Month: November 2020

MOODBOARDS / COLLAGE – SPARE RIB MAGAZINE

  

SPARE RIB

In a contrast to my previous collages, I felt that in order to experiment properly when doing collages, I needed to utilise different types of media to trial out what elements work for me, especially as I enjoy working both tactile and digitally, using one to influence the other, scanning in handmade collages and digitally altering them etc. therefore felt it was appropriate to make some digital collages.

These collages contain imagery found from Spare Rib magazine, a point of research I discovered quite early that influenced my decision to research further into the different types of complex representations and attitudes towards feminism. My aim for these collages was to create imagery from a visually older source, and contrast more current digital designs and imagery to not only juxtapose them together, but allow them to compliment each other to create a cohesive design. This approach also slightly reminds me of the beginnings of my sketchbook; using Pinterest as a source to collect visually stimulating imagery, and discovering that a big key influence for me was the third moodboard I made, a cross between vintage aesthetics and ideas of nostalgia contrasted with bold prints and colour blocking to create a hybrid of the two styles, as it’s quite unique it almost creates a futuristic aesthetic. I felt it was wise to gain imagery from a source that is relevant to my research and create appropriate visuals from the pictures.

For the first image I used Canva to create the simple photograph collage in the background with the four images in film filters. The use of the film filters was to bring back the old aesthetic to show the magazine’s age and therefore influence, as it is still being referenced today, while having a more contemporary overall graphic style. The illustration was found from one of the magazines, expanded in size and placed in a corner to highlight some white space so the images had space to be perceived correctly while also interacting with the other elements on the pages as well. The text comes from the magazine as was repeated to distort the image in a more subtle way. Overall, I feel like the image works cohesively with all the a variety of elements; text, filters, imagery and illustrations, everything is balanced our fairly. In terms of improvement, each image is the same size (the block of text is the size size as the illustration which is not much smaller than the images put together) and therefore I could have played around with sizing more, a smaller more repetitive text could have emphasised the distorted nature i wanted to bring into the image and larger pictures could have allowed someone to have viewed this image and place extra focus on the pictures, which are quite detailed in themselves and could be enhanced slightly as they could be lost to the image as a whole.

This second image is my favourite one, due to the fact that the images are all boarded together and therefore interact with each other more, it feels like they’re showing different clips in a movie as all the images are candid as well, this has taught me to focus more on the actual images I select to collage with and how they can interact with each other and influence each other’s narratives once placed within a collage. I enjoy using the filters on Photoshop to create effects like the swirl in the bottom right image; the fact that the swirl is only in that place and not the whole image allows the other people to not become distorted or lost in the background but creates a surreal and sinister tone to the picture as a whole. The text was placed to the side, so that the viewer see’s it first as the yellow would stand out against the white background but also interacts with the image as it’s placed on top and the filter adds a sense of motion, especially where the bottom right image mirrors the distortion of the bottom right part of the text. The very contemporary graphic style paired with the vintage effect of using a colour halftone enhances my original goals to tie the two styles together.

The last image is my last favourite image, this is because i feel as if the combination between the images used and the text makes it seem like either something for a pre teen magazine or a series advert that would be shown in a doctors room. I believe this because the text is reminiscent of advertising texts; similar to helvetica which is one of the most used fonts currently), when paired as a quote, could seem like its referencing something that relates to advert or review. Also due to the fact that the older style text was the most effective part of the second collage and this text used here is very modern and doesn’t work with the imagery. The pictures used were all close up of women which I thought would look nice stylistically however once all paired together looks overly serious and dark when it was meant to be more lighthearted, reminiscent of the first two styles. However, I do feel like the typography in the background is a successful design overall, but perhaps not in relation to the overall image. Also the layout in this collage is quite static compared to the other two, as the focus is more narrowed into straighter lines horizontally at the top and bottom which makes the imagery focused more into one block rather than using white space around the page. The movement of the typography on its own is effective since I used the shear tool, which allows the image to bend and leave the page and carry on as if it’s a large cut ouff repeat pattern that could be distorted.

SKETCHBOOK UPDATES – WEEK 7

   

  

 

SKETCHBOOK UPDATES

As stated in previous blogs, I felt as if my sketchbook was lacking in any sense of creative responses and outcomes due to my potential demotivating sense of self in line with enjoying the academic reading side of my work and struggling to find the balance. I also struggled with keeping creative when I felt like I had ran out of ideas, however I remember someone telling me that if we’re stuck it’s most likely due to the fact that we had not undertaken enough primary and secondary research to influence ideas and I agree with this to some level, therefore I undertook more readings based on more refined themes and delved into more unique and interesting views of my concept. This therefore allowed me to become more creative again and remember that my sketchbook is a work in progress and should not be overthought about; I have always found that my more creative and unique experimental developments have come from when I have stopped overthinking every step and work methodically at first to begin with.

The collages I ended up making were successful to me, I wanted to be resourceful and create multi media works which led me to keeping the tracing paper I had used in my mark making pages as a way to stop the paint transferring from one page to another. Resulting in me using them for backgrounds on my collages; using found scraps especially with marks on them or signs of wear, paint etc that show an interesting texture on them are really effective in using within collage as it adds a more textural element to the work allowing it to have more character and dimension. Using the idea of layouts and white space in my mind due to the fact that I need to look at my work from a more graphic design perspective as I will continue to be using Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator for my work, I played around with this to enhance the focus of each piece of work. I personally didn’t like the colour used within the green and yellow collage which resulted in me editing it to become black and white, which is more effective in my eyes as the image comes together a bit more with the mark making which is separated more in the first original collage. The last collage was an attempt at me illustrating however I did not enjoy the final illustration product I did but thought that I should not throw anything away, leading me to ripping it up like the other images I had found and using it in the same way to create a distorted puzzle style image.

Creating the mark making pages as a response to Daphne Oram’s work was a way for me to loosen up slightly and stop overthinking my work; some of the pate transferred to the other pages as well as the fact that some pages ripped as when the paint dried the pages stuck together and placing them apart led to tear in the pages, however this led me to become less precious with my sketchbook and was therefore a good outcome; I have always found that a sketchbook with good character is not made from perfectly constructed imagery; the notes and progress sketches are the best part in my eyes as it shows the journey from idealisation to conception. I felt as these were also fairly successful as they probe to have a lot of character due to the movement of the lines reaching all ends of the page and the quick upwards and outwards brush strokes that mimic motion.

The last two feature some illustrations that I had done with no particular aim, basing them on what I saw in the mirror while not trying to make them look like me, I was just using my face for an easily accessible reference. Creating continuous line drawings have always been one of my favourite activities as I feel like they improve my drawing skill due to the fact that you have to focus carefully on the shapes being made by the subject to inform the lines that you’re going to make, whereas in sketching it’s usually focused on the lines combining rather than an overall shape being formed (for me personally) and therefore this doodles came out to be fairly decent; they’re lacking in any substance in terms of originality and therefore this could indicate that some further research into illustrative skills as well as potential influential illustrators could progress my skills and contextualisation, although I am extremely new to illustrating.

Changing my sketchbook from an only physical version, which was going to be scanned in and placed into a PDF, has changed into using a digital sketchbook, constructed on Adobe Photoshop and Adobe InDesign due to a variety of factors. Pricing came into mind; printing constantly would be allow a lot of money to be spent on my own printing ink or the library computer printing services, the time consuming effort of sticking in pictures correctly which could be spent doing something else productive, being able to easily adapt pages and fill in gaps, allows to organise it easily, being and to add my digital work on pages easier (considering the bulk of my work will be digital it seems appropriate), can edit imagery, can still easily annotate and add text etc. I’ve essentially analysed what I was struggling with when using my sketchbook and adapted it to fit my working style.

Next steps, take this work and progress it further through digital manipulation / experimentation.

COLLAGE EDITS – PART 3 – WEEK 7

  

As shown in the sketchbook pages scanned in below, I decided on incorporating some illustrations for some fairly quick trials of collage, this was due to the fact that I had previously experimented with my own imagery, used found imagery in collages, created tactile collages which had then been digitally altered and therefore thought the next step would be to incorporate some type of illustration to not only potentially enhance my work, but to also play around, get used to using Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator again after not using them for quite a few months and see what is successful or not as effective for me as a creative designer. The collage below contains illustration that is composed of a tracing from the image of Daphne Oram, who I had recently researched as a pioneer for creating a new wave of experimental electronic music before most people, and layered it with text from a newspaper, along with faded out images of her practicing in the background which were used in order to keep the whole image more about her, while still being able to become distorted at some points, I wanted the colours to be more muted and therefore sourced a piece of text to use from a newspaper. The composition works well as there is a balance across the main page, on the left side, while creating some sort of movement by allowing a small amount to be brought onto the right side, something I had seen done quite often within graphic design layouts which were always quite successful; I just anted a more unique way of organising the different pieces of a collage across two pages as I need to think further into potential zine layout styles if I want to start creating one for the hand in soon.

The result of the experimentation led me to using Adobe Photoshop, similarly to how I had used it before, finding what was successful and incorporated that into my new collages, to show some development and improvement of my graphic design skills through analysis and refinement. Therefore using filters such as colour halftones, adding noise, lens blurs, radial blurs and mixing up the composition had all worked previously as I had mentioned, and led to the success of these collages shown above. I feel as if the colour halftone is such a good tool because it ties everything up in the image and puts it in one filter to harmonise and connect all the pieces in a more coherent manner.

The second image is the most successful in my eyes, experimenting with blur tools was fairly new to me, however I feel as if the technique of copying a layer on top of the blur and having it underneath works effectively to connect the foreground, which is a repeat of the blurred image but unblurred, and merges it well with the background ad they are the same, one is just blurred and one is not. Think I will aim to continue to experiment for now but will review everything I’ve done and see what is working well and what is not going as well currently in order for me to improve.

 

CLOSE READING – MAY I TOUCH IT

CLOSE READING – MAY I TOUCH IT 

Marilyn Delong, Juanjuan Wu & Mingxin Bao 

NOTES  

• Beginnings of including the idea of physical touch of materials and textiles within the studies of design and communication/products.  
• Studies come from a design and cultural view. – Design studies from China and the US share their stories and experiences of early touch memories. Responses come from simple word descriptions. 
• “Keywords: touch, tactile, sense, sensation, sentiment, design, textile, culture” 
• Tactile response/emotions/feelings in response to touching fabrics = truly little research 
• Pink (2006) = views are that designers need to draw in on both left brained activity and right brained activity – not ideal to neglect one as they work in conjunction together and one can experience things that the other could neglect – therefore affecting feelings/thoughts and could make someone miss a key part of a design / response to a design. – This is such an intersting concept as a desifgner, I had not given this idea much thought as I am usually much more in tune with thecreative side of my brain, however researching into the other side / what could stimulate the other side of the brain and if there would be a way to incirpparye that within my design work could form a more diverse and intersting stimulating outcome. 
• “The future belongs to those who can create using big-picture capabilities and integrative aptitudes of “high concept” and “high touch.” 
• “high concept” – meaning understanding patterns, new ideas, conceptual work, emotion, aesthetics and beauty 
• “high touch” – meaning understanding the human brain, interactions with senses, finding joy, communication between one person to the other through any form, purpose, meaning and reactions. 
• To summaries the above points – he states the importance of being to create something as a designer that has multiple functions in terms of emotive responses and practicality.  “sensorially and emotionally engaging”. I agree with this statement to some level, purely because I believe that if a designer creates something that also has some sort of either emotional reaction from the audience or a clear indicator that the product/service/design was created with a lot of thoughts, feelings and an emotional attachment from the designer themselves, this creates more of an attachment and resonates with the consumer far more than something simply works well. 
• “The twenty-first century designer must have specific sensory understanding of colors, textures, lines and shapes, and then find a way to involve that information in the emotional and cultural experiences of the user.” 
• “may learn to listen to colors, see a sound, or feel a space, and such sensory connections encourage artistic creation” = engaging in different senses creates an artistic reaction as it forces the brain to engage the body in diverse ways that usually just looking at something whereas if different textures 
• That are unfamiliar with the brain but connect to the design are incorporated, then the brain can draw in on different emotive responses such as remembering s=certain textures from a particular moment in time or even feeling these textures for the first time and creating a new association based off that in relation to the design/ artistic piece they are engaging with. 
• “a sensory experience such as touch is often learned in combination with another sense.” 
• “Touch frequently verifies another sense or past association.” – similar to what I explained earlier, touch is a sensation that is used less frequently within art but could create a more unique response from the audience as it can connect them with a feeling or memory from the past that would have potentially been overlooked/forgotten about within the sensation of touch 
• “Certain visual experiences encourage a person to substantiate visual with touch sensations, but in the West we have often been taught to ask permission: “May I touch it,” before reaching out to touch something.” – whereas with sight, it is a sensation that the majority of us are blessed with and cannot escape as it is often we have our eyes open than closed and witness things without asking as they happen right in front of us 
• “Comprehending the sense of touch involves aesthetics, defined by Tuan (1995) as the pervasive role of sensitive perception and shaped feeling” – people interpret their senses in different ways. As one person touches something, they could uncover a memory associated with that feeling, whereas a different person doesn’t have that memory and they could either feeling something else connected to that sensation or simply disregard it as that texture would have no prior meaning to them, and they could therefore associate that texture with a new feeling. 
• Understanding touch = understanding aesthetics 
• “what we value is a result of what we perceive; what we learn to perceive is what we value.” 
• Brain registering sensory input consciously  
• In order to incorporate sensory feelings in a tactile sense successfully means that the designer in question would need to understand their own sensory responses which are personal to them, then they can relay that through their own design for people to gather their own feelings from it or attempt to experience what the designer was feeling. 
• Street and Lewis (2001: 185) believe the role of design = “create meaning, but rather to render meaning apparent.” This quote really resonates with me as it brings a different understanding to why people deign other than practicality – an emotive response for the design to resonate with the consumer is always more beneficial and effective then something dimply made to function, which was stated in one of the quotes above. 
• “The need for designers to use their imaginative skills in the creation of “theaters of memory” has been an important aspect of bringing a significant cultural role into design” 
• “The Disneyland phenomenon is an example of recreating the “real” out of the “imaginary.” –  This is interesting for me think about as Disney films and the culture surrounding that thrives off of the imaginary fairytale aesthetics and made-up stories, yet when this is translated into a physical place, the feelings are brought to life through the use of touch and sensory applications through the place to connect the audience with the make-believe feelings that are found within the films. 
• “The advent of the world wide web enabled huge numbers of people to access a range of simulated experiences either in two dimensions or in virtual space.” Another interesting point which I briefly explored while researching into online exhibitions and hoe the use of the internet allows people to experience a similar feeling to being inside a space while online instead, therefore creating a virtual reality through the use of technology which allows senses that would normally be experienced in real life through pixels on the screen to create a similar affect, but essentially a different feeling than if someone were to be in the physical space. However, this allows design works and spaces to become more accessible to the viewers, they can access whenever they want instead of going into a physical space as well as people with physical disabilities being able to experience something, they usually would not be able to due to physical implications. 
• “Thackara (2006) describes the future of design using a different language than the customary design elements and principles; he describes design objectives more holistically, as lightness, situation, flow and literacy” – This quote relates back to the idea of design needed to engage both sides of the brain, creativity and academically in order to create an outcome that resonates. 
• “Sparke uses the term “lightness” to describe how furnishing materials of the twentieth century became modern when, for example, chintz replaced heavy velvets and brocades” 
• “Thackara states the future is collaborative and interactive, using text, sound, image, and virtual touch to provoke a critical response.” – This quote relates to me as I have always enjoyed engaging with physical installations as art pieces more than other types of exhibitions (which I still love) however an installation engages more sensory aspects than other types of exhibitions and therefore kore of my brain is working to associate distinct types of sensory actions with what I am engaging with and therefore has more of an impact in different part of my brain, therefore resonating with me further than other exhibitions. = “One designer describes the power of touching something as an internal body sensation that provides a subjective dimension: “If you’re only looking at something, you’re not aware of that sensation, but if you pick up an apple, you meet the flesh of the apple with your own flesh, and that feedback literally creates a sense of yourself” – explains my opinions well 
• Can cause memories and feelings to be associate with the touch of doing everyday tasks and therefore allowing the sensory design to have an everyday impact on your brain, making it harder to forget 

Review of Literature – The Imperative of the Sensation of Touch 

• “The skin does not exist merely to give the body an appearance. It is also a vital, humming source of ceaseless information about our environment.” – purpose for the sensation of touch – protection, covering up, pain, comfort – skin having a million different tiny transmitters to feel a broad range of physical sensations that relay back to the brain and create an emotive response. Such as something painful pricking our skin which hurts us physically, and therefore senses transmissions to our brain to make us either feel angry in frustration, such as banging a toe, or sadness and upset from doing something such as falling over when you’re a child. 
• ^^ “If the sensation of touch were not pleasurable, a mother would not stroke and fondle her baby in the right way. Severely disturbed children need forceful and persistent touching. An autistic child needs almost constant touching and rubbing to trigger a release from self-hugging isolation (Brand and Yancey 1980).” 
• Ove languages being physical touch, showing affection and caring through skin-on-skin contact such as holding hands creating a positive and loving impact on the brain, like animals licking their young, “He concludes that the licking is not for cleanliness but for essential tactile stimulation.” mother holding baby etc. 
• “Infant mortality rates drop when simple touching is adequate (Brand and Yancey 1980).” 
• “Leprosy is a classic case of insensitivity to touch and even failure to perceive pain. In leprosy, there is no touch sensation, so when a person grasps and holds an object there is no feedback” – “Without feedback, abuse to the body goes unrecognized.” these two quotes could lead to emotional numbness in conjunction to physical numbness in response to complex trauma or physical conditions 
• Touching something on purpose = brain evaluates it – smooth, silky, cool, hot, rough 
• “We experience twinges from abrasion, irritation, prickling, bruising, scratching, kissing and nudging” 
• Low level touch = background, high level touch = direct emotion.  
• Context influences touch sensations, who shakes your hand, kisses your cheek etc. = unconsented touch = bad emotive response, desired physical touch = positive/nervous/relaxing sense of emotions 
• Phrases and sayings relating to the physical sensation of touch but in a metaphorical sense such as “We rub people the wrong way, or we stroke them; a gullible person is a soft touch; something volatile we handle with kid gloves. We are thin-skinned, thick-skinned, or we get under each other’s skins. We relate tactfully or tactlessly (Brand and Yancey 1980).” 
• “Habituation – the action or process of becoming habituated.” 
• “Habituation – the diminishing of an innate response to a frequently repeated stimulus.” 
• “Habituation includes an experience as simple as repeated exposure to a touch sensation, or as complex as repeated touch exposure with accompanying positive contextual features.” 
• “Texture is revealed most fully by the vibrating motion caused by moving the hand to produce a high-pitched vibration. The initial outcome of the vibrating hand often determines whether we decide to explore the surface further” – defines different qualities of surfaces, whether something feels familiar, whether to texture is painful, soft or comforting, whether we want to touch it again or not, whether it makes us uncomfortable or happy. 

Touch Properties and Sensory Evaluation 

• Smooth vs rough = separated and measured in our brains 
• Ticking gives signals – laughing reaction – annoyance 
• Itch – frustration / pain/ relief / desire 
• “Affective properties are those with meanings and values associated with the stimulus object.” 
• “Properties that we group together based upon relationships among features and prior experience with similar objects are called “collative.” 
• Complex emotions and feelings / memories, vs something more familiar and comforting or triggering 
• “fabrics with a flat and warm touch resulted in a “classic” sensibility but those with a flat and cool touch represented a “modern” feeling.” 
• Reactions do not always have to be positive or negative as they can make you feel indifferent or neutral towards something, or even bored. 
• “tickling with a feather on the back of the hand can be perceived as a subjective tactual sensation.” – connotations with different forms of touch that are not communicated verbally, suggestive, comforting, such as when someone is sad, and no one says anything they just give them a hug to suggest and personal security from the person giving the hug to the person receiving the hug. 

Associations of Touch 

• Pepper (1970) states “acknowledges four origins of associations in development of our perceptions: those properties located in the object; the idiosyncratic traits within the individual; those needs and basic drives that traverse the individual and create our common humanity; and those familiar experiences with family and social groups within one’s culture. Regardless of origin, touch sensations create experiences and memories that lead to judgment and action”  
• Idiosyncratic – relating to idiosyncrasy; peculiar or individual. 
• Idiosyncrasy – a mode of behavior or way of thought peculiar to an individual. 
• therefore, this means that our bodies can understand through touch when something is familiar, comfortable and strange, negative, positive, reminiscent of the past, relating to a fond, sad, triggering memory etc.  

 

• “What early experiences of touch are remembered and how are they described? What early memories of touch are related to fabric or clothing and how are they described?” 
• Researching suggests that early experiences in life reflect the adult’s perspectives and feelings towards social relationships, perceptions and interpretations through early life experiences. 
• In the study – US and Chinese students’ studies something like art and design = where sensitivity to touch = favorable for what they’re studying 
• “Approximately one-quarter of US respondents (27 percent) and one-fifth of Chinese respondents (22 percent) reported touching certain animals (e.g. cats, dogs, fish, horses, rabbits, snakes, silkworms). As the second most prominent category, bedding (e.g. baby blankets, sheets, blankets) was reported by US respondents (14 percent) involved in an early touch experience, while many Chinese respondents (17 percent) recalled the experience of touching family members or familiar people (e.g. mother, father, grandmother, a boy or girl, an infant). Other main categories of objects recalled that were common among both US and Chinese respondents included natural elements (e.g. trees, rocks, water, sand, ice, snowballs, flowers), stuffed animals, dolls or toys, food, home furnishings and clothing items or fabrics.” 
• Animals = most frequently remembered early memory touching in both cultures, mother’s skin wasn’t mentioned although would be a very early memory. 
• 50% of US people in the study who touched the animals had negative relations to it = “rough,” “coarse,” “spiky,” “slimy,” “bumpy” or “scratchy”). 
• Chinese people in the study had fewer negative reactions but more unpleasant tactile feelings = “sticky,” “prickly” 
• US people – Bedding = soft, smooth, comforting, security, calming 
• Chinese people – family members – ““liked” touch sensations with only one exception. Although with mixed cognitive descriptors of “stubble,” “prickly,” “warm,” “soft,” “smooth” and “coarse,” the affective descriptors were mostly positive, such as “comfortable/ comforting,” “safe” or “happy.”” 
• “one respondent described touching her father’s unshaved chin as “prickly and fuzzy, yet masculine, safe and mature.”” – proving that the sensation of touch can be extremely complex due to the different connotations surrounding different feelings, but when context ins involved the emotional response or literal response can be altered due to the situation/people involved/area this was taken place/how long ago this was. 
• “Temperature to touch is one of the foremost feelings that takes the least amount of effort to comprehend” 

CLOSE READING – EMOTIONAL TEXTILES

Emotional Textiles: An Introduction
Alice Dolan & Sally Holloway

CLOSE READING – EMOTIONAL TEXTILES
 

NOTES 

• Exploring emotive properties of textiles – Northwest Europe, 17th century to early 20th century 
• First detailed report studying link between materials and emotions – “– from the metallic lace adorning christening robes, to union cloth burial clothes.” 
• “Keywords: emotions, affect, material culture, gender, life-cycle, making, craft” 
• “Emotional Objects: Touching Emotions in Europe 1600-1900″ at “Institute of Historical Research, London, in October 2013.” = influenced this study 
• Fabric and feeling 
• Explored “methods that can be utilized to uncover the emotional histories of objects made from a broad range of materials, from carbolic soap and glass beads to engraved coins and locks of hair. The 12 panels explored death and memorialization, love, faith, and emotional spaces from freemasons’ lodges to orchards.” linking different types of ways fabrics and materials can be manipulated, changed, altered, distorted, woven, blended etc. in order to evoke a different understanding of what the texture/style is representing emotionally. 
• “The 12 panels explored death and memorialization, love, faith, and emotional spaces from freemasons’ lodges to orchards” 
• The influence that inanimate objects can have/ exploring personal and cultural identity as well as historical references and development 
• ““Quilts 1700–2010” (2010) and “Wedding Dresses 1775–2014” (2014–2015) at the Victoria and Albert Museum, and “Threads of Feeling” at the Foundling Museum (2010–2011).” 
• “do textiles possess greater emotional potency than other materials, or are textile researchers more attuned to emotional meanings within their work?” = argued by the artist’s intentions, their desire to work on a piece, what they want to represent to their audience, time and effort (which is subjective), process and sourcing, references and connections to their own emotions. 
• Texture on the skin and the implications/connotations of that physical touch translating to an emotive response 
• Keynote lecture by John Styles = focused on tokens – left from hospital= scraps of fabric/brought my mother/carers, = if mothers were in a place to reclaim their infants these tokens were identifiers. 
• “Items such as Proust’s famous madeleine in A la Recherche du Temps Perdu can emote at one point but not another”  
• “what can objects tell us about the history of emotions?” 
• “How can historians read the “material language” of objects to recapture their emotional meanings?” 
• The links between sentiments/texture/textiles was not explored in too much depth prior to this 
• “objects remain conspicuous by their absence in Jan Plamper’s (2015: 294–296) list of future sources for the study of emotions by historians” 
• Conspicuous=clearly visible 
• “material objects such as christening garments and grave textiles provide a wealth of opportunities for reconstructing material vocabularies of emotion” = emotional significance, sentiment and meaning subconsciously brought along with the idea of a gift or something handed down generations, or something to signify a culture = links to wealth, protection, tradition, expensive materials and rarity which can influence the response of the person who engages with the item. 
• “material manifestations of particular emotions such as love” 
• Emotional meanings of textiles linked to the process – such as textiles having connotations of women’s domestic work = holding a lot of context regarding the history of graft and women creating to survive or creating for a reason that is deeply important to them = for an income, children’s clothes or something sentimental like bedding / cushions etc. = personal. 
• “Women were and are memorialized through the products of their needles and spindles, whether plain sewing or elaborately embroidered bed curtains” 
• Lots of energy and labor going into these techniques and process for an important outcome. – time consuming, skills admiration, comfort 
• The life of the person who owned a piece of clothing before someone else, hand me downs and generations, sharing clothes n materials, the rips and rough textures symbolizing- or literally representing wear, tear and the fact that someone has lived and experienced things in these clothes.  
• Comfort of having something from when you’re younger, such as a baby blanket or a toy. 
• “Furthermore, the ability of clothing to retain the shape of previous owners can evoke the physical presence of long dead bodies.” 
• Artifacts – taking readings from them, different interpretations as well as factual evidence you can get from found objects and what they can tell you about a period of time, a person, a feeling, an historical event etc. from either observation but also touch and analysing the material/processes/wear and tear etc. 
• “archaeologist Sarah Tarlow attests that her empathetic reactions to the study of burials directly influenced her research questions. However, she cautions that our emotions cannot be used to understand emotional experiences across time or space, although they can provide personal insight into the complexity of feelings that motivated past actions” 
• “Why should historians not keep a kind of fieldwork diary about their emotions during archival work?” – Plamper 
• ^ This is an interesting point, as you cannot ask someone at the time what they were thinking because the time has passed, and the object is the only thing you have as reference of what you are researching – historians have knowledge and context of the era of what they are researching and their opinions of the emotive responses of the artefacts they are investigating could prove to be of use – or at least provide context/more complex opinions of certain situations. 
• “In turn, Tarlow (1999: 30–35) states that nearly every human experience is mediated by emotion, therefore the past cannot be understood without its consideration.” – This quote really resonates with me as I agree, human experience, and in this context, the process of constructing and object using materials is done to create something which would in turn effect an emotion along the way. 
• “Robinson likewise characterizes the historian’s work as a “powerful affective experience,” describing the thrill of chasing up evidence and pleasure of finding treasures in the archives” 
• “the potential of objects to elicit particular emotions does not end one or even 100 years after their creation. As objects move across time periods and regions, they still retain the power to move us” – opinions are ever-changing and therefore the meaning of these objects/archives etc. Could develop, become more positive or negative considering the research that has developed over time- if new things are found out then this could change the meaning etc. As well as the fact that emotions change after a while, if people remember certain things or new links are drawn to an artifact then this could change the way we view something. 
• “The sources studied here include extant objects, paintings, letters, diaries, conduct literature, newspapers, and parish records.” 
• “rare glimpses of the emotional histories of neglected social groups, such as the yeoman farmers studied by Antonia Brodie, or poor Londoners analyzed by Hilary Davidson.” – allows a voice to be heard from underrepresented groups- or more information to be found out about a period of time/group of people that have previously been kept in the shadows/overlooked within a historical context = resulting in withholding evidence or less factual pieces of information. 
• “The authors utilize a range of disciplinary approaches, including archaeology, anthropology, art history, and genealogy, in addition to histories of emotions, dress, and gender. These disciplines offer different starting points, methods and lead to differing lines of enquiry, yet the goal is the same, to investigate why people have emotional responses to objects, how these meanings were created, and how they can be extracted from things themselves.” 
• Archaeology – “the study of human history and prehistory through the excavation of sites and the analysis of artefacts and other physical remains.” 
• Anthropology – “the study of human societies and cultures and their development.” 
• Genealogy – “a line of descent traced continuously from an ancestor.” 
• ^ Therefore the quote above explains how the context of something as well as the development of how people evolve, materials and processes change, and cultural differences between the present and the past can influence different questions to explore and a range of possible outcomes which are unique to what is being discussed and investigated. 
• “Sally Holloway (2016) has suggested focusing on particular revealing moments such as the creation, exchange, and display of textiles, considering the clues provided by symbols, colors and materials” – symbolism through colours has significant cultural history to it, different colours can mean luck, wealth, protection, positivity, hierarchy etc., materials can also have the same connotations, especially of wealth- more expensive fabrics for people who can afford it leading to their appearance reflecting the attitudes and reactions of their persona- all through the textiles used within their clothing. 
• “Moreover, scholars such as Oliver Harris and Tim Flohr Sørensen (2010) have created new linguistic frameworks to structure their analysis. Their effort to interpret Neolithic emotions using archaeological sites was structured around a quadripartite framework considering “emotion,” “affective fields,” “attunement,” and “atmosphere”.” – another example of situations reflecting the context and reactions to certain artifacts/objects. 
• “The issue begins with the process of accessioning an object into a museum,” 
• Accessioning – “record the addition of (a new item) to a library, museum, or other collection.” 
• “Bridget Long develops the theme of emotional crafting in the domestic environment by using diaries to consider the pleasures and consolations provided by sewing for women in eighteenth-century England” Interesting topic to discuss as sewing could have been emotionally draining and labor extensive with negative emotive connotations attached to it, relating to the forceful act of having women do this type of work by habit, rather than out of love contrasted with the idea of women looking after their own selves and children and therefore sewing builds up impressive technical skills which could result in it becoming a rewarding outlet as a hobby. 
• “Anna Schram Vejlby explores artistic representations of middle-class women knitting in portraiture of the Danish Golden Age, emphasizing the power of crafting in embodying romantic and maternal love.” 
• “She demonstrates how emotional value can be extrapolated in the absence of textual sources by analyzing how mothers utilized the color red, silver coins, and metallic threads as magical strategies to protect their infants.”  
• Extrapolated – “extend the application of (a method or conclusion) to an unknown situation by assuming that existing trends will continue, or similar methods will be applicable.” 
• ^ Above quote explains how traditions can cause security and comfort in a process as well as having an outcome that is known and expected and could be built upon throughout the years as skills and methods change and improve. 
• Magical strategies providing more spiritual trust into how powerful an object/material can be in the eyes of someone else. 
• “end of the life cycle to uncover histories of dignity, pride, fear, disgust, and grief” 
• Raising new queries regarding the personal implications of objects within Hilary Davidson’s research into “nineteenth-century burial textiles and the affective power that the surviving scraps have over her as an individual and scholar” 
• “flammable “gossamer” fabrics elicited wonder in nineteenth-century visitors to the ballet, which could quickly turn to horror if tutus were set alight by gas lamps” – juxtaposition between a positive outcome and something extremely traumatizing and damaging. Further enhances the idea of the fragility of fabrics, expanding on ideas regarding their lifespan and the waste that can occur with said objects/materials/textiles = development of chemically flameproofed garments / building on the construction of technical fabrics, adding new meaning and context behind the materials- protective. 
• “Threads connecting these articles include gender, memory, faith, and rituals of the life cycle” 
• “Women were frequently tasked with preserving a family’s memories, with large-scale textile projects such as quilts conveying memories across generations “ – the idea of freezing a moment in time using textiles is something I had not thought about much previously, as this is something I would usually associate with photography/film therefore bringing new emotive meanings to the function of textile creation and using them as artifacts to tell us about a particular moment in time in a way that a photograph cannot. – Bringing me to the idea of textures as an underrated sense/ underrated way of being able to connect a feeling to how something feels/how it was made etc.