Final Major Project - Ideas Ideas Ideas

As you know from my previous posts, My final major project is now ! So I've chosen a theme and this is the first step.... The Moodboard - a creative board echoing the mood and direction of the project. Hope you like mine.....

FMP Moodboard

My theme is the fusion of sleek, clean cut architecture meets the organic in depth nature of natural crystals and stones. Do you think my Moodboard says this? I think I'm going to try and merge together very textural and in depth marks with linear geometric lines. Excited, I love the start of new projects all those ideas running around, can't wait to get out there and start drawing some interesting things. I'll keep you posted every step of the way !! Xx

RA Elite Jewellery

Cross Pendant Bracelet from RA Elite Jewellery

Coin Pendant Chain Bracelet from RA Elite Jewellery 

My friends Rachel, has her own blog and facebook page where she sells her gorgeous jewellery ! Great present idea for Christmas ... Her stuff is gorgeous !!!Take a look at her blog

Http://www.raelitejewellery.blogspot.co.uk 

Or find her page on Facebook - it's RA Elite Jewellery !!

Follow her she'd love to hear from you... RA Elite Jewellery is on trend and has everything from charm bracelets to stunning chunky arm candy !A definite must for the new year ahead I think !

She's also going to be at this years designers marketplace on Saturday 15th November at Middlesbrough Town Hall - 11am - 4pm ... Just £1 entry - worth it for the delights you'll see in there.

Check out the designers market place links and Rachel's blog/Facebook for more details! 

 http://www.designersmarketplace.org.uk/

http://designersmarketplace.blogspot.co.uk/

Decisions,Decisions,Decisions

So it's that time of year again, when an old projects overs and a new one begins ! Time to get out the trend journals and start researching ! I've been having a look in some trend journals such as Collezioni Trends, View2, TextileView, Viewpoint and the Mix trend journal. There's soooo many gorgeous trends, it's hard to choose one. I think I've narrowed it down to a few trends, so I'll have to make that all important decision soon. I may even think about mashing a few trends together, I'll see how the initial researching goes and will go from there. But there's one theme I'm favouring at the moment so watch this space for my decision and following mood boards, drawings for my final major project! Xx

Minor Project Hand In!

Minor project hand in was last week and this last project has been a roller coaster to say the least, my ideas took a whole different direction and ended up being very geometric and in parts heavily embroidered.



'Industrial Flora' project all set up in my bay ready to be marked

Close up of one of my final designs

'Industrial Flora' has been a big learning curve for me and I hit a few bumps along the way but I  think that these bumps have made the project turn out the way it has so I'm pleased with them now.
My main source of inspiration was fusing industrial and floral elements together, I feel that although the floral aspect isn't obvious in the design, the colour, texture and overall look of the designs had been floral inspired. My designs were digitally printed onto both Habotai Silk and Cotton Troy, to create a layered effect with the two fabrics going together and areas of the top fabrics were laser cut to show the base fabric print. I spent a lot of time embroidering into my designs, having designs that were both heavily embroidered and some that showed selective bits of stitch.

I'm amazed at what I've been able to produce in the last 8 weeks and I hope that F.M.P has the same results. I've started researching for F.M.P so I'll keep you posted on my progress throughout the last project of my degree (eek scary..) I can't believe that three years of my degree are nearly over - I've learnt so much and had such a great time, so this next project has got to be great !

Prospectus and Roll Up

So I was just walking around college, on my way to the printer and I spotted a big roll up, advertsing our course and as I got a bit closer I noticed, theres only a big picture of one of my pieces of work from first year on it ! I then opened the new prospectus and found it in there too ! Amazing ...



My imagery in the CCAD prospectus (top right)

CCAD prospectus

Roll up with my imagery on it  top right) ! 

Laser Cutting

Today we had a workshop on Laser Cutting .... Wow how cool is it ?!! Watched it in motion and it's so cool ! Making me think of all the things I can do with it within my project... Can't Wait to try it out !

Laser Cut Dollar Bill by Scott Campbell

Here's an example of how fine and beautiful laser cutting can be ! This one's been done by tatooist Scott Campbell, some of his work was seen on the Channel Four tv programme, Four Rooms.

Inspiration for 'Industrial Flora'

Image sourced from Dazed and Confused

Image sourced from Dazed and Confused

Image sourced from Dazed and Confused

Image sourced from Dazed and Confused

Image sourced from Dazed and Confused

Uni Update... I've been sponsored !!

So since my last blog update - quite a bit has happened, my bay at uni is up and full of inspirational images, ready to inspire me for my minor project named 'Industrial Flora' . My theme is based upon fusing two unlikely elements together, fusing industrial imagery such as pylons and steel work with soft, natural floral imagery. I'm well on the way with development now and can't wait to start experimenting with embroidery on top of some digital print designs, i'll post some pictures once i'm away with it !

And the other big news.... I've been sponsored ! The first week at back at uni, I received a letter from Madeira Threads saying that they were willing to sponsor me for my final year. How great is that ! I can't wait to start shopping and gathering some threads from them for my major project. 

Check out their website they do some gorgeous things http://www.madeira.co.uk/

So Lately ...... Summer Project

Since my last post, I've been collecting images, objects and photos for my summer project, which is all linked to my minor project when I go back to uni in a few weeks time. I've decided again to do something that I wouldn't generally pick, because after the success of my last project, it seems that it's more challenging to pick something soo different and put my own twist on it ! So yep you guessed it I'm braving a bit more colour again ! I usually stick to quite earth ground tones, but after the last projects success, I'm going to brave even more statement colours! I've completed the initial mood boards, market research and colour inspiration boards and am going to post some sneaky previews of my drawings ! Hope you like ...

Colour Inspiration Board - Images taken from a variety of sources
(As you can see bold, bold, BOLD colours)

Tools and Tricks for drawing

I'll try and keep you updated of the next steps in the process, can't wait to start getting some designs done, have some great ideas for this project !!!

Individual Options ... Done and Dusted

Yesterday was the last hand in of second year... eek ! It really sunk in yesterday that I've only got one year left of my degree, how scary ! But I got everything finished and handed in yesterday and I've been so pleased with the outcomes of my final dress designs, I ended up going in a really different direction and embellished with very chunky, heavy metal beads and washers, check out some of the pictures below !

Rock N Rose



Logo sourced from http://www.rocknrose.co.uk/

So over the summer I'm going to do a two week work placement with Rock N Rose, a vintage jewellery and headwear company , I can't wait it seems such a lovely little company, check out their website  http://www.rocknrose.co.uk/ they sell some gorgeous pieces of jewellery, seen on celebs such as Pixie Lott and Fearne Cotton and in magazines like Vogue and Cosmopolitan !

Image sourced from http://www.rocknrose.co.uk/

Embellishment!

I'm at the stage of embellishing my finals and these are a few things I've gathered but am still on the search for the right embellishments. I've gone for quite earth ground colours and am searching for a bead/sequin/embellishment - that a gorgeous teally/duck egg blue colour to make the rest of the embellishments come alive! I'll know it when i see it. This is so different to anything I've done before embroidery/embellishment wise and I'm enjoying every minute!

Individual Options Update

So I'm at the development/final design stage of Individual options and it's all starting to come together now ! I've just had my designs digitally printed and am ready to start embellishing, there's only two weeks left until hand in and I'm gonna work non stop to make my final designs look gorgeous!!



Organised Chaos that is my bay !

Digital Print - fresh of the printer!

Up close

Tie Dye Textures

John Goot Fall 2009

These two images are gorgeous ! It really fits in with the textured, tonal trend I'm going for, the trend also calls for patchwork layering and I think some of my drawings would work really well in this style, it would be lovely to use my drawings at the development stages, combine all my imagery to make a patchwork style design and then alter the tones and colour balances in Photoshop to create an overall aesthetically pleasing fabric design....

Tie Dye Design taken from chaosmag.blogspot.com

Draw, Draw, Draw

So it's the Easter Holidays and that means, two weeks off woop, well kind of, I'd say it's a working holiday, 2 weeks to get a good body of drawing done as these six week projects don't half fly by ! So I've been working all week on my drawing sheets and my theme is all about textured effects, such as burnt out and bleached approaches - trying to create 'textural interest' has been the aim of the game all week ! So as the week has gone I've experimented with tie dye and have actually really enjoyed it, some of the dispersed areas of dye and bleach is something so random it couldn't have been created in the same haphazard way using paint.

 So these are a few pictures of my drawing sheets so far, I'm really pleased I've chosen this theme, as it's so different and I've really enjoyed experimenting with texture and using the computer as a primary drawing tool, by manipulating some pictures of rock and landscapes associated with the theme.

Julian Louie and Aldo Shoes



Imaged sourced from http://www.aldoshoes.com/us/pages/storeSection/julianlouieUS

 How perfect are these shoes - they fall right into the Moroccan theme I'm going for with my new project, the patterns on them are so antique but modern at the same time, I love them ! This collaboration between Julian Louie and Aldo is one i want to see happening all the time !

"Earthy Nonchalance"

So after handing the gift project in last week, this week is the start of a new project, called Individual Options - which basically means you can do what you like :) Pick a trend or make up your own and it means you can choose any area to do your project on, be it interiors, fashion or gift.

So I've gone for something which isn't something I'd normally go for as, I fall into the vintage trap quite often, it's just naturally something I'm drawn to, but this time I've gone for a very warm toned trend called 'Earthy Nonchalance' - it's full of sand washed stone and I've decided to take it down the Moroccan route. I love the warm, rich tones of Morocco and it's something I'm really excited to dive into ! So I've chosen the trend from the View2 trend journal and it's a fashion trend, after the gift project I can't wait to use embroidery again as I love it !

Image sourced from kissthegroom.com

Image sourced from inspirebohemia.com

Gift Work selected for PrintSource, New York

So the four boards chosen to go to Printsource from the gift project are these pictured below:

Two of the boards are taken from the Brogue Collection, one from the Tie Collection and one from the Man About Town Collection. Fingers crossed they do well at PrintSource.

So this week.....

So this week all of my gift project was handed in and Hallmark came to speak to us about our work and picked people to do a 2 week work placement with them, and I have to say I was very very nervous ! But everything went great and the two girls from Hallmark were lovely and very positive. The people who they chose had done some amazing work and really deserved it :) So as my work wasn't picked by Hallmark it gets to go to the Big Apple woop, haha so work that wasn't chosen was then allowed to be selected for Print Source in New York and I'm so pleased I've got four gift design boards going and I'm over the moon.



Images above sourced from the Printsource Website (http://www.printsourcenewyork.com)


If you have a spare minute, you need to check the print source website out - http://www.printsourcenewyork.com oh also have a look at their blog it's full of gorgeousness !!!!

Final Collections for Gift

So I've just finished all my final collections for the gift module, which were a labour or love for sure !! It's taken me a good while to get into the gift project but ive really enjoyed these past few weeks experimenting with multi directional repeats and designings cards and gift wraps. I can't post any pictures because it's all top secret so when I can I'll get them on here but for now it's a secret :)But hallmark are coming in on Monday and fingers crossed they like my work :)

Home Again ...

So it's been a week now since I got back from Paris and I had an a-m-azing time ! What a place, it's so beautiful and there's so much to see, I had a great time, ready and inspired to jump into the gift project feet first !

What's around the corner.... Paris of course!

So our uni trip to Paris is literally days away , eek i can't wait there's so much I plan to see I hope we get to see it all ! So I've found out 3 of my 4 dress designs and all of the 4 pieces i submitted from first year are going to indigo and I'm over the moon !!! It's so great that they're actually going i can't believe it all the hard work and stitching into the night paid off ! So seven pieces are going to the capital of fashion in not even a weeks time ! Just what i wanted to here :)

Surface Design for Gift

So we've just been given our brief for Surface Design for Gift which is a linked project with Hallmark, obviously the trends are all top secret so I can't let you know any of the details but once the project is over, all will become clear :) It's really exciting and i can't wait to get stuck into it !

If you want to check out all of the loveliness that Hallmark create check out their website www.hallmark.co.uk

Design Event

So at uni this week it's been the 'Design Event', which meant artists and designers would come and do workshops and lectures about their profession in art and design. so i signed up to go to a Sarah Morpeth workshop on Wednesday and it was brilliant. If you get chance you need to check out her work http://www.sarahmorpeth.com/ , her work is none other than beautiful, she works with paper and textiles and uses book forms to express a story or a characters story and pushes the boundaries of a definitive link between story and form. How beautiful is her work above !

I learnt so much on Wednesday, how to make different pop up mechanisms, different fold out books and how to bind books together, it was so nice having a relaxing day playing with paper and creating some beautiful things, without being in a project scenario. Another thing i attended was an Adobe Illustrator workshop which was also so helpful, all the little tips and tricks I've picked up this week will definitely be useful for the next project which is Surface Design for Gift which is a linked project with Hallmark.

So here's a photo of some of the things we made on Wednesday at the Sarah Morpeth workshop...

Long time no see....

So it's been a while since I've blogged properly as I've been up to my ears in embroidery and you'll be glad to hear it's all finished and handed in and what a relief! I love embroidery and i'm so pleased with this project, i've handed in four garment shapes connected to my current project with the combined themes 'Bewitched' and 'Copy Nature' and I've also handed in four pieces of embroidery from my first year projects so fingers crossed some of it gets picked !!! How great would that be ...

So here's a picture of what my work looks like on the corridor outside of our studio, each of us gets a space which our work goes up onto once we've finished a project. I'm so proud of this project and have found a better way of working in terms of drawing, by drawing on individual pages and styling them together at the end. So on here includes a collection of drawing sheets, design development, mood-board, market research board for embroidery and fashion and a visual research board.