STUDIO SPACE

A sneaky peak at my studio space, obviously lots of drawers full of drawings etc you can't see! I am lucky to share a space (next to my desk) with Sue Geldeard who has travelled this degree journey with me.

On Friday we went down to London for the New Designers Prepare day. It was a lot to take in but interesting none the less. However it did make us realise what little time we have left until we are exhibiting there between 1st-4th July.

This week has been strange - lots planned and never enough time. I do have a schedule of things to achieve etc but you can never account for the time it takes to print out acetates, developing new screens (and redoing them when for whatever reason they have not turned out!). On the good side I now have my new lovely linen fabrics (www.fabrix.org.uk) and once I get all my 5 repeat designs finalised on to screens I will be printing in lots of colourways.

Have spent quite a lot of time in the printmaking department with the help of Barry and Brian Hindmarch (Graphics tutor) typesetting - It is very relaxing and I could quite easily spent a lot of time in this department. I have managed to complete some dry point samples but still have a lot of work to achieve the results I require. Next week I need to schedule time to start my embroidery samples.

My Mantra - keep positive, stay calm (!) and take one week at a time - I LIVE IN HOPE.

Good Intentions!

What a week I have had! My repeat pattern was incorrect but I didn't really discover it until the second day as I was busily printing different colours testing my dyes. When I went to test the repeat design realised a mistake had been made. Thankfully help was at hand and Ian Gilmour (Print Room expert!) helped me solve the problem. I had made 2 mistakes on different screens. It is sometimes true that you become slightly blind to faults when you work on something for a long time and therefore you should take a break/step back and come back to it.

I also placed an acetate the wrong way round when exposing a screen and my 'words' came out in reverse - New Screen. I then dropped the screen after printing (because it is rather large) and ripped it - New Screen! In total I have had 7 screens instead of 3! Big thanks to Ian for his patience. You can't see the design very clearly but it represents the lines/story across the pages of a book. It is printed on cotton for sample purposes but the finished results will be on linen.

All in all it was a good idea to come into college during the break and I have had the time to solve all these problems so I can start a fresh next week.

You live and learn!

Grids, words and cotton reels

Have been up very early this morning and written down all the words spinning around in my head. Design development has been taken into two new printing screens this week. One from hand drawn grids - inspiration from the composition matrices (boxes of fonts!) and the other from lines of words. These will be for domestic interiors.

The other side of my collection is my textile art pieces and textile books. One small book will be wrapped around a cotton reel entitled The Embroiderer Meets the Press and you will have to wait and see once finished! There will also be another small linen book both encased in a box representing the "composition matrices".

We have a break for 2 weeks from college and my "to do" list is vast, but it is a good time to catch up with templates for embossing, research for files, fabrics and paper. Plus ............... to finish my dissertation to be handed in when we get back to college.

So it is busy but really exciting as well. Happy Easter.