Overall reflecting on this first Unit X project there has been a number of key influences and turning points, as well as a few challenges faced. For instance, with my individual project the key influences were both my chosen Radcliffe Red List Endangered Crafts: Button Making and Passementerie and also my narrative of Lancelot and Elaine specifically the section of the chosen quote I selected:

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 Well, I will wear it: fetch it out to me:
What is it?' and she told him 'A red sleeve
Broidered with pearls,' and brought it: then he bound
Her token on his helmet, with a smile
Saying, 'I never yet have done so much
For any maiden living,' and the blood
Sprang to her face and filled her with delight;

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Moreover, the key turning points in my individual work includes: having to redesign my final piece in order to better represent my quote, changing it from a red passementerie adorned cape to a red tasselled sleeve embroidered with my handmade buttons and a selection of commercial pearlescent beads. Another turning point also from the designing process was to scrap the idea of the sleeve being able to be used as a shroud-esque headpiece to purely being just a wrist adornment, which I personally believe links better with my quote and the poem as a whole.  In addition, a further key turning point would be the aforementioned use of two different shades of red to physically construct my piece with, which I believe works well and is befitting of the way Tennyson refers to the sleeve as being both “red” and “scarlet”.  As a result of these key decisions, I trust that I have been able to produce a final piece that fits my goal of producing a piece of either jewellery or adornment, depicts my individual narrative well and also how endangered crafts such as Button Making and Passementerie can be used in a contemporary context.

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However, when reflecting on the collaborative aspect of the Unit X project, there were fair few more issues that arose. For examples, some group members contributed more to the group than others, meaning that other people had more of a say about certain aspects of our collaboration i.e. planning trips such as to Borsdane Woods, creating group work such as our own book (which was an idea to bring our group’s work together, as a befitting way to end our shared work on narratives and purely a personal project for our group) and initial brainstorming and researching.  Furthermore other issues occurred, for instance  some not partaking in certain groups activities or group meetings, resulting in certain people missing out on important information as well as activities i.e. research trips such as visiting Borsdane Woods. Another issue for some members was lack of evidence of work (e.g. samples and designs), which meant the rest of the group weren’t sure of what their ideas for their individual project were and how they were going to link with the other member’s work.

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On the other hand, certain issues were as a result of things: such as problems with equipment in workshops such as metal and fully booked rotas in laser cutting, cancelation of time slot when attempting to outsource work and accessibility to certain materials needed to construct work.

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In spite of these various issues I believe I have personally worked well with the members of my group, some more than others, but I have taken part in all collaborative aspects of this project and have worked together with certain members of my group in order to resolve problems such as the ones aforementioned. Moreover, I have come to the conclusion that for future collaborative projects such as the end of year Unit X projects, I would definitely prefer to closely work with at least two other people from my group. On the whole this first years Unit X project has been extremely interesting, I have learnt a lot about collaborative work and about the pros and cons that arise with it.