Odilia Bird FDA

Acetate of hotel images and cyanotypes: For the next development in my project I decided to print of my photographs of the hotel hallways onto acetate and use them to create some more cyanotypes onto calico. Again I used natural UV light for this and set up a table in a relatively sunny spot in my garden. Unfortunately, the wind managed to catch the corner of most of them knocked them off the table onto the floor and these pieces were exposed without the acetate. I did manage to get two cyanotypes that had some sort of image on them, one better than the other.  This first image is the one that I think is the most successful out of the two, I have had to iron the calico to be able to take a clear photograph as the the material has become creased while it was drying. The acetate that was used is and image focusing on the mirrors of the hotel hallway and I think that the overall result is nice and you are able to tell what it is. However, the image is not as clear as I would have like...

 Sewing machine and sticking calico together: To make my first attempt at a patchwork wall hanging I used a sewing machine to stick my previous cyanotypes together. For the composition I moved each piece around and found placements that allowed the edges of each piece to more or less line up without looking to messy, however, for future pieces this is something that I will pay closer attention to as I want the work to look professional and put together. I have little to no experience with sewing machines and was struggling to figure out how to use the one at college, for my first attempt at a stitch I placed two of the cyanotypes together with one overlapping onto of the other and used the neon yellow thread that was already in the machine and the stitching was visible on the front of the work. For my next attempts I managed to get some help from someone more experienced and they showed me how to thread the machine properly, they also suggested a neater way of sewing by placing the...

Cyanotype onto calico test pieces: for the first stage of my project I really wanted to try and created cyanotypes on some new materials and fabrics, to do this I cut up pieces of calico into varying sizes and set up a table in the brightest spot in my back garden. I decided to gather a mixture of flowers and leaves from my garden and placed them on top of the calico and left them all out in the sun for about half an hour until they were fully exposed. I ended up with five cyanotypes, when looking at them I noticed that the sun had managed to get underneath some of the leaves and flowers causing the images to be slightly faded with blurred sides. The edges has a fuzzy aspect to them and I think that this allowed the subjects to seem softer and gentle. On each piece the images seem to fade in and out with some areas standing out more and contrasting the darker blue of the background, and I believe that this effect invokes this surreal and dreamlike atmosphere within the cyanotypes. In t...

 Research: liminal spaces photography: After a one on one talk with my tutor, we spoke about surreal spaces and liminal spaces as a source for my primary research. While staying in a hotel a noticed the during the evening the hallways and stairwells become devoid of any people, and because of this I found these areas to have a surreal aspect to them. It felt odd to me to see spaces that were created for people no have people in them, it felt like a creepy contradiction.  I decided to take this first image of the hotel room because I was struck by how odd the room and archway looked while there was no one there. The photo has been taken at and angle that attempts to showcase the doorways, archway and the wardrobe making it seem as if you are looking at the room in a diagonal line. I find that the colours within this room are very muted and the beige seems to almost overwhelm the room. I think that the wardrobe provides a nice contrast to the lighter tones of the walls and carpe...