Fmp

this is a den which i had been working on i was trying to create a castle/ tower to create a child like feel. using sheets of cardboard and cardboard boxes with sheets of fabric, i wanted to use materials that were miss matched something light and a little unstable. trying to express the reality of creating a den which you would of made in your own home when you were little. finding anything in sight which you could use in the household. which was exactly what i did. for the start this was a brainstorm to get me to do something practical and fun so i played like a little kid, and i enjoyed it too. 

inside this den i realised that it was very small, this is when i had to decide weather or not i wanted this piece to be a statement of just looking at a den or if i wanted to make it fit for people to go inside and interact with a play den. i thought it would be more interesting and fun if people were able to go inside. since this would make a lot more sense looking what i wanted to originally wanted to achieve.

this is where i needed to think of how this could happen i realised i wouldn't be able to build the entire den out of cardboard as i realised when i wen inside everything collapsed to the ground. pilling on cardboard boxes on to to create a roof it would mean that people wouldn't be able to go inside. my next idea was to have a large sheet hanging from the ceiling to create my roof and then drape other materials down the side to make the walls.

another brainstorm idea was to play with anything i could find at home which would be attracted by a child. i found a box of balloons which i got for christmas. i wanted to create something a lot more different to animal balloons which kids would still be attracted to. using different colours i blew each one up and knotted and intertwined them with each other. this way i thought it would stop them from deflating. but also i think it would create a unique and quirky imaginary chandelier in kids world. unfortunately minutes later they deflated and became deformed from the knots, only trapping air in certain places.

next i thought i would try abit of fingerprinting like you did in primary school. this was a very messy, cold weird experience but fun! at first i didn't try to think about where i placed my hands on the paper. i ended up over lapping over the print and i made it hard to tell that they were hand prints anymore. i was still playing like a kid but i don't think it would of been very understood to my viewers and i wanted to make this an obvious observation, so in the end i decided to paint the entire background, still with my own hands, and started again with a different colour spacing my hand prints more.

we all ended going on a trip to lincoln university to see what exhibitions were going of there for us to gain more ideas and inspirations, which i defiantly did. i saw this oval shaped tent covered is lights and patterns. i liked the mood it set but only yo were not able to go inside but i could see what it looked like and this is the picture below. it gave me some ideas with what i could do with lights to set certain moods and tones, and this also helped me realise how i could make my installation work in a dark room. 

we also found another tent draped over with material so immediately i was attracted.

we could also get inside this one so this would give me an idea of spacing which i could do inside my den. i found that there was a lot of space for you to make your way around. i would like my den to be wide enough for about three or four people to fit in but i would like the height of my den to be reasonably low, forcing people to make there way round on there hands and knees. this is to get them down to child size.

 

also inside i found these ornaments. looking around i got a very senseful feel inside. looking at the chosen colours and objects it felt as though it was made for a meditation area, which was very relaxing but this wasn't the sort of thing which i was looking for to go inside my den. i had more of the idea to be loud, messy with toys and colouring books. but i did again also like the dark setting of the room it was just light enough to see around you.

i also spotted what was hanging above my head. lots of needs and scarfs draping down which gave the idea of a baby mobile inside a cot something pretty for them to look at and listen to as they go to sleep.

further in the exhibition there was this! my first thoughts was to dive in obviously i didn't but thinking of the texture and the noise of paper rattling it would make i think would be an awesome thing to play in and I'm sure any kid would agree. this made me go away and think of ideas of what i could have inside my den. things like bean bags and loose bed sheets for you to crawl up and get trapped in.

thinking back to what way dangling inside the tent i also found this not concentrating on the picture itself but how it is displayed i thought if i had an entire area hanging with needs above your head i thought it would be very pretty to look at and very relaxing the same sort of concept of what a baby mobile does.

when we came back from the trip i brought into college a lot of different beads, most were from old necklaces and bracelets, others gems from a pack i found. i started tying each one up and hanging them in the studio ready to use for my final piece.

when it came to transferring them over to my den i had to think of what i could hang the from inside. from speaking with everyone also on what they thought we came up with threading each of them through cardboard, still keeping it homemade and a little crafty. but unfortunately when it came to doing this because i had to tread them through on a table and not whilst hanging the few i came to do ended up knotting and tangling  with each other. so i left the rest how they were and i decided that i would hang it from different areas of the sheet when it was hung.