Wheres a Lumberjack when you need one?...

Yesterday I went to my local woods to source some wood for my wooden bowls. The council chop down old trees and branches when the weather has been bad and just leave lots of logs in stacks in the woods. It took us a while, but we manged to find some really great logs, however they were all a bit too bit to carry! The bowls that Ive bought to transfer my ceramics onto are about 20cm in circumference and all the logs that we would have been able to carry, weren't wide enough so there's 2 options, find some smaller bowls and use the small logs i foraged OR take a chainsaw down there and cut my own logs off the bigger ones....I like idea 2 best!

Bowls by loyalloot...the best thing to happen to me since my morning latte.

Whilst doing a bit of Pinteresting this morning I came across these gorgeous bowls by company 'loyalloot.' I absolutely love them. There a bit pricey at $75-305.00!!! But i have to make one!! The colours and juxtaposition between glossy shiny lacquer and rustic earthy textures is beautiful. I would love to make some of these bowls myself for my final project and transfer some of my own designs onto the ceramic bowls before i place them inside the logs. These bowls are made by hollowing out the logs and filling them with a glossy lacquer. im not sure i could do that, so i was thinking more along the lines of hollowing out a hole and then placing my own ceramic bowls inside the holes?? 

 

Imagery courtesy of http://inspiredinteriorslivebeautifully.blogspot.co.uk

London Town....

Last week me and my classmate took a trip to London for the New Designers Prep day 2013. It was a really good day. We managed to get to London early and had time to pop into a few of the big stores and do some Market Research before the meeting at 1. Selfridges was huge and we got lost a few times, but it was good to see all the displays and current trends in a larger store than I would normally look around! We also went and had a look in Marimekko, a Finnish store that was full of gorgeous Finnish design and pattern. The shop wasn't very big, but the overall look of the store was inspirational. I also managed to pickup some great promotional material in the shop and the lady behind the counter was really nice and didn't mind us taking a few pictures...which is rare!

We arrived at the Business Design Center just before 1, checked in and picked up our prep packs. The meeting itself was very informative and gave us all the must know info that we needed for our exhibitions in June! There were a few guest speakers, including a talk from greeting card giants Tigerprint.

After the meeting we took a trip to Liberty's. As we walked in we had a quick browse around the scarf hall, the scarves displayed were stunning. My favorite part of the store was the 'Stationary Room.' The displays were amazing and i got lost in the greetings cards and giftwrap. There was such a broad range of products and styles...I even managed to take a few sneeky pictures!...

Vacation...

 After a tutorial with my lecturer on Friday Afternoon i felt much better about my work, as a whole. During the tutorial we placed all my work into collections and made an action plan for the Easter vacation. I cant believe how quickly Easter has come around! I know its early this year....but still!! Over thenext few days i need to develop my work further and bringing a more sophisticated look to soe of my collections. As per usual i have created to many varied paintings and drawings and need to focus more on a select group of strong collections. On Friday I began painting with a more sophisticated style and ended up with these sheets...

Fish. I felt that these fish worked really well in a sophisticated, but modern style and i plan to paint more...

Wood-grain. I really like these wood-grain circles and i would like to experiment more with the wood-grain texture and pattern within other shapes...

This week...

This week hasn't been brilliant. I spent most of the weekend painting and drawing and generally topping up my collection of work. After a tutorial with a returning lecturer on Tuesday i felt completely deflated about my work. After the tutorial i feel like ive lost all direction and im confused. Which is not good when Easter vacation starts tomorrow. My main lecturer has kindly offered to see me tomorrow and go through my work to try and give me more of a direction to go in over vacation. Today i have started to draw and paint up in a slightly more sophisticated way. Keeping in within my current theme, but mixing in elements of my previous work from last semester , to give my work a contemporary and sophisticated edge. Il let you know how its going later on...

Bradford...

Sorry Ive not been on for a few days! I managed to get both my boards finished for Bradford and get my pattern into repeat...which was surprisingly easy when i knew how! I'm really pleased with my finished boards overall! I feel that my moodboard portrays the theme of my work well and the overall finish of my work was to a professional standard. Unfortunately,  I didn't manage to print my design onto fabric, however I was told that this wouldn't matter or effect my chances of winning....

Printing out my design and room scenes on the Plotter...

Prints all rolled up and ready for mounting...

Foam boarding my room scene to give my board some texture...

Board 1:- Mood and ideas board to show my work and whats inspired me during the deign process...

Board 2:- Main sample board, featuring my finished main design, colour palette and room scene...

Will i ever be organised...

I have to be the most unorganised person in the world! A few weeks ago I was given the brief for the Bradford Textile Competition 2013. I wasnt really that fussed about entering, because i felt that this semesters work was more important. I hadnt given it a second thought and then yesterday i suddenly decided i may aswell do it! The deadline is Friday and i need to have 2 completed A1 boards finished for Thursday morning...So the race is on!

Ive done quite well so far, ive completed 1 room scene, 1 design and 1 Mood/Inspiration board. Im pretty pleased with what ive got so far, but im finding it impossible to get my completed design into repeat! I spent about 4 hours pulling my hair out on Photoshop yesterday with nothing to show at the end of it, except for a baldpatch and a few squiggly circles. So as per usual im now rushing around like a crazy person for the deadline tomorrow. Il let you know how it goes...wish me luck!

Alexander's Tie...

Ive been struggling a bit with creating my geometric shapes recently. Ive been trying to paint them, but its really hard to do because it all has to be so precise and in line! I was with my friend the other day and he had an amazing tie with a geometric pattern on it! I asked him where it was from, hoping i could research into the company that made it. Turns out it's vintage and from the 1940's. I took a look on Google at lots of different 1940's ties and strangely enough there all full of geometric pattern! I always consider geometrics to be a modern and contemporary form of pattern, so i was surprised to find so many designs from the 1940's! I decided to try a few geometric patterns of my own on Photoshop and created this design with the help of my research and using the colour palette I designed yesterday! Im really pleased with the finished designs and i feel that they would work well on ceramics or wallpaper panels.

From left:- Alexander, Alexander Mustard, Alexander Plum.

hexapalette...

Here's my finished colour palette. Im not sure if this is exactly how i want to present it, but these are definitely the colours i want to use. I might add a few more along the way though...

colourlovers.♥

Whilst researching ways to present my colour palette, i just came across this great site called 'colourlovers.' The site is filled with an array of different colour trends and  palettes that current artists and designers are using. There's lots of links and designs to look at, you could spend all day on there! Take a look in my 'Deva Loves' links or click here...colourlovers.

Animals, Coffee and Shocking 1980's Music...

Today im spending the day developing my colour palette so i finally have a completed one to work from. After looking at some of my current work Ive noticed that Ive started to just use my favorite colours from my previous palette and not my new ones, so that needs to be sorted! Ive also arranged a visit to an animal center tomorrow to take lots of pictures of farm animals to draw and develop my own shapes from. Ive written down all my aims for the weekend...and there's a lot,so hopefully with a hefty amount of coffee and inspirational, yet shocking 1980's music I'll manage it all! 

Wish me Luck...

Im not alone then :-) ....

After staying up until 3am last night Im finally getting on track with my professional practice module! After being forced to work on Illustrator last week, im feeling a lot more confident with the software and as much as i love Photoshop, Illustrator is much better for this kind of design...Ive been convinced! Ive nearly completed my CV, which im really happy with and im now in the process of putting together my portfolio pages. Im really loving this module at the moment and its such a nice change from drawing and painting! I can't wait until its all finished and ready to hand out.

Also received a few lovely messages about my blog today. Its so nice to know Im not just writing to myself like a crazy old cat lady!!! So thankyou to you guys. ♥

A sneaky peak at a small section of my CV so far...

Getting all proffesional...kind of.

After looking at what progress i have made with my professional practice module (not a lot!) I have decided to get down to it and crack on with my CV and Letterheads tonight! It might be late,but they need to be finished, so i have no choice! I'm happy with my logo, and I have already come up with several ideas for letterheads and CV's. I just need to put my CV together. As for research I have created a small scrapbook filled with all the business cards and flyers i have collected from trade fairs, galleries and studios. Today I came across this really cool site Letterheady, its filled with a huge assortment of Letterheads from lots of different people, doing lots of different jobs! Over the last few weeks I have also created my own Pinterest board filled with inspirational CV's and letterheads to browse when im starting to write gibberish!

Sun, Rabbits and Screen Prints...

Another productive day...Today i managed to get some more screen prints done. I played around with my block colour rabbit design. I printed several different colourways which took ages, because i had to print each colour individually! However.....It was definitely worth it and im really pleased with the overall outcome!

 

Seasonal affective disorder...

I genuinely believe that everybody suffers from Seasonal affective disorder. Everybody's happier when the suns shining!  Today was a lovely sunny day, even if it was a bit crisp outside! I decided to walk to uni and felt really refreshed when i arrived. This afternoon i started my screen prints and im really pleased with what i managed to produce. The fresh air must have done me some good! It took me ages to mix my pigment dyes, because i couldn't get the colours right at first, but after some perseverance and help, i finally managed! My first sample was in 3 different colours and worked well, however i used a smaller squeegee on my last bulb and it got a bit smudged...but thats all part of the sample process!

 Screen print with pigment...

1. Pin your fabric inwards into the under-cloth.

2. Iron your fabric on so its secure and crease free!

3. Weigh out your Binder (47gms) and your pigment (3gms.)

4. Mix your chosen colours, this can take a while and a lot of practice. It took me 45mins to mix 3 colours!

5. Lay out your screen on top of your fabric.

6. Apply a generous amount of pigment to the base of the image your want to print and use a squeegee to swipe the pigment upwards over the screen. Repeat this motion about 3 times.

7. When finished rinse your screen thoroughly, make sure all pigment has been washed away.

8. Place your screen in the dryer for 20mins.

9. Wait for your print to dry, then iron on both sides.

 

 

After figuring out why my print had smudged, i developed my most successful bulb print into a repeat on a linen fabric. I really like the final result and love the colour combination...