The Queens of the screen

 I can see this becoming a regular feature. 'The Queens of the screens', all those femmes out there who are truly, existentially (if thats the right word) beyond belief are amazing with a screen, but for me at the minute my award goes to Joy Herman, Ingrid Hudson and  Phillippa Copping but check out  Jennifer, Helen and Carley their work is amazing. I have to go now and since I dont know how to set my blogs for later days or times I will show you their work  possibly tomorrow. 

Joy Herman. Just look at the clean clarity of those lines . cxheck her out on



joyherman.blogspot.co.uk/

 



I watchd Joy in the print room a few years ago ans was amazed by her planning and preparation that went into printing 

Ingrid 
check her out on ingprinting.blogspot.co.uk
I love how she achieves layers of colour .


Phillippas koda trace
I'm just waiting for her to put images of her coloured print onto her blog. Check her out at seeing is believing.

 phillippalovesdesign.blogspot.co.uk/





Could I take the easy option?

Lying in bed on Thursday night, way past midnight when I should be fast asleep (a) I need to  sleep because I have not got to bed before 1.30 - 2pm for every night for the past three weeks and Im up at 7.45am to take Ella to school and (b) when I am in bed all I think about is designing, development, dyeing fabric, embroidery stitches I could apply, changing my whole idea for a design, etc etc, Basically my mind does not stop
but I know I am not alone. After speaking to Jen and Wy Ting I felt reasssured I wasnt going mad, just under pressure. If I didnt put as much effort and thought into my work I could make things a lot easier for myself , but as I always like to put the best of my ability into everything I guess I will never take the easy route. So the answer is obviously no!

Here's the after photos

I think I have managed to keep the original design aswell as letting the needle go its own way.



on the screen before I removed it




Up close but badly photographed. Perhaps my next degree will be photography?



what am I up against?

Went to college today feeling organised, efficient and on top of things but came home feeling lost amongst a whirlwind of talent. Not sure where I fit in to it all but all I can say is CCAD surely has some great textiles designers in the making. With being part time I have only been in groups of five at the most and that was for only two years, this year I am with thirty students with a high percentage of those being exceptional. Dont want to mention any names but Phillipa, Abbie, Helen, Jennifer, Ambreen, Emma S, Sarah and Holly what am I up against? I should just walk away now but you know me I will use downer and turn it into a positive, pushing me forward. Everyone needs a bit of competition if only to keep the mind working. Wish me luck.

Before pictures, reflection and confidence

Check me out I said the next area I needed to focus on was getting before and after photos so I could show you and myself how my work developed. These following images were taken from believe it or not, my  reflection book, where I have kept a truthful account of my thoughts and feelings throughout  this project.  I knew where they were:  under my desk at college or thrown into a bag, but as a result of cleaning out  my bay at college, in preparation for photos of our work,  I decided to go through them. I am so glad I did!  it made me realise how much I have developed and grown in confidence. It is so easy to beat ourselves up that we often forget where we came from and how much we have grown. So Today I going to say out loud I am very proud of myself.

This is the original drawwing or mark making. I sketched  a section from a piece of jewellery without looking at the paper I was drawing onto. I have used this approach a number of times and find it works pretty well for converting into embroidery.  I would rather allow my ideas to develop organically with media even a needle, rather than creating  a beautiful drawing and converting it into stitch. Although this has its place at the moment this is where my designs have gone.



This particular sketch was of a corset that I had taken a photo of at Bowes museum. Once agian I sketched the image by looking at the photo rather than the paper. I liked the image first time around but looking at it quite a few months after I like it more. The various thickness of lines is almost a design initself.
Im sure I will come back to this. In fact I have a whole body of work I can use after I leave college. 



Its amzing what you can achieve when you ask for help

This is my latest embroidered design. The shoulder pieces were originally just going to be shoulder pieces but after pinning them  to the mannequin I think I should develop them into a collar  piece. Perhaps



The title for this post  refers (if you haven't noticed already) to more more professional looking blog
as well as my images being the right way up. I have so many people to thank for this, Ingrid, Phillippa and Abbie ,
Julie, Robyn and Jess for helping me with photoshop. Im finally getting more confident, which I think shows as I have even found out all by myself that I can add a caption under an image rather than typing sentences, and finding them becoming one letter per line around an image once I publish the post. Secondaly I have also  realised  I can preview posts before I publish them. If this is what I am achieving in the last week I wonder what I will learn next week.

The essence of Dorothy

I know this is a professional blog buy I am rather pleased with the outcome of the Dorothy costume, however I must confirm in terms of professional standards the seams are not finished off or even overlocked, some  threads still need cutting and it really needs a good iron, but considering Dorothy has been to the land of Oz and back I think its held together pretty well.
So any one out there who is a bit creative, likes the concept  of 'make do and mend', recycling etc etc I hope I have inspired you.



I think Ella makes a superb Dorothy.




Needed to show the shoes once again.  I'm still shocked they turned out the way they did.
Red acrylic paint and glitter !!!! Come on girls next time you need a new pair of shoes head to the
works,  buy a tube of acrylic paint and a couple of tubes of glitter. and you will rock the dance floor.





Thought I should add the remains of the two dresses that I cut up to make one.
And no I wont be throwing this lot out, I'm sure I will use the collars, the skirt part
 the buttons and sleeves in some other project or costume.