Carrot

Working with cardboard and paper briefly has been good as it allows me to see things on a big scale quickly and cost effectively but as the final result it doesn't have the same materiality that fabric has. I think that fabric has the most potential when it comes to realising my drawings so that they are recognisable from the drawing. The idea for this costume actually came to me in the shower when I was thinking about what I wanted to make next and sketching on the shower glass. I had been thinking about making giant fruit or vegetable costumes purely to entertain my flat mates but got distracted by the idea of a giant wobbly carrot costume. You see the the 'wonky veg' sections in supermarkets where they sell all the fruit and veg that isn't 'perfect' but why not just throw all of them in together? Who cares? This exaggerated and elongated shape will cover the face and distort the body like I have been wanting to explore, and the natural form of the body will be almost unrecognisable. 

For this piece I chose to use felt. This is partially because I like Joseph Beuys ideas that felt is can absorb nearly anything, its an insulator and it can also muffle sound. As this piece is going to cover the entire face and body, having the sound of the body and the breath muffled as well really adds to the detachment from the 'human', to create something more alien and otherworldly. When I went into the fabric shop to get material for this piece I knew I also wanted a material that was slightly rigid and would be able to hold up on its own more so than a material like cotton. I had considered hessian as I had used on a previous piece but hessian is very scratchy on the skin. I thought I had wanted to keep as close to the original drawing as possible but when I saw the pink felt that was long in width in knew that it would be perfect for this piece, despite the fact that carrots are not pink. However, now I actually think in the end that the pinkness of this piece adds to the 'otherworldly' aspect of this piece. 

I had planned to add pattern and decoration onto the piece after I had cut out the outline and stitched it together, so that I could definitely make sure it fit and worked the way I wanted it to, but I realised this would be near enough impossible because of the scale of the piece. So, I decided to use this circus-type striped material I had, to add more bright colour, and to add texture I cut the stripes, so that when the piece moves so will the 'flaps'. I began stitching with machine, but because of the vast quantities of material it was difficult to negotiate. So I tried hand stitching (as above), but that made the material bunch and pucker and I felt like it detracted from the work because it looked messy. I don't mind if my stitching doesn't look neat and professional because that it not what I want the audience to take for my work, as long as it doesn't detract from the work. Even though machine stitching was trickier, I have learn to persevere with it and to have patience, which ultimately resulted in a better outcome. 

I decided not to do both sides with the stripey flaps because I worried I would run out of time before the interim show, and I wanted this piece to be in it. Instead, so the piece would have continuity on both sides, I stitched a single stripe of the same material down the back, which kinda reminds me of  the ridge of a dragon, which I like as it makes the piece look like a creature of some kind. My flatmate in the video states that I look like a shrimp, which is a far departure from the carrot costume I had initially intended to make, and it is because of the transformative qualities of material that this is possible. I think the most important aspect of this piece is the movement created by the wearer. I thought that I wanted to cut arm holes so that the hands would be out, as I thought this would help it hold its shape, but actually I think it works better if it left loose. Because of its extreme size, the wearers arms are able to alternate between the different appendages, meaning that the pieces shape becomes fluid and there can be much more movement. The flaps move by themselves which is what I like about certain materials, as its like they have a life of their own. This movement, along with the fact that you cant see the face, helps to create a character that is otherworldly, and also adds to the comical aspect of this piece. I would like to see this piece in an everyday context, and I think it would work better in terms of getting a reaction out of people than the netting piece, because it is much more creature like and alot more ridiculous. It is very much like a creature from the sea, so it would be interesting to take it to the beach and play around with filming it in different locations there; maybe coming out of the water, or jumping up from behind rocks or running along a pier.  Like the piece I made out of netting, i'd like to see how this piece looks hanging up, to see if the meaning of the piece changes at all.