Last Night.

So last night was pretty amazing. My brothers got a job down Manchester so he's moving up North today, as like a leaving do we went to a Blues Bar in town with all the friends and family. Live Music + Cocktails all night, can't really go wrong eh. The band playing were so good! I should probably try and remember their name lol.
The family bailed out at 12, and the rest of us decided to stay around for a bit. The bar closed at 1 so we decided to hop around and fine some more bars that were open. Thursday = Student Night, most of them had closed minus the clubs. After doing two laps of walking around town we settled for the nearest pub, and spent most of the night there.

Fully Recovered!

So after being stupidly ill I'm finally BETTER! I had the best day ever on Saturday despite being at work. We got to play Hide and Seek during staff training:D Seriously, could my job be any more cooler. Saturday night the whole family went down to Luton to visit my grandparents:) we spent the whole of Sunday eating away. My aunt from London came down, and our plan was to sneak out to the pub for a bit. It took us like 20minutes to find the nearest pub! seriously that's not right?
So going to the pub was probably a bad idea for someone who was recovering from being ill. Lesson learnt, I spent Sunday evening feeling really really not good... lol.
Monday Morning, wide awake! Time to blog up my plans for the week:D

Monday: REFUSING TO LEAVE THE HOUSE.lol Maybe clear my room up.
Tuesday: Full on Pampering session at the salon!
Wednesday: Catch up with some friends :) Sex and the City 2 perhaps?
Thursday: Catch up with some more friends :)
Thursday Evening: Hop around a few bars with live acoustic music.
Friday: Manchester Baby!
Saturday: Work!
Sunday: Off to Birmingham to see my darlin' and then hide myself in Harriets house:)

Leonard Cohen, Hallelujah Orginial :)

So... I went to a Hair Show ?

Okay, I knew all about Fashion shows and Beauty shows. But I never knew that there were actual Hair Shows. My mum randomly bought tickets and was like lets go! The show showcased all the students work down a runway, It was a little cheesy, lol but good fun. Like a good Fashion Student my camera seems to always be on me, so I started taking snaps and vids! :D I won't upload them all because there are way too many! But here are some of them...

Johnny Cash!

So I started reading a book...
'CASH' Johnny Cash's Biography...


















I've never really been into reading, but biographies are something I've always been fascinated with. Cash writes as if he's writing a story, there's so much simplicity in the way he talks. He seeks out the good in almost everything and everyone. It's one of those books that are impossible to put down! The way he talks makes so much sense, you can see the good in him...The amount of respect he has for his music, money has never got the better of him, he talks about how he doesn't understand the reasoning behind buying the latest cars. He had the money yes, but yet lives a simple life. I'm still in the process of reading it... but I'm half way there!

An Interesting Wednesday...

So I didn't get as much planned as I'd hoped today, but I managed to have a really good day! lol. My aim was to complete one part of my garment in Textiles but because some of the uniforms needed sorting out from the live project I spent the whole day in FEED. We added a range of colours to the uniform to show experimentation (although we still prefer the purple!) and completed all of the flats.

Towards the afternoon Mukesh joined us to see how we were getting on. He taught us about the use of colour with oil pastels and water! Throughout most of the afternoon me and Bhapinder spent mixing colours to create what is called 'Chromatic Greys' Something I'd never actually known of before, but had so much fun doing! Experimenting with colour hands on rather then on a MAC is so much more fun! Fascinating to learn - My hands were covered in colour by the end of it.















My day ended on a good note too... with cookie dough at pizza hut :D

Just simply love it!

Cheesyyyy I know.

So this is how it goes, have a bad day... adopt an owl from the teddy bear factory with the boyfriend Lol. Cheesy I know, but it's cute. I felt a little bad for choosing one of the most expensive ones in there... :/

Monday 10th May!

So my Monday morning started of all wrong. My bag broke in the morning! my train got cancelled, and I was walking around like a retarded penguin carrying 4 bags filled with sketchbooks, fabrics, etc. So my mood was slightly off from the start, I don't feel as if I got much done today... which isn't that good. But no point in stressing, because I know for a fact if I start nothings gonna get done! Everythings cut out now, so it's just all ready to get sewn up! I'm on a mission to complete all of my sewing, my A3 design sheet, a crit up on the blog...and finish of the last touches in my sketcbhook!
Gonna be one hectic week, but my main motivation is thinking of how good it's gonna feel when it's DONE!

1 week!

With only a week to go before out crit, the sketchbooks are out again for some final finishing touches! Someone tidy my room... please? ?

A bit of photography!

Christmas Eve.. and I was doing Photography homework! lol. I know it was a while ago but I thought I'd upload them. Yes. these shots were taken around my 'ghetto' ends in Nottingham. Lmao.

Templates.

Okay, our mission in graphics was to create templates!! So I started researching into different templates. Here are a few that i liked :) The following images are taken from www.indesignrecruitment.com



Helen Reynolds - Nottingham Knitwear
No. I did not choose this template because the designer studied in Nottingham lol. I love the watered down colour effect of these illustrations. The play on tone and shade really brings the templates out. It makes them more real. This template technique seems to be made up through watercolours, it has that washed out effect about it. I think it's useful for me to experiment with this technique to see if I can create some depth in my own template.



Judy Zhang - Birmingham BA
This template stood out to me because of how abstract it is. I love that! It's filled with shapes, and colour! There is no actual face, or even a face drawn out, but yet you can understand the shape of it. It's interesting how she's just used triangles to illustrate her garment, it might be interesting for me to try out and see if could work with different shapes other then just triangles.



Kate Hamilton - Kingston BA
It's so dramatic, it makes it beautiful to look at! I love the deepness of the colour, it looks as if it's bleeding down. Genius! It looks as though it's been created through paint, the way the colour drips down.









Sian Lendrum - Ravensbourne BA
It's just so interesting to look at! The unusuality of it makes it fascinating to look at. Loves! It has a collaged effect about it, the layers have been built up.





Beatrice Newman - De Montfort Body Contour
I love the way the eyes ar blacked out, it stands out from the negative lighting. The way the body has been lightened makes the garment stand out that much more. The focus of this template is purely on what's on it (the garment) It might be quite an interesting technique to try out, lightening the template itself to create heavy focus on the garment

Live Project Calling!

Okay so the positives of being a geek. Get all your work done - get asked to do a live project.
So yesterday in tutorials me and Bhapinder were asked if we wanted to take part in re-designing the school uniform at Harborne Hill. Of course we were going to say yes! We found out we'd be working with Natalie and Demi from fashion group A, and also 3 boys from graphics (Chris, Safwaan and Ben). The brief was open and as soon as we walked into feed all this information kept getting thrown at us. Well exciting!
Our role was to get as much research as possible, So all of us decided to brainstorm! It makes life SO much easier.

(I will upload the brainstorm.. eventually)

We began to think about our uniforms, the good and the bad. Basic conclusion of how we used to personalise them.
Shirts: Untucked. Top button-less
Skirts: Rolled up
Blazers: Spent more time at home then actually with us
Ties: Either too long, or too short!

As a group we discussed colours and how the uniform should look. We loved the idea of having a cardigan over a polo shirt. It's a lot more comfortable then having to deal with shirts and blazers. Me and Natalie drew out design ideas for the boys and the girls, our colour palette consisted of a deep rich purple, greys,and a stripe of yellow.
The Boys illustrations were done by *Natalie Sexton* and I did the girls!




















So today, we had 3 pupils from the school actually come in with their teacher to discuss what they want from their uniform, and to look at the ideas we've come up with. The discussion itself went really well, and we got more of an understanding about what they wanted. They loved the colours (although the colour red was mentioned) and they'd prefer the black rather then grey. We talked what they're thoughts were on having a tie, and they were really keen on keeping it.

After talking through with them, we went on further to develop our ideas even more. We added a tie onto our design, it just felt right. We still want the students to know they're in education. And a tie with a cardigan looks slick! The deep purple colour with a white shirt goes so beautifully together.

Here are some of the final illustrations. The boys were done by *Natalie Sexton* and I did the girls.

















We spent the rest of the afternoon putting together a digital storyboard of our development. Including inspirations, research, brainstorms, design ideas, final designs and flats. It's been a long day! But definatley worth it!
:)

Templates + Designs

So from today we have 21 days until our final crit! I can't believe how fast our final project of the year has gone! I thought I would start uploading some of my designs and final designs scanned in from my sketchbook. I'll blog through my development and talk about what was going on in this so called creative mind of mine!

So before i start scanning and getting all excited, I should probably explain my CATASTROPHE. So a Tsunami has taken place, it's literally wiped out everything - all the sin in the world. One survivor is left. Her main focus is purely on survival. Total destruction and devastation surrounds her, the smell of death lurks. My survivor needs a garment that will protect her. Protect her from diseases, from inhaling any bad smells, keep her safe and give her the dignity she needs to grieve. It has to keep her warm when it's cold, and cool when it's warm.















So this was one of my first designs I came up with. I actually really liked the whole concept of this design but then realised it needs to be developed more. I focused a lot on the top half, but completley brushed aside the bottom half. I like the idea of the face being covered, and how the zips can change the garment from making it provide warmth to cooling her down.
















So this was a development from my first design, I created the whole outfit into a jumpsuit. Inspired by Aitor Throup I went on to add zips along the sides of the trousers and the arms. This gives my survivor the option of opening them to cool her down, or keeping them fastened up to keep her warm. The whole outfit zips up right to the top, covering the face and the head. I wanted to use some form of netted material around the two halfs of the face, so my survior can see - and breathe. But yet still feel protected. I stuck masking tape all over the top of my design and then experimented in using watercolours to make the illustration come more to life.
















This jumpsuit idea is sticking! I tried exploring different shapes, and ways in which the zips could curve. I'm still keen on playing with the idea of the whole head being covered with a type of mesh material allowing my survior to see and breathe! For this design I layered up fabric swatches all over it to spark more of a visual in your minds as to what this garment would acually look like with the materials I intend on using.















Very similar to all of my other designs I have the Aitor Throup inspired zips!! I liked the ideas of having a high neck, a stiff piece of material that would cover past the nose, leaving the eyes for vision. I used tinfoil and watercolours over the top of this design to make the design more out there.















So thinking along the lines of waterproof! I was looking into doing some sort of cape with a hood made from heavy duty bin liners. This would be really structured and stiff, and act as a big protective hood. I wanted this to go with whichever garment I choose as a final, It would go over it. I collaged my design by layering up black bin bags, and added samples of what the buttons I'd use would look like. I love this collaging effect I think it's much more interesting then just having a flat drawing.

















Inspired by the Trench! and watercolours and masking tape! Just for fun :)

Hair Inspired Garment..