What happened next

Have you been wondering what happened next? Well I had better tell you then, hadn't I!?

I haven’t updated for a while because we have been on holiday for just over 2 weeks; both my husband and I were exhausted and were extremely glad of the break. Sitting by a pool in the Florida sunshine was exactly what the doctor ordered. I can’t say that I’m glad to be home either – it’s so cold here!

The opening of the AD11 show went very well. The university had invited a special guest to open the show. The Special guest was Eric Leong who is the Malaysian Lawrence Llewellyn Bowen (although Eric likens his approach and attitude to Jamie Oliver). Eric gave us a Master class about the international language of design and suggested that we, the graduates, shouldn’t limit ourselves to working in the UK – there is a massive amount of design work in developing markets such as China and India.

After the Master class but before opening the show, Eric came around and looked at our work. This was an opportunity to get advice from a practising designer of celebrity status so we were all asked to give him an ‘elevator pitch’ about our work. Eric was continually being filmed, so we were too, this filming will be edited and shown on Malaysian television and uploaded onto YouTube! - there is nothing like a little extra pressure. In fact, Eric is a delightful gentleman; he is always friendly, polite and encouraging – and I had an advantage over everybody else because my work related most closely to Eric’s because he is an interior designer. Eric seemed to like my work, particularly my wallpapers and cushion covers; he spoke about them in a very positive manner and told me that they were already marketable :D

The day after the show opening I received a phone call asking if I would be willing to take part in a radio interview with Eric! Initially I panicked and said no – but after calming down a little bit I rethought and accepted this opportunity. The interview was on BBC Tees and my stomach was churning by the time we got there for the interview. Fortunately another student, Magdalena, and also Paul Denison, from the university, were there too, which made me feel a little better. Anyway, the interview went ok, everybody was really kind and it only lasted for 5 minutes, with Eric doing most of the talking. I didn’t sound totally stupid but I didn’t manage to communicate as well as I would have wished either – but it was my first time, next time will be so much better!

Another exciting opportunity has been offered to me by Norma Kyle, who wears several different career hats, but whilst wearing her ‘19 Marketing’ hat has offered me the chance to put my exhibition stock in an empty shop window in Darlington town centre – this will allow a whole different section of the community to look at my design work and will, hopefully, lead to further positive feedback. Norma wants my work in the window as quickly as possible (preferably this week!), but now I have to get hold of Michael, at uni, because the exhibition was taken down whilst I was away and I don’t know where everything is…

Oh - and more news... we got the results for our Masters whilst I was away on holiday. I was surprised and thrilled by getting a Master of Art with Distinction! How cool is that? My particular thanks go to Michael Hall and Mike McLean and my lovely husband Tim for their support, advice and encouragement throughout.

In the meantime I am working on my Christmas card designs, I really need to get a move on because at this rate it will be January and too late!

Will update again soon, but must be getting on (and making contact with Michael) in the meantime.

Submission and beyond...

Hello, have you been wondering how I am getting on? I’m really sorry that I didn’t manage to give you an update before submission, but at least everything has been submitted now, so I finally have time to give you an update…

It was my birthday on 11^th September, but I spent the day working on finishing touches. Although we did pop into town for some more fabric paint (3-d cushion cover) and whilst we were there we bought a cake from M&S – it was a yummy lemon cake, I’m not keen on chocolate cake.

We were given a timetable for presentations and mine was due to take place at 3pm on Tuesday 13^th September, and I couldn’t help but feel that it would be better to submit at the same time rather than making two trips into Middlesbrough so – that is exactly what I did. It was such a relief to submit a day early! The presentations were given individually with just the two tutors present, which is always slightly easier than giving a presentation to a large audience. Because I was nervous I left out some important pieces of information that I had wanted to communicate to Michael and Neil, so I carried on explaining whilst answering questions!

After the presentations and submission we were all required to go into Uni and paint the exhibition room (AG12 in the Athena Building) white and then set up our show area. Tom and Adam went in and painted 2-3 layers of white and then Nick and I went in on Friday to finish the rest of the painting. Whilst the paint was drying we went upstairs and joined Michael, Adam, Andrew and Vicky to discuss the arrangement of banners so that we could start hanging them. Seeing the wide variety of imagery on the banners was very exciting – it made all the projects that were discussed in tutorials and presentations seem so much more real than they had before.

Nick and I set up our small areas of the exhibition room, along with all our embellishments and finishing touches – it was so very satisfying to see everything working so beautifully well together… it made me proud and a little emotional!

So, the AD-11 exhibition opens tomorrow evening and I am a little nervous. I’m not sure why though, because there is nothing else I could have done in the time and I am extremely proud of what I have achieved.

In the meantime my step-son Jez has designed a new website for me (unusual birthday present) and it will be up and running after it has received a few additional tweaks – probably in a month. His company, Jigsawpixel, can be found at - http://www.jigsawpixel.com – do take a look at their website.

I suspect that you may be wondering what I’m going to do next, now that things are beginning to quieten down. Well, I’m going to start by designing a range of Christmas cards – in fact I have already started working on it by asking friends and family what they associate with Christmas – answers include ‘Die Hard’ and half eaten mince pies and carrots that Santa and Rudolph can’t eat! How’s that for inspiration!? I also need to research greetings cards printers that specialise in environmentally friendly products.

And on that note I will go and get on with my research. Speak to you again soon, take it easy ;)

Ultimate/penultimate update!?

I’m exhausted and have been up since 4am, which was after I had sat in bed writing a ‘to do’ list! In a way I will be very glad to hand everything in and get some sleep, although, with 7days, 7hours and 50 minutes (at the time of writing this) until submission, I’m not totally sure I will make it.

Deadline	Task
12/8/11	Buy fabric for printing
13/8/11	Put sweetie lamp together
14/8/11	Finish stencilling wall
15/8/11	Photograph stencilled wall for portfolio
15/8/11	Make lampshade for sweetie lamp
15/8/11	Photograph sweetie lamp for portfolio
16-17/8/11	Go to print workshop and print fabric for cushion covers and seat cushion – this will not get done
23-24/8/11	Go into uni and design banner – submit for printing if approved by Michael
24/8/11	Order memory stick – probably 16gb
31/8/11	Submit banner for printing
1/9/11	Make cushion covers and cover seat cushion on Lloyd Loom chair
9/9/11	Finish putting sweetie table together
9/9/11	Have finished hand printed wallpapers
9/9/11	Take report for printing and binding
9/9/11	Take business plan for printing and binding
11/9/11	Put final submission together
14/9/11	Final submission

As you will see from this updated panic list, things haven’t moved along much from last time I wrote anything here – I have put together a photobook portfolio which has now been dispatched by the printers and should be here any day and, after 6 attempts, I managed to put together a banner which was to Michael’s satisfaction and is to be collected from printing at the Arts and Media Helpdesk today. In addition I have finished the gorgeous hand-painted cushion covers ready for the exhibition. The cushions covers look fantastic and have filled me with lots of ideas and inspiration for others… so much so that I would rather sit down and think about that than write a report!

I’m thinking about overlapping flaps sealed with vintage buttons, appliqué, patchwork (using my own prints) and all on up-cycled textiles from charity shops.

Anyway, back to the matter in hand – I have written my business plan and am just tweaking it. The report is 75% done, it just needs another 200 words and then editing, proof reading and appendices adding and it is ready to be printed and bound. I may even be able to take it to the printers tomorrow, a day earlier than my schedule.

The final submission is almost ready to go. I have put everything tidily into a folder and I have written explanatory notes which I will get printed at the same time as the business plan and report.

So, now you are either wondering what my problem is or, you have checked my list in your mind and have already worked it out – hand printed wallpaper!

I started working on it yesterday and it didn’t go well, so I had to start again. Because of the limited space that I am currently working in I have decided to stencil the pattern onto the wallpaper but, I have discovered that the stencils that I have designed aren’t as user friendly as I had thought and planned (must try harder) and I was very fed-up by the end of the day. The ‘Squares’ stencil is the issue, for 2 reasons -

1)    I put the guide holes in the wrong place so it is difficult to line the stencils up

2)    The pattern is very flimsy and corners keep lifting as I’m painting

Now, in the real world this would easily be sorted out, and will be but to have the stencils adjusted, cut on the laser printer, collected from Middlesbrough and painted onto 3½ metres of wallpaper by next Wednesday may not be do-able. I will speak to Michael today, when I go in to pick up my banner, and ask whether it will be possible to hand in that wallpaper in time for the exhibition instead of submission… fingers crossed!

Right, I need to be getting on with my report and painting wallpaper so; I will try to update you on how things are, before submission, but please forgive me if I don’t.

Take care J

I seem to be on a roll!

So, I am now in total panic mode, the day I wrote my panic list was just the early stages! I have had a full and totally manic 10 days and, although I’m beginning to see glimmers of light at the end of the tunnel, it may all be an illusion.

The panic list currently looks like this -

Deadline	Task
12/8/11	Buy fabric for printing
13/8/11	Put sweetie lamp together
14/8/11	Finish stencilling wall
15/8/11	Photograph stencilled wall for portfolio
15/8/11	Make lampshade for sweetie lamp
15/8/11	Photograph sweetie lamp for portfolio
16-17/8/11	Go to print workshop and print fabric for cushion covers and seat cushion – this will not get done
23-24/8/11	Go into uni and design banner – submit for printing if approved by Michael
24/8/11	Order memory stick – probably 16gb
31/8/11	Submit banner for printing
1/9/11	Make cushion covers and cover seat cushion on Lloyd Loom chair
9/9/11	Finish putting sweetie table together
9/9/11	Have finished hand printed wallpapers
9/9/11	Take report for printing and binding
9/9/11	Take business plan for printing and binding
11/9/11	Put final submission together
14/9/11	Final submission

The items that are in red text have been done. Although I’m further than it looks on the list because I have made 2 drafts of the banner which I have sent to Michael, and I’m meeting up with him tomorrow to discuss it. I’m really pleased with it – it is a teaser which will hopefully persuade visitors to the exhibition to go downstairs to see my work, but I fear that Michael may be of the ‘less is more’ school of thinking… I have put all my images onto a USB memory stick just in case I have to start all over again. Also, my portfolio will be going to the printers today – and should be back in 7 working days – fingers and toes crossed!

I guess you are wondering what else I have been up to so…

Sweetie Lamp

The Sweetie lamp is totally finished and looks brilliant, even if I do say so myself. I hand stencilled the pattern onto the lampshade, put the lampshade together and it really looks like a quirky table lamp.

Sweetie Table

And again, the Sweetie table is completely finished and I love it. It reminds me of a Memphis Group design, you can see it is a table but it is nothing like anybody would imagine… it is almost surreal and totally fun, but also functional.

Lloyd Loom Chair

Now you will realise how much work I have actually managed to do in the last 10 days – the Lloyd Loom chair is… finished! I wished that I hadn’t decided to do this part of the project because when I was re-covering the seat I discovered that it was rather smelly – yuk! Anyway it has now been Febreezed. I ended up hand-stencilling the fabric which I used to cover the seat cushion and I’m very pleased with it. Obviously I had planned to go into uni and screen print onto the fabric, but time just didn’t allow that to happen. My alternative solution looks lovely though, so I can live with it.

I don’t think I will rush into further upholstery repair though - my fingers were very sore after sewing the cover onto the frame!

The cushion on the chair isn’t actually finished yet, I am hand stencilling the pattern onto the fabric, and there is another layer to add yet, but I pinned it to the cushion for photographic/artistic purposes – looks lovely, doesn’t it?

Stencils

After finishing the Clematis stencil, and photographing it, I very quickly went on to cover it in paint and start again with the next stencil…

I was really excited by this pattern and the ‘Op Art’ aspect of it became very obvious as I walked past it – it almost appeared like the recessed panels on old doors. The way the pattern sits on the wall inspired me to create an overlaying pattern, in stencil, which I then added to the wall…

This overlay made the pattern more exciting and exaggerated the ‘Op Art’ element to the design but, this would definitely only be suitable for a feature wall!

There are only 14 days until final submission; I am almost totally wiped out – but I will get it all done and submitted. I may sleep all day on the 15^th though. In the meantime, I have lots more to do so, speak to you soon.

Busy Weekend

I managed to pick the Squares stencil up last Wednesday, I think that it will work really well, the breaks across each square lessen it’s flow but I think it will stencil successfully.

Additionally, I have been looking at all the ‘sweeties’ that I have painted and some of them already have scuff marks on them, just from sitting on a table! So I have made an executive decision to varnish all of them. I hadn’t intended to do so because I was very happy with the very flat matt surface that I was achieving but, to create a professional impression at the exhibition I will have to overcome this issue so, I am using a matt varnish to keep the shine down and it has added a rather nice subtle sheen which seems to have deepened the colours that I have used. The use of varnish may prove to be a successful move.

In the meantime I have had a busy, but very productive, weekend. I am on a roll, but I have definitely run out of time to go into uni to do some screen printing, which is very disappointing. It would appear that everything takes twice as long to do as I had expected… this may not be a good sign or, it may just mean that things would speed up once routines were formed. Only time will tell.

So, I hear you asking, what did you get done during the weekend? Well, I took some more photos of the stencilled wall, using various cameras and taking advantage of different lighting and shadow and got some interesting photos which I will be adding to my portfolio…

Having obtained some photos that can be put into my portfolio I have now painted over this first stencilling and have started applying the second stencil. So, more images to follow.

The base of the Sweetie lamp has now been put together and it is looking fantastic, even if I do say so myself! I will take it into uni on Wednesday and ask to have it PAT tested.

Now that I have varnished the sweeties they have stopped developing scuff marks, which is a bonus, because I was getting worried about the impact of transporting the lamp and table into uni for the exhibition.

To move the lamp onto the final stage I have started painting the fabric for the lampshade today. I bought several off-cuts in a local shop last week, all of which were suitably coloured for this project. The fabric I have decided to use for this lampshade is a grey/blue moiré style fabric…

The table has started coming together too. I have finished painting and varnishing all the sweeties and I have also decorated and varnished the table top. I am totally thrilled with how the table top looks; it is exactly how I wanted it. The Op-Art effect works very well too. I think I can honestly say that it is one of my triumphs.

Despite all the stress and panic I am really looking forward to the exhibition and seeing everything on display together. In the meantime I need to photograph everything to include them in my portfolio and banner, both of which need to be sent off for printing as soon as possible – hence the sense of urgency! So I need to go and get on with more painting now. Talk to you soon.