What is in a name.

The name elle lumine comes from the word 'illumine'

il·lu·mine

(ĭ-lōō'mĭn) tr.v. il·lu·mined, il·lu·min·ing, il·lu·mines To give light to; illuminate.

but since 'il' is masculine in french I changed it to 'elle' which is feminine meaning her. elle lumine means to give her light in a way. cleaver no?

but i can't take all the credit, suzie q in my class found illumine and along with a few other people in the class we came up with elle lumine. thanks guys.

testing

emailed Peach Fur and Strumpet and Pink to see if they want to user test for me. Fingers crossed. Peach fur based in Dundee and Strumpet and Pink in Edinburgh

Adding Beauty

So it was coming down to crunch time, my silk HAD to get made. I went in to see Dundee Stitch Masters - recommended by Gus, who sometimes teaches things on IPD- to see if they could make my a garter from scratch and how long. I went in with absolutely nothing and tried to explain myself, she told me to come back with a drawing and they would see what they could do. I thought i better make a prototype cause i had no idea what i wanted. I pretty much decided on ruffles as not only did they look good i thought they would give out better light as it would allow the light to flow down the leg. I tried this out in the picture 3rd from top. before the silk was restricting the light.I bought a roll of black wrapping paper and sheets of black tissue paper. I bought the roll of paper because a) it was cheap and b) meant i didn't have to stick pieces of paper together to get the lenght of the garter. I bought the tissue paper as i thought i would be easy to ruffle and also easy to distinguish between the 2 for the tailors. So i set about prototyping what i wanted. 1 ruffle 2 ruffle 3 ruffle?? how long the ruffles, the distance between them, the height of them, the ratio to them and the garter. the size of the garter on the leg, all these details I worked out in an afternoon spent playing about. The ruffles i decided on was shown in the very first picture. Next I had to deiced on the perspex. I printed out copies of the design - read the chandelier perspex blog - and played with sticking 1 and 2 on the paper prototype and varying the size. this was obviously restricted by the battery and switch and its relationship to the garter. So i set off with my model, drawing and materials. handed it in on a Friday, got it back on the Wednesday and only £13.50 down -AMAZING!! the silk is interfaced with 2 layers of silk satin organza that was stiffened to give it shape. I also got a white one made the week later after ordering up some silk. I was stunned by the white one. Here's some pics

the wee circle bit is for the perspex to sit on.

Lingerie Inspiration

So with the idea of redesigning the product to make it look more beautiful, I have been looking for some inspiration.

I can't remember where these top two garters are from but they were the best out of a large selection. A BIG problem I have with these garters is that they look cheap. I don't know if it is the lace, photography or the polyester vibe I'm getting. Anyway i like the shape of these garters, with the fringe at the bottom bigger than the top. I quite like the black one at the bottom.




I'm liking this garter from Agent Provocateur, its simple and different. Maybe a bit too simple for my project.



And I'm loving these from Strumpet and Pink



I love these ruffles. I think I'm going to play with and go down this route.

Feed back

OK FEEDBACK!!!

I GOT A B2!!!!

even though its just provisional it means that actually like it! I spoke to Jon to get this and he pointed out that if i don't hand in a finished product i will fail but there is scope for improvement. I need to make it more detailed. But all the things that didn't go my way were "easily" fixable.

Design (in general) - B
Execution - C (I think I was pretty lucky)
Details - C
Materials - B
Interaction - A (AMAZING!!!!!)

comments:

Well done - this is the best so far with your making - and commendable given where you were at PLAY. But this is far from finished. the lace (i think he meant to say silk) requires a better finish (perhaps by a professional) (I had decided on getting it made) the details need working out - maybe more delicate? it needs to work - how will it be switched on/off?

A general comment is that it is currently not beautiful enough - a very fair one I would say

Consider the light - you used cold (why?) do you have a cold light and a warm light?

Tips for Talk:

Be clear who it is for - it is not for everyone. Find the perfect venue for a photo shoot. Make sure your photos have a range of skin tones - don't make it exclusively for white middle class people!!

So all in all a fair feedback i have soooo much work to do.

Make Crit

Just before our Easter "break" we had our MAKE stage crit. here we had to show a working model. this is as far i had got on my very new idea but it showed the working and principles of:

1. integrating the silk, perspex and L.E.Ds
2. my lights worked
3. you could tie around the leg.

The crit went OK but what I discovered was that this design - which i knew before anyone told me - looked very amateur. I felt it looked like a home economics project and not the high end deisgn I was going for. Also I felt the perspex was just sort of "stuck" on the silk and my sewing skills were not the best. Well at least i had the Easter Hols to fix it. the presentation went ok , I was hugely nervous for the feed back

Materials - perspex

OK so for my battery holder and switch I'm making perspex housing in a jewellery style. this is 1st attempt

these were the styles I was going to have as my perspex. this was the stage I had gotten to before the make crit. These styles were based on antique jewellery. the bottom row of the image above shows the other pieces that make up the rest of the brooch.

I needed to have room for a switch and battery - read the post entitled batteries - and i wanted my screws to sit flush with the outer layer of perspex so rastered the red circles accordingly.

Materials - silk

SILK, a traditionally luxurious and beautiful material, perfect for my product. Who knew there were so many types of silk!!!! I suppose its like paper, you just think there is one type until you start investigating. I had a silk dress and wanted the exact same type of silk as it. all I could find was dupion, silk mixes, habotai and endless more, but reading descriptions and trying to decide on pictures on the Internet was hopeless along with the fact there are no silk shops in Dundee. It is impossible to pick the right material if you a) don't know what it is called and b) do not have any samples of it. then after about 2 days of looking for silk stockists and typing in all sorts into Google to get some samples, I realised that I go to an art and design school that has a textiles department. OH MY GOD. The obvious thing was to go to the textiles department and ask them!!! a lesson for next time and for everybody else using new materials...ASK SOMEONE!! Armed with my silk dress and the name of the textile technician I asked him and within twenty minuets had a stockist and requested free samples of silk. I am using 100% black silk satin from Whaleys - Bradford. and silk satin organza for interfacing. Thank you Nori from textiles.

Light Emitting Diodes

These are the lights I am using for my project. They are surface mount L.E.Ds size 0603 ,1.2 x 0.8 mm . This blog is about the process I have undergone getting them the way I wanted. I had a lot of trouble working with them before i devised the method I am showing you. Because of the voltage I am using I also need resistors and to keep everything super small I am using surface mount resistors size 0402 which are 1 x 0.5 mm. I have taken photos against a 1 pence piece and and a pin to show how small the compentes are. I want to use the L.E.Ds in a straight line with the resistors at 90 degrees to the L.E.Ds to create the smallest possible lights. A problem with working with micro components is the wire used to join them, conventional electrical wire is thick in comparison to the components. You can buy conductive thread over the Internet, it is quite expensive and takes a while to arrive. I found spun metal embroidery thread, which is the same thickness as ordinary sewing thread, and tested it for its conductivity. It conducts for up to 6v which is exactly what i need, however it has a tendency for the metallic coating to come apart on very long lengths, so i am using a mixture of metal jewellery wire and metal embroidery thread. Ok so here is my method of putting together my lights. I do 5 LEDs at a time, it makes it easier.

1) I had to laser cut a jig from a piece of wood. I cut dents into the wood on the laser cutter the size of the LEDs at the distance I wanted them. The LEDs are spaced at every 5mm. Then using tweezers and the end of a pin I place the LEDs face down in the right polarity and tape down the positive side. You can tell the polarity by the arrows on the back of the LEDs the point is the negative side. 2) I tape the tread down in position over the negative side of the LEDs and solder. 3) I cover the soldered negative side with tape to keep the LEDs in place and remove the tape of the positive side. Here comes the tricky bit. the resistors are placed on making tape so the don't move and are easier to pick up.Then I pick them up with the very tip of tweezers, with my left hand. I move the bottom of the resistors so they sit right angled to the tweezers. I move the resistor, still in the tweezers, so the positive side of the led and the bottom of the resistor are touching at right angles. With my right hand I move the soldering iron, with a tiny bit of solder on the very tip, towards the joint and solder. the solder takes about half a second. any longer and the solder on the other side of the LED heats up and that solder is broken. I do this with each LED and end up - 4) Now i have to hold the wire with he tweezers in my left and and very quickly solder it to the top of the LEDs with my right hand. this step needs to be done super quickly so the resistors do not come away from the LEDs. at this stage there is always one resistor that needs to be re soldered but in groups of 5 its not that bad. This is what it looks like before they are glued- After a set of 5 I glue them with 5 minute setting epxoy resin which is a strong 2 part glue what is clear. I apply it to the LEDs with the end of a pin to make little bulbs, the LEDs and resistors and encased in a ball of epxoy. This ensures that the solders do not break when the next set of 5 is made. The epoxy sets in an hour so I leave about an hour and a half between sets.I have to hand the LEDs between 2 pieces of wood so i can cover them with epoxy and not stick them to anything. These are the lights i have used in my prototype, out of 50, 48 worked so I must make sure i test that the LEDs work before I glue them. All the soldering was done by myself without any other help, it is a one person job and also I don't use any help to see the components like magnifying glasses. 5 is defiantly the optimum number to do at any one time, any more and solders start to break, any less and it takes too long. after 5 my eyes get tired so a rest is good. A set of 5 takes about 20 - 30 minutes. I hope you like the lights, next step is using warm white LEDs as these are ultra bright white. I had to buy the warm whites from Germany.

User experiance and Scenarios

People always ask with a product, who is it for, how would they use it. well next blog i will explain who, but for now the HOW. I have mapped out the user experience of my product to ensure that every stage of the experience is perfect. I have staged the process and written down the areas that need to be addressed in them.

click on the images to get a better view.

I have also mapped out scenarios for my product. these are just 2 for now but i will be adding and people will also have their own uses for the product. I drew them out but forgot to put colour for the light. I'll do that at a later date.

Who What Why?

to justify the existence of our products we had to come up with who the product is for, why it is in existence and what it is. so for elle lumine:

Who: For women who want to feel beautiful, sexy and confident.

Why: So women can see themselves in a new light and love their bodies more.

What: A sophisticated and opulent garter that illuminates the beauty of your leg.

PRESS RELEASE (working but pretty much there)

elle lumine is an indulgent new garter that illuminates and intensifies you beautiful legs to tease out the elegant and confident you. A seductive adornment to see your legs in a new light.

Insipration

So after my brain wave i spoke to Dean ( graduate 2007) and he gave me some great advise about its form, it should be simple but beautiful and showed me these great designers to look at.

Ayah Bder with her wearable technology and her pants of sexual liberation named Teta Haniya's Secrets. Dean had met Ayah and thought her work would be a good reference for fashion technology, it is.

And Moritz Waldmeyer for all the amazing things he does with L.E.Ds he has also work with my favourite Hussein Chalayan. A particular example is Airborn where 1500 L.E.Ds are embedded into fabric. or the amazing Readings where the dresses are lasers.

Above:Airborn

Below:Readings

Thinking about my project and user testing, I am going to contact both Mr Waldemeyer and Mr Chalayanto see if they want to give a review of my product along with the amazing Ayah Bdeir

Change of Direction

Ok so I haven't updated my blog in ages. I just forgot about it a bit but now its Good Friday (yes i really do mean ages) I'm having a bit more of a relaxing day work wise so now is the time over the weekend to update you on the goings on! My project is still about legs and light but it has moved away from shoes. I felt like i was flogging a dead horse and did not know how to fix things. I had completely moved away from shoes on to cuffs and for about a week i was wondering what to make this cuffs out off, what shape, how to fasten them all these niggling details and it was really really getting to me. so in a moment of high stress i had a bit of a brainwave and elle lumine was conceptualised.

So elle lumine started as a ribbon that you tie round the leg, any part that lights up the leg providing the user with beauty, seduction and confidence. The name came later as you will see in my blog about it but the values that i have been trying to push throughout my process have remained the same. LEGS & LIGHT, just a different method of delivery.

The 49 shoes changed to an illuminating garter, and a much better project.

batteries

GOOD LORD!!

I have been trying to figure out what kind of batteries to use for my product and have just spent the best part of 2 days trying to figure out and searching trough the Internet at some advise. I had to work this out as i could not go ahead and design my perspex with out the dimensions. Design specifications:

As long life for the smallest amount of space.

I had no idea how you worked out what the battery life is so i trolled through the Internet and found it it was measured in capacitance. the battery i had bought because it was so thin had a 76 mAH life span which is nothing. i have roughly 50 L.E.Ds in each garter all flowing at 20mA meaning each need 20mAH from a battery to work for 1 hour. I found this calculator and put in the values 20 x 50 = 1000 and 500mAH which means a battery of 500mAH would power my L.E.Ds for about 30 mins. i looked at phone batteries, camera batteries but they were all too big. I found these on R.S. being the smallest with the biggest capacitance. I'm putting 2 together to make 6 volts at with 1000mAH at 6.4 mm. not too bad! which should make my L.E.Ds last roughly an hour. WOOOO HOOOO!!