Craft vs Design

Well I do love my weekly (Design Week) and bi-monthly (Crafts) visual updates, and look! Same cover! Highly recommend picking both of these up, they're full of talent and interesting articles, my favourite is probably Crafts Glenn Adamson's feature on the replica.

Eetsy crush on Etsy

I love getting my Etsy Finds newsletters in my inbox, and just wanted to share a few of my favourite items out there in the ultimate everlasting craft fair...





From top:
Bambi by Hopeimages (http://www.etsy.com/shop/hopeimages)
William the tea cosy by MessyFishDotCom (http://www.etsy.com/shop/MessyFishDotCom)
hazel and ingrid, a double brown bear by EveryEskimo (http://www.etsy.com/shop/everyeskimo)

Errr

Oops no posts for a month - bad Harriet. Bit distracted atm, so here's some new redesigns of weekly papers to review. Nice? I think so. Life changing? Fraid not. But I just want my fix of the design world (sorry I don't read NME anymore! Not enough time/pocket money) to be easy to navigate, easy to read and full of interesting stuff. And yes the new design does that better than the old I think. Both use colours well, adding interest on the magazine rack and variety in each issue. But I still don't really like the DW www. Better than NME's though!

Now the sun beckons. I'm able to listen to it now, so will take advantage before I go back to being up to the eyeballs.

Ffffalmouth

Well I had an awesome weekend in Falmouth last week, thanks to some lovely people. So here's some Hedluv - who were FANTASTIC at the Haiti fundraiser at the Pavilion, some 90's girls on the beach, Christmas pressies I made for Sarah and Jo, and my magbear (or bearpie). He's had a clean and a new coat of glossy paint, and is looking quite lovely. We may make a series for The Other Things.

Busy week in London (freelancing) followed. Design Bridge tomorrow!

Visual Audit part I

More to come, but I felt that as I am having a fairly productive day I should start documenting all my knitting projects. Normally I make for pressies and forget to photograph them. Well that's got to change! My good camera is charging and the sun just set, so will carry on my task tomorrow.

I want/need/want want want

Oh wow how gorgeous. I mean, wow.






















American designers Anthropologie opened their first European shop in London in October. I'll be back up in London in two weeks and I know where I'll be heading! Click on entry title to get to their website.

This may inspire me to use my newly acquired french knitting machine! My mum had it when she was a little girl growing up in Sweden.

Oliver Critter

I had quite an experience at the hairdressers on Friday, and have now been left with very little to cover my ears. Luckily, this little critter turned out a charm and has cheered me right up. I don't think he's right for the intended recipient, so Reginald will have to stay here with me. This is not a selfish decision I promise! (Well maybe a bit, but only because I don't think he's their kind of fella - thats the problem with making things, you get too attached!) I'll be whipping up some uber cute baby booties over the weekend, so won't go empty handed on visiting day!

Purl Bee

Love love LOVE this website, full of inspirational, gorgeous projects in gorgeous materials. I'm working on this for a friend's new born beautiful girl - working it in white, hoping for a quirky polar bear ghost.

http://www.purlbee.com/purl-critter/

The Other Things gearing up

We're not there yet, but here's a cheeky sneaky peek at one of the first kits and the website design so far. Watch this space...

Seen but not heard

OK well I've done neither recently, oops. So I'm now able to put MA after my name, with distinction! Ace. After a little recuperating sleep (that lasted most of October), I got myself in gear and have been up in London doing placements at some awesome studios full of lovely people. Just before Christmas I was at Unreal (http://www.unreal-uk.com/), and now I'm at Blue Marlin (http://www.bluemarlinbd.com/), then I'm doing some freelance work for the people of Buxton, then skipping off to DesignBridge (http://www.designbridge.com/) in March. Phew! But I'm also hoping to get The Other Things off the ground as well with Sarah, so get ready for that.

And for the visual section of this post, here are some photos my lovely friend Joanna Thomas (http://jomadethis.wordpress.com/) took of my joint exhibition with Sarah.

Vive la knit!

At last my brain can deal with knitting again! It was all full of MA stuff before and everything else leaked out onto the floor. Knitted chain necklace anybody? I think this may look ace in canary yellow with a cable as a bracelet. Adding it to the project list!

Ceci n'est pas un étudiant

It's not that I've got loads of free time on my hands (I really don't! I wish I did), but I felt like making a significant post of things I've seen recently that I like tres mucho. Oh and the poster for my joint exhibition with Sarah Hunt.

Links...
http://www.dezeen.com/2009/09/10/avifauna-by-maarten-kolk-guus-kusters/ (bird)
http://www.niessendevries.nl/ (knitting layout)
http://www.lardesign.co.uk/ (printer cross stitch)
http://www.todayandtomorrow.net/2009/09/11/dazzle-canoe/ (canoe)
http://www.thedieline.com/blog/2009/08/milk.html (milk cartons)
http://www.singstatistics.co.uk/ http://inkyfingers85.blogspot.com/ (cowboy boots)
http://nytimesbooks.blogspot.com/ (book jacket)
http://blog.artsparklets.co.uk/ (clouds)

Done and dusty

Last night was the MA private view, it went swimmingly! Here are some little sneaky shots of my work, I'll get some more done soon I promise. So... that's it? No more MA? But still lots of work to do! Loose ends are being tied.

Laser laser lasersssss!!!

I just spent the last day and a half mesmerised by the laser cutter as it cut out my A0 paper lace piece, and it was worth it! Below is an image of an A2 version I managed to fit in as well, and below is the A0(ish) on the bed... It needs trimming and tidying but I think it'll look good.

Lace/paper/text/lasers/yes

These are some screen grabs of one of the other pieces for my installation. It's going to be a piece of laser cut paper lace about the size of a window. I'm not quite sure on the quote yet, but I've got to make a decision - only three weeks to go, oh my goodness! (The bottom image is an action shot - with all elements selected and the different colours of all the layers. This would've been crazy hard without using layers!)

Latching onto an idea

This is the beginning of a latch pull rug with a La Chi'Ai (I can't find anything out about this person!) quote for my final installation. It'll be easier to read when it's had a bit of a hair cut. Man it's taking a ages to do! No socialising for me for a while....

Method is in the medium

A quick experiment with joined up writing in wool...


And the condensed version...

Little sneak preview...

This is what I've been working on so far for my final major project, it's about the 'creative need' of the household and how it isn't fulfilled in today's society, leaving it to overspill into the not so fun chores of the house, those which have no real physical outcome (cleaning etc). I've been looking at the emotional value of domestic crafts, and these pieces will form part of an installation. Only five weeks to go! Uhohhhh.