ievataskunaite

[ievataskunaite]

End of 6105

Summary

One of my tutors said, that I moved a lot from folding steel and polypropylene last year to be able to fold concrete.

Building a concrete helmet which seemed hardly possible to achieve in the beginning of the year both for me and my tutors has actually taken shape and worked as hoped. Looking through my blog from the beginning and seeing first trials done with concrete while comparing it with final images of the helmet seems like a big step forward.

I’ve learned to confidently work with a new material, explored a variety of textures, shapes, and mixtures. Improved digital software skills, photography, and cast making.

Got to know and analyze various related artists and the history of The Atlantic Wall as well as concrete architecture and Japanese ideology.

There were ups and downs during these eight months, struggles to find the answers and figure out the concepts. Luckily it all worked out at the end. 

This project was a crossover of three key elements I am most interested in while creating my work: history, fashion, and geometry. This made the project really interesting to me and built a desire to continue exploring concrete in fashion realm in the future.

Name

I kept thinking how to name my work for months, writing down the words related to the piece. The decision has been made to name it

konkret | us 

which is a mixture of Lithuanian word konkretus ( meaning something particular, real and material) and also sounds as concrete in English. Making a gap in between konkret and us creates a parallel of concrete being close to the body, so is my helmet.

Concept

The work explores the shape of a Nazi bunker built between 1942-1944 for the defend structure called ‘The Atlantic Wall”, as well the real nature of concrete, celebrating its beauty through its flaws; that is the imperfections that exist on concrete following the casting process.  The aim is to challenge the common perceptions of how military bunkers are seen through exploration of a fashion wearable that would not carry the horror anymore but the geometry, functional design, ergonomic characteristics, material robustness, and process of production. The item is designed in a way bunkers were, but instead of following the forms landscape, designed to fit on the head as a wearable.

Materials

Concrete, copper.

Key research

Paul Virilio “Bunker Archeology”

Leonard Koren “Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers”

Ron Arad “Record deck” (1987)

Noemie Goudal “Observatories”

Patrick Hartley

Brutalism

Marjorie Schick

P.S. as far as I know, no one has ever made a concrete helmet before, so I am a  pioneer in this field!

[ievataskunaite]

Display

I’ve got my structure made with the copper chain and carbines hanging. I’ve tried to hang my helmet, thinking if there is any additional support structure needed but it hung completely fine on the existing frame.

There were considerations whether to paint the wood in grey colour or leave it as it is. Stuart, Steve, and Dem agreed on having it not painted as it works well with Lauren’s plane interior and Tayla’s rock base. I’ve only needed to sand and clean the structure.

I had the photo printed but is still needed to be straightened, so Luke and Stuart advised adding tissue paper on top and loading a heavy board to leave throughout the night.

Our work kept moving around G05 all day to find the best places for each of the artwork so I could not finish the display,  as planned because my work has been moved from the wall to the centre of the room and now the photo was advised to be straightened throughout the night, so I needed to wait until the morning to finish the display. Also, I did not want to leave my helmet hanging while there was still a bit of chaos and things being moved in the studio.

A photo of final display:

[ievataskunaite]

Photo decision // size// printing

Stuart had a spare minute look at my photographs and he said they were actually good!  Scrolling through he stopped on the one that he immediately felt was the strongest one and that was the photo number 2. Stuart opened the file in Photoshop and had a look if there is any fixing needed. There were only minor things like lightening a background a little bit and fixing saturation. The file was ready to be print and was 1gb size so I could print almost any size I want.

Stuart suggested into looking some other places to print outside of university and also to think about the size and if there is a mound needed.

The main question was the size which I spoke to Steve B. and Jane about. As I was having a big wall space in G05 anything smaller than A1 would look too small. Steve suggested haveing a look on A0 and made a point saying if I use a collection of 3 photos, they could be A1, but if I am using only one image, I should go bigger. When I met Jane later she agreed on it. A0 it is.

Following day I went to talk to Luke asking about possibilities of printing and mounting. He said that Parkside does mounting and I should go and have a look over there. He had a look on my file and got it all resized and ready to be printed on A0, as he said I need to go to the Parkside having the file totally ready.

Checking the size of A0 in G05:

Apparently, there was no possibility to do the mounting in Parkside because for that they should shut all print room and now it;s the time for the deadlines so they can’t do it.

I was planning to print onto heavy matte paper (because I will have spotlight for my display and I did not want the light to reflect onto the surface), but the technician there convinced me to print on Lustre 230gsm, as it makes work look more like a photograph and also is not as shiny as the glossy one. Something in between matte and gloss, he said.

The print came out totally wrong colours, had pink shades and vivid red instead of ginger hair. I was not happy with it. I asked the technicians to find out where is the problem and after probably an hour they figured out that the photo was set to be print on the specific type of paper that they do not have. They were too busy to reprint it, and it was not their fault either, so the technician said he will email Luke enlighting him about the situation and asking to reprint it for me.

Wrong print:

Overall it took almost three hours in Parkside, I did not get it mounted and got printed it wrong. When I went back to Margaret-street I explained what happened and he said he will print it for me as planned on a matte paper next morning.

[ievataskunaite]

Copper spray

I went to Cass Art shop again and they had the colour of the spray I wanted. In need for this to be done before building the structure, I’ve sprayed it the exact day after the photo-shoot. The spray stayed well on metal and after drying did not scratch easily which was great. The black paint that the chain had before was fully covered.

[ievataskunaite]

Photoshoot #2

On Tuesday, when Stuart was in, I’ve planned to do the final photo shoot.

Aimee came to model again, as it was agreed that her hair works well with copper.

This time I’ve brought a long sleeve silk top.

I booked a camera from Luke who said that I am not allowed to use the studio room for the shoot and suggested using one of fine art studios on the first floor.

Having everything ready I asked Stuart to come. It was decided that he will help me to set up the camera but I need to the shoot myself. He looked at different rooms on the first floor and chose the cleanest looking wall which also had a good natural light falling on it. This time I have not been using artificial lighting, as studios were light enough. I was really lucky with the weather, as it was a bit cloudy so no direct sunshine went through.

After setting up the camera and making sure that Aimee is not going to break her neck Stuart left. It’s funny because this time Aimee said that the helmet feels lighter than before, even though it’s thicker and heavier. It’s most likely to be the because of the frame, as it distributes the weight and also makes the helmet sit more onto the shoulders than the top of the head.

I have around ~100 made from different angles, Aimee wearing short sleeves and long sleves but here are the top three photos that I think work the best:

I will be having a meeting with Stuart to see if there is editing needed and also to ask his opinion about which photo is the strongest. My preference would be the second on, but I need to hear the thoughts of an expert!

[ievataskunaite]

Display decisions

The day before the final photoshoot was planned I had a meeting with Jane, Karen, and Dem where we discussed the display.

As Dem has planned a week just to built all of our display mechanisms, there was no problem in making the hanging structure.

He had planned an extended free standing wooden tripod structure with a chain hanging from the top, instead of the structure coming from the wall. I, Jane and Karen agreed on having it.

Things to sort out were buying a chain and led spotlights. Karen suggested in buying a steel chain and spraying in copper, so it’s cheaper and stronger.

I’ve searched in various places online to buy it and found some that would work. I needed  ~2m  of the chain. Before buying I went to talk with Gay asking if she knows any supplies or maybe she has some chains in university. And, lucky for me, she did have a black chain of ~1.70m which was perfect for me. She let me use it and spray it. I’ve also got a pair of carabines.

Thinking about adding led lights, I was planning to buy some copper ones from IKEA, however, thinking of the aesthetic ways to plug it, needing an extension did not seem like a good idea. Thinking that the tripod will be ~3m high, the existing spotlights in G05 would do the work and would look the best too.

Having all this clear now, I needed to buy a can of copper spray fro the chain.

[ievataskunaite]

Display research

As I’ve decided that I want the display to be more fashion than museum style, I’ve started looking into some examples of the fashion display.

Knowing that I will have photos to show next to my work it was fine to have my helmet hanging, as I wanted from the beginning.

Fashion display having hanging mechanisms:

The Calvin Klein + Los Angeles Nomadic Division 

Happened in 2010 this display used acrylic tubes coming from the supporting structure coming from the ceiling. The items are illuminated with spotlights which draw the focus to the items displayed.

Comments:

Instead of acrylic tubes, I would use a copper chain as it would work well with the copper mesh inside and also would express the rough industrial/architectural look.

Definitely using spotlights, knowing that my work will be displayed in the dark room.

Helmet display from Pinterest:

When having a conversation with Jane and Karen they also suggested to look into having hooks for the display if there would be no possibility to hang it.

These an example of a possible hook. 

Comment: Would need to bend steel, as the copper itself is too soft and would not handle the weight of a concrete.

[ievataskunaite]

Front gap // attaching

The final stage was the attachment of the front panels. I’ve cut the unnecessary mesh out and iron soldered the mesh that was left, however, it looked very messy and had lumps of iron on it.

Then I looked at the ways to cover it: copper rods, copper plate, and other copper mesh. All of these seemed like a different element so I’ve decided not to use it.

The only option was to re-solder it. Firstly I needed to cut the existing squares of the mesh and form simple rods. Then, I’ve bought very thin copper wire, and wrapped around the lines formed. THE IRON SOLDER DID NOT WORK ON THIS. I really don’t know why. Really annoyed I needed to unwrap it and trying to hold both of triangles together in place iron solder it using flux.

The finish is not ideal, but it’s the best I could achieve. I’ve also coated it with a copper marker to hide the silver.

[ievataskunaite]

Assembling // additional touches

I am really glad I’ve been using the second cast for all of the trials, trying meshes, folding and etc. as at the end the meshes cracked and the cast divided into halves. By that time I was ready to start finalizing my degree show work - final helmet with the first sharp cast and the right frame.

Honestly, I was terrified to drop it or somehow ruin it while trying to put the cast into the frame which was quite narrow for all of the pieces to fit through. Luckily,  it worked and nothing cracked! The frame worked ideally for this cast. It sat in place well, however, I’ve decided to add some additional copper rings just to make it even more secure.

Another thing was making the edges softer for the model to wear. From my own experience with the mesh, it is very sharp and scratches the skin easily. I’ve covered the endings with flux and iron soldered it to create little iron bubbles which would cover edgy bits!

[ievataskunaite]

FLUX arrives // test

The flux paste arrived as predicted. I’ve done a little test following the youtube video to see whether it is working. Two separate meshes were attached, the paste was but onto the touching part and the iron solder covered it smoothly! The finish is delicate and also strong.

Afterwards, I’ve tried to weld the thicker copper rods but the flux did not work on those. (thought of replacing spot welding of the frame if this has worked)

The only concern is that when heated flux leaves oily stains, so I need to be really careful while using it to attach the front panels.

[ievataskunaite]

Meeting Jane; doing another frame

During the last meeting, we decided that Jane will come up and have a look when the frame is made. 

The shape of the frame was good and Jane agreed that it looks better from the outside.

Next stage was welding a more accurate and finished frame. There were some accidents like rods breaking, however, I’ve managed to replace the cracked parts with the new rods and the new frame was complete. I’ve added some new rods to support the structure and also solved the back bit which was not looking good while doing the first frame.

The following day I went to Cass Art shop and searched for the copper marker to cover the burnt marks from spot welding. I was advised to buy a marker instead of acrylic because it takes faster to dry.

Luckily, it actually worked, was the right colour and dried as fast as said. The frame was ready to be attached to the first cast.

[ievataskunaite]

I was suggested to try using flux for iron soldering, as it produces smooth finish instead of having lumps that are hard to attach. The main need for it was for the attachment of the front panels.

After making an order on Ebay, the flux should be delivered to the university within two days.

[ievataskunaite]

Making a frame

Following my last chat with Jane and Karen, I went downstairs to the metal workshop and bought the thickest steel, copper plated rods I’ve found.

I started folding the rod and thinking how to attach to the inside but it looked good on the outside and also sat under panels better, as the edge was from outside, not inside.

It was very good that I had two casts done, as I was able to work on the second one, which was not as sharp as the first one and don’t be afraid to ruin it or drop it.

It took quite a while to figure out the right shape and that would also do its work, keeping the helmet together in a better form.

There was an issue in doing the spot welding as it weld o the flat angles, not edges, there was an issue on the back part of the frame where too many rods attached. Needs to be remade.

[ievataskunaite]

Tutorial with Jane an Karen

In one of our last meetings, we discussed how could helmet and photographs improved and also started thinking about the display.

Helmet:

Not as dramatic as folded from the paper because of the weight. Need to think of some sort of supporting structure from inside, maybe a frame?

Display:

Look at how helmets are displayed. Do I want a fashion or museum type of display?

Definitely not a museum display. I’ve told Jane and Karen that I have been imagining it being hanged from some sort of structure or the wall. They said it might be risky hanging it and would also lose its context. I need to be clear that that is a wearable I am showing so I should definitely display the photographs in the degree show if I want the piece to be hanging.

Photographs: 

I am not very confident with my photography skills so been trying to avoid having photos displayed in the show. However, it made sense having them so I could not disagree.

We discussed that the photos should be like MUJI campaigns (emotionless, relaxed or tensed).

I’ve shown them the photos made and it was decided that it’s nice to have contrasting fabrics: sleek & sharp. Something like silk should work well in contrast with edgy concrete.

We have also made a decision that I should ask Stuart to help me out with photography, so I feel more confident about it.

[ievataskunaite]

Editing with photoshop

The afternoon after photoshoot I went to see Luke who showed me how to edit images.

The first step was editing the lighting of the image. Then correcting the colour of the concrete so it has less orange pixels.

The key tool to learn was clone stamp as I wanted to edit the edges of the shapes where it was not sharp or concrete leaked. After doing one border I’ ve realized it will take forever to do, so before putting time and effort I’ve decided to discuss photographs with Jane and Karen first.

Before:

After:

[ievataskunaite]

Photoshoot #1

I’ve had a studio, camera, and Luke booked for Monday morning. For a model, I’ve asked Larissa’s sister Aimee to come, as she has long ginger hair which, I thought, would work well with copper.

I’ve brought in a variety of one colour tops, both long and short sleeves. The simple plain white one seemed to look the best.

Luke has set the lightning, however, the photos appeared to be quite dark.

Aimee said the helmet was lighter than it looks like and it was not too uncomfortable to wear it.

The helmet itself was not sharp enough and did not sit right on the model.

In the afternoon I had a slot booked with Luke to look into the possibilities of photoshopping photographs.

[ievataskunaite]

Assembling cast 2

On Monday morning I  was in uni at 8 am to take the cast out of the mould and to try to assemble it on a mannequin before the shoot.

I was really short on time, so the assembling is very chaotic and messy - definitely needs changing. However, it did keep the helmet together and that was what I needed.

The second cast is not sharp enough, so I definitely would not display it on a degree show. But it was lighter and hopefully will not break model’s neck.

It was a very exciting moment overall to finally see the piece altogether. I’ve been working on separate pieces all year and finally got to see it working!