My time at James Watt...

So far my time at James Watt College has been a very enjoyable and interesting experience. At the start of college I was worried as a lot of the girls in the class were from around the same area and knew each other previously, whereas I come from quite a distance and knew no-one. I soon felt better about the course as I have the nicest lecturer. I soon made friends and absolutely love my course. I find all the subjects we study very interesting and enjoyable. Although friday mornings blogging for me is a bit pointless as it is stuff that could be done from home especially when I have over an hours journey to college for often a 2 hour class without working computers.

Cirriculum For Excellence

The four capacities of Cirriculum For Excellence (CfE) are:

• Successful Learners.
• Confident Idividuals.
• Responsible Citizens.
• Effective Contributer.

Successful Learners is described as being an enthusiastic learner who is easily motivated to achieve what must be done during lectures. This is used in all my classes, hairdressing, wigs, character make-up and special effects. As a successful learner I use my communication skills also in all of these classes and sometimes display my numeracy and literacy skills in these subjects by taking notes and measurments. Technology is used constantly used throughout this course as there is lots to research and blogging about our work. We constantly work as groups to learn techniques and to model for others and sometimes in wigs and hairdressing we can work individually on manikins and wigs.

Confident individuals is all to do with your own beliefs and your own well-being. THis is often displayed in class as I am able to communicate and relate to others within my group. I am very self aware of my actions in class which is a contributer to being a confident individual. I feel as though I am confident enough in sticking to my own belief's and views of the world.     

Responsible Citizens shows how you are a responsible citizen. This could be demostrated during our character make up class, if we had a client from a non white background we would have to do make up to suit their complexsion. This shows how we understand different cultures. I am also able to make informed choices and decisions which is classed as being a responsible citizen in all my subjects.

Effective contributer means I am able to work well as an individual which can sometimes be done in hairdressing by working on a sally doll. But in all our other classes I worl well in partnership or as a team to get assessments done. In this setup we often have to reolve problems if there are an odd number for partners and we had to sort out time management so everyone can get what they need done.                                

Halloween Characters

To recreate this look I would...

• Start with putting white around the mouth and eyes.
• Yellow should be merged in along the central area of the nose and round the wihte of the eyes.
• Orange should then be used to fill the rest of the face merging it in with the yellow.
• This is your base to the tiger and now all you have to do is paint on the black lines to create stripes, a nose and wiskers.

To create this I would...

• start by drawing in my black outline.
• Making points of symetry will help keep this image symmetrical.
• I would then start by putting red around the eye fading out then start building up the other colours to make it look as though they are merged together.
• I would then add all the shading by using white to highlight certain areas.

To recreate this look I would...

• Start again with a white base with an evn coverage.
• Add some shading to the cheeks, forehead and chin for some depth to the face.
• I would try make my skeleton a bit more deatiled with more black as cracked bones and for the depth in the eyes.
• For the teeth I will outline around the mouth and then and lines to act as teeth.

Skin Conditions

Eczema is a reacurring skin condition that is cause by dryness of the outer epidermis of the skin. The symptoms to this are usually, dry skin, swelling, redness, itching, flaking of the skin, blistering, cracking and bleeding.
If this was on the face you should try and use non-allergenic products with no fragrance or harsh chemicals in them. Simple products are very good for skin conditions not just for eczema but for many skin conditions.

For moisturisers you should use a low water base content so that it does not make the skin greasy, this will stay on the skin for longer keeping the dry skin moisturised.

Wigs

Some people wear wigs to disguise the fact that they are bald, a wig may be used as a less intrusive and less expensive alternative to therapies for restoring hair. Wigs may also be used as a cosmetic accessory, sometimes in a religious context. Actors often wear costume wigs in order to better portray a character.
Wigs were first known to be used in ancient Egypt to shelter their bald heads from the sun. They were also used as part of costumes in shows and displays in Greece, Rome, China and Japan.

In the 16th and  17th Century head lice became a big problem to the population and they found this much easier to resolve by having shaven heads and they all wore artificial hair.

Wigs for men were introduced into the English-speaking world with other French styles when Charles II was restored to the throne in 1660, following a lengthy exile in France. These wigs were shoulder-length or longer, imitating the long hair that had become fashionable among men since the 1620s. Their use soon became popular in the English court. The London diarist Samuel Pepys recorded the day in 1665 that a Barber had shaved his head and that he tried on his new periwig for the first time, but in a year of plague he was uneasy about wearing it.

The wearing of wigs as a symbol of social status was largely abandoned in the newly created United States and France by the start of the 19th century. In Britain most nations, and the Republic of Ireland special wigs are also worn by barristers, judges, and certain parliamentry and municipal or civic officials as a symbol of the office.

Wigs are used in film, theatre, and  television. Only a few actors starring in big-budgeted films and television series will grow their hair so that it may be cut to the appropriate hair style, and forgo using a wig.

Wigs are worn by some people on a daily or occasional basis in everyday life. This is sometimes done for reasons of convenience, since wigs can be styled ahead of time. They are also worn by individuals who are experiencing hair loss due to medical reasons (most commonly cancer patients who are undergoing chemotherapy or those who are suffering from alopecia.

Fantasy Make-up

1. The Wizard of Oz, the Wicked Witch of the West. To create this look I would:

• Start by applying a green base to the face making sure its not a block of the same colour as this will look unrealistic.
• To add some shading i would add some black around the cheek bones and eyes/nose to create a very deed look to the face. Yellow can also be used to highlight areas around the eyes and chin. 
• Black thick eyebrows will help make this look more complete.
• Red around the eyes for an evil look and lips will help create depth around the eyes.

2. The Joker, Batman.

To create this look I would:

• Start by applying a patch looking white base maybe using aquacolour white for this effect, with some areas remaining skin colour.
• Eye's must be black from the socket down to the cheek area with the outline of the eye ramining solid black fading out to grey.
• The mouth should be elongated to the cheekbones and should also be a red more apparent around the lips and fading outwards.

This is a very simple easy look to complete and should try and remain a worn look.

3. Black Swan.

This look can be created by:

• Applying an even coverage of white all over.
• Outline lips very strikingly dark and shape.
• Use a dark liner and start to draw the shape of the eyes in.
• Leave gaps to show through the white to show the shading.
• Grey shading could be used around the cheeks, hair line and neck to create a realistic look.

History of Make-up

Cosmetic make-up is believed to have first been used over 600 years ago in Ancient Egypt and also progressed through the Ancient Greek and Romans through the decades. They produced colourful products by using dangerous elements such as mercury and white lead, this lead to a lot of eye problems such as conjunctivitis. Kohl, which was used to outline the eyes, is made up of lead, copper, burned almonds, soot, and other ingredients. It was believed that eye make-up could ward off evil spirits and improve the sight. This was the beginning of make-up and are the basis of the cosmetics we use nowadays. 

An era that I found very influencial to make-up was 1960's, makeup was an essential part of the mod look, with a heavy emphasis on the eyes. The effect was really an echo of the smoldering dark-eyed, dreamy look of the 1920s, only more so and minus the coloured lipstick. In the 60s, foundation was natural in colour and the lips pale. Pale foundation was used to cover blemishes and even out skin tone, optional blusher in pale pink or peachy tones was used sparingly. Black eyeliner and lashings of mascara were used as the main focal point in this look with very long lashes under the eye. Neutral or pastel eyeshadow on the lid, dark eyeshadow in the crease was used so that they exaggerated the eyes. Pale lipstick in baby pink, beigey pearl or silvery white were common colours for lips as they got rid of the bright reds and pinks from previous era's.