Laminate Most Wanted

I had an unexpected delivery today of a publication I pre-ordered 6 weeks ago and had forgotton about... I can't quite remember how I came across it but once I learnt this issue featured Simone Legno (creator of Tokidoki and my favourite illustrator) I knew I had to have it.

The website www.mostwanted.tkyo.co.uk features a large collection of contemporary illustrators and further features.

Viewed in a landscape format, each A3 page of my publication has wonderful high quality images and accompanying interviews, I have a feeling it is going to provide great inspiration and I am going to continue collecting the volumes from now on.

Publication, Illustrators dvd, 3D glasses (to view featured illustrations), Tokidoki fan, Tokidoki GelaSkin, Tokidoki phone charm, Tokidoki sticker.

You could choose a free skin from any of the featured artists, I chose Simone Legno. The skin is meant for an iPhone 4 but I cut it down a bit to fit my iPod.



Double sided Tokidoki fan.



I put my foot in shot to give a sense of the large scale format of the publication....

*Dance Sash*

My niece is taking part in a school talent show and she wanted me to make a sash for her and her friend to wear as part of their dance routine. She had chosen some (hideous) gold ribbon, which was a nightmare to work with because it stretched, made the ink bleed and had holes in but I did my best and I'm sure she'll be pleased with it anyway. Even if I can see the flaws!

The gap between the 's' and 'm' on Yasmin really bugs me but there wasn't anymore ribbon to do another one.

*Screenprinting*

I have recently had my first experience of screenprinting, learning how to expose my screen, prepare, print and clean away. It takes quite a lot of preparation but is worth it because of the high quality results you can achieve, the wonderful 'grainy' quality and the range of possible surfaces you can print on.

My current support module is to use screenprinting to create a book of our chosen "wonder of the world" topic. I have chosen LEGO and these are my first (test) prints from the printing session.



I learnt an important lesson with regards to what you can expose/print with screenprinting. My image was very white and the figure on the right didn't even expose at all, I need to select darker images or edit them to ensure this doesn't happen again.

These colours put together remind me of the Sex Pistols album cover...

Printing on fabric...

Printing on a glove...

I am really excited with the prospect of creating a mixed media book, using fabric, various found materials and paper stocks. I can throughly embrace my enjoyment of experimenting within this module and I aim to create something really unique and unusual.

*Technical Logbook*

For a recent photography with packaging project, I had to keep a technical logbook for reference. I made my own book and recorded information on digital editing, studio technicalities and camera settings. I made enough notes so that I can use this again in the future.

Here are a few scans of the book...

Front Cover - hand drawn, inspired by one of my handbags.

Pages are scanned in copies of an old notebook I have, then I worked on top of them.

*Street Art Uk publication*

I posted some photos a while back that I took in preparation for a brief where we had to design the layout for a journal. My given title was 'street art uk'  which I was very pleased with. This project was my first significant piece using InDesign technology but I maintained my preferred working methods of hand-created pieces too...

These scans are of my final mock (i.e. I trimmed off too much but are the closest versions to the final copy - which the tutors have kept at uni)

Dust Cover - using an image by Codex Inferno, flipped in photoshop

Front Cover - using my photographs, merging together before and after images (which was very difficult!)

Contents and Editor's Note - Using my hand-drawn type for headings (inspired by found font), my tag and my own photograph on the right. Spelt 'streat' so that the white letters make up 'ART'.

Found images of street art.

My own headings and image - drawn with my left hand, scanned in background of an old notepad.

Street Art Tour - scanned in map of London, all elements hand drawn.

All elements hand made - background is a wax rubbing of a wall, scanned in masking tape strip for center join, scanned in graph paper for right hand page, 'Newz' type hand drawn/made.

Found advert.



Nele Azevedo type made by drawing in gritting salt (to give a snow/ice effect) and editing in Photoshop.

I found the production of this journal quite difficult, trying to build the relationship between digital layouts and processes and my hand-created elements was an interesting learning experience. I'm not sure how successful the end pairing was and so this is something i need to continue working on.

Bike Parts

These are the parts I am working with, currently primed with Gray, soon to be covered in maps!

*Keep Colchester Cycling*

We were given a brief last week to design the frame for a 20" mini wheeler as part of a new scheme in Colchester where recycled bikes will be avaliable for hire.
I haven't designed anything for an existing company/organisation before but I gave it my best shot...

These images are not very good quality (I am hoping for a camera for my birthday this week!) but they give a rough idea of my proposal. I wanted to cover the frame in maps of Colchester, using Ordinance survey maps, cheap tourist ones and road maps.
I created a 3D application dummy of the whole frame using straws and maps (top right corner) and then applying maps to cardboard tubes (bottom left) to give a sense of what it would look like on the 3D structure.

I didn't think much of my proposal but................................ I GOT SELECTED!

I now have the frame, in pieces, at my house and am awaiting the maps I have ordered to turn up so i can get started. Keep tuned for progress pictures.

I am also featured on the Keep Colchester Cycling website, take a look for more information:

http://keepcolchestercycling.co.uk/