Material 1: Red gauze
- This material makes me think of the red veil worn by Chinese women at wedding in ancient time. When I think about something I can do with it, I think of a vintage hat veil that women in the Western countries wore around 1950s and searched for it.
Image of a vintage hat veil
- I use the cap of the cheese container in my materials and paint it to black. I found a foaming net for my soap, cut it open, and put it in the front as the veil. Then I poked a hole in the middle of the cap in order to let the veil go through it to make it stable at its place. I put the red gauze at the back and used a clip to fix it with the veil. In the end I put the fake flowers as the decorations on the hat and also spread on the veil. Overall I was pursuing to integrate the elements in Chinese culture and the western countries together. That is why I did the veil in the front just like the image I found and the red gauze, which the Chinese women wore at wedding, at the back.
I think in this part I could practice being more resilient but did not. I did not really like the result of the black hat(the cap of the container) combining with the other materials. I think the colors do not match well. I tried to dye the white foaming net into black but failed because the black color did not stay on this kind of material. So I had to wash it and let it stay in its original color. If I had a way to dye it into black the result might be better.
Material 2: Container of the toiletry I bought
- I think this container is perfect for making a jewelry box. I searched for classical jewelry boxes with carved designs in the style of ancient Chinese culture.
Image of the jewelry box
In the process
- I first used the pencil to draw a rectangle on the open front of my box and make rough sketches of the pattern in the image I found in the rectangle. Then I started using the knife to cut through the edges of the patterns I drew. Since this box is made of cardboard, I felt it takes less strength to cut through the board but really needs patience, because the cardboard was easily torn apart and patterns got smaller and needed delicate work.
Material 3: Heart-shaped container
- I decided to use this heart-shaped container to make rouge container in the old time, which most of the Chinese women might have if they pursued beauty.
Image of the rouge container
In the process
- I used a glue to stick a piece of cloth on the outside part the container as a cover. Then I used water-based markers to draw patterns on the cloth.
I think in this material I was being resilient. Because of the size of my container is perfect for making a little delicate rouge container, and also the texture of the coloring on the cloth really makes it look like it’s a women product from ancient China.
Conclusion
- Recreating the three materials using new materials taught me to really think hard through the materials that I have and combine them together into a whole new design that needs to show the topic that I want to express at the same time.
- What was most challenging was to have a substantial information at the back to support what I was doing. Since I did not have many of the materials, I had to think of an alternative way to create something. This is really challenging for me to use the limited materials and come up with a thing that I would never think of using these to do. It was really out of my comfort zone and challenged my ability to use materials.
- My favorite part of this project was drawing on the rouge container I made, because I surprisingly found that it was really easy to use color-based markers to color on the cloth I used. I enjoyed the coloring process, and the final project also did not disappoint me.
