Project 1, Auto-Ethnography
Activity 1: Painting My Nails
With painting my nails thing for me is choosing a colour that I want to use. So sight is very important to me when I paint my nails. There is choosing the right colour and whether it will look good. Then there is the question if I should do a second coat because the first is too thin? And then there is the annoying problem that if I see that I had accidently painted on my skin, too quickly scrape it away with another nail before it dries and hardens. The second sense that I found was very prominent, was the smell of nail polish. The nail polish has such potent chemical smell that it usually overwhelms my sense of smell, if I lean to close to my hands, so tend to lean away when painting my nails. Then there is the cold feeling of the nail polish on my nails as soon as I paint them. I find it rather soothing. There is not much sound involved when painting my nails. The only sound would be shaking the bottle of nail polish to mix it before using it and the dipping of the brush into the container of nail polish. However there is no taste involved with painting my nails, but I always wonder what colour would taste like what.
Activity 2: Reading A Book
When I’m reading a book, sight is the main sense I use. To read, to know where on the page I am up to etc. I noticed that I am also highly aware of where my fingers are placed on the page I am reading. Touch is also a main sense I use when reading, to hold up the book and flip through the pages. I realised that I tend to move my hands around quite often, every few pages to hold the book. When I start reading I am usually sitting up then a few minutes later I realise that I have ended up lying down. 85% of the time I read I tend make myself a cup of tea so associating the sense of taste to reading is cup of tea for me. I also find that the smell that books have when you open them, (especial older books), you get that passing waft of paper. Almost a old nature sort of smell. I really enjoy that smell as it gives me the feeling of comfort and a sense of cozy-ness, something I can escape into. The sound of flipping through the pages creates an atmosphere where I am in anticipation for the story to continue on.
Activity 3: Having An Orange
When having an orange, the first step is to cut it up. I first took notice of the how the skin of the orange felt in my hands. The texture of the orange had small smooth bumps all over it and felt quite slippery and rubbery at the same time. I needed to hold the orange in place so I could cut it up while keeping the orange stable on the cutting board. To cut through the orange I had never noticed before how you use more pressure on the knife to cut through the tough skin on the orange then lift the pressure up a bit to cut through the juicy part. When I had cut the orange into wedges I could feel the small juicy cells burst as i gripped onto it to cut them in half. The cells felt like a slippery skin. The only thing that is audible from this activity is the grinding noise of cutting through the skin, the knife hitting the board and the consumption of the orange flesh. Which tasted sweet with an edge of tangy-ness to it. And smells similar to what it tastes like but with a slight tropical smell to it.
Multi-Sensory Research Diary, Activity 1
Johanna Barry:
across her nail as she paints. She also makes sure that the nail polish has dried by touching the painted nail, and if its not she says it feels sticky. She also says that if that happened the nail polish feels rough once it has dried.
Meg Brodie
She chose Sheer Lilac
because she liked the colour as it is has a silvery shine and glittering to it.
Sometimes she does two coats, but usually too lazy to wait for it to dry first
and if she does a second coat it is usually a few hours later. She takes big
strokes with the brush from the bottom of her nail to the top. She starts with
her pointer finger first on her left hand and paints with her dominant hand
first (right hand). When painting her nails she likes to paint it evenly and
smoothly. She also paints carefully to make sure not to get the nail polish all
over her fingers. When she dips the brush into the bottle, she can hear the
bottle jingling on the tabletop she says. The smell isn’t very strong for her
since she has a bit of a blocked nose. She likes how there are the grooves on
the lid to make it easier to open. When accidently dribbling some on her finger
she notices that it feels cold.
Nicollette de Haan
She chose the Glittery
Silver as she thought that it was rather a pretty nail polish. She also likes
to have her nail polish colour match the clothes she is wearing. When painting
her nails she takes small back and forth strokes until the whole nail is
covered. Most of the time, she does two coats. Before applying the next coat,
she waits for her nails to dry and she tends to blow them dry in hopes that
they will dry quicker. She paints only on the nail, as she does not like the
nail polish going on to the skin. She starts with her little finger on her left
hand first. She starts painting with her dominant hand, as she is right-handed.
She thinks that the smell of the nail polish is gross and too strong. She also
heard the little squeaky noise when twisting off the lid of the bottle. The
feeling of painting the nail polish onto her nails feels cold she says. She
also paints with small back and forth strokes as she covers her nails. With the
excess nail polish that has dried on her skin, she picks at it with her nails
to clear it off her skin.
Karly Ryder
She chose the colour Pink,
just because she liked it. When painting her nails she does even strokes from
the back of the nail to the front. Also before applying the nail polish she
scrapes off the excess nail polish off the brush so there isn’t too much on the
brush. She usually does two coats, but says that it depends on what kind of
nail polish and colour it is. She likes to paint only on the nail and not to
get any on her skin, but when she does it fast she always tend to get at least
a small amount on the skin. She starts with her pointer finger on her right
hand. She is left-handed so it is out of habit to start painting with her
dominant hand. The smell is quite strong she commented and that she could hear
the lid twisting off the bottle. Once her nails have dried, she likes the
feeling of the smoothness that the nail polish has.
Katrina Taylor
She chose the colour Sheer
Lilac because she says that is goes with everything and looks very
eye-catching. When painting her nails she keeps all her fingers spread apart. When
she applies the nail polish, she goes crazy by getting nail polish her skin
too. Once the nail polish has dried, she picks it off with her nail. She does
this to make sure that she has the whole nail covered. Always do two coats of
nail polish. Before applying the second coat, she waits for the first one to
dry by blowing on her nails. She starts with her thumb on her left hand while
painting it with her right hand, which is her dominant hand. She could only
faintly smell the nail polish and heard the lid squeaking off from the bottle. She
can feel the bristles of the brush on her skin as she paints her nails. When
first applying the nail polish she can feel the coolness of it against her
nails.
Presentation Image:
Project 2: Sensory/Emotional Experiments
Experiment 1: Touch
The blanket felt soft and could easily settle
into a position that was comfortable. The hand resting on the soft cushion was
content and at ease. The softness of both the cushion and blanket were inviting
and snug.
Experiment 2: Smell
From the incense burning, there was a faint
vanilla smell and a hint of the burning candles. The candlelight atmosphere and
incense burning, was relaxing and comforting. It was not as easy to paint the
nails in the dim light but it the smell did create a tranquil coziness.
Experiment 3: Sound
It was comforting because the song was
familiar and a fun upbeat song. The familiarity of the music playing in the
background was comforting because it is something that felt like an everyday
activity that goes unnoticed because it is a regular practice.
500 Word Rationale
I had altered my original experiment from the
everyday activity to paint your nails to introducing sound, which was one of
the five senses that lacked. The sound that I included in the activity is
listening to music. Through listening to music while painting your nails
creates a whole new, more enjoyable atmosphere and mood depending on what you
are listening too. Having music as a background noise in your everyday life it
becomes a comforting aspect that when it is missing you notice it. Music is
also known to hold therapeutic abilities. K. E. Brucia defines music therapy as
an interpersonal process that can help “to improve, restore, or maintain
health” (1991,p.9), through including the different aspects of music;
“physical, emotional, mental, social, aesthetic, and spiritual.” (1991, p.9)
Brucia also explains how listening to music can bring about a response “such
as: relaxation or meditation”, (1991, p.10) which I find is also a form comfort
where you are loosening up and detaching one self from your busy life. Brucia
later notes that “music therapy at its best is a source of motivation for
therapeutic change” and that choosing “musical experiences according to the client’s
tastes, preference, and requests”(1991, p.14), is important to the process for
the development and growth. This so that the client is familiar with the music
and is able to become more motivated and confident with knowing the music and
will then become more comfortable with themselves. V. J. Hanley realizes that
“the emotive and emotional power of song has long been recognized” (2010, p.38)
and that songs and singing can be “a mood enhancer or stabilizer, and even
listening to a song can help to relax, excite…”, (2010, p.38) the person. In
this article, she reiterates just how involved one can be with music. How it is
able to trigger emotions within us, help us, and comfort us just like how a
mother comforts her child through a lullaby. Hanley expresses this by saying
how “the profound words and tune of the traditional lullaby Hush, little baby reflect how this gives
the message that the mother understands completely how the infant must be
feeling, and that is will be alright as she is going to remain with them.”
(2010, p.38) “Music speaks to our hearts-often without words” (2011, p.184) T.
Briggs comments in her article. She then goes on to state how “we seldom
analyze music critically-it is absorbed automatically and directly. As a
result, music penetrates deeply at a subconscious level. It communicates
simultaneously in all four areas of well-being: emotional, physical, mental,
and spiritual.” (2011, p.184) With this statement she acknowledge how music is
related to the four areas of our wellbeing and because of that, I think that
our comfort is strongly related to all these four areas. That is why I think we
are so affected by music so uniquely and socially with others.
Referencing:
Brucia, K.
E. (Eds.). (1991). Case Studies in Music
Therapy. Gilsum, NH: Barcelona Publishers
Hanley,
V. J. (2010). The power of song. Community Practitioner, 83(5), 38-9.
Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/213344788?accountid=14782
Briggs,
T. (2011). Music's unspoken messages. Creative Nursing, 17(4), 184-186.
Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/906290500?accountid=14782
Project 3: Experience
Feeling Glamorous:
Definition of Glamour: noun
1. Charm and Allure; Fascination
2. Fascinating or Voluptuous Beauty, Often Dependent on Artifice
3. (Archaic) a Magic Spell
Origin of Glamour
Scottish variant of grammar (hence a magic spell, because occult practices were popularly associated with learning
The Experience...
...of having your nails painted for you.
Materials:
White table cloth with rosesHand towel
White bowl with warm water to soften skin
An ice-chcolate with three ferrero rocher's
Nail polish + small gems for nails
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