Journal Day 153-The mugs and business cards are here!

Both the mugs and the business cards have arrived now- look at them!!

Can't wait to see the rest of it and see how it all turns out :)

Abiento x

Journal Day 152

Getting everything done on time for this project has been really quite stressful, as in order to have everything professionally manufactured a large amount of time is needed, which I haven't had! Designing and printing everything in 4 weeks is exceptionally tight, and the tea towels and tote bags I have ordered will be delivered just on time on the very day that our assessment starts! Eeshk! Anyway, I have been planning the final show, and how I think I would like it to look in some rough sketches.

Basically the idea is that each product will be displayed in a row, representing the very logical and organised method that has been the style of my project, and has been how my worksheets have been also. This will have a strong visual impact on the viewer, a hit of colour and information.

I will also be displaying some business cards to show the business concept side to my plans and the project, and will have some cupcakes with my designs on them for both the private view, opening day and closing day of the exhibition.

So far I'm really pleased with all of this and think it works well, but am just hoping for all the products to arrive on time and in good condition!

Abiento x

Journal Day 154- Looking Back

Today I started organising and creating the worksheets for the project. I had not put any of them together after the flamingo designs had been done, as I was on a tight deadline, and so have been printing out the designs and placing them onto worksheets. As well as doing that, I placed my original mood boards onto A1 worksheets to present them, and to make notes around them on what it was that I liked about them/was inspired by. I have had them stuck up in my workspace for the whole project so I can see them easily, and now thought they would need presenting a bit better. In doing these two tasks, I had a chance to look back at my original ideas for the project, and it has really shown me how much I strayed from that inspiration for my own designs. I really should have referred back to them more often to maintain my original ideas, but got too bogged down in the computer room. However it does now give me the opportunity to go back, for my own personal satisfaction, and re-design the bird designs with the original mood boards ideas in mind. This will give me such a different series I believe, and also having done this project, will give me the confidence to really push the designs further than I seem to have done in this project.

I do believe that given more time for this project, I could have had an evaluative period (which I had planned on) to re-asses the designs and then improve on them. It was the inclusion of two new bird designs that eliminated this plan from my project. I really wanted to spend more time exploring what it was that made a pattern work, and with an evaluative period I believe I would have seen new ways of changing and pushing my designs to create much stronger patterns. It was really only at the end of the project, when I was getting bored of the designs, that I started to do this.  I would love to spend some time re-doing this project in many ways- starting, essentially, back at the beginning with drawings. I would then re-create my designs with these new elements much more based on the mood boards I originally created using the ideas I had taken from the other artists work.

These ideas included much more rotation of the animals, and random over-laying and over lapping of them with some being opaque. I would have tried to include more hand drawn pattern, such as stripes or doodles into the designs and shapes, and then over-layed (or under-layed) with a silhouetted version of the shape. However most of the designs became very simple, with the silhouette shape as the main motif. I regret this hugely and would really love to have more time to spend on this series of designs.

I have no doubt that when I do have the time, that I will re-vist both the bird series and the pear series, and will dedicate quite some time and energy into re-creating these designs. As I have said in my catalogue, at least the designs created in this course have shown me what I need to be doing more of, and what I did wrong with these designs. They have shown me how I should be designing and working, and how I can work and design. They have given me confidence and a great foundation from which to work with so much of the work and learning already done. Combining this with the online surface pattern course (with Rachel Taylor) that I'm doing, is giving me so much more confidence and excitement over the potential of what I can do. I feel that so much is possible, I just need to do it!

Abiento x

Rachel Taylor- Doing What You Love

So, nearly two weeks ago I begun an online course focusing on Surface Pattern Design. It's run by Rachel Taylor and Beth Nicholls  (founder of Do What You Love) and teaches students, using Rachel Taylor's experience and knowledge, how to create patterns and then turn them into a profitable business. The first module focuses on the creative side of things, starting right at the basics, and progressing forward to the second and third modules which focus slightly more on the business elements.

So far we have just covered the basics, most of which i vaguely knew or understand, but they have know been reinforced, deepened or explained further for me which is great! There are new ways of thinking and drawing which I'm really enjoying and it's so great to not just be inspired to do things, but have actual ways in which to begin doing them. So often you are either given immensely detailed and complication directions to follow that are far beyond your expertise, or your inspired and given no more. I always feel one or the other. So having simples ideas to think about when it comes to drawing simplifies the technique for me and inspires me to actually start doing it. Combining that with this project on the foundation in which I started doing that myself I feel I know have a strong foundation for continuing with pattern design.

I can't wait to see what else the course brings and will no doubt be showing some of what I produce on here soon! :)

Abiento x

Journal Day 146- Final Selection

(Woop Woop!)

The following designs will be printed onto mugs :)

While these will be on tea-towels, 

And these will be on tote bags. 

All of them will then be on some gorgeous moo business cards, which I had similar printed before for my photography business and love to bits. I have also considered the idea of making some cupcakes with photo toppers of the designs, but am unsure of the logistics of this and did fiddle about with getting an iphone skin made but thought it would look a bit out of place!

So glad to have this all sent off and sorted and can't wait to see how they turn (especially as I had no samples made! eek!)

Abiento x

Journal Day 150

It's amazing how long it takes to get things done sometimes. On Monday I had everything prepped and ready to send of the manufacturers to get my products made, however I only managed to get the mugs done, and it wasn't until yesterday that everything else got sent off. Wowza. I'm learning that this stage is time consuming and then lengthy in terms of waiting for items to be made and delivered. I'm hoping for the mugs to arrive today, while the tea towels, bags and business cards I have ordered could be up to and possibly over 2 weeks! It's cutting it so unbelievably close that I am extremely glad to have a fast-tracking option for my catalogue printing. By this stage I feel less like I am constantly catching up!

Abiento x