Brighter city project reflection

In this post I am going to reflect on my tales of the city project I have dubbed the #Brightercityproject, for this project I made teru teru bozu's which translates to shine shine monk in Japanese which are traditionally made out of white paper or cloth and resemble ghosts. The cloth or paper dolls are considered amulets that bring good weather (or rain if hung upside down) and were/are commonly used by farmers trying to insure the correct weather conditions for their crops. They started becoming pouplar for urban dwellers in the edo period, Traditionally if the weather is indeed good the day after the teru teru bozu is displayed then eyes would be drawn on them, this is comparable to the Japanese tradition of the daruma in which you have a daruma statue you draw in one eye when you have made your wish and draw in the second eye when the wish has been completed. So I made the teru teru bozu as a metaphor for bringing happiness and I tried to achive this by leaving encouraging messages and words of wisdom on pieces of card hung from the teru teru bozu.

So was the project a success? Short answer not from what I can tell. I attached a hash tag #Brightercityproject to the teru teru bozu but nothing has come up when I search that tag.

Do you think there is something you could have done to make the project more successful?
I could have made more and hung them in more heavily occupied places but I got too nervous to hang them in densely populated places. I liked what I did though putting them in less traveled places quite a few in darker corners of alleyways and places like that because it seemed more apt and like it made more of a statement.

I also made a video of all of the places I put them and hoping people can see by the video why I decided to place each message in the place I had put them. I am not disappointed with the outcome of this project in a strange way part of me didn't want to gain from it more than I have done by taking pictures and drawing from my inspiration to do this. It was supposed to be a selfless act if I got too much back from it, it wouldn't feel selfless anymore.

If I was to do it again what would I do differently?
I would probably think more about the construction because the string even though it looked pretty was so hard to get to work and on one of the teru teru bozu it kept coming undone. Apart from that I am satisfied with how the project went.

Summer project idea + artist influence

I don't know if it has changed but I was told the summer project would be on collections, one of my collections is ball jointed dolls today I had an idea about trying to make my own in a way I have never seen done before. The idea is I would "sculpt" the doll by needle felting and I was thinking of a type of character that would fit the needled felted look and I was reminded of the idea of anthro characters.

An artist who does great monster/antro characters is slugbox most of his work isn't suitable. But I really admire how he does chunky characters and I think that Kind of form would be really interesting to experment with when needle felting.

I particularly like his Pokemon anthro's because of how much Pokemon has inspired my work over the years.

If you are brave enough to see more of slugbox's work (I would recommend making sure the mature content filter is on) you can find his work on deviantart.com.

I recently found an artist on Instagram going by the name of  Zoe Williams @x03

She makes needle felted sculptures, they are very minimalist and she makes such amazing eyes for them.

She make's taxidermy style busts they range from the more conventional to the more mutated like this rabbit with many eyes.

I would really like to explore this idea if the project permits it.

Doll test how ingrained is racism?

I just watched this video and the video really made me feel uneasy, which I think is what it is supposed to do.

This video is entitled Doll Test and in the video the people conducting the experiments ask children from varying racial backgrounds questions about two dolls and a diagram with different skin colours. What really pulled at my heart stings was watching the children of colour pointing to the "black" doll and labeling it as the ugly doll, with most preferring the white doll. And when asked to give the researcher the doll which looked like them they handed over the "black" doll which they had earlier categorized as the ugly doll.

The fact they considered a doll with a similar skin colour ugly just shows how much the stereotypes made by white people have been rooted within coloured children. I felt tears come to my eyes several times no child should think that their skin colour makes them ugly or untrustworthy.

Personal Project: Choose your own ending

Before this project began I was in a comic book shop in Manchester called Travelling Man and my friends found a Batman choose your own adventure book. I have come across this concept before but it had never really inspired me, I also came across a comic by an artist I follow called Sophira-Lou and ended up buy it. I started to look at the indie comics in the store and came to the conclusion I could do it if I put my mind to it. The two ideas merged later that day and I decided I would propose it for my Personal Project.

My idea is to write 2-3 open ended stories and have other people decide what the ending should be. I would have my own ending I would keep a secret until the end. At first I wanted to send out physical zones but now I have thought about it I may do it via digital download.

I am buying two books I am hoping will help me with this project

How to Be an Explorer of the World: Portable Life Museum

Picture from www.farwakazmi.com

and 

The Imaginary World Of…

Picture from www.groovinmoms.com

by Keri Smith

I'm also considering buying

Mess: The Manual of Accidents and Mistakes also by Keri Smith

I think these books will really help me with this project by loosening my creative muscles and help me think more open-mindedly about my project.

The purpose of my project is to help people understand how creativity can enrich your life via

• Community projects and collaboration 
• Creative achievement 

Choose your own adventure stories are commonly written in second-person so the reader can assume the role of the protagonist. But my story will follow a half monster called Grenade and how she deals with getting used to the human world.

Grenade in this story is based off a ball jointed doll I own, who's character I modelled after a character I created for a project back in foundation. (for more on bjd's take a look at my last post)

The series was based on a concept created by Edward Packard and originally published by Constance Cappel's and R. A. Montgomery's Vermont Crossroads Press as the "Adventures of You" series, starting with Packard's Sugarcane Island in 1976.

Picture from www.goodreads.com

Ball Jointed Dolls and How They Inspire My Work

So first off what is a Ball jointed doll or BJD?

A ball jointed doll is an articulated doll which was first made in Rome and Greece out of clay and wood, but the start of modern bjds started in France and Germany in the late 19th century. Today the market is dominated by Asian ball jointed dolls which are normally made out of polyurethane resin.

I own an Asian ball jointed doll. She is from a company called Angel Fantasy and her sculpt name is Alice. The name I gave her is Pandora I have had her for about 4 years now.

Why do I like bjds?

I got into bjds after stumbling across them on the internet while looking for manga and anime related artwork, I was taken a back by how stunningly detailed they were.

Bjds are fully customisable you can buy eyes, wigs, clothes, shoes EVEN eyelashes and you can paint their faces however you see fit (or have a face up artist do it for you). It is a great (but expensive )way of bringing a character to life. Since picking up the hobby I have noticed most people who partake in the hobby are artists and writers wanting a visual representation of their characters.

How are bjds influencing my representation of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland?

I thought dolls fit in rather well with the story and is the closest thing I have physically to an automation. And automations are the aesthetic I am going for with the characters, like the red queen, mad hatter and tweedle dumb and tweedle dee.

Artist research

Eye Candy Festival Mural - Birmingham

by Miss Led

D&Me Boutique Brompton Road, South Kensington

by Miss Led

 

Meg Matthews Powder Room 

by Miss led

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 Sheri DeBow amazing handmade dolls

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sixinside.com

http://cyrilrolando.tumblr.com/

artwork by Cyril Rolando

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Illustrations by Kelsey Beckett 

http://kelseybeckett.tumblr.com/

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Brandi Milne

www.brandimilne.com

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Prep for the Headlander Festival

RaelDanger will be attending the Headlander Festival

on the 21/06/2014 from 12:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Location:

Stockport Rugby Club
Headlands Road
Bramhall
Stockport
SK7 3AN

Here is some of the products I will have for sale.

Poison Status Effect Needle Felted Earrings £4 

Customized Ring Binder £5

Ruled Notebooks 

A4 £4

A5 £3.50

A6 £3

A7 £2.50

Mini canvases and Small canvases

Mini £3.50

Small £5

 Small Drawstring Bags 

perfect for gifts or cosmetics 

£2.50 each

Tote bags £7.50

Needle Felted Kokeshi Doll £8

Alice Bands £2

If you are interested in any of these items please contact me on my facebook page. I also do custom orders check out my price list or drop me a message for more info.

Needle felted Kokeshi doll

Today I decided to make a needle felted Kokeshi doll.

Kokeshi, are Japanese dolls, originally from northern Japan. They are handmade and tend to be made from wood.

Several things inspired me to make my Kokeshi doll.

I was on YouTube and I saw this video pop up in my recommendations, I found out the YouTuber Maqaroon/Joanna Zhou actually designed some of the Momiji figures/dolls I own.

The three at the back are three out of five dolls I own which has been designed by Joanna Zhou. Under her YouTube/Brand Name Maqaroon she makes craft tutorials my favorites being needle felting video's. 

 

In my mind I must have put two and two together and thought hey maybe I should try and needle felt a Kokeshi doll. I didn't use any tutorials to aid in the creation of my Kokeshi doll.

I used this picture as reference for the size, shape, hair and details of my doll. I didn't want to use Momiji dolls as a reference because they are a pre-established brand.

This was the end result 

Idea's for next time 

• Animal style
• Lighter colour Kimono or Yukata
• Less traditional 
• More detail (on the Kimono/Yukata)
• More hair accessories
• Unfelted elements could be added such as beads, buttons and ribbons
• Photograph outside for nicer background and lighting

These are now available to custom order from me for £12 each, pre-made ones will be sold for £8 each contact me on my facebook page if you are interested Raelxarts.

Other Kokeshi images that inspire me

Useful links:

www.maqaroon.com

www.lovemomiji.com

lovemomiji projects

www.youtube.com/user/maqaroon

OOAK - Hiné Kokeshi Doll (odango)

kokeshi amigurumi pattern

DIY wooden Kokeshi -There is plenty to chose from on etsy

Kokeshi Doll - Kawaii Plushies - Girls Doll

Cactus Kokeshi Amigurumi Crochet Pattern

www.facebook.com/camilladerricoart/photos

camilladerrico.com

Needle felting supplies I used

www.amazon.co.uk