Making The Boots

My plan

The boots were more challenging than what I first thought they would be, the basic shape was easy to make but fabricating the boots was difficult.

Basic Boots Shape

I started by finding dimensions for the boots and finding a good reference image to work from. I used chicken wire to make the basic shape and covered that in bubble wrap and parcel tape to make it more secure and easy to shape. Obviously I had to make two, one thing I found quite difficult was getting the boots to look the same and this took a while to do and there are still small differences in the shapes, but they are not really noticeable.

To fabricate the boots I used a mixture of materials to highlight certain areas and add details. Again I used traditionally feminine materials and methods, which were also popular in the Wartime era this was mainly knitting, crochet and floral fabric. I also wanted to incorporate the make do and mend idea by using the different floral fabrics sewn together in a patchwork style. To work put what fabric I wanted to use where, I used the image as a reference to follow the seams and drew those on to the boots and decided that I wanted the floral fabric as the main body of the boot but changing the pattern at the seams. The knitting was used as the material to highlight detail, so I used that at the heel of the boot and as the lining. I initially intended it to be used over the toes of the boots but after covering it with a test piece it made it look too thick so I used the floral fabric for it. I emphasised the seams using a thin white lace and I think that this detail made the boot look more true to the original design as the seams were more exaggerated which makes the shape look more realistic.

The tongue and the lace area of boots make boot most recognisable as boots so this is where I wanted to put extra detail to draw attention to it. What I did to do this was to consider the most feminine materials I could use to really emphasis this section. I used a lilac coloured ribbon as the laces for the boots, I chose this as ribbon is mostly used on women’s clothing and the colour is also commonly associated with femininity. As the eyelets I used a crochet pattern that had holes in along it, this gave me somewhere to thread the ribbon through but looked more feminine than just having eyelets. As well as this the crochet also utilised a skill that was used in the war by women. The last main area of detail in this section was the tongue of the boots, the main body of which I made from the same wool as the lining of the boot for continuity but on the front I used white lace that contrasted against the lilac ribbon. I thought that this added a new type of texture in to the boot and helps focus your immediate attention to this area.

The next section I worked on was the soles of the boots, which I wanted to create from resin with flowers placed inside. This was to partially give a solid base to the boot but the flower were what I found interesting to add.  One thing I really thought about when I was designing this section was the fact that the sole of the boot was what the soldiers walked on and what they went through during the war. I wanted to use the flowers as a way to blend the femininity of the flowers with the masculine nature of what they had to do in regards to using the resin type substance on the aircrafts.

         To make the soles I firstly created a wooden version using a template I made from the boots. This was then vacuum formed and the first layer of resin was poured in to it. Once the first layer had partially dried I used a mixture of foam roses and real flowers and added the rest of the resin, which was left to dry. What I noticed with the real flowers was that the colour was changed quite a lot, the original colour was purple, but in the resin they are white. This isn’t an issue for me in this project as the colour of the flowers is not important, however doing this has made me aware that this does happen and to be cautious of colour loss/change if it is important to the finish of the project. 

Basic Template

Wooden Version

Vacuum Formed

Resin Cast with flowers

          When the soles were  removed from the mould I realised that the template may have been to large for the boots, this led to me having to cut down the excess using saws and files to get the larger parts off. This gave the edges a rough finish so I used varying harshness of wet and dry sandpaper to smooth them out and I am happy with the way they ended up, even if it was more longwinded than just making sure the template was right in the first place. So in future I need to be much more accurate with making template for resin as when I was cutting in to the soles I was very aware of how brittle the material is and that if it cracked it could completely shatter.

Area that needed to be trimmed

So all I needed to do after that was fix it all together, the soles are heavy so need to be fixed on securely. My solution was to use a hot glue gun on the larger areas. The other thing I did was to add a crochet lining around the sole where it met the boot, not only did this re-enforce the fix but also added a nice finishing detail. To do this section I glued the crochet on to the resin sole and then sewed that on to the fabric of the boot.

Glued on the sole

I am pleased with the outcome of the boots, I particularly like the soles because they add a mixture of texture and material in to the object and I think the symbolism of the flowers in the soles is subtle but effective. One thing I am not too happy with is the attachment of the wool at the heel of the boots where some glue can be seen, but I have tried to trim this out for a better finish. What I would like to do if I started this again is think of how I can this so it is a new functional product than a warped interpretation of an old one. One thing I considered doing was turning them in to speakers for the show, so I could play wartime songs and radio broadcasts through them just to add more ambience around my piece. I don’t think I will do this as I can’t get wireless speakers and I don’t want wires hanging out from the boots if they are supposed to be from the wartime as I think that would look out of place though if I get time and find a way around this I may do it as I have seen a book about making knitted headphone wire covers which would be ideal.

Making The Grenade

I chose to make a mills bomb replica for the grenade as it is one of the most used and recognisable grenade that were used by the British in WW2. I also chose it because I liked the shape and details.

Mills Bomb Replica

I started making this by using a resin replica of the bomb to cast. I did consider making the grenade from scratch but I had no real idea of dimension and detail even after the visit to the war museum so I could never really have made it as realistic as I would have like to in this way. To make the rubber mould I made a wooden box which was sealed with clay the stop hot rubber leaking out and also used clay to stick the grenade to the bottom and to seal the holes left by the pin in the replica. I heated up the vinamould and poured it, unfortunately the box was too large and the rubber didn’t cover the grenade fully which was frustrating but I melted more and poured that over, but by this time the first batch had already cooled. Once the second lot of rubber was completely cooled I removed the box which revealed the mould to be in near enough two parts, whilst more convenient for pouring I was worried about the affect this would have on the finish of the grenade if there were big obvious seams and cracks.

Only partially covered

Concerned over the quality of the mould

 As with the boots I wanted to add flowers inside the grenade to contradict its initial purpose as much as possible so the flowers were where gunpowder and explosive would have been. It help that this also made it look much more feminine.  The initial plan colour wise was for the resin to be clear but after looking at the gas mask goggles with the sepia looking colour but with a bit of transparency I though that would be a more interesting effect that would pay more of a homage to the era than a more polished but modern looking clear resin. I also used a purple resin to highlight the detail at the top of the grenade.

Purple Resin in the top

I poured the resin in added a few of the foam roses and real flowers and left to dry and repeated that until I reached the top of the mould. One idea that I really wanted to pursue for this object was to make it in to a light. I just liked the idea of have an explosive device which as a weapon would have caused fires, therefore light, doing the some but as a small homely product, it felt contradictory but made sense still because of this. I have some small lights which replicate the light of a candle so the light flickers like a flame and had a plastic fake flame at the top. This was perfect to use as the source of the lighting for the grenade but the white plastic bottom was not fitting so I made a crochet cover for it to disguise it but still make the battery accessible. To attach this to the grenade to make it in to a lamp I put the plastic flame part in to the hole in which I poured the resin (which was the bottom) and it dried in to the resin making it a whole product.

Light inside the mould when drying

This is how the grenade looked just from the mould

            When I removed the grenade form the mould after the resin was dried I was pleasantly surprised with the results as I thought the two sections may have warped the shape too much or the plastic in the flame may melt, but this didn’t happen. However it defiantly didn’t some out finished as some small bits around the seams of the rubber were in need of sanding and filing to get a good finish. I used a combination of rotary tool fittings to sand down intricate areas quickly and then wet and dry sand paper to get a smooth finish.

Finished Grenade

With Light on

One thing I think about this product it that the light isn’t quite as strong as I would have liked, but this may be because of the resin not being a proper transparent colour and the flowers my cover the light a bit. This process has taught me a bit more about the process of rubber mould and making sure the box is an appropriate size because the one I used was just too big which has affected the outcome. I would like another go at doing this with a smaller box to get a better mould but I cant because time constraints. I am pleased with the outcome despite this though and the light work nicely, it’s just frustrating that I know I can do this better, but as I said the grenade as it is looks good. 

Making The Gas Mask

My Plan

The gas mask was one of the more complex objects I made because it is made up of a few different parts, like the respirator, goggles and the canister. I started by using chicken wire to get the basic shape of the facemask and covering it in bubble wrap then made a respirator to fit it from cardboard.  These were both then covered in parcel tape to hold them together and make them easier to shape, as the chicken wire cut my hands quite a bit (I learnt that you definitely need to wear gloves with chicken wire) .

The First Part made from chicken wire

Covered in Bubble wrap and parcel tape

The next stage was to fabricate the face section. To do this I cut out a section of fabric from the same skirt I used on the gun and pinned it to the mask, I then trimmed around the edges and did the same but with a different material on the other side of the mask. Sewing them together whilst trying to keep them tight to the shape was quite tricky as it is a complex shape and the skirt material was fragile so could tear easily. To give it a better finish, I did a seam around the edges of the fabrics so that no frayed edges show on the finished piece.

Fabricated Mask

Next I worked on the respirator by starting with covering it in a floral fabric using a glue gun. I then added a knitted edge around it to make it fit more snugly in to the facemask, this was sewn on to the fabric. For the actual respirator front section, I noticed when I visited the war museum that the holes and patterns looked like a type of crochet so I thought I would use that idea. Once this was made it was then sewn on to the respirator piece, which was attached to the mask.

With Respirator fitted

The next thing I did was create the canister for the gas mask, this was quite a simple shape to make and I simply used chicken wire, bubble wrap and parcel tape. I fabricated it with a large section of knitting but found that when it stretched to cover the shape the parcel tape showed which I didn’t like the look of. So I used a plain white cotton type fabric underneath the knitting, which gave it a much more finished look. I then attached the floral skirt fabric to the top and the bottom of the canister.

Canister for the Gas Mask

The last main section to make was the tube that connected the mask to the canister. From the pictures I could see it had an odd, spring like shape to it. One idea I had to create it was to place rounded metal wires in to the tube. However, I wanted to keep it softer so I decided the best way would be to stuff the tube and then tie things around it to give the effect. I began by making the basic tube firstly by cutting the white fabric to the right size as the inside and attaching a knitted section to the outside, which were sewn together. This was then attached to the canister by sewing but making sure the end was well sealed. To stuff it I used small polystyrene balls like in beanbags. I then sewed up the top and fixed that to the mask. To finish this off I used a mixture of purple and white ribbon and ties bows tightly around the tube to give the spring like effect but in a really feminine way.

Tube From Canister to Mask

Next I had to make the goggles, I started with some crochet around the eyeholes, which were shaped so they can hold the goggles in place without having to fix them in by glue etc. I made a template then a wooden version, which was then vacuum formed. I used general-purpose resin in the mould, which gave an amber colour to the goggles but was still slightly transparent. I used this rather than transparent resin because the colour reminded me of the sepia photographs from the WW2 era. This connection interested me because I see photos as capturing a moment in time and looking through the goggles as a physical interpretation of the photos that take you back in time.

Goggles

            After I finished this however, I was a genius and dropped one of the resin goggles, so for an even pair I made some more, but I am now going to glue them in to place, because I don’t really want this happening again.

Second goggles (without Flowers)

            One thing I thought would be good was to make the gas mask in to a kind of light, which goes back to the original aim of the project of making a lamp. This is because I thought that when light is shone through the goggle the lighting effect will change and be warped which was interesting. Also, I thought it further warped the idea of the original wartime product by turning it in to a homely light fixture, making it more feminine as well. To turn the gas mask in to a light I used the crochet part where the straps all tie around at the back to conceal a small led, battery powered light. I covered this with another crochet part and sewed it together but added a button so the battery could be access if needed. This means that now the gas mask can be laid down or suspended and acts as a light.

Laying down with Light (with old goggles)

Suspended with light

            I am very pleased with the gas mask, its one of my favourite objects of this piece because of the extra details to make it more feminine and warped. For example the lighting point of this gives it a product element as well which is important to me in a way as I want to do product design and this questions what a product can be, which I find interesting. I would like to make the stitching on the actual mask a bit cleaner as in some places it does look very shabby, but this works in this context so it’s not so bad. Also, I found that securing resin is always a good idea, because making more can be annoying on a tight deadline. 

Making The Rifle

My Plan, using maths and ratio to work out dimensions

To start with I had to work out the actual size of the rifle and break that down in to part, as I wanted this to be accurate in dimension so the impact that the change of material and use would be more prominent. This wasn’t easy as I only had the full length and the barrel length of the gun, not width, magazine size and all the other bits. So to get around this I found a good quality image of the gun in full and measured the image and using some maths worked out the scale ratio of the image and measured to other sections to get the dimensions to work from. This may not have been hugely accurate but it gave a good indication of the size sections needed to be.

Basic Shape of the rifle

So I then began making it using plastic pipes for the barrel and chicken wire, bubblewrap and parcel tape for the rest of it. This work well as the materials were easy to manipulate in to shape and held their form to give a solid structure.

Once I had the shape I began to fabricate the gun using a floral skirt from a charity shop (re-using it in the spirit of make do and mend), I used a hot glue gun and hand sewing to hold this in place whilst I added the rest of the materials, using the same methods. I used knitting to define the wooden areas of the original gun and the floral material was used in the area’s with more metal. Then using small pieces of crochet I created the trigger and define the rest of the knitted sections. I used ribbon around the top of the barrel to highlight that area.

This skirt was from a charity shop

Knitting and Crochet

Crochet detail on the side

Corset-Like detail at the bottom

What I noticed after creating this was that the section where the pipe and the chicken wire met was slightly flimsy because they were not held tighter by anything more than pressure. To have made this stronger I could have glued them together, however, the nature of the project (conflicting materials and products) actually means that in a way it makes more sense for it to be softer and less rigid. In reality a floppy gun is useless, but then again it would be useless to be made from knitting and a skirt. The point is that its warped beyond the point of it’s intended purpose (which typically a masculine one) so you question what it really is and can appreciate it more as a piece of design, rather that a war tool. I personally found inspiration form the hippies of the 60’s at this point with sticking flowers in the end of a gun, making me think that this could be used as a type of vase or flower pot (a much more feminine use). 

Vase?

Video of Process:

Making the Demob Case

I wanted to make the Demob case to use as the vessel that the other objects are placed in to help give the impression that a soldier has just walked in home from war and put down the case. I like the vintage appearance of the old case as well so I thought it ould be a fun thing to create.

Original Plans

        Initially I was going to make the case from wood and chicken wire, but I opted to make it from cardboard and just fibreglass that using clear resin as I thought the case would look interesting lit up if it was semi-transparent. I used the dimensions I found on the internet to make sure the case was an accurate scale as the other objects were so this being off scale would look odd in a way that I didn’t want it to. Once I had all the pieces I stuck them together using parcel tape and also covering the whole of the outside of each case lid in parcel tape so that when I used the resin the cardboard would stay in the right shape and not get stuck in to it. To fibreglass these I used a multi-purpose resin rather than a clear resin partially because it was only available one and also I was now reconsidering covering the fibreglass in fabric anyway because it would look much more feminine.  It took a lot of resin to do the fibreglass on the lids but dried reasonably quickly, though there was a greenish tint to the fibreglass because  of the resin I used. The edges also came out very rough so I had to file and sand these down to a smother finish. I didn’t enjoy this at all, because it resulted in me have a lot of tiny glass fibres in my skin which was very itchy and uncomfortable. At least I know now that when I so that process of fibreglass to wear gloves and pull my sleeves down so my skin is covered.

The Fibreglass Shells

Once this was done I decided I would definitely upholster the case and try to make it look luxurious which really contrasts the idea of this case because its coming back from war, something not luxurious in the slightest. So to do this I used some satin, purple bed linen and an old bed pillow which was torn apart to get the stuffing from. I glued the satin to the case in a way that made it looked cushioned and then stuffed the filling in this.  The overall look of the interior reminded me of quilting because of the padding, which was something that was done a lot by women in WW2 so I was pleased with this link in the outcome. 

The next thing I did was to cover the outside of the case. I wanted to keep with the Make Do and Mend theme so I collected some old floral skirts from charity shops to use. One that I found I really liked with the colour of it and the satin together and had an air of Cath Kidston about it which made it both more feminine and luxurious. Another theme I am carrying through the whole project is the hand made and hand stitching, so I cut and sewed the corners in a way to deliberately show the stitches. Then I sewed the outer material to the inside one to cover the edges of the fibreglass. 

The next thing to do was to add the eyelets in to the lids so I could thread the ribbon through which would act as a feminine solution to a hinge. This was done by using a drill to make holes prior to fabrication, then forcing the two piece of the eyelets to lock together by hammering them, this also cut through the material. This was relatively easy but I did have an issue with two of the eyelets through the thicker parts of the resin as when I hit them to join the two eyelet pieces together they didn’t meet up properly through the resin so one part got stick inside. This was frustrating as, to me it ruined the look of the case because the fabric already had holes and I could re-do them as the eyelet piece was stuck firmly in the resin and I didn’t want to risk breaking it. So to get around this I trimmed the fabric for a better finish and glued to other piece of the eyelet where it would have been. This worked but to me it’s now not perfect so I still find it a bit annoying even thought it won’t be clearly visible when the ribbon is threaded through.

The material use on the case

All I had left to do at this point was to add details to make the case more realistic. I firstly made the handle, this was simple because all I did was knit a section folded it and sewed it to made a thick knitted handle, which I sewed on to the top lid of the case. This was so the lid would be easily lifted and to me it balanced to look nicely. The next detail added was the lock/clasp section at the front of the case. This was made by crocheting two semi-circles, one was bigger to go on the bottom which I noticed in the reference image I used these were them sewn on to the case as well. 

One of the extra bits of detail I added was the crochet trim around the edges of the lids. I did this because I wanted to look more feminine but also to use it to accent the case and draw attention to both it and its contents. The next section I did is actually more important to the case as it was the straps to hold the lids up when it’s opened. This was a simple solution, I used the excess ribbon from the hinge part and cut that to size, sewed those on a used  white crochet flowers to cover the joins to make it look more finished.

Case With details

I like the appearance of the ribbon and eyelet at the back of the case

Handle and Lock Area

Personally I think the outcome looks good, the size it right and the details and colours compliment each other without being too much. I’m not hugely satisfied with the eyelets still but at least I know the issue in the future so I would sand the thicker bits down so the eyelets fitted through better. All in all I believe this object, which was initially a masculine one from war, had been changed in to something far more feminine and homely using some methods and materials that were from the WW2 era, which is what I set out to achieve. 

Making the Helmet

To make the helmet I used the technique I experimented with earlier with the resin and the knitting. I thought this would be most ideal as the rounded experimental piece already had the look of a small helmet. So firstly I got a piece of crochet that was the right size for the helmet (which was a plastic fancy dress one) I used white and pink colours for it as they are generally seen to be feminine. I tried to replicate the method I used for the experiments by vacuum forming the helmet to get the right shape. This was an issue as the helmet is made from thin plastic and the vacuum former sucked out too much air, which crumpled the helmet. This could have been avoided in part by stopping the moulding sooner, but then the shape may not have taken. I managed to salvage the helmet and it was left which some dents in it, which was actually ok because it made it look more battle worn and authentic.

The next thing I tried was to soaked the crochet in clear resin and then place that over the helmet to take its form. Though to do this I had to first cover the helmet in parcel tape to make sure the resin wouldn’t just stick to the plastic helmet. Once the resin soaked crochet was placed I left it to dry and harden over night. When I retrieved it the resin and crochet had taken the shape of the helmet however the way it had formed was different in appearance to the experiment because the resin just hardened the material rather that took the form itself with the material inside. The result made it look more as though it was a crochet hat that had been made in to a helmet for the war rather that a helmet with that material being changed. Although this was not the original result I had intended, the idea of a more homely, feminine product being made in to a war piece was actually quite interesting as it shows how the idea can work both ways.

However, as much as I am aware that it is a helmet, to see it on its own without explanation can make it appear as a tea cosy or just a hat so to make the object clearer I wanted to add the details. The main thing I thought was the difference between a hat and a helmet is the chinstrap to keep it on. I made these by knitting two longer and two shorter pieces and sewing them together to make the look like the straps. I then glued them in to place. I also added a crochet emblem to the front of the helmet and some other crochet wheels on the chin straps. This added extra femininity to the helmet and  helps to visually explain the object through the detail.

            

Stiffening Fabric

In an effort to find other ways to harden fabric in the style of WW2 aircraft makers I came across something very interesting in Hobbycraft. Right next to the model aircrafts was a tiny pot of Cellulose Dope, dope was what was used to cover the material on the body of the planes, though in WW2 this was more likely to be butyrate dope. This gave me a chance to experiment with a new substance and see it's effects on the fabric whist keeping in touch with the WW2 roots of the process.

Helmet Test With Dope

I used the helmet as a base and some odd piece I had knitted from thick red wool then brushed the dope on to it with a medium coating. Once this had dried it easily came off of the helmet and was much more firm and stiff than previously, though in comparison to the resin I have used, it was flexible and somewhat unstable. In a way this was a good thing, I wanted to preserve the appearance and texture of the materials but also making them more structural which was kind of achieved. My issue with this is that it wasn't really as strong as I wanted it to be, it had the feeling of nearly breaking or losing shape, neither of which would be very helpful. It was also a cost issue, that tiny pot cost about £4 and about 25% of it was used on that little experimental piece, so hardening a whole suitcase or rifle would be expensive.

Red Piece- Dope, Brown Piece- PVA

I also tested the effect of PVA glue on the fabric in the same way as the Dope. This produced nearly identical results, though the dope may have been a little more solid. To me this concludes that if I wanted to use an alternative method to hardening the fabric than using resin, PVA would be a better option than the Cellulose Dope as it gave near enough the same results for a lot less money and it is much more accessible in large quantities.