Mycelium
Concept:
I wanted to grow a mycelium bowl for my cat because he always knocks off his metal bowl and make the giant sound in the midnight and wakes me up. Plus a mycelium bowl might be more pet-friendly because it contains zero chemical. so it is good for my cat’s health. After I grew it I would do some painting on the bowl to make it more interesting and to attract my cat to use it.
Progress:
Reflection: I am very upset that it did not turn out properly, it fell apart into two pieces. A week ago I thought it is already stuck together and stiff enough because when I picked up the molding bowl it did not fall. However when I try to push it out of the mold it cracked, and all the mycelium fell out.
============================================================================
Kombucha
Concept: In the beginning, I wanted to make a mini garment for my doll, but when I took the first sheet of kombucha to sew up, I realized that it is too think for the industrial needles, and it was torn apart. So I had to grow my second sheet of kombucha. I learned from my first mistake that I must leave the Kombucha in the box a little longer in order to let it grow. So I waited another month to grow a thicker sheet.
Progress:
Concept 2: After I got my second sheet of Kombucha, it is much thicker than the first one, and it looks very much like wrinkled human skin. Such unique appearance inspired me, I want to use watercolor to wash the sheet into a more pinkish tone to mimic the human skin, and I will hand paint some texture of the skin and also the veins. I want to achieve a visual impact that the audience might even feel uncomfortable to look at. Sometimes people only reflect on themselves when they are offended. So I decided to make a human skin wallet.
Reflection: The smell of Kombucha became pungent, I could not work with it because it really distracts both me and the people around me, also it stinks the room, so the RA came again and demanded me to stop using the kombucha. However, I learned that next time when I am making the kombucha I must take more steps to get rid of the smell, or it will end unfortunately like this time.
================================
Zero Waste Garment
Reflection: One of the most striking thing that I have learned throughout the course is that the fashion industry is responsible for massive wastes on materials, and it is not environmental friendly from many aspects. So I decided to take an approach to do a zero-waste garment for my final project because it is closely related to my major, I am already in the process of making the top for another course, so I want to make a bottom dress to complete the look. Through both projects, I get to practice designing something that is sustainable, and I am very excited to see how it turns out since I never made anything like this before. At first, I was gonna buy fabrics from the store, then I realize that instead of purchasing something new, I should transform something old into a new form, and that is the core of sustainable. Therefore I took two of my old scarves and sew them together as one united fabric. Since I cannot cut away any of my fabrics, I incorporated several methods such as pleating and folding. This garment is all about deconstruction and reconstruction, I want people to understand that sustainability can be cool, too, and as future fashion designers, we should be responsible for leading this trend of environmentalism.
