A much needed update

My my it's been quite a long time since my last update!

Since I finished uni I've been busy developing some of my work for my degree show, which is at London College of Communication from 29th June - 5th July, more details here

I've also been creating lots of new items for my Etsy shop iheartrosie, and working on my portfolio, website, and personal branding!

I just thought I'd do a quick round up of my finals for my degree, before sharing exciting new things!

First up - final books for the 'aesthetics of industry' project - patterns, colour, photography and maps

 My favourite project of the year was working on the YCN Package the perfect M&S picnic brief
(for more photos of my fabrics for this project, read here)

Below: Fabrics in product range pattern, food and drink packaging and summer playing cards

Just quickly projects I have covered previously - Vanessa Golborn School of Dance rebrand

And the dissolving umbrella project

 Now I'm off to collect together images for next blog posts! Coming soon - my new Etsy items post, my personal branding and new website, development of YCN project items for my degree show and a small freelance project I've been working on. Come back soon :)

Estella's Wall

Today I made a star for Estella's Wall, a project to help raise awareness of Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) You can read more about the project by ceramic artist Lisa Stevens on the blog here.

The brief specified that 'Stars should be between 5cm and 15cm across and suitable to be displayed on a wall. Obviously stars will need to be child friendly, both visually and as I am hoping to create a piece than can act as sensory stimulation for the children at the hospice, the pieces will also need to be safe for small fingers...non toxic, no sharp edges, beads and buttons securely sewn or glued.'

I decided to make a fabric star in pale blue polka dot fabric, very child friendly and similar to the hearts (and stars at Christmas time) sold in my Etsy shop.

The simple string means it can easily be hung on a wall, however if they decide they want to attach it by other means it can be removed easily without damaging the star. 

I can't wait to see all the other stars as they are made and the wall when it comes together!

A second project is finished!

Finished off a second of my 4 projects yesterday, the VG Dance rebrand, you can check out the whole project here

Here are a couple of images of some of the final outcomes: new uniform, 4 poster designs, 4 leaflet designs & new website mockup

Really pleased with how the project has turned out, think the new logo is more up to date and the new designs better show the energy and passion of the school and its students

Mint obsession

I have a mint obsession and it's really starting to show!

I bought some mint jeans at the weekend and I cannot wait to wear them! Here is an image of a similar pair (don't worry this isn't me!)

Mint seems to be everywhere this season and there are some lovely mint colour palettes doing the rounds on Pinterest..

Today I have been working on an abstract repeat pattern created with shapes and colours found within imagery of 'industry in New York City' and found this also becoming mint based! So here is a little sneak peek of the work in progress project..

More coming soon!

One finished project down, 3 and a report to go..

This morning I finished off one of my projects for the final hand in of my degree in 18 days (I just scared myself realising it's only 18 days away.. no idea how I'm going to get everything else finished!!)

So I thought I would quickly share a few images from the project I have finished.

The brief was to 'make something and explain how it's made'

So I made an umbrella, that has sections that would dissolve if the umbrella was taken out in the rain, and turn from a full umbrella into a detailed parasol.

It was a fun project, I designed the motif on illustrator and then mocked up how the umbrella would look

Then I made a sample panel to see how it looked and test how the dissolvable fabric reacted when water was poured onto it

Here is the finished umbrella, 8 panels each with the same rain cloud motif. The dissolvable fabric (inside the cloud and rain drop shape) looks very similar to the panel fabric, but is slightly more opaque and catches the light beautifully.

I am pleased with how the umbrella came out, I like it too much to dissolve the actual umbrella!

Onto the other part of the project, the explanation of 'how the object is made'. I decided to change this slightly from the brief as how the umbrella was put together was not particularly interesting, but how the umbrella 'makes its change' is much more interesting. So I made a card that has a dissolving umbrella (also made from dissolvable fabric like the cutout shapes on the umbrella) and another little surprise, when dipped in water!

The umbrella made of fabric, dissolves and leaves a cutout umbrella shape, and coloured ink appears in the writing! How did I do this? I used the paper from the 'magic painting' books for kids, when you paint water onto the page and colours appear.. (if you've never used one of these, try it, it is so much fun!) The card explains that when water meets the umbrella, something dissolves and something fun and beautiful happens!

More updates coming soon!

My spoonflower fabric came!

Today is a very very exciting day! My spoonflower fabric I posted about last week arrived, and it is such an exciting experience to see your own design printed so professionally on fabric!

So here are a few photos, I chose colours which are very hard to photograph it seems!

Really happy with how it's come out! The colour, as expected, is slightly different to how it looked on screen and how I had imagined but it works well! The fabric is now available to purchase from my spoonflower shop here!

Update of the full project coming soon when I have made things with the fabric. Planning to make bunting, bags and possibly cushion covers too!