So my question to you is which of these designs are your favourites? If you could pick your top 3 that you would be happy to buy for your phone, iPad or Kindle case (and if you don't have any of these just your 3 favourite!).
Friday, 13 September 2013
Help me choose my top 5!
Ok readers I need your help in doing a little market research, my Kekacases are live on their website and they have done a fabulous job! They are now expanding to bring Kekacases to the UK via Amazon UK. I am to pick 5 designs out of the 10 I have available to be sold through Amazon. I know my favourites but I really wanted to ask the public and see what you all thought and which ones you prefer.
So my question to you is which of these designs are your favourites? If you could pick your top 3 that you would be happy to buy for your phone, iPad or Kindle case (and if you don't have any of these just your 3 favourite!).
So my question to you is which of these designs are your favourites? If you could pick your top 3 that you would be happy to buy for your phone, iPad or Kindle case (and if you don't have any of these just your 3 favourite!).
Designer Feature: Jane Farnham
This Friday I have some fantastic work from Jane Farnham, I absolutely love her work so am so pleased I can share her work and a little bit about her with you all!
Jane started by going to art college then went on to do a number of different jobs, including being a wedding dress maker, a visual merchandiser, an interior designer and a mock up artist (wow!). So she has a huge variety of skills and has always tried to find something creative in her work, which you can clearly see by all of her wonderfully creative jobs. In more recent years she has reassessed where she wants to be, she took The Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design Course and started to pursue what she really wanted to do. Jane started her business at the beginning of this year so it just getting going and getting her work out there for people to see. She describes it as being "A very new and exciting time with lots of great opportunities coming my way and I absolutely love it!". I know exactly how you feel, it is such an exciting industry to be in, waking up every morning and wondering if there will be a wonderful email in your Inbox that will change your life!
So Jane what is it that you love about patterns?
"I love patterns and colour and wherever I am I'm always looking for repeat in designs. I could be sitting in a restaurant with a friend and I'll be chatting and at the same time checking out the repeat in the wallpaper behind them or a cool colour combination, it's a compulsion!"
It most definitely is, and I'm not sure some people will get the addiction to pattern designing! How would you describe your style and tell us a little about your design process:
"I tend to use a mixture of line drawings and doodles along with computer illustration to create my work. I take a lot of my inspiration from nature, old chine and fabrics and am often looking around charity shops, antique markets or our local park, taking photographs of any and everything that interest me. I will then draw in pen and scan the drawing into my mac and play around with the shapes and colour palette. I end up creating a series of patterns that all sit together and hopefully work well in a variety of different combinations."
And what about the future?
"My ambition is to design a range of fabric bolts that could be used for quilting as this is another big love of mine, so fingers crossed!"
Well will definitely be keeping my eyes open for them, I love fabric!
You can find Jane on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram here.
Jane started by going to art college then went on to do a number of different jobs, including being a wedding dress maker, a visual merchandiser, an interior designer and a mock up artist (wow!). So she has a huge variety of skills and has always tried to find something creative in her work, which you can clearly see by all of her wonderfully creative jobs. In more recent years she has reassessed where she wants to be, she took The Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design Course and started to pursue what she really wanted to do. Jane started her business at the beginning of this year so it just getting going and getting her work out there for people to see. She describes it as being "A very new and exciting time with lots of great opportunities coming my way and I absolutely love it!". I know exactly how you feel, it is such an exciting industry to be in, waking up every morning and wondering if there will be a wonderful email in your Inbox that will change your life!
So Jane what is it that you love about patterns?
"I love patterns and colour and wherever I am I'm always looking for repeat in designs. I could be sitting in a restaurant with a friend and I'll be chatting and at the same time checking out the repeat in the wallpaper behind them or a cool colour combination, it's a compulsion!"
It most definitely is, and I'm not sure some people will get the addiction to pattern designing! How would you describe your style and tell us a little about your design process:
"I tend to use a mixture of line drawings and doodles along with computer illustration to create my work. I take a lot of my inspiration from nature, old chine and fabrics and am often looking around charity shops, antique markets or our local park, taking photographs of any and everything that interest me. I will then draw in pen and scan the drawing into my mac and play around with the shapes and colour palette. I end up creating a series of patterns that all sit together and hopefully work well in a variety of different combinations."
And what about the future?
"My ambition is to design a range of fabric bolts that could be used for quilting as this is another big love of mine, so fingers crossed!"
Well will definitely be keeping my eyes open for them, I love fabric!
You can find Jane on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram here.
Jane's also shared a snippet of her workspace for you, I spy Lilla Rogers book in her picture, which I happen to be getting for my birthday in just over a week, can't wait to read it!
Wednesday, 11 September 2013
Stitched postcard swap
Last year I took part in The Great Big Stitched Postcard Swap which is run by Beth Nichols of Do What You Love. The idea is to make a stitched postcard fitting the theme (last years was Discover), you can make it out of whatever you want, there isn't really a set brief. And wow there were some beautiful ones last year! Sadly I forgot to take a photograph of mine in all the excitement and only thought of this after I had posted the card....I won't forget this time!
Here are a selection of the ones that were sent last year, you can find many more at the Flickr page here and if you fancy making and sending one yourself and receiving one of these beautiful works of art yourself then get yourself signed up here! Make sure you register before the 25th of September! I'll be sure to share mine with you once I've made it (and before I've sent it!)
Here are a selection of the ones that were sent last year, you can find many more at the Flickr page here and if you fancy making and sending one yourself and receiving one of these beautiful works of art yourself then get yourself signed up here! Make sure you register before the 25th of September! I'll be sure to share mine with you once I've made it (and before I've sent it!)
Heather Williams
Kirsty Rankin
Monday, 9 September 2013
My Exlorations - Perfect for Inspiration
I mentioned two weeks ago that I have recently moved so I wanted to share some pictures of my exploring, we live on the outskirts of a little town and hidden behind our house is a beautiful walkway which follows an abandoned canal. This walkway leads to a stunning view of a nine arched viaduct. What a hidden gem! so we've been for a little wander around the area, we even had time to wander a little further and had a look around the town of Chester and the cathedral there as well as venturing to the Trafford Shopping Centre. I wasn't expecting it to be so grand but it was like stepping into another, more exotic, country!
First up the canal and viaduct, Sadly the canal had quite a few plastic bottles and cans thrown into it but if you look past that it could be a truly beautiful place.
I love how such a huge structure can look hidden and secret covered in Ivy and surrounded by trees.
Here are a couple of pictures from Chester, definitely some pattern inspiration in these!
And finally some pictures from the Trafford Centre, if you've never been I definitely recommend it, I've never seen anything like it! There was an unusual art exhibition on while we were there which I will show you in the near future =) Keep your eyes peeled
The 'food court' type area was designed as streets from all over the world, with an Italian style street and a Chinese quarter, the Pizza Hut was even in an Egyptian style tomb!
First up the canal and viaduct, Sadly the canal had quite a few plastic bottles and cans thrown into it but if you look past that it could be a truly beautiful place.
I love how such a huge structure can look hidden and secret covered in Ivy and surrounded by trees.
Here are a couple of pictures from Chester, definitely some pattern inspiration in these!
And finally some pictures from the Trafford Centre, if you've never been I definitely recommend it, I've never seen anything like it! There was an unusual art exhibition on while we were there which I will show you in the near future =) Keep your eyes peeled
The 'food court' type area was designed as streets from all over the world, with an Italian style street and a Chinese quarter, the Pizza Hut was even in an Egyptian style tomb!
Friday, 6 September 2013
Designer Feature: Jaquelina Freita
Almost the weekend and I have Jaquelina Freita this Friday,
Tell us a little about your background as a designer (education and work experience)
I completed a Textile Design for printing course that gave me the skills to create patterns, the knowledge of fabrics and printing process. After that I had an internship on a company of home textiles. I was part of the team that developed the Spring/Summer 2010 collection. After that went to the company where I'm still working. Started in the Design and Color Separation Department. Drawings’ preparing and setting-up for conventional and digital print. And now I'm in the digital Department. Coloring the designs precisely for each type of fabric.
You must have gained so many valuable skills through your internship and work! so why did you want to be a designer and what is it you like about patterns?
After I finished my Social Work degree, I felt that wasn't my path, never felt the wish to make it my life and my focus was always something related to arts, I could only see myself doing something creative. I had an opportunity to learn more about textiles and took that change in my live. Completed a Textile Design course and since then my life is growing alongside my creativity. I'm still far from where I wanna be, but I'm working to get there! I love patterns 'cause they are unique, they translate feelings and have the power to make something come to life.
We creatives are drawn to artistic jobs like gravity! I love your reason for loving patterns, they can definitely convey feelings. How would you describe your style and what is your favourite medium to work in?
My style is a combination of modern, contemporary and geometric motifs with a touch of fun and colorful feelings. Spite liking to draw and paint, when I'm working professionally I prefer the computer and programs like Illustrator and Photoshop!
And last but not least, what inspires you and where do you get your inspiration from?
Everything! From architecture, interior design, furniture, photography... anything beautiful enough to make me think of doing something with it.
Now for a little look at some of Jaquelina's work!
Wednesday, 4 September 2013
A bit of black and white - Tigerprint Competition
Time to share my Tigerprint black and white competition pieces after giving a little inspiration last week on the Black and White theme.
It's quite nice to have a restricted colour palette as you can focus more on the composition and don't have to worry about finding colours that fit together and don't clash! First of all I raked through all of my motifs that I haven't yet used to see if any caught my eye and sparked off some inspiration. I found some motifs from my university projects that I thought would look great in a scattered pattern. All of my designs are fairly simple with only one or two motifs repeated, but less is often more!
I love the Tigerprint competitions and now I have loads of time to design I will definitely be entering more often =)
It's quite nice to have a restricted colour palette as you can focus more on the composition and don't have to worry about finding colours that fit together and don't clash! First of all I raked through all of my motifs that I haven't yet used to see if any caught my eye and sparked off some inspiration. I found some motifs from my university projects that I thought would look great in a scattered pattern. All of my designs are fairly simple with only one or two motifs repeated, but less is often more!
I love the Tigerprint competitions and now I have loads of time to design I will definitely be entering more often =)
What do you think?
Monday, 2 September 2013
An envelope inside and envelope inside an envelope! What a surprise!
Look what arrived in the post a couple of week ago! Such a lovely surprise =) I've joined up with another lovely lady to send each other beautiful snail mail every now and then and this is what she sent me.
An envelope inside and envelope inside and envelope with a little surprise inside! and what a cute little surprise!
I'm well on my way with a patterned piece of mail in return which I'll share with you once I've posted it so as not to spoil the surprise for Fiona Murray. Everyone needs a pen friend, but this makes it even more exciting to receive something handmade with a lot of thought put into it!
An envelope inside and envelope inside and envelope with a little surprise inside! and what a cute little surprise!
A little watercolour of the London Eye! The best thing about this surprise is there was no name on it, so I had to guess who had sent it.
I'm well on my way with a patterned piece of mail in return which I'll share with you once I've posted it so as not to spoil the surprise for Fiona Murray. Everyone needs a pen friend, but this makes it even more exciting to receive something handmade with a lot of thought put into it!
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