How's this for inspirational



As it's World Book Day tomorrow, my daughter informed me she was finally going to dress up as a character, Dorothy from the wizard of Oz. I love making costumes up from nothing and as I am a hoarder I knew I would be able to rustle something up. Two old school dresses made into one, my newish white shirt and wait for it an old pair of black shoes. But didnt Dotothy have red sparkly, glittery shoes I hear you cry, look no further than these babies. 





I'm a bit gutted I didnt take a before picture .

These are the straps, buckles and toe strap just to show you want they were like in their previous life.



my last blog for the day, Merci!

Here are a few of my photos of the concept shop 'Merci' in Paris. Once again something you need to see first hand, The displays are just incredible.

filtering my photos for inspiration

there is something beautiful about these images. Technical very bad photos but for me the colour, texture, graphical

lines and design content is second to none.

Im staying true to my word




 



I spent Sunday sorting my Paris photos into albums, from which I rotated properly so I can now post my images onto my blog allowing you to view them without having to bend over horizontally. 



The colours of the Leger up close were amazing. My photo does not do it justice. It is imperative to visit museums especially if  an artist etc you admire, are inspired by etc is having an exhibition, books can never convey the true beauty of an artists work when you are stood in front of it.

I am so inspired by everything around me, I admit I do get quite obsessed about my environment especially when I visit new places.

But anyone who knows me will agree I get obsessed about anything.



The dome window at Galleries Lafayette . You have to go there to really really see the beauty.

 

love the colour






 



More inspirational Paris.



Can't believe I am actually writing another post in the same week, but this is my new goal!  keeping my blog updated. But enough talking heres some of my inspirational memories of Paris.
I cant remember the name of the shop but the olive green and gold were so beautiful I knew  I would use this either as a concept or a colour scheme in the future.



I love the winding streets of Europe. This street angle  will fit in perfectly for mjy next project I keep going on about. I particularly like the way the the streets seem to merge into one.




Boltanski's piles of clothes. Yes they could be just a pile of clothes found in junk shops, flea markets etc etc but each item holds a story, and as a collection of garments they hold a lifetime of stories. For me this is so inspirational, immediately evoking a plethora of questions, who do they belong to? where are the people now? did they grow out of them? did they have to leave them? are these clothes the result of a disapora? and that is just my first response, I havent even got onto the colours or styles yet. 





Paris in February

I love Paris !!!!!!
I love everything about it, well not the  dog dirt and litter, although the later does have many interesting things amongst as I found out, when I kept picking up rusty washers, paper french flags, springs and two Capital letter E's which are now placed nicely on my Daughter's book cupboards as they represent her first and surname.
 But what else do I love and get inspired by Paris?



First of all the modern art museum or in french Musee D'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris/ Arc.
The Raoul Duffy paintings were to die for, I was first introduced to Dufy as a young sixteen -seventeen year old, when I first began Art college in the middle1980s, and finally there I was standing in front of his work. I was pretty speechless. Good things do come to those who wait.

I apologise for this being upside down I still have not figured out how to turn the picture around.





The paintings were around an arch shaped room, from floor to ceiling,
Absolutely breathtaking.
I love this image on the right the patten behind the dripping painted words evokes a sense of political unease, a dual world where of rich and poor. I guess these are the aspects of life I find most interesting, that there are always two sides to everything. I guess that is why it is important for my work to have a concept that includes both historical and contemporary elements.



my inspirational finds of the week

When I first began this blog I mentioned I was easily inspired by anything. I love walking although I dont do it very often, but when I do whether here or in another country I seem to come across all sorts of things that other people dont notice, dont want or just dismiss as rubbish. But I seem to see the potential beauty in everything. For example walking into town befor I went on my Paris trip  I came across these.

 They may not look like anything special but the hat, which is a sequined beret style was just left amongst some leaves on the floor . The sequins will come in very, very useful. The nuts and washers are rusted so for me immediately tell a story, or enable me to conjure up a story.

The washers etc can easily be embroiderered onto fabric using a blanket stitch creating a raised eyelet effect.

I cant wait to start my new project! dont want to give too much away just yet, but the concept is excellent even if I say so myself. It combines two major events which could also be construed as one, therefore there will be alot of questioning, emphasis on thought and meaning and forcing people to look deeper into things rather than seeing things only on face value. However I must finish this project first I still have a lot to do and time is running out.

what has inspired me lately?



I found this in a shop in Hartlepool, 'Trash in the Attic'.

I just love it.

 As soon as I saw it I knew I had to get it.




Talk about inspiration for a new brief as well as being a great primary research for drawing. 





The style, colour and shape of the pram are inspiration but I find the torn fastenings, ripped hood, wheels and hub caps are in their own right a piece of art, they tell a story which for me is the most important aspect of inspiration.
The style, colour and shape of the pram are inspiration but I find the torn fastenings, ripped hood, wheels and hub caps are in their own right a piece of art, they tell a story which for me is the most important aspect of inspiration.



My photos dont give this hood and wheels the beauty they deserve.

After finding this amazing pieces of history I began imaging a young child running through a war torn Britain which had  not yet been fully rebuilt. Straight away mt mind began to fill with imagery and design ideas, a story on which to base my next project. To add to this further CCAD held a design event which I thought was amazing. One of the seminars I attended was the History wardrobe, which was thoroughly inspiring with a range of original clothing garments from 1940s-1990s. As one of the talkers walked up and down the aisle to show collections of clothes she was wearing I felt like I was participating in a haute coutre catwalk. But that is not all the clothes and information provided by History Wardrobe added further to my future project. Watch this space because I cant wait to start.



Im loving my embroideries

where have I been and what have I been doing?

well.... I have spent the last two days and nights trying to log into this blog so I could show you my latest embroiderers that have kept me busy for the last month. But unfortunately I could not log in, for some reason my password was not being accepted, so whatdid I do ? I tried to set up a new blog, even left messages and images of my work but couldnt locate the blog address when I searched for it through google. Anyone who knows me will also know I dont give up, I'm like a dog with a bone. And yes I continued trying to sort out his little but big problem but got nowhere. I finally decided I couldnt fix the problem and if anything  I was making things worse.

But how did I resolve it?

I spoke to the amzingly wonderful IT technicians at College, anyone who knows CCAD will agree with me we have the best staff in the world. What they dont know between them isnt worth knowing.
Anyway Russ managed to grab some understanding of my predicament and basically told me when I went on my blog my address was right in the corner of the screen, which is what I would be able to give out to people. And he was right it was.
I logged onto a screen, typed in embroidererspicnic, it loaded, I put in a couple of passwords until eventually I put my old one back in and HEY Im back on.
so enough of my waffle, now its time to look at my embroideries but I will put them as a new post.











more possible final ideas

This is only just the start, just wait until I add the beads and hand embroidery!

This is only just the start, just wait until I add the beads and hand embroidery!

Still have'nt learned how to turn image. Plan for next week.

I know this may also look like nothing at the minute, but  just wait until I apply my splendour.

.

The collar is all hand embroidery and beads. Im still in shock that I did this. Its amazing what you can achieve when you just let yourself go.

here's a close up . 30 hours worth of work.

This was a print I came up with last week. Im pretty proud of it since my screen printint is usually pretty messy. Finally my ideas are starting to come together

 My next piece of learning is to find out how to turn my images the right way.

Newcastle vintage fashion fair

Iwhat can I say apart from AMAZING. I know it may not be everyones cup of tea but I loved it. I've never been to a vintage fashion fair before, but will definitely be on the lookout for future events. For me, this was pure inspiration and indulgence in being able to buy items that otherwise I would have to search the net. I was able to source items I know I will use for my FMP as well as for future projects. The quality of the stalls and sellers had clearly been sourced for this specific event. Cant wait to see what the future holds on the vintage fair front.For more information on future events you should visit http://www.threadandthrift.blogspot.com/
  

possible final design?

I finally got around to getting a mannequin at college, whcih I immediately decorated withsome of my embroidered and print samples. I placed three different samples randomly around the neck and shoulder mainly to prevent them getting dirty or lost. However, after steping back from the mannequin I thought they looked pretty good as a whole piece, which was confirmed by another student who entered the room and saw my creation. Thanks Ingrid you made my day.

This was further confirmed by both my tutors Lianne and Claire who suggested keeping the samples on the mannequin but adding more to them, possibly with the intention of this becoming a long evening dress and a final design. Lets just say my head was full to its capacity of ideas.

I had always visioned a long evening dress  as part of my collection but thought the task too daugnting and since I'm not a  tailoress I thought this would be impossible. But as one who loves a challenge I am going to give it a go. My major task is  figuring out how I will continue to embroider the samples currently on the mannequin and how new samples will be applied and if I willl be able to continue to create an atmospheric mood in the final design.

Watch this space to see how this design develops or does'nt. If you have any comments I would love to hear them.   

break through dye week

If you have read my previous blog you will know I have sepnt the last few weeks trying to dye a variety of silk fabric black.  Unfortunately, all I seemed to get was a teal blue, which was beautiful and I think I will use but for now I really needed a black.
As you can see from my title, I had a breakthrough, finally I got a black, not from adding or omitting certain dyes but simply by dying my fabric in a warm dye bath rather than a cold one. Im pretty ashamed to admit to this naive flaw, but in order to help anyone out there who has/ does shy away from using warm dye baths, I whole heartedly recommend them for acid dyes. The colours are more vibrant and absorb the dye quicker than cold dye baths .  Let me know your experiences in the dye lab. 

excellent blog

I have just come across this blog, http://anothershadeofgrey.blogspot.com/ although I havent had time to fully research the contents I love it already. Its clean, sharp and very professional looking with lots of interesting visuals. Very inspiring.

development in the dye lab

Last  week I focussed on  adding a variety of silk fabrics to two dye baths: red and black. I had expected these samples to be the same tone since they were all silk, but  found they all had variations of tone and colour, with some fabrics picking up a deep red, or black whilst others took on a more pink or teal appearance.

Nonetheless the colours worked for me, suddenly midnight blue became more of a seductive mood and atmoshphere than that of a hard black.  

 This is a before and after sample. The top sample  was placed into a black dye bath, then hand printed using discharge paste before finally being placed into the red dye bath. I prefer the final sample myself, it has a historical feel almost vampirish. 

collar of letters

This is another one of my drawings with a needle and thread. The idea was based on  around Queen Elizabeth 1, from 'The Virgin Lover' by Phillipa Gregory. Words have been sewn onto pleated fabric to highlight restraint. The Virgin white of the silk represents innocence, from ewhich then emenated passionate blood red,  painful red into deathly black bad blood.  The words are my interpretation of the loss of inhibition QE1 had due to her being in love, which was then turned to bitterness, feeling betrayed and finally treason.  I was hoping to achieve a mood of pain but I would appreciate  what you think. Perhaps it does not evoke anything perhaps it comes across more like a pattern  than a drawing. Let me know your thoughts.

treacherous collar

This is another one of my original drawings, but as soon as I placed it on a mannequin it came alive. I began playing around with words, placing them side by side, mirror image, or upside down, developed further by the use of embroidery. The top embroidery was on organza which enabled me to pull threads through horizontally resulting in the writing becomming stretched, I then placed this between a channel of organza which I had randomly sliced allowing some of the lettering to be pulled out. I think this is my favourite drawing so far.