Making the head of my THING

http://www.purlbee.com/fabric-beach-balls/ These fabric balls are the perfect handmade baby gift, multicolored, soft and round.....what's not to love! Sewers of all levels will have fun making these toys that will be worthy of passing down from generation to generation. Enjoy!

We recommend 1/4 yard of each fabric to leave room for error. These are the fabric I used: Fabric of Choice Other Materials Cotton Stuffing Cotton Thread that blends with chosen fabrics Fabric scissors Applique needle The Pattern Finished Measurements Small ball: approximately 5-inches diameter Medium ball: approximately 7-inches diameter Large ball: approximately 9-inches diameter Download this template for the small and medium balls, and this template for the large ball. You will need to cut eight fabric pieces total to make each ball. We used two each of four different fabrics for ours. Fold fabric in half by lining up the selvages so that you can cut two pieces at a time. Lay template on the fabric and trace with a pencil. Cut the fabric on the drawn line. Repeat this process with the remaining fabrics so you have eight pieces total. Pin the cut pieces in pairs right sides together, carefully aligning the points and edges. Chain-piece the pairs, sewing past the points at each end using a 1/4-inch seam allowance. You don't need to backstitch because you'll reinforce these seams when sewing the pairs together. Be sure to make smooth curves as you are sewing so that the ball will be nicely rounded. After chain-piecing, carefully cut the threads between each pair. Press the seams to the side of the darker fabric. Pair the pieces once more, aligning their cut edges with right sides together and pin them together. Sew them together to create two half-sphere shapes with four pieces each. Press seams to the side of the darker fabric. Turn one half-sphere right side out, and tuck it inside the other half-sphere, with right sides together. Align the points and edges, and pin the two pieces together. You'll want to begin one of your seams 1- inch from the point to leave an opening for you to turn the ball right side out and to stuff it. Take care not to sew over the nice points you've made at the ends when stitching the previous seams. Your top seam should just intersect the point where the previous seams meet. Turn the ball right side out through the opening, and stuff it firmly, making a spherical ball. Fold and finger-press the edges of the opening 1/4 inch to the inside to create a clean edge. Using a blindstitch, carefully hand-sew the opening closed, stitching just inside the fold for an invisible seam. Cut two circles for each ball to sew at each end. We recommend using the darkest solid fabric for this since it is a way to cover the part where all the seams come together which isn't always perfect. We cut a 2 -inch circle for the large ball, a 1 3/4-inch circle for the medium ball, and a 1 1/2-inch circle for the small ball. Fold and iron the edges of the circle approximately 1/8-inch. Hand-sew the circles on each end of the ball using a hand stitch. If the balls have gotten a bit misshapen while sewing on the circles, manipulate them back into a nice spherical shape and you're good to go!

Craig Fisher

http://www.craig-fisher.com/page2.htm

I like how craig fisher takes violence and normalises it as much as he possibly can, he does this by using fabric which is seen to be a very feminine thing and making violent set ups . some of his work, needs you to look close. because its only when you look do you see that sometimes it is not what it seems.

he hand stitches all of his work, he likes the idea of graft and hard work. this is one of the reasons why I can link this work to my fourth plinth, simply because my work is about how lazy people have become and how much people used to work before appliences and machinery came in to do it for us.  i think the concept of my artwork will be more about the work gone into it , and the though process behind it rather than the sculpture itself, although it will still have meaning and still have visuals ,

one particular piece that craig fisher has done is vomit , which was made entirly out of sequins, but again its not only until you look up close do you realise. all of them individually hand stitched. to create the desired effect. and as for the vomit. its taking something seen to be grose and discusting and making it look nice and pretty.something you would never look at and relate those words to .

the blood stains above do not look like blood stains. but the splatter of them replicates how it would look visually. maybe not the embossed site to it . but the shapes are spot on. im not sure if he had a violent background but it seems that way, seen as he has everything precise and corect. or maybe he has seen alot of violence.why would he want to make it normal, when violence isnt meant to be normal ,

3-D ( Looking into my Heritage)

http://www.rotherham-images.co.uk/gallery-remembering.rotherham(n).htm

Had a look through this website is really useful, it just shows how much rotherham has changed from previous years, with all the road layouts, shops, transport ect.so looking back at what it used to look like is really wierd as it is completly different to what i have seen it as.

For instance, how much this has changed

Then :

Now:

3-D ( Research into Artists )

Yinka Shonibare

http://www.yinkashonibarembe.com/present.html

Shonibare's work explores the issues of Race and Class, he uses a variety of media, such as painting, sculpture, photography, and in his most recent years he has used film and performance. his paticular intrest is looking into the interrelationship between africa and europe.

Grayson Perry

Saint Claire 37 wanks across Northern Spain

2003

Earthenware

84 x 55 x 55 cm

Perry uses several ceramic traditions including Greek pottery and Folk art.

http://www.victoria-miro.com/artists/_12/

Folkert de Jong

http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/folkert_dejong.htm

I like how they are made out of a fragile and messy material e.g. Styrofoam but are so precise and well crafted. but yet the paint applied afterwards looks

Rebecca Warren

http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/rebecca_warren.htm

I like how she leaves her sculptures looking incomplete to give the sense of it not done, still alive, I think this is a really fascinating way to look at it. Knowing this I don't think these sculptures would have the same effect if they were smart looking and precise.

Cornilla Parker

http://www.frithstreetgallery.com/artists/works/cornelia_parker

Cornillia concentrates on things that are out of human control, no matter how much we may try for it to be. for example the braking of glass, something which could not happen the same twice, something that a human cannot train to do in a specific way, above she has recreated an explosion, only this time she has recreated it in her own way, but without the action before it . I really like this about her work.

Haroon Mirza

http://www.lissongallery.com/#/artists/haroon-mirza/cv/

I don't quite get this, I have read a few bits about his work and don't fully understand what it is about, all I have got from looking is that he tries to distinguish between music, noise and sound in his artwork and likes to do this by using objects which wouldn't normally be seen together . for example water and electronics .

Ai WeiWei

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ai_Weiwei

We went to see this last year, i saw it but never really looked into what it was, or what it was about. after looking into it I now know that what was laid there were 100,000,000 porcelain seeds , each hand painted by 1,600 Chinese artisans , his intention was to get people to walk on them, roll around and get a feel for his comment on mass consumption. 

Ai Weiwei's Work is mainly based around his critical analysis on the Chinese government. and he shows this through sculpture, installation, architecture, curating , photography and film. I love how he doesn't just have one area of specialism. and works in a broad range of areas.

Marc Quinn

http://www.marcquinn.com/exhibitions/

Marc Quinn puts a lot of focus on the distant relationship people have with their bodies. and also  genetic modifications. allowing somebody to be someone their not or have features that they wouldn't naturally have. 

He likes using the body as his main focus along with mortality, beauty , science and time. He created a head out of his own frozen blood. using his own body to figure out 'what it means to materially exist in the world'