21st birthday weekend...

Last weekend it was my big two-one birthday, and to celebrate me and the boyfriend went to London for the weekend to do some of the necessary touristy things. 

First of all we went to the Rainforest Cafe, which is the most fantastic place i've ever been to. Not only is the food great but the entire atmosphere is amazing! If you are in the PIccadilly Circus area, it's definitely worth a visit. 

My Calypso Chicken Sandwich, was so yummy. 

The huge waterfall we sat next to. Was so loud but was a great place to sit as we could see everything from here. There were so many things to look at around the restaurant, from mechanical monkeys and birds, to tropical fish and thunderstorms.

On the second day of our adventure, we attempted to go shopping in Oxford Street. However, there was so many people, dashing in and out of all the shops from the rain, we gave up and went to Starbucks. My strawberries and cream drink was definitely a well deserved rest from the hustle and bustle of London shoppers!

On the final day, I really wanted to visit Ripley's: Believe it or not museum which consisted of a collection weird and wonderful objects and artefacts. In particular, I really liked the microscopic section, and the collection of wax works based upon the worlds tallest and largest people. Was so fascinating to see what Mr Ripley himself had collected for his London based believe it or not museum, as everything was chosen based on what he found interesting or unique!

Robert Wadlow: The worst tallest man.. And me!

Life's mircoscopic wonders: Painted pumpkin seeds of biblical reference and miniature eggs painted with famous faces from Albert Einstein to Charlie Chaplin.

 There were five floors which spiralled down through the bulding ending up with a trip in the mirror maze! Again, this is somewhere I would definitely recommend visiting as I had such a wonderful time and is like nowhere else I have ever been!

Due to the rain, we also visited the Science Museum to keep ourselves dry and away from the cold. I've never really been, so was another really exciting experience. These tiny little medicine pots and lace covered buttons really intrigued me, and might even use them as part of my inspiration for my current BA textile project. So delicate and beautiful in every way despite being such an everyday item for people living 50-100 years ago. 

In the basement of the museum, Google have introduced interactive experiments that people can do within the Museum, and then store onto a 'lab tag' which the data can later be uploaded to a computer. Additionally,  Google Chrome users can have their experiments fed live to the Science Museum itself. My boyfriend couldn't drag me away from one experiment in particular called 'Sketchbots'. This involved a computer taking a photograph of you, special software then adapted the image to then create a vectorised image which the information then passed through to a robot which draw your face in the sand! I could have spent all day watching as more and more faces appeared in the sand but we had a train to catch so could only draw a few!

My sketchbot being drawn into the sand

Overall, I had a really lovely 21st birthday weekend, with thanks to my lovely boyfriend.. Ben <3 Would definitely do it all over again!

Studio clutter = Brain clutter..

For the past week, I have been feeling really, really uninspired with my project. However, this photograph of my studio space shows the cause of my problem! 

Studio clutter = Brain clutter.. Haha!!

Lots of lovely little, pretty samples...

I've spent the past week or so experimenting with a variety of print and resist dye techniques that I have recently been learning, inspired by my final projects theme: Skies and the skyline. 

As part of the project, I wanted to create delicate, feminine fabrics with the idea of eventually translating them into a fashion context. The concept of layers is something that really interests me and I feel as if these particular dye and print samples really reflect this idea. 

Spoons: The easy way to create a colour palette!

Manutex paste and Procion dye prints

I'm really super happy with these samples so far, combining resist tye-dye with printed textile techniques such as discharge, pigment ink screen printing and also foiling.

One Tuesday morning..

There is no better way to spend a cold morning, other than being creative in the dye and print room!

From my initial experimental dye samples, I have begun to build on the successes and improve the less so. My first improvement was to include other colours into my fabric samples, other than pale blues and neutral beiges. Yellow acid dye combined with these colours really helps bring added interest to my fabrics, as well as the addition of a much deeper navy blue mix. In particular i'm really pleased with the dip dye and resist techniques that i've created using combination of acid dye and fixative. However, I feel as if further exploration of materials will help with my experimental dying process as a heavier weight silk, or silk twill, will take the dye better.  

Not only have I continued to experiment with dying materials, but I have initially began to dip dye yarns which will later be translated through into stitched detail within my fabric samples.

This 'happy accident' happened when the dyed yarns were left to dry on news print paper. Am going to use this as part of my design process, and possibly make into a screen design for foiling or discharge printing.

Inspiring afternoon at the castle...

Today I spent the afternoon at Norwich Castle Museum gathering research for my skies and skylines project. As part of the project, I am concentrating on the upcoming fashion trend: Ombre. I didn't expect to find anything relevant at the museum for this, however, look at these beautiful 20th century glasswares. 

 

I love the bright, contrasting colours, and ombre effects within the glass. The use of silhouette works really well, and is something that I intend to take through into my own printed textile samples. 

As well as this, I also focussed on bird in flight. I want to combine dip dyed fabrics alongside printed techniques such as foiling, flocking and discharge. My initial photographs of skies and skylines include flocks of birds However, I feel that gathering separate images from the Castle Museum will really help with my drawing. 

Inspirational books..

I've been meaning to post this photograph for a while now, but have been really busy with my final textile design BA project as well as my dissertation. Luckily i've found a spare minute to post it!

I got some really inspirational books for Christmas, 'Pattern' by Orla Kiely and 'Crochet Workshop' by Erika Knight. Crochet is something that i've really been wanting to learn for a long while, and this book is brilliant for beginners as it's so simple and easy to understand, I would definitely recommend it! 

And of course.. Orla Kiely is always a favourite!

Journey home...

Here are some photographs I took whilst walking home from uni today in all the beautiful snow we've been having. Completely perfect!