping that back together and continuing until all four sides were complete and a perfect van shape was in the middle of the other scrap pieces Once this one had been cut out, I used it as a template for the second van, however adding an additional roof like an ice-cream van. I used the same process as before to cut the second van out. After I had cut the two vans out I began adding in details such as windows, doors and side panels. Using a carving knife I added contour onto the vans windows, bonnets and bumpers, sanding them over to create a smooth finish. I also sanded over all the edges to make them less harsh and more of a natural van shape. Using a detail sander I added in the shapes of the wheels and then carved away the rough edge I made with the carving knife. 

For the ice cream van, I am having someone sat in it handing out ice cream, therefore I needed to create a window for the person to stand in. Using the carving knife, I cut around the edge of the window and then carved out the interior, I did this until the window was big enough for someone to sit in. 

To paint the two vans I used acrylic paints. I primed both vans with two coats of white acrylic to work on top of without being able to see the wood underneath. I googled ice cream vans to see the designs of them and how they use colour and patterns. I chose to paint my ice cream van in red, white and blue. To add detail onto my van such as the windows, headlights and slogans I used fine liners to draw them on or around the paint to highlight them. I also used coloured fine liners to add in boxes and shelves on the inside of the ice cream van. Once I had painted this van with three layers as the paint kept on streaking and then started blistering, I cut one of my models in half that is positioned handing out an ice cream and glued it onto the hallowed space. To make it obvious that the van was an ice cream van, I used would to carve out an ice cream, then using the detailed sander to smooth it down and add in the contours of the cone and ice cream. This was then painted by mixed paints to create a cone yellow and pink. A piece of copper rod was added to the cone to hold it up on top of the van.

For the other van I painted it in a transit van style. Even though the common colour of a transit van is white, I thought leaving my van this colour made it look incomplete, therefore I mixed a grey paint and painted it this colour. I used a fine liner to add in the windows, doors and side panels as using paint did not look smooth unlike the fine liner. 

To add the detailing of the alloys on the wheels, I coated them in a layer of grey paint, painting the rims in black to portray the tyres and then using a black fine liner to draw on the details on the alloys.

Once both vans were dried, I used grease to add in the detail of dirt splattered onto the vans. I dipped a paint brush into the grease, removing the excess and blotted it around the windows and the backs of the wheels.

On the other van I needed to have an open back door. As it would be too time consuming to hollow out the van for someone to stand in it and have the door open, I created a door out of copper and placed it over a black background to create the illusion of an open space. Using a tracing paper, I traced the design I had drawn on the wooden van and traced it onto a scrap piece of copper. Using a fine jewellery saw I cut it out and sanded it down to create a rectangle shape door. 

I am very proud of these vans as the finished design of them look very clever and detailed. I am glad I made my own vans instead of buying them as I feel I have developed on techniques in how to cut them and using the detailed sander. 

The last thing that needed to be done was assembling my final piece. In case of any accidents such as anything moving or falling over during transit on the bottom layer of my model, I decided it was best to cut out the bottom of my suitcase so that it could be removed and emended in case this did happen. To cut out the bottom I traced a line around the edge of the case, leaving an overlap so that a slab of wood could be placed underneath it. I used a jig-saw to cut out the suitcase, then sticking it to a piece of wood I made for the template of my plastic base for my top layer. As it overlapped underneath the suitcase, I again used the jig-saw to trim down the thick of the excess wood off, then using the disc sander to shape it and remove any bits that where still on show. 

Once I was satisfied with the bottom layer I started to assemble my bottom layer. I began by arranging the vanished clothes so that it resembled how I had planned the top layer to look. I then used hot glue from a glue gun to stick these in place. As the bottom layer of my suitcase portrays costal town problems and other issues such as drugs, violence, murder and abductions but conveyed through items usually found in a suit case, I represented the beach huts on the top layer through pill bottles on the bottom. As the bottles I had purchased were not all the same size, but needed to be as the taller ones would not allow the top layer to fit far enough down in the case than it needed to be, Brad cut them down on the band saw for me. I was not allowed to do this process because as the bottle were cylinder, it would have have been a danger hazard as it could easily slip through and I could fall into the blade. Once these were cut, I used the hot glue gun to stick them down. 

The next step was to arrange the model figures onto the base. I roughly placed them to where I wanted them to go, adding in extra details to some before glueing them down with superglue. For example, I have one model portraying a shark attack, therefore I dripped red ink around where I wanted the model to be placed, glueing it to one side so that it appeared to be bleeding out from the wounds. I then used plastic to carve out a shark fin to be placed near it. I also illustrated a seagull being harmed by litter. To portray the litter, I used a creme egg tin foil rapper, ripping off tiny pieces and placing them on a piece of material I cut to resemble a discarded picnic blanket. I also made aluminium cans using the tin foil. I wrapped a small piece around the edge of a copper rod, packing it down so it looked like an empty pop can. As man animals die due to dual can wrappers, I create one out of acetate, using a soldering iron to punch through holes, then glueing it to a seagull mouth. Other things that were illustrated on the bottom layer were children being lured into the back of a van with a packet of sweets (the packet of sweets were created using the same technique as i used for the tin cans), two people exchanging drugs, two children abusing a seagull and a man murdering his wife. 

The seagull were made to the same scale as the 1:50 scale model figurines. I measure how big they needed to be comparing the size to a models leg and using a detailed sander to carve them out of a block of wood and adding detail to the beak and wings. I made some of the seagulls wings from paper, cutting them out and glueing them onto the gulls back. They were then painted using inspiration from a herring gull and a great black backed gull. To suspend a gull to make it appear as though it was flying, I used fishing wire, coated in superglue to make it rigid, to prop it up. 

Once the bottom base was completed, I removed it to begin building the top layer. As there was already a ring around the lining of the case from where I had previously glued in the base before changing my mind on the presentation of my model, I lined it up against the line and sealed it using hot glue from a glue gun. I then positioned in the jetty and pier, as the angle of the pier was slightly bigger than it needed to be, I used the belt sander to sand down some of the dowel pillars. The disc sander caused one of the pillars to snap off, so this needed to be reattached using superglue. Due to the jetty being build to a flat surface, it sloped when placed on the angled base, therefore I needed something to prop it up so that it stood horizontal. To do this I cut a slim piece of wood out to the length of the jetty gluing it to the front facing side. I then used the blow torch to burn it so that it harmonised with the rest of the jetty. Using the glue gun, I glued down the jetty and pier, then attaching the beach huts on top of the jetty. 

To position the models, I roughly placed them around the base. As I have created opposite models to portray good and bad, for example the man burying his murdered wife is contrasted by a child playing with her father burying him in the sand, I have placed these in similar places on both the top and bottom bases. Once they were all placed in the right areas, I used superglue to stick them down to the perspex base. I used small rectangles of fabric to portray beach towels as well as rectangles of foam to represent lilos. 

To boarder my model, I lined the case with pebbles to represent rocks, to frame my work and make it look more realistic and engaging. I then sprinkled sand over the base, making sure to cover everything, using a paint brush to sweep it off of the models, towels and pier. I used a hand made funnel, made from a plastic cup cut in half,to pour sand underneath the pier. 

On completion of my final piece, I feel very satisfied and proud of myself of how well my model has turned out. I feel that it looks better than I had imagined it to look pryer constructing it even though I doubted and worried it would look as good as it does. 

When my model is up in the exhibition, you will be able to brush away the sand to be able to see what is underneath. For the exhibition, I will print out signs encouraging people to interact with my model as well as signs warning people of sensitive content displayed in the lower base and video projection. 

For the hand in I have not secured the bottom base to the rest of the suitcase for the problem identified early, that in case of an accident during transit I will be able to fix any fallen pieces before the base is bolted into place.