Fiberglass process...

Our second demonstration and practical was working with fibre glass. This process uses a lot of dangerous and toxic chemicals so it was essential we were kitted out with safety gloves, goggles, apron and breathing mask. We were to use the vacuum formed plastic helmets we had made the previous week to work with fibre glass and create our WW1 military helmets. 

Chopped Strand Mat

Fiber Glass Tissue

1)    Layer a thin amount of mirror glaze over the inner of the helmet mould and repeat process approx x3 leaving 10 minutes between each coat to dry. Once dry, spray with Mould wax release agent (under an extractor) and again leave to dry.

2)    Mix 100g gel coat resin with 1g hardener (a catalyst) and mix with a wooden stirrer till an even consistency. Add a small cup of iron powder to create a metallic effect at the end of the process.

3)    Cover mould in approx. 2mm layer of mixture, ensuring all white areas are covered. Use your brush to spread out and smooth the area so it is even and not lumpy. It will now need 1-2 hours to dry.

4)    Once gel coat resin is dry, coat the first layer of resin onto your mould (only do half at first to avoid areas drying out before you add the chopped strand mat fiber glass). Using your brush dap rather than brush the first layer of the chopped strand fibreglass onto the form adding more resin on top for strength and layering.

5)    Cover all of form ensuring there is an even layer and use your brush to manipulate the strands so they overlap and join.

6)    Once that layer is completed start layering on the glass fiber tissue. This is not for reinforcement but useful for obtaining a good, smooth and safe surface over the chopped strand.

7)    You will now have to leave this for a further few hours till hardened and dried. Your fiber glassed form should be ready for edge trimming and cutting and should hopefully pop out of your plastic mold with a little pressure.

8)    To produce neat and smooth edges use a round sanding mat (make sure to be wearing your mask as the dust produced when sanding is dangerous to inhale.

Oh! What a lovely war!

Set during the beginning, middle and end of World War One, Oh! What a lovely war depicts the good, the bad and the ugly of “the most devastating war to date”.

Based on a play, Attenborough commences the story with a rather theatrical scene highlighting the assassination of Franz Ferdinand and his wife Gavrillo Princip. Ferdinand is the heir to the duel throne of Austria-Hungary and it is this incident that sparks the war. Initially very stage-like sets change to set locations in Brighton and presumably Sussex. Being a musical the audience is subject to several songs sung light heartedly but with underlying truths about the war. I feel a great deal of effort is put into the costume and props for this film. Though the sets are simple yet affective you almost feel like you are watching a play being filmed.

One of my favourite scenes was the Christmas truce scene: the German military and the British military sing together on Christmas eve/day and meet the next morning to talk and share food and drink. I felt a great deal of respect and comradery coming from the characters. Below is the scene…

Plaster molding and vacuum forming

For our first seminar/demonstration we looked into creating forms with plaster and reproducing it in thermoplastic on the vacuum former. The theme for our projects is WW1, thus the form being a WW1 style military helmet.

To start we were shown how to make the moulding device to create the plaster form.

1)     Make a base with a swivelling pole in middle.

2)     Once you know the design you are reproducing into three dimensional forms, draw a side view pattern, ensuring measurements and proportions are all accurate to the real, original design. 

3)     Draw a cross section of your side view design, stick on strong plastic and cut out with a Stanley knife to create a stencil like device.

4)     Stick well to pole on base so that bottom of stencil is centred and in line with the surface of the base. (You may have to deduct a cm or half from the side of the stencil stuck to the pole to ensure you keep the right proportions).

5)     Make plaster: fill plaster bowl half way up with water (warm)  add plaster powder till “hill like” forms reach the surface and then mix to an even consistency with your hand.

6)     After mixing and leaving for a while, the plaster mixture should be thick enough to place on base and you can start circling the moulding device you made earlier to produce the equal and proportional design.

NOTES:

* Try to work quick, the plaster will start hardening if you are unprepared and slow.

* You will need to cover your work place with newspaper, so easier to clean up after and to protect work surfaces.

* Use protective goggles, apron and a mask when using plaster to prevent breathing in powder. Plaster is safe once wet and hardened.

* It is safest to have hair tied up and jewellery tucked in or off during plastering, the vacuum forming and the ban saw process.

Once the plaster form is hardened we continued the process to vacuum forming.

* Before vacuum forming remember to spray your mould with releasing agent so it is easier to separate your plaster mould from the cooled plastic.

1)     With your mould in place on a base and in the vacuum former you select a large piece of thermoplastic to place and lock above your mould and heat up until the plastic is visibly durable. This is when you pull the lever on the vacuum former to push your mould upwards and into the mould.

2)     Whilst thermoplastic is still hot press the vacuum on. This should suck all the air out and compress the durable plastic up against all the edges and surfaces of your mold.

3)     When plastic has cooled (when you can no longer indent it with your finger nail, lift out of vacuum former and separate from mould.

4)     Next you will need to cut the shape out with a plastic ban saw, you may also want to file edges to get rid of any rough and sharp pieces.

The White Ribbon, Michael Haneke 2009

Set in North Germany during the years leading up to world war one, The White Ribbon directed by Michael Haneke follows the lives and anguishes of people in a small German village experiencing strange and in some circumstances fatal incidents. Though I did not personally enjoy the film, I still felt it was good and affective and was well made. Haneke uses some interesting and non-generic cinematic techniques to enhance the scenes and make them more poignant. The most obvious being that the recently made film is screened in black and white and in extremely high contrast. This added a sense of mystery and ambiguity, possibly reflecting the gloomy events that take place and sinister characters. I felt it also intensified the look of the weather and the events at that time; during the summer days the light is bright, the conversations are relatively cheerful and productive. At night it is hard to make out where or who the characters are and the disturbing happenings going on behind close doors are dark and uncomfortable. 




Another technique that I felt added to the atmosphere rather than take away was the lack of soundtrack and background music. As much as I really enjoy a good film score/ soundtrack I feel the director’s choice not to use background music was an effective way of portraying an awkward and sometimes uncomfortable atmosphere and silence. It also enhanced the realism, as, in every day life we are not followed by a soundtrack.

The adult characters in this film aren’t very likable. Set in a very religious/ protestant village, children were punished brutally and oppressed into a very strict regime. When asked about the era Haneke decided the film should take place in he said “I chose this period, in this country because I feel it offers the most prominent horror of extremism…” Set around 1912-1914 The White Ribbon suggests that these subjugated children would be the generation that grows up to accept Adolph Hitler and the Nazi regime. Like in war the ones who suffered the most in this story were women and children, this could be an important reflection Haneke was making, but of course could also be a sadly truthful acknowledgement about war and corruption. I feel Haneke also draws on comparisons of children from then and children in today's society. Children were somewhat forced to grow up and be responsible and mature from an earlier age. Below is a clip of a young 14 year old girl explaining the meaning of death to her 5 year old brother. She has also been left in charge of the household as well as his care.

A feeling of realism is also created by the lengthy and un-edited shots. Some very tense and sinister scenes were shot in real time. I found this made the scenes a lot more real, but the negative of this cinematic affect was that The White Ribbon was a very long and drawn out film.

An excerpt from The White Ribbon ^

Michael Haneke being questioned on elements of his film ^

Summer Project...

So I only just found out about this Blogger thingy, I've never used it before and to be honest don't really know what its for... Its typical of my character to procrastinate and be late, BUT late is better the never so this is my first and possibly worst "Blog", ENJOY!

So the summer project... after reading the brief and trying to interpret it I concluded that i needed to make some sort of story, visual board representing life's anguishes in Flanders, Belgium during 1914- 1918. When approaching new projects I’ve always tended to make the final outcome first and work on my journal/sketch book after- this I have found has been one of my fatal flaws in education, and decided as I was to be a university student I should start doing things “the right way”. So I approached the summer project with A LOT of research, which was hard to come by, as I found during world war 1 production stopped, all history books focus on the war and not a lot else. Finding information on subjects other than the war about Britain let alone Belgium was troublesome… In all I visited 3 libraries around my area and raided mine and my mums book collection to reference about seven or eight books, one film, one TV production and a various amount of internet sites. To name a few: The collectors book of 20^th century Fashion, Frances Kennett; The Wipers Times: The complete series of the wartime trench newspaper, Ian Hislop; World War 1 day by day, Ian Watwell; 1914 Days of hope, Lyn MacDonald; A very long engagement,  2004 film by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Chickens, 2011 Channel 4 comedy production and of course lots of “Wiki” – not always very reliable so any information I got from there a backed up with books!