February..

Just completed the CAD project with Bruce..

I GOT A FIRST.

Super happy with that as i didnt think i would be able to get my brain around web-design etc. Flash i never want to see again though. im glad i now know how to do basic web design on dream weaver but if i ever have my own website i wont make my own as i dont think it looks professional. i will hire an actual computery person or do it on an online template as i think it looks much more professional. illustrator went alot better than i thought it would! i got to grips with it fairly quickly and realised that the basics i thought i knew were actually pretty much the base knowledge you need for doing most things on it. i am very pleased with my illustrator experiments, i think they worked really well and look quite finished.

I have also started the beginnings of my own brand identity.

This skull was my design that i put through the embroidery programme and then embroidered onto a jumper. I have made patterns for jumpers in sizes: small, medium and large. I originally made Josh one for Christmas and people showed a lot of interest so I have been developing my own brand identity and products. It's going pretty well, I just need to ensure I keep a balance between my own projects and college work. So far it hasnt been a problem but I need the fancy computer programmes at home!

I used illustrtaor to do flat drawings for the jumpers and also play around with colour and shading of a digital image of the jumper.

Nyah is wearing the small jumper in "oatmeal" here. AKA, beige. It needs washing or ironing to get rid of the line down the front but it fits well and is a comfortable garment. Designed for chill out!

January again.

Just arrived back in Leeds. Got iced/snowed in at Josh's house as he lives out in the sticks. The one and only time 4x4 drivers in Surrey have a purpose and they drive around looking super smug as if spending that much money on a car was worth it. Its worth it once every 20 years. Good one.

My "I WANT" list is growing. Again.

MAC. The funds are nearly gathered!
Nixon watch - GOT. (thanks for that for christmas Josh!)
Fancy pants camera. Possibley the fujifilm s1500.
New phone - GOT.
ipod - GOT.
A backpack of some variety.

Got some ideas for a photoshoot brewing.. unfortunately the time has come for Dom to do his dissertation. Looks like its time to work around someone else schedule or find another photographer.. dont really want to do that though as me and Dom work pretty well together. Need to find a model, strobe light and hire out some video cameras. I want tplay with cut pro some more.

Got a couple of commissions for T-shirts to design and make and have about 5 jumpers on order! yessss, some more dollar into the mac fund!

Kane wants a Tshirt so i need to get designing. Design beginnings are coming along slowly! Kane is in the band Waxhouse, so if they get publicity, so do i!

http://www.myspace.com/waxhouseband

January starts.

I cant believe its 2010.

Had the heaviest snowfall Ive ever seen, almost half a foot fell in one night! me and anna wandered all around Dorking and went sledging as noone else could get into town! the only cars we saw were 4x4's driven by very smug rich people.


Taught Josh to knit as he didnt have to go to work and he finally managed to dig his car out of the snow/ice. Missions.

Me and Aaron thought we would join in the festivities (albeit a bit late!) and decided to make gingerbread. Found a recipe online and made up some gingerbread men and random shapes.. always mroe fun to decorate when you decide to decorate them to look like your friends!

December at home!

HOME TIME.

The snow cancelled my train and then delayed everything else, and it took me 6 hours to get back to Surrey rather than just under 4. Not impressed.

The obsession rears its head once more. Unfortunately didnt get round to seeing paranormal activity when it was in the cinema, I guess Im gunna have to wait until its on DVD. My subscription to lovefilm will have to keep me entertained for now.

Showed Ed the jumper Id made Josh and the pants Id made for myself so it was photoshoot time again! He also wanted to make the most of the snow as hed been travelling when it snowed last year.

Photos: Ed Schofield.

Ez was pretty stoked on the pants! And they fit, thankgod!

My jumper is coming along, bit of a botch job as ive never made a jumper before but hopefully itll start to take shape a bit more soon! Modelled fabulously by Josh. ha.

Saw my friend Mel at the pub for Jo's birthday, I illustrated a short story that Jim wrote and it was published in the exeter student magazine that Mel edits. The magazine is well nice! Not made of cheap paper, its proper laminated card and looks very proffessional! A pretty old illustration from september or october. I like it, Jim was happy with it.. but I think I couldve done better. A problem I keep having at the moment.Have had some illustration commissions from my auntie Julie also, I need to get a move on with them but Ive done a couple of samples for her to have a look at:

December a bit closer.

Now that the deadline is over I can release my own creativity! Woop!

I need to make Geri's, Tory's, Josh's and my sisters christmas presents! Need to do christmas fairly cheaply this year so time for the embroidery machine I think..

Geri's christmas pants meant I needed to change the colours on the skull and make it more girly, the design below is the colour scheme i decided on, and the image below that is a scan of the frilly pants i made her..

She loved them!

The grey sweatshirt fabric is a jumper that I made for Josh. I copied the block for this one and then made a narrower one for me.. turns out his was huge so he stole mine! Still need to order some ribbing for the collar, cuff and waistband. I be-friended some first years whilst making these things and one called lucy asked me to make her a jumper.. looks like its time to get organised and start selling some! Need to sort out costing (perhaps ask Angie?) and then sort out the sizing of the jumper block! Need to draw up my own pattern and also draw out my own skull design otherwise ill get done for copyright!

This green quilted satin one is a make-up bag for Tory, katherine saw me making it and now wants one too! Fabulous :)

Below are the pants I made for my sister, the design is on the back and their blakc and frilly. Baically the same as Geri's but a different colour.

Rankin and Alex Box's styling, photoshopped images and fashion/portrait photography have been inspiring me recently and Im going to book the photography studio when I go back. I need to sort out some ideas to do and hopefully find a model other than myself to do stuff. I dont mind, and at least ive had enough practise to know vaguely what to do, but im getting bored of doing my own make-up. Katherine will hopefully help me out!

Decided to make my own christmas cards this year, didnt make that many as I dont tend to bother with them. Made them for my nan, my nan, Ollie, Jonn, Bobby and Vanessa and David this year. Was fun to do, I like cross stitch. It reminds me of being about 9! Made my sister a cross stitch in a frame for her wall, i took inspiration from a website Louie found and recommended to me!

http://www.subversivecrossstitch.com/

I need to look more at some of these designs (below) and sort out an idea for the River Island photoshoot, I didnt do the pathway A River Island competition as i had too much work to do and i thought it was boring but I think Im going to try and think of an idea for the pathway B competition. We have to alter the garment weve been given, then take a full length photo of the altered garment and styling, but it has to be on a white background. I would much rather do it in an environment as a white background is not very inspiring. We shall see if I can formulate an idea over the christmas holidays!

December a bit more.

Jewellery grade: 53%
Royally pissed off.

I realise I didnt put as much effort as normal into my jewellery work, but my tutor told me I was doing well and should carry on in the same direction. I did an alright amount of sketchbook work, not loads but i dont think i took the piss with it. My lowest mark from uni so far. Eurgh nevermind.


Laser cutter!!

Super successful briefing for the machine, Tricker gave me some already programmed designs so we spent about 2 hours playing with them and testing them out. I want to laser cut part of my final garment so then the fabric will be innovatively cut rather than the actual pattern pieces being innovatively cut. I need to work on my pattern cutting but right now its not a strength!

Tested the laser cutter on acrlyic and rip-stop nylon.

The design Tricker gave me (skull) works into the knitting/cross sticthing research ive done in the project so far, and I had already tried out the embroidery machine with a similar design. The embroidery machine is another machine ive been wanting to use for a long time but never got round to using. Programming in the design was simpler than id thought, and the laser cutter uses a very similar programme which made life a bit easier.

The skull underneath is the logo for http://www.candyskullrecords.com/ and I found it on google. I used it as the original design for the embroidery machine as it meant I didnt have to design one from scratch. Saved some time that I needed for designing and making my final garment.

Laser cut my final pattern pieces with a design taken from some architecture I looked at and some of my foundation work I found. My foundation work fully depressed me though, I did so much more and it looks like (although I probably didnt) I put alot more effort in.

I couldnt find anyone tall enough to model my final piece, so i had to attack some poor first year! They look a bit rubbish in the photo but would look better on a model the right size I think! I think there are clear links to the architecture and negative space exploration in my research but there is also a lot of research i couldve just wiped out. The laser cut skulls are the buttons on my zoot trousers and when I go back to college after Christmas I want to do a photoshoot using light to explore the intricate design in the fabric.

My feedback for the project was positive and the elements Gemma told me to improve on were:

-Storytelling/narrative, sort out reserach so it has a better flow to it. I knew this project had been a bit of a shambles to start with as my research took a while to sort itself out.

-Binding. Need to look at other ways of binding. I dont think ill use a sketchbook again, that was an error. It threw me off completely, I thought I wanted to work in a sketchbook again, but I found that I cant work in such a rigid way anymore. I need to have the option to change my work around.