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The soft materials work better for this project as it serves to convey the deceptive image of comfort more effectively. Hard materials would make the sculpture more distant and cold and detract from the homely, reliable, gentle imagery. Soft materials also help to make the eventual artwork more sinister, when the viewer realises the use of the softness of material. On a technical level, soft materials were also much easier to work with within the time period. The original texture of the soft materials could be used directly, whereas if we had used hard materials we would have had to scratch away at the material for hours to achieve a coarse surface texture. The soft materials were also easy to shape into a desired form, though they were harder to secure. Mistakes, too, were easier to rectify, as the materials could be adhered back together with less fuss when we made a cut out of place.

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though the handkerchief used underneath the text, Instagram is coarse to the touch, it is still not visually expressing harshness enough, but after cutting out the strip of handkerchief, we realised that we can create frayed edges by intentionally cutting the edge jaggedly and tear out the threads. We applied the same technique to the border of the picture on the pillow (the white towel pieces)

at first, we  think we need to put wires inside the pillow to pop it up and make the shape of a circle. however, since we changed our idea to the cage-shape, we actually do not need to put wires inside the pillow, we just needed to connect the wires with the pillow to form the shape of cage. we only glued the wires in the last minute and the hot glue cannot stick on the wire straightaway, we decided to use the sponge to cushion the wires and better stick it with the pillow. It also hides the glue too as not to affect the overall expression.

the black shoelace is a bit too long after it entangled the girl but we did not cut the extra bit away - we sewed the ends into the surface of the pillow as to show that the confinement of the girl comes from the internet

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the cyan swimsuit is very slippery and hard to sew/cut into specific shapes especially we wanted to cut text with the material. we ironed rice paper on the back of the red-orange swimsuit to stretch and straighten it so as to cut out the letters easier. however, for the cyan translucent material, we cannot heat it (rice paper/hot glue gun) we have to sew it on the pillow case by hand. this is not such a big problem.

another problem we faced is that the we had sewed the girl's limbs too small that I had problems taking out the limbs after sewing on the inside of the girl. I did not dare to use scissors to poke out the limbs in fear that the sharp end might poke though the girl so i have to use my fingernails to take out the limbs bit by bit.

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since last week when the task was released to us, we have only finished finalising our idea and did a little bit of work on the pillow. we still have four more days before the deadline and we are definitely not going to finish our complicated work. we have to reduce the amount of work we have t do or otherwise we will be rushing and from my previous experience, the consequence will not be desired...

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Our artwork is representative of the users of online platforms being displayed and imprisoned by the media they took comfort in. Over-reliance on and overuse of online platforms has become a controversial yet unavoidable topic in recent years, as the internet grows at an exponential rate. To emphasise "comfort", the instalment is in the form of a bed, the sponges forming the bed posts and the wires the frame of the canopy. However, it also resembles a suffocating cage, with the wires as bars, deceivingly decorated with flowing fabric and soft materials. The "bed" is also decorated to resemble Instagram, with a translucent, slippery fabric laid on top to resemble the digital look. The name of the platform, as well as the profile picture of the figure in the centre, is lined with coarse fabric representative of dangers disguised by flamboyant colours. The human figure, pink, soft, fluffed up, and decorated with a ribbon, seems pretty and at home, but in reality, it is tied down by cruel ropes. The artwork shows the figure betrayed and restrained by what it felt comfortable in, similar to Freddie Robins's consistent theme that soft materials are not always representative of domesticity and gentleness.

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our initial idea demanded too much time and effort and it was impossible to finish the work during the scheduled time so we are going to change the concept of the work a bit. the concept is still on technology and internet, but we are changing the topic from cyberbulling to overrelliance on the internet which works better for us as now, we can replace the element of violence in our work to confinement of internet due to over-reliance on it which can be better represented by "soft material" since soft material are shapeless and rather gives the idea of entanglement than violence.

the composition will change from a circle to a cage-shape since it better suits confinement and save effort for us - we do not need to think of a way to pop out and force the pillow into shape.
we would still use wires to make the cage and the pillow can be the soft base of the cage on which is the girl, confined on the pillow and lost her freedom.

so now the draft looks like this:

this idea is more achievable

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-a bright red-orange swimsuit
the childish cartoon figures symbolises the circulation of the internet, the bold and outstanding colour represents the bold ideas that are circulated online
-a cyan swimsuit: a darker blue and thicker cloth outside and a translucent, less blue and thin material inside
the translucent and slippery material can represent the seemingly soft (safe) yet unfathomable, complexed online world
-two scraps of undergarments: a bright pink and a peach colour, both are soft
homely, the soft and tender heart of the girl
-two pink home clothes
homely and soft like the girl
-three handkerchiefs: coarse, loosely-knitted, white, one of the mostly coarse towel is frayed
violence and coarseness of how the real online world can be
-two sheets of paper:
-some fluff: used to fluff the pillow and the girl figure to make both soft (soft sculpture)
-a cyan pillowcase
the base of the online social media platform, though its surface is not as soft as desired, other materials can go on top of it and since it is already a sewn pillowcase, it can save our time of sewing it.
-a black shoelace: strong, coarse, strong contrast in value with the entire work, can represent the entanglement by the internet

CHOICE OF MATERIAL
the cyan pillowcase will be the base of the Instagram page since it is already done for us and its colour matches the translucent, slippery and cyan swimsuit so that our work will look more natural when these two materials are combined.
the cyan swimsuit is going on top of the pillowcase to represent the online social platform since it has suitable qualities and texture.
the orange swimsuit can be the text, INSTAGRAM and the picture uploaded onto the webpage. the red-orange colour has a strong contrast with the cyan base of the platform, hence bringing the attention the parts that are in orange, manly the square picture where the girl is going to sit inside and be confined by the online platform.

CHOICE OF STITCH
-for the little icons on the Instagram page, i am going to use black threads to sew normally as to show teh outline of the icons clearly. the icons are going to be the darker cyan material but not the red-orange one as not to attract too much attention from the subject matter: the girl.
- the slippery, translucent material had to be sewn on with blind stitch as to show the quality of transparency as effective as possible.
-the coarse white towel that are used to make a border around the girl will have very messy, cumbersome and red threads stitching them together as to add more harshness in the border.
- the pillowcase and the girl are going to be sewn on the inside and will be turned inside out after finishing sewing, this method ensures that the stitch will show on the work as less as possible and to express intactness and have a positive atmosphere in contrast to the badly-sewn border.

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MONDAY 10/9/2018
finalise our idea and try out sewing

TUESDAY 11/9
document our process on finalising our idea

WEDNESDAY 12/9
finish sewing the individual parts needed for the pillow
THURSDAY 13/9
FRIDAY 14/9
SATURDAY 15/9
SUNDAY 16/9
MONDAY 17/9
TUESDAY 18/9
WEDNESDAY 19/9
THURSDAY 20/9  DEADLINE

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there are three parts to our work: the pillow, the hand, the little girl
To us, cyberbullying is similar to the effects of depression: low self-esteem and seclusion from the outside world, at first, we found a picture of depression that we think is a typical expression of the effects of depression:
1.curl the body into a ball, and hide the face in the knees to express she had shut herself form the rest of world.
2.the round and stretching tunnel also adds on the depressed and downcast atmosphere of the picturewe decided to take two parts from the picture:
1. the similar body position - the curling of the limbs and hands around the body to protect herself
2.the roundness of the tunnel - spinning, trapped inside forever
3. we would also made the subject matter small so as to express low self-esteem

there are three parts in our sculpture:
1.the subject matter - the one being bullied after offering her heart to the online social media platform

2. the pillow, plump and soft and everything desirable, have the Instagram webpage on the side facing upwards - resembling the relationship between soft material and social media platform

3. the hand, which means the people with malicious intent who have cyber-bullied the girl

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-TO learn from FREDDIE ROBINS, we will first list out the sources of MAN-MADE VIOLENCE in order to contrast with the essential meaning of soft material: harmless, comfortable in both physical and mind
and VIOLENCE is the opposite of soft, it can hurt, damage or kill someone.

The sources of violence we could think of :
1. war (gun, bomb)
2.weapons
3.crimes (gender, religion, race discrimination and child abuse)
4.technology-  cyber-bullying

how is cyber-bullying related to soft material?

Reasons to why we choose the concept - cyberbullying :
1.we might want to choose society-based topics and relatable to our peers, the teenagers? (current topics that can remind people of fresh memories, like the violence is very near you, you are involved!) technology is very near us, we are all familiar with it and can possibly relate to it more since we are so familiar about it, like your phone, like your social media.

2.how is cyberbullying violent (contrast to the meanings associated with SOFT)?
why are people bullied online? they are vulnerable, they exposed their weakness so others who can make use of their exposed weakness/information and reached out the evil hand to the person under the cover of online.
-the effects of cyberbullying includes:

low self-esteem

Withdrawal from family and spending a lot of time alone

Reluctance to let parents or other family members anywhere near their mobiles, laptops etc

How is this related to SOFT material?
-the person must have trusted the online social media which is similar to the context when a person is intimate to her soft toys, as seen as little girls telling her [secrets and stories and her emotions to her teddy bear] - the inner world of her.
-she have posted things online that was private to her - exposed her inner world
-but internet is circulative, it is 'transparent', you can leak your information unintentionally and then some ill-intentioned people will make use of it and hurt you (violence)

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knitting represent domestic in its nature but this domestic is not of a common comfortable one, it represents the house in which the woman did her crime individually and murder is not associated with comfort at all. murder is about violence, destruction and danger which are exactly the opposite to the conventional/essential meaning of knitting (soft material)seen by people in the society.

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-she challenges the essence meaning of knitting (soft material) or underlined associations

CRAFT KILLS

The artwork is based on the tale of Saint Sebastian, who was martyred by arrows. The knitting needles are representative of arrows, as they can be seen stabbing the cloth figure. The aggressive and violent nature of the artwork challenges the viewer's preconceptions of knitting as a "harmless, gentle, placid pastime". The conventional image of a woman displaying submissiveness and comfort while knitting is also challenged by the violence of the scene. This follows the general storyline of Freddie Robins's artworks - that knitting does not necessarily represent familiarity and gentleness. The artwork is soft, but it is not gentle, it is not harmless.

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challenge the desirability of female parts
-where does women's beauty lay besides the sextual parts
-"body meets dress, dress meets body" or"lumps and bumps"
LOUISE BOURGEOIS
-legs
-started modelling bread with fingers
-works a lot in family-related artworks
FREDDIE ROBINS
-knitting has long been associated with woman, practicality, comfort,
-comfront issues with domestic, gender and human condition (comfortable)
-work: the knitted homes of crime
-houses of female murderers who worked alone (without male partners)
-accompanied by text explaining the stories or murder
-always credits knitters

DO HO SUH

perfect house-a real-size house made of soft material
-tell the story of the material at the quality of the material, the associations of the material
MS WANG
-grandpa was a tailor!!
explore questions of intimacy, vulnerability, love, pain, etc.

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-easy to mould, cut, compress, or fold; not hard or firm to the touch
-having a pleasing quality involving a subtle effect or contrast rather than sharp definition
-in a quiet or gentle way
-in a weak or foolish way

FEELINGS ASSOCIATED
intimate, , privacy, vulnerability, childhood, family, comfort in both body and mind

who wore it?

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why are sculptures commonly made out of hard materials?

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why are sculptures commonly made out of hard materials?

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-to preserve the shape of the sculpture

-they can support each other

-easy to create, quick to make --> easier to work with, soft materials are flimsy (not always though, you can stack cushions) --> easier to add details, retain shape (permanence, hardy weather resistance) (soft materials have strength too, they aren't brittle)

-norm, culture --> stone is cheap? ease? --> value of material

-soft materials, sewing, etc. are considered hobbies/craft, giving them a lower status than, say, marble

what happens if they were soft?
-they will crumble
-they will collapse
-they cannot be cut perfectly

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Memory
Square
Childlike
Colourful
Messy

Loosely knit
Nostalgic
Soft but rough
Diverse
Pastel

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1.bright
2.cool
3.water
4.my sister
5.happy memory
6.wavy
7.contained
8.flowing
9.explosive
10.shapeless