1.4

Systemic Diagram

1.4

Continue to work on your operative drawings. Remember you will have three drawings:

(1) Process Diagram :: Diagram the operative moves of your conceptual theme as a step by step process. THE SHIRT OUTLINE SHOULD BE ONE OF YOUR LIGHTEST LINES. This must be clear by Monday! I want to see the manipulations and the movement of those manipulations not the outline of the shirt!

(2) Composite Diagram :: Using diagrammatic notation to display all steps taken, compress the process into one drawing, include all traces of movement involved in your operations. If you think this drawing will be too “crazy” please refer to the Operative Diagram upload in the right column of the blog. This is what I am looking for. The more lines the better. For some of you this drawing could simply go at the end of your process series. IT IS NOT WHAT YOUR SHIRT SIMPLY LOOKS LIKE WHEN YOU ARE FINISHED!

Rules for drawings one and two and three ::
1::Manipulate all drawings in Illustrator.
2::Build the drawing with construction lines. You should still be using these lines!
3::Construction lines should be very light and typically a medium gray. In Illustrator the lines would be .0001 inches or .001 point for your stroke option. You need to experiment and print as you go.
4::Never use a line over 1 point as your stroke weight, these drawings need to be light because you are representing an object composed of fabric.
5::Always draw like you are making a finished product.
6::The object and boundary of the shirt should be one of your lightest lines. (This line is completely excluded in drawing #3.
7::Develop a complex language of notation. Each manipulation/operation needs a lineweight or linetype. Refer to your operation list. Cut, Fold, Score, Bend, Rotate, Move...ect, all should have there own descriptive line. If you are having difficulty seeing how this object moves put nodes or dots at all important intersections of the shirt and in the next step, that node will move according to your manipulation. Then mark where the nodes are after your manipulation and draw a “movement” line for notation. Look at what Aaron has done with his drawing.

(3) Systemic Diagram :: Identify rules and systems within your operations/manipulations and extract them from your shirt. This drawing will display the tectonic systems found within the shirt and your operative drawing. Without your operative drawing only the index of the shirt would exist. Your manipulative process is your system. Establish what the rules are for that system in steps. Classify what moves has to be made to create your conceptual theme. This drawing will exclude the image of the shirt and just focus on your operative process. Refer to drawing above.

Have all three printed and pinned on your walls by 8h15 on Monday.

If you did not hand in your operation sheet and five sentence conceptual statement please send it to me via email. I am still missing five.

1.3

Task One:
The Operation Sheet. Write every process used in your manipulations of your shirt in a series of verbs like the example below. These are some and not all of the operations that were performed during the first exercise.

Fold
Crease
Pleat
Pull up
Pull down
Pull out
Squeeze
Unfold
Rotate
Move Forward
Cut
Score
Compress
Wear
Turn
Pierce
Hinge
Wrap
Weave
Press
Cinch
Move
Wear
Align
Clasp
Close
Cross
Encase
Entangle
Hinge
Interlock
Layer
Link
Open
Ravel
Slide
Shift
Twist, or any other technique that may be specific to your operation(s) performed on the shirt.

Print your operative list in Arial font (10pt) on an 8.5 by 11 sheet of paper.

Task Two:
From the shirt manipulations you have derived rules necessary for your specific operation. Rules are defined from the operations you have performed and then extracted from the surface of the shirt. These actions have produced a conceptual theme that will translate through a variety of surfaces and eventually site and building.

First identify what your concept is and how it was derived. Then write five sentences reinforcing how your manipulations affect the notion of surface and how this reinforces your concept.

Task Three:
Continue working on your drawings for Friday. Reprint and have your shirts with you for a group pinup, be ready by 8h15.

1.3

You may use words as an instruction set in your drawing(s), legends are still not welcome here. The example above is the instruction set and system found with the images posted just below this.

1.3

(a) operative diagram :: process

(b) operative diagram :: composite

assignment one ::
Continue with what we discussed on Friday. Do not be hesitant to push it even further than what we reviewed. Do not be afraid to manipulate the surface of your shirt. This is an exploration of surface and how you can deconstruct that surface to first discover relationships within the surface of the shirt and then how you can exploit that surface to find new and untold systems within it. From this initial investigation we will take conceptual themes found and translate them through other disparate surfaces. We want to analyze the shirt because of its own inherent construction. The placket, yoke, buttons, seams, fabric, thread, ect make up the image of the shirt. Once you begin to operate or manipulate that surface you will defamiliarize that image. From this you will create your own system for surface experimentation. Design is analysis. The important thing to consider during this phase is the why for what you are performing to the shirt. The system found is the reason and answer for the why.

assignment two ::
Download the Operative Diagram pdf in the right column of this blog, you will find the file under "images". These are high resolution scans of the Bodyline book I brought on Friday. At the end of the pdf are two more examples of how to diagram your operative or manipulative process. Each action you perform should be notated on this drawing. Your manipulations may include folding over or under or up or down, creasing, cutting, scoring, moving, taking off, putting on, rotating, hinging, sewing, ect.... Some of you may have more than one operative diagram to compose. These operations have processes possibly better notated in more than one drawing (look at drawing A versus B above).

This is a experimentation of representation. These drawings augment the original operations/manipulations you performed to the shirt. Notation informs the viewer of your operations. You will need to identify primary, secondary, tertiary, quaternary, ect ect steps for your operative process. Then you will have to quantify your own system of notation. You will be allowed to use a black/gray scale for your lines, as well as red, purple, green, (NO BLUE!!!), orange, yellow, hatching, dashed or dotted or any other version of line you may classify.

Have your operative diagrams printed and pinned up on your walls by 8h30 on Wednesday. The format is under your discretion. Be consistent with the format you have followed so far in the semester.

You will have to present your manipulated shirt as well.

See you on Wednesday.

1.2

Notation example for diagramming...

1.2

Sewing survival kit :: you will never know when you will need these items the next few days...

So there is some quiet confusion about the assignment tomorrow. I apologize, but I feel some of you are ready to operate and manipulate while others are tossing around several ideas about how to proceed and would appreciate more deliberation before destroying the shirt.

(NOTE: i say operate and manipulate because operating implies a surgical method while manipulate implies still the analysis of surface movement without the cutting, you can do one or the other or both in some cases).

Again if you feel comfortable moving on, please do and read point (b) in the posts below. If you do not then you have two options for how to represent your ideas. Either diagram them and print two concept manipulations on 8.5 by 11 sheets using the notational methods we have been talking about OR manipulate your printed drawings to augment the action you want to perform to the shirt. Look at the picture (c) this image should explain what I am looking for in point (c). If you choose to do (c) try it twice and have two paper manipulation models pinned on your wall tomorrow. In the post two below this one I stated that you must try manipulating the printed shirt diagram if you were going to diagram your ideas before performing anything to the shirt. NOW YOU DO NOT. Do not worry about it and try your ideas for tomorrow.

So either start manipulating your shirt and take process photos or have two diagrams explaining your concept or two manipulated paper models explaining your concepts or have one diagram and one paper manipulation. Have fun.

You will begin the conceptual phase of this project by operating on the surface of the shirt. You will be projecting possible systems onto the surface of the shirt.

1.2

Shirt Operations

Taking the systems and relationships discovered through your careful analysis of the shirt you will now deconstruct and or experiment with the surface of the shirt. While mapping the surface of the shirt as object you found a process for measuring. It is now your task to defamiliarize yourself from that shirt and operate on and or manipulate its surface. The shirt is no longer the object that you once knew. You may physically operate on the shirt, map the movement of its surface through differing actions such as taking off putting on, folding ect., and or deconstruct the shirt using inherent systems found in the shirt and then reconstruct it as something new. When you observe, dissect, and or map the shirt from now on you should look past its objectivity and identify it as surface with structure. You may ask yourself how does the structure affect the surface? What are the systems that give this shirt structure? Reference how a tailor works or research the history on http://staff.lib.muohio.edu/shocker/FemInv/. Look at the shirt as skin (surface) versus bones (structure). Your operations and or manipulations will not be ambiguous. They will be either surgical or topological.

From the shirt manipulations you will derive rules necessary for your specific operation. The rules will be derived from the operations you extract and will become a pattern code for the surface of the shirt. The next two weeks of the semester will be spent researching the themes and the systems found in the shirt and your manipulations of that surface. Your physical operations will produce a conceptual theme and will be translated through disparate surfaces during the course of the semester. With this investigation will come new design processes, fabrication methods, and aesthetic directions.

There are examples in the first presentation.

Have fun.

1.2

(a)
(b)
(c)

STOP!!
After talking to Aaron, Luke, and Marshall today post class time I want to fix the assignment for Friday. Do not operate on the surface of your shirt...yet. Some of you may refer to point (a) while a few others may jump into this next assignments challenge (b). If you are still not sure how to operate on your shirt and are bouncing back and forth between two ideas, read point (a).

a :: I want to talk to each of you about your idea before going forward. I want more projections of ideas for Friday and not actual operations. You will present two concepts one printed on an 8.5 by 11 sheet and the other will be a paper folding model as explained below in point (c). The Illustrator diagram should be similar to the first image on this post. It does not have to be this complex, but use your existing shirt analysis drawings to compose these drawings of how you intend to operate on the surface of your shirt. USE ILLUSTRATOR. Try to project your operative concept onto the computer and ultimately onto your print outs. Use a hierarchy of lines to communicate your ideas. Identify primary, secondary, and tertiary lines for boundary lines, operative lines such as cuts and folds, and construction lines. Experiment and have fun with this drawing set. Think about your concepts while you draw. This is less of a commitment than actually operating on your shirt. Refer to picture (a). If both of your ideas do not involve actually cutting the shirt, move to point (b).

b :: For those of you I talked to today about your concepts and how to step forward, by all means experiment and operate on your shirt for Friday. Remember to record and notate your operative process with sequential photographs. Refer to picture (b). You should print the manipulation photos on an 11x17 sheet.

c :: For those reading point (a) another way to experiment with your ideas is to print several copies of your current shirt analysis and experiment with the processes you may be considering for your shirt operations with the paper itself. Here you can cut, fold, pleat, unfold, rotate, cinch, pierce, and score freely. Try two. Refer to picture (c).

So you may choose to do assignment a and c, b, or just simply c. If you choose to do (a) you must try (c) in this case you would have one drawing and one paper manipulation. Your ideas should be clear and thought out investigations.

Reprint your initial shirt analysis as well.

Pin these up on your wall by 8h30 on Friday.

Please email me with your concerns.

The next post will explain this operative assignment in detail.

1.1

Continue to work on sections and overall composition of your drawing. Draw, draw, draw!

Find systems within the shirt otherwise unknown to the eye. Do not forget to construct the drawing with construction lines.

Size does not matter for this round of drawings. Do not worry about the 24 by 24 format. I want to see you explore the projection of the diagram.

Have these drawings pinned up by 8h30 tomorrow morning. I will be in studio at 8h15 to start answering any questions you might have.

1.1

ASSIGNMENT ONE::

We are interested in the shirt for its proximity to the body, but also for its own architecture: the complexity and supple system of pleats, cuts, and seams that give it structure. Your difficulty will be to apply the sometimes crude tools of orthographic projection (plans, sections, elevations) to an object whose geometry seems to resist this sort of description. This studio plays with the relationship of structure to surface. ----Your weekend assignment will be to construct a precise analytical drawing on a single sheet of paper @ 1:1 scale. You will need to find a system for measuring the shirt; you cannot draw it by eye. Your challenge is to construct a representation of the shirt through the allographic method of diagramming. The more information on the drawing the more likely a person would be able to construct the shirt from your drawing. Print this no larger than 24in x 24in.

You need to draw AT LEAST TWO views of the shirt: front elevation, back elevation, side elevation of the shirt worn, folded, ect. It is important how you want to present the shirt. You are to learn about the construction of the shirt by making a map of its surface. Use your guiding lines to reference to each view of the shirt, describing through lines the relationships between each elevation and or section. What new information can you include in your diagram that would not be evident upon the simple viewing of the shirt? Refer to the last three drawings of today's presentation.

Rules for drawing::
1::Transfer all drawings to Illustrator.
2::Build the drawing with construction lines.
3::Construction lines should be very light and typically a medium gray. In Illustrator the lines would be .0001 inches or .001 point for your stroke option. You need to experiment and print as you go.
4::Never use a line over 1 point as your stroke weight, these drawings need to be light because you are representing an object composed of fabric.
5::Always draw like you are making a finished product.

You also need to draw THREE details of the shirts’ structure. These details are section details and you may include a small reference plan as well. I want to see architecture in these drawings. When drawing a detail section through the shirt or its surface explode the fabric and its construction (look at the diagram at the beginning of this post). This section is through the placard of the shirt. Draw the surface as an orthographic projection. In the beginning of this shirt investigation you need to visit the main library and research the history of the white formal shirt. You will need to know the difference between thread counts and weaves and how exactly your shirt was made. Some of this information you might not find in a book or on the Internet, but you should do your own interpretation regardless.

The 24 x 24 sheet will need to composed and constructed with the three details either on the paper or on a different sheet that is also composed around the configuration of the shirt.

This is due at 8h30, be ready to pin up in room 501a at this time.