DESIGN: Photoshop

 

As part of my digital up-skilling, I've been really enjoying playing around with photoshop. Here's a little design I made up, incase you happened to pass by, and suddenly realised you needed a designer... (Yes, I do design, get in touch!!)

Photoshop

I've been sitting in front of a computer for hours, 5 days a week for the past 2 weeks and I still haven't managed to update my blog in that time! Its because I'm taking a few weeks off from my usual work routine to do a computer illustrated graphics course.

Awash with Green and Gold

I'm working on designs for a mural at a local school that, weather permitting, I'll be painting next week. It's very appropriate that it'll be the Kerry colours, with the All Ireland Football finals coming up this Sunday. The town is awash with green and gold. (Since they are the Donegal colours too, its going to be fun, trying to figure out who to cheer for, must brush up on my GAA knowledge).

How to draw a Tiki Head!

As I said in a previous post, I got my son to help me design the tiki stuff I made for the last Retro Romp. So here's is the method I worked out, so he could help me. He picked the features and I drew them out. Its an incredibly easy system, and a great one to do with the kids and for just general doodling. The diagrams I've drawn are a bit rough, but what the hey, you'll get my drift. This is tribal stuff, the rougher the better.

And don't be fussing about the lines! Kids are constantly told in school to stay within the lines, and unfortunately this can stay with us as adults. When one neighbours kid got upset because he coloured outside the line, I just gave him the big black marker and said, change the line. He was chuffed...

The Film Job...

Finally, I get the chance to sit down and blog about the film project.

First up, lots of cones of cotton/cashmere/silk mix, niddynoddied into skeins (torture and tears!) then dyed. Then panic phone call to Craftspun, who swift-posted a swift, and the skeins were easily converted (via swift via wool winder) into neat little centre pull balls...

Next step, DIY garden warp winder, warp made, navajo style loom created!

Then, design work and tapestry weaving, and half a blanket later...

There is no point showing you the final woven design, because such is the nature of films, that they decided to shoot the scene from the back. All the ends of thread hanging out, looked more in progress. And they had decided not to use all the spare skeins I had dyed...

So, I stood in silence on Killiney Hill on the day of filming and just smiled...This is what you will see, when the movie comes out, sometime soon.(in other words I don't know...). Don't blink because you will miss it.

The Irish Crocheted Coral Reef

This is the doodle/design I did for the poster for the Irish Coral Reef Exhibition in The Courthouse Arts Centre, Tinahealy, Co. Wicklow. Apparently the exhibition is fantastic, the Reefers have done a great job putting it together. The smaller Reef, in a smaller setting, maybe has more impact. Irene has put up some great pics on Flickr .

It's the closest I've gotten to anything vaguely hyperbolic in ages! But I'd love to get the Reef down to Dingle...

More info here http://irishhyperboliccrochetcoralreef.wordpress.com/

Colours and Patterns and Tools....oh my!!

Frozen Canal

I'm back from my holidays earlier than expected. Although my hols was shorter than planned, it felt like longer....Long saga about frozen treacherous roads, frozen water pipes, no working toilets/showers, empty water reservoirs, cabin fever, tummy bugs, etc... There was a break in the weather, and I made a run for it. I am glad to be home, be clean, and have another Christmas over with. Well, I'm actually glad to have 2009 over with it was a very extreme year for me. Not just for me but for the country of Ireland in general. We've had all the weather and scandals a nation can handle in one year. But, this isn't a moany blog, its a textile blog, so here's some Colour and Patterns and Tools...Oh My!! (I had to watch the Wizard of Oz at 9 am this morning...)

COLOURS

The best part of Christmas is of course Fairy lights. I love fairy lights, so much so I went a bit bananas one evening with the camera, trying to take a nice photo of my lights. Here's the results....

PATTERNS

When you go on your holidays, normally you wait till you're on the road before taking pictures. But when I went to pack the car, there was the most amazing patterns over the whole thing. I had to pull the camera out and start taking pictures.

and TOOLS....OH MY!

This is really the oh my bit. You might have thought I was jammy enough to buy one beautiful working spinning wheel for cheap. (And she is a real beauty, you can see here here). but how about buying a 2nd spinning wheel, another real beauty, and almost in working condition!! I found this baby on gumtree.ie. The ad was a few months old, and I presumed it would be gone, but rang anyway. To my great surprise, not only was the wheel not gone, but no-one else had even called about it. It took me a few months to get down and actually see it, as I had to drive to Cork, but I had decided to buy it whether it work or not. It is a.. oh..beautiful old, old, Saxony wheel. Almost in working condition, just needs a bit of love here and there.

The lady I bought it off turned out to be a carbon copy of myself, a dabbler in all things textile and we had a great chat. You should have heard her stories keeping angora bunnies.... She was a bit sad to part with the wheel, but knew she wouldn't be using it. And since I kept gushing about how beautiful it was, knew it was going to a loving home. I have never seen a wheel like this up close. It has a double thingy, and the thingy is adjustable for tension. God, I need to learn more new spinning wheel words...

She also gave me a pile of books, including everything from felting to rug weaving. In it is a beautiful book called The Wool Book by Margaret Dixon. It has a big picture of a Saxony wheel, and I will, over the next week, learn all the proper terms for my new restoration project.

I am really looking forward to 2010. There are so many exciting events on the horizon, and you will just have to wait until the New Year to hear about them....


Best Wishes to All, and for god's sakes take care on the roads.....

2 Working Days left....

It's Sunday night, and I have 2 working days left...so what do I do, start to make something new. You think I would learn!!

I was fixing up my signs from last year, they were just a breadboard and a cabinet door painted with blackboard paint. But this year there is more emphasis on a nice display of names and workshops times. The breadboard will do again for chalking up the workshop times, but I needed something different for my Stitchlily sign. I also wanted to make some kind of a banner for my Sit and Stitch area. So I decide to make them out of fabric, cutting out the letters and stitching them to a backround. Several hours later, I'm still not finished. They came out kind of small, so no one will even notice them...Oh, well, maybe I'll learn for next year, no more last minute fabric banners...


Here is the letters cut out ready for stitching, and also a sneaky peek at some of the workshop brooches and a kiwi cushion!!

These are a sneaky peak at the Alternative Yarn workshop - plarn and newspaper yarn, crocheted...

Last year I didn't make a penny and spent a fortune on all the equipment and stuff. This year if I cover my costs I'll be very happy....I had planned on making lots of knitted scarves to sell, but when it came round to it, I ended up having more fun playing around with patterns on the knitting machine. Now why haven't I don't this before? I was trying out Aran style patterns on very fine lace scarves, and also the 'snagged tights' look....I mean the Gothic Lace look...

The Clear Out of the Doodle Box

Sometimes the best inspiration comes from a word, a thought, a doodle you jotted down years ago.

When I finished 2 very busy years at art college, I had to move out of my house fast (long story, not going there), I had to throw out nearly everything I owned, give away about 10 years worth of books, and it broke my heart. Since then I have become a hoarder. I have suitcases of photos stashed under my sons bed, I have boxes of pages, doodles, drawings, leaflets, that will someday be useful. I have heaving bookshelves everywhere.

Well, now all my yarn and textile equipment is taking over, and I need space. So, I'm doing a clear out of my doodle box, but I just don't want to throw some of these out. Some of these doodles took me hours, bring back happy memories of hang-overs and pretending to be working. As one collage said one day, I know your not working, I can smell the marker!

So, I've decided technology is going to help me out, and I am going to scan in all my doodles, so apologies if you get bored over the next month with daily updates of doodles as I clear out the boxes...At least I know where I can find everything. They are here!

These are sketches I took from various books on Folk Art in the library in Turku, Finland. There is something about Finnish design that really appeals to me. Well, I've kept these for over 7 years, they would want to!