emilysrsj

[emilysrsj]

Authorial

some designs for the guide book for the story I have chosen, which has all the translations for the writing in it.

I decided no on the concertina, because it would end up being too small printed even on A1 to read.

[emilysrsj]

Authorial

some colour tests with dye and water on the linen. it wasn’t very reliable, as the fabric soaked up the dye in unpredictable directions, even after I masked the edges of the circles with candle wax.

I like some of them like the circles; the more airy ones lend themselves to colour ,but I think because of inconsistent design in some panels the colour doesn't make things look any better. when I left these without colour and some with colour, it made the whole thing look unfinished.

I will present a monochrome version of the scroll, as it is tidier and more deliberate. also I don't think with all the colours I have chosen it looks old enough; the colours are too bright to look old.

[emilysrsj]

Authorial

I have done some colour tests using ink on the paper. the selective colour used for the original Guthlac scroll was very infrequent yellow, green and sometimes blue. I considered how to use colour in a symbolic way, but I've started to think that maybe simplifying the design for my authorial would make a better outcome.

I made some more Lino print tests as I have been considering making the final scroll blue, but it might look too fresh, so faded bluish black might be a better option.

[emilysrsj]

Authorial

to communicate the story I was going to write a poem, but in my tutorial with Jane hankin, we talked about language and how to be consistent with the fantasy that my thing is supposedly an actual artefact. she said make up a language, but I think that changing what I've written into old English and having a translation guide is a good thing to do.

I've had some problems trying to get the words onto fabric and I’ve decided to write it, because I can't print it. I don't think it looks very professional though, but it is a problem that I genuinely don't know how to fix except by being tidier. I could make a separate manuscript and calligraphy on paper. I tried doing some practice with a calligraphy pen, but its illegible, I haven’t had enough practice.

I had some problems deciding where to put the writing. I put them in between the circles, but it looked too messy, so I started again with passages them underneath each roundel.

[emilysrsj]

Authorial

I made 25 linocut roundels because there were 25 or 25 roundels in the original Guthlac scroll, but it tore at some time and now there are only 17 1/2 roundels left starting in the story with when guthlac stops being a warrior in Mercia. I decided not to use my last Lino cut though, because I didn’t think it was needed to finish the story.

there might be a bit of a juxtaposition of style between some of them. I started doing the linocuts trying to use deliberately detached quite geometric or flat compositions like the Guthlac scroll uses or the Bayeux tapestry. They hardly ever use perspective, but then I looked at them together and my version looked much duller than those. there wasn't enough pattern variety to justify the number of scrolls, so I tried to do more close ups of the main character creature and scattered dramatic less stilted compositions. I don't know if it looks engaging or if it looks like a mess now, but there was a problem and I tried to fix it efficiently. if I had time I would do all the Lino cuts again at a different size, as I think that the size is awkward especially as a roll format, but I didn’t know I was going to be making a roll when I started making the Lino roundels. I would also remove more of the black part of the Lino, as there is a bit of a heavy feeling due to how dense the filled in parts are. I had concerns that there might be a narrative pacing problem and obviously the narrative is not terribly engaging, we don't know how the main character is as a person except that he is timid and he wants his home back.

I’ve been conflicted about trying to make the story and pacing and characters engaging and compositions exciting as opposed to making the artefact seem a little bit more authentic. Often there isn't a sense of person in something like the Guthlac scroll or Bayeux tapestry. people have to be labelled with their names consistently in the scroll, because they all look the same. the viewer is detached from everything happening.

Because of this I’ve decided not to explicitly say exactly what is happening like a history book I won't call anyone by name like Oliver Cromwell or cavalier army. there won't be any place names like Newport arch or Crowland Abbey, but the pictures will show these things but not in a very obvious way because it isn't that important to what the main character does.

[emilysrsj]

Authorial

Considerations for what form my final thing could take. It could have been a quilt given the roundels design or I made a few dummy books and flags using the linocut roundels. however, I wanted to make a fabric scroll, which I could then exhibit like an artefact.

[emilysrsj]

Authorial

my initial story was about a snake called Sir Pent whose life coincided with characters in the Guthlac scroll. it would have been much smaller as it was a smaller story only the width of a till roll. I had concerns that species swapping the story of Guthlac and telling it backwards (hermit snake is visited by the king in his burial mound and then becomes a warrior in Mercia) wasn't particularly original and there wasn't much post to it. So I decided to start again with a different main character and a different story.

in my tutorial and grit I was encouraged to change the perspective of the Guthlac story like the musical wicked, paying attention to an antagonist like the demons depicted on the Guthlac scroll, so I wrote a different story.

[emilysrsj]

Authorial

some photographs from my visit to the burial mound in wellow

the mound wasn't shown in the Guthlac rom, although Guthlac did live in a burial mound. some people thought it was embarrassing to live in a burial mound, so certain versions of the story omitted that fact and it was a cave instead.

[emilysrsj]

Authorial

This is some of the historical research I’v done about the Guthlac roll, the original saint Guthlac, other versions of the story and the area, in which the story took place which is Crowland. I've also read about the hermit lifestyle, the style of the roll and roundels. the other historical landmarks that existed at the time are an ancient roman wall which was damaged during the civil war. and I plan on visiting a burial mound as part of my research on that part of the story.

I’ve also focused quite a bit on the history of Crowland Abbey, which is built in the scroll. about 800 years after Guthlac died Oliver Cromwell invaded the Lincolnshire area in his civil war and used the abbey to house his roundhead army. the abbey was completely gutted and very badly damaged by the other army, who then attacked. it used to he quite an ostentatious abbey, but because the puritans won, it was basically reduced to ruins because it was too nice. there is a bit of a leap in terms of time lines, but I really want to include this in my story.

I think this project is therefore becoming quite similar to the narrative interpretation: fact project of last term. Nothing has to be entirely perfectly accurate as the story is fabricated, but I think it is a good thing if real events inform this project.

[emilysrsj]

Authorial

I remembered that I visited the bayeux tapestry once and I can remember how their was no guidebook available to explain how the story had progressed as the pictures did. I like the style and how it looks, but I would have liked it better if I knew the story by looking at it or just by having a guide explaining the narrative of each panel.

I think also that the format of the Bayeux tapestry is something that I like a lot, but I wouldn't be able to imitate if I used the roundels to communicate my story.  it can act as 1 big picture as there aren't any gaps between scenes like new pages like a panorama photograph, in which certain characters appear multiple times.

another part of the bayeux tapestry that I might consider in my project is border at the top showing lots of symbols and patterns. realistically I can't sew anything given the time limit but the Lino print style, despite definitely not being used at the time I think looks quite like it could belong in the time.

I've been looking at how printing with Lino woks on fabric, doing colour tests. I like the idea of using coloured Lino print images on transparent  material, but unfortunately it doesn't look as good as I imagined it would. The most reliable fabrics are cotton based and they make quite nice crisp dark prints, but in my tutorial with Jane hankin she talked about how it might be nice to get something that looks worse for wear to try and communicate how old something is.

[emilysrsj]

my territories promotional video has a rough feeling because of the Lino cut, but I wanted it to be a bit more obvious that each frame was a poster. I tried being a bit more obvious that it was in the Tate by putting up printed images but it looked quite naff (below).

Sometimes things looking cheap and tacky might work quite nicely and I thought it might suit the context, but the execution was tricky to do well, so I went for the simpler animation.

I think the animation I chose instead was better than the first one, but it also had some flaws: it was a bit clunky and I could have put some background noise in it of people protesting bp.

Persuasion: Noel Douglas and BP logo Linocuts

[emilysrsj]

Authorial

this is a video of the inside of a burial mound which I visited for my authorial project.

I have decided that I would like to start the book in a burial mound as the subject of the book from which I am drawing inspiration existed as a hermit living in a burial mound.

[emilysrsj]

Territories animation of persuasion lecture about a protest against the BP logo

made using Lino cut

I think Lino cut might have been more appropriate as a medium if it was made very obvious that the animation is made of posters as animation frames. also maybe sound going over the top of the animation like a chant of many people against bp could have been effective.

[emilysrsj]

territories 2

I made this poster for the storytelling arnaud debock promotional material about the game, pikuniku, but I am deeply unhappy with how bad it looks, so I made a film for persuasion instead.

[emilysrsj]

Territories Subcultures

Reflecting on the presentation I think we made some good points, but it was pointed out to us that when describing the history of how women have been presented or been encouraged to present themselves, it is necessary to discuss these things through a feminism lens.

[emilysrsj]

Territories

animation for slide about how an idealised woman in subcultures means that people strive to become that often unattainable thing in Gibson girl and Lolita subcultures.

[emilysrsj]

territories subcultures

animation for tile slide about the image of women in the Gibson girls subculture.

made using paper cutouts of old illustration