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During this lesson, I got introduced to our tutors and what we would be learning throughout the unit, as well as what is to be expected. I found out that I would have to make a clock, a stuffed toy as well as my own personal project, which are all part of the requirements. I also had to start working on my mood board for my clock as that was the first project I was to work on for the first few lessons. I decided to base my clock project on flowers and organic shapes as I haven’t been able to work with those in the past and I wanted my outcome to have a more organic, curvy feel to it whilst not trying to do shapes that are too complex as it would be my first time using the equipment. To reflect that in my mood board, I took skills and techniques I use on my Fashion course to create the moodpboard by using fashion references as well as fine art.

I also got to do a quiz to go over the health and safety requirements of the prototyping room as well as its’ equipment to make sure I am using the machines safely. By doing this quiz, one of the things I’ve learned from it was that the sublimation printing does not work well with natural fabrics such as cotton and crêpe because the ink doesn’t stick as well to the fibres so the colour that comes out may be very faint, which is useful to know for my Fashion course as I would like to do prints for future projects.

Doing the quiz however made me excited about using the embroidery machine as that is something I would also want to learn how to use for future course-related projects.

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During this lesson, Nikos introduced the class to the laser cutting machine and how to use it, as it has specific settings to select when doing your file in Adobe Illustrator for example, as well as the functionality of each coloured vectors you need for the machine and your design. I had previously done an induction on the laser cutting machine back when I did my Foundation Year at Ravensbourne, but it was only for 1 session so it was of great help to have a quick refresh of how everything works. He then made the class design a small keychain or name tag that we would have to do in Adobe Illustrator, select the right settings and then send it to the computer to laser cut. I decided to do something similar to my clock design to have a quick warm up and idea of what the process would be like and in case I make any mistakes. Therefore I made a cloud using pink-coloured Acrylic with my name engraved in the middle. It was very exciting to see my design come to life and wanted to immediately take it home! Thanks to this quick introduction to the laser cutter, I learned that there are different stroke thicknesses for each vector depending on whether you want to cut, etch or engrave. Red is for cutting which needs to be set at 0.001 pt, same pt for the blue which is for etching, and engraving needs to be black but the stroke thickness doesn’t matter as much. For reference, we can set it at 0.4 pt if relevant to our design choice.

After having done my name tag, I wish the etching I did in it was more interesting shape and that I cut out a circular hole to put in a chain of some sort, but other than that I was very happy with the outcome and I got to grips with the laser cutter which is very useful for future projects like creating garments or patches for jeans.
I also got to use the Bandsaw to practice cutting wood with it. It was a bit intimidating but it all turned out well in the end. I tried out a more curved design to practice with sanding it down later on.

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During this lesson, I started designing my clock. I did a quick sketch of what I wanted it to look like, then proceeded to recreate it in Illustrator so that I could cut it out using the laser cutter as I wanted to practice using that equipment a bit more since it would be useful for future projects. It took a bit of tweaking and waiting a while to use the machine as there was only one available so I had to stay overtime but I managed to get it done and I decided to use Birch as well as transparent Acrylic to make the birch stand out more whilst still having different textures and a more 3-dimensional effect. I was initially just going to etch into the wood but I decided later on to do multiple layers (6 to be exact) for that 3D effect and make it look more attractive to my eyes, and engrave what would be the "numbers" on the clock.

It was really exciting to see my design come to life as it did take me quite a while to produce in Adobe Illustrator. After having cut my pieces, I noticed the birch got slightly burned on the edges, so I am thinking of painting it white although I am still unsure of that.

I think next time I will try and do a bigger clock or maybe use a different coloured Acrylic. I also thought of using fabric to merge a bit of my fashion side to it.

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Today I switched project and moved onto the stuffed toy one. Sam introduced to the class the equipment in that section of the prototyping room and also went through the requirements for this project. We started things off with doing a sewing exercise to warm up to the sewing machines and practice sewing, mostly for those that had never sewn before with a machine. It wasn’t too hard for me as I do Fashion as a BA so I had already used domestic machines as well Industrial ones for the projects they give us to do.

Because I knew how to use sewing machines, I helped others on how to set up the machine and how to use it. When it was my turn, I did the exercise on the paper and followed to lines on there to try and be as accurate as possible. The first 3 were fine but the last curved one was a bit more complex. We then had to draw a shape on felt and this time sew the lines we drew on the felt instead of paper. I decided to do a star on pink felt. I used white thread so we couldn’t see it that well. I wish I had done maybe a heart as the star I drew wasn’t very successful. Nevertheless, I still sewed on the lines I drew and it was quite fun to have a refresher.

Sam then inducted everyone on the embroidery machine and it looked quite daunting, hopefully it won’t be too complicated to use in the future as there is a lot to remember. But it was really fascinating to see the machine work and how fast it embroiders. I would definitely like to take advantage of that machine for some of my Fashion projects in the future.

In the afternoon, I just started doing research for my stuffed toy and I then proceeded to do the mood board for it at home. I am going to do a cat in a strawberry hat to make it fun and interesting.

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During this lesson, I mainly just developed the pattern for my stuffed toy as that took a while because I traced everything from scratch. I also did a quick sketch in real size to see if I liked the design and the size of it before proceeding with my pattern. I also picked some of the fabric that was available in the prototyping room as it had little bumps in it which reminded me of strawberry seeds which would be perfect for my design. It was white so I would just have the dye it red and use the heat press machine to press down the bumps for the ears and face of my stuffed toy. I also liked the fabric because it was soft which is what I want my plushie to feel like. I am very excited to get this plushie done as I think it will look very cute, especially as I am going to machine embroider the face of my cat.

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During this lesson, we went through together as a class the requirements for the formative presentation that is going to happen during the next lesson on the 29th. I found out all of the requirements for it, and that there will be someone from industry that will assist us in giving us feedback. This presentation helped with figuring out what I was missing and also organising my time accordingly to get all of the requirements fulfilled for that day. I was still missing the pages with all of the process pictures I was taking throughout the lessons so I need to do that over the weekend. I also found out that I needed to start planning for my final project and research into what I want to do for it. We also had a talk from a 3rd Year student in another university studying materials and he talked about different sustainable options we could look into for our final project. It was extremely informative and an example of what I learned was that cork was extremely sustainable and a wonderful material to work with.

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This was the day of our formative and we all had to present what we had worked on during the first few lessons leading up to this day and also show what final project we were thinking of doing. I got lots of feedback and useful information to go forward with, for example using different thickness of fabrics for the machine pin cushion I was planning on doing using scrap fabric and the Japanese technique called Boro so that I could put in different sized pins in each relevant section. It also helped give insight on how my clock could be sanded down to remove the burnt marks on the wood whilst still conserving the material which I thought was a great idea to go forward with.

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Getting the stuffed toy face embroidered

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During this lesson, we had the freedom to work on whatever we wanted to, wether that would be our final project or just finishing up past projects. I sanded my clock, also used the Bobbin Sander to sand the shape I had cut out with the Band Saw as I didn’t manage to do that last time. I also got the face for my stuffed toy embroidered which turned out a bit messy as it was too small and I had clicked on the wrong colours so instead of having the nose yellow, it was black and the other features were yellow. I later re-embroidered it with the correct colours on top. I at least learned from this mistake and will know to check more in the future. I also had the A4 print requirement done with a print I had done myself in the past and thought would be interesting to see on fabric. It smudged a bit in the heat press but I still really like it. I will just have to be more careful next time. I will dye the fabric red for my stuffed toy at home. I also spray-painted the arrows for my clock silver as I didn’t like the previous colours.

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I couldn't attend today's lesson as I had a major deadline due today but I managed to sew all of my stuffed toy, put together my clock and started sewing my pin cushion as I finished the pattern for it. The stuffed toy didn't turn out as nice as I would've wanted it to but I still like it nevertheless. I would definitely maybe do a smaller design next time or do something more quirky and fun. I definitely enjoyed embroidering and also dyeing the fabric, I would say those were my favourite parts.
I really like the outcome of my clock. I would say I prefer it to my stuffed toy as it represents my aesthetic quite well and the whole process was quite successful. I am very excited to get it working and put it in my room!
The pin cushion just needs turning inside out and stuffing it, then hand-sew it shut. I am also going to add my initials that will be hand-embroidered and add a button. I am very excited to see this pin cushion finished as it is truly something that would help me in my studies in the future.

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Summative hand in. Just finishing up my presentation and prepping all of the work I need to submit. I also managed to finish my pin cushion yesterday and I am very happy with it. It fits well on my machine and works wonderfully.