Final Cut

So after much playing in after effects and having no idea about output of music and so on I had to submit my video for the LCF Showtime exhibition. I could carry on tweaking fade-outs/adding new bits for eternity so in the end just had to force myself to leave it, odd timings and all. Its 2mins(ish) which is a bit longer than I'd like but with the music now seems to run much faster. I hope it will allow people to understand the project clearly and quickly - who wants to be reading pages of blurb on why you're so sustainable - and also translate a sense of luxury and brand to boot. I'll let you be the judge..

Icica from Helen Furber on Vimeo.

CS3 glee

So I've also been trying to teach myself the rest of the adobe CS3 collection now that I have a little more time and need to make a website etc. I now realise trying to make a fashion film was too ambitious given that I would have had less than 2 weeks to do it and have never done any film before, but I'm happy to have learned some new film skills in the region of animation. Having worked with the LCF digital fashion studio to create an animation (in 3D studio Max) to explain the construction of my shoe, I'm now trying to learn adobe after effects to add on all of the little finishing touches, and some musique. watch this space..

Icica from Helen Furber on Vimeo.

sneak peak

lost in a point cloud

still working out how to model the bits I need..

time to evolve

The past two weeks have been busy and also a bit disheartening as I've been trying to model shoe parts in a CAD programme and come up with all kinds of unforseen problems. My project is based around me designing my own shoe construction process which will allow me to create a product which is more ecologically sound, yet still an avante-guard and luxury product. I see this as the foundation of what will one day hopefully be my brand, and what will define me in the marketplace. For the initial concept collection I have four silhouettes in my range; a wedge, a heel and platform, a brogue and a trainer. Possibly a mid height in there later if I have time. But I essentially have to design a new construction process for each silhouette. This ultimately means I have to design and make my own components for each construction. Which is a lot tricker and more time-consuming than I thought. And I'm now running out of time. I'm currently trying to work out a new approach for creating them and a plan b so that I at least have prototypes for my degree.

laser quest

currently experimenting with laser cutting

my deformed feet

I went to scan my lasts today which will basically give me a digital image of them I can use to design my sole units. Being the geek I am I found it fascinating as it's basically like a box with a scanner in it which laser scans the object in there and this then appears on screen. While I was there, out of curiosity I did a couple of foot scans just to see the difference between the foot being flat and in a heel. I've been researching into the effects of wearing heels in a bid to decide how high I should design mine - the idea being that they're comfy, not causing damage, you can walk in them easily and they're still sexy. After much trotting about in the shoes I have I came to the conclusion that 4inches was a good height, especially once you get a platform on there, and anything higher really gives me pain. Interesting to see how my feet are pretty much on the way to being deformed by heels though..."hammer toe" where your toes start to grip since you're balancing on such a small area seems to be a prime suspect..ewwww!

And for the record I don't have chunks out of my ankles, webbed feet or (hopefully) kankles, the scanner seems to add some lumps in here and there..:p

tread carefully

the fruits of todays work..current design development