29 March 2014

A busy week!

A very busy week both at university and at home!

I organised all my fabrics and went through what i avtually need. I had a mini tutorial on monday with my textiles tutor to sort out my colour palette. i am having serious SERIOUS colour palette issues.. i just dont know whats going on and i dont know how to get these colours into my designs, decide on a final palette and make ti all look lovely!

We had a pizza party in our Dec Arts 3 studio, with a little help from out biggest glass kilns. Well it is afterall just a huge oven! 

I also came home as sadly we lost my Nanna Richardson this week and it was her funeral. It was very sad, but good to see family!

Ive also been commissioned to make a bunch of babywipe holders for the local ceramics cafe. My friend works in there and came up with the idea for the kids partys.. And theyre gonna pay me in vouchers which is perfect as my little brothers love it there! Im also going there this week to paint a teapot - got a voucher for my birthday :) So that should be good!

Some of my current fabrics!

Packing for homecoming... two weeks off uni and ive secured a work experience placement so im taking everything back! Using this lovely Ted Baker tin for sewing essentials :)

Potential fabrics for local ceramics cafe - 'Crafty Coffee'

Won this cuuuuuuute lino brooch from Kayleigh o'mara!!! Love it :)


Colour - I have been told to play alot more with colour and whether thats thread, paint, pencil, pen, fabric, ink etc. so i have decided to play with each individually. I have made one palette from kona solids, one from ink and the other in dulux sample pots specially mixed for me, so that i can play in three different ways!
One of my colour palettes has come to life with Robert Kaufman Kona Solids.


Making a mess, creating one palette in inks in the screenprinting rooms, NTU.

I have made these colour story boards which present colours on velcro so i can move them about, potential prints and fabrics, as well as physical fabric samples. Love being this organised!

And finally.. our studio.. closed for the evening! I run the CREO instagram page :)

26 March 2014

MA Open Event!


Last week i got talking to my friend about a Masters. Something ive always assumed i will never do, because hey.. arnt those like £12,000? WELL This week i found out that actually.. not only do my university do something that i really want to do.. but its 'only' £5000! AND we can apply for a bursary type thing that gets us £1000 off, being a previous NTU student!! So £4000 for a masters. Considering BA is now £10,000 a year, that seems like a bargain to me. Its only a little bit more expensive than doing third year over again, which i thought i would have to do at some point as i totally thought i would fail it!

I went to an open event today at university, where i spoke to current staff and students, including Claire Bradshaw, who graduated from Dec Arts with printed textiles specialism, just like me. Our state of mind pre-BA-graduation seems identical. This course is for me!!

The only downside.. and i mean the ONLY one.. would be the money. you dont get a student loan for a masters, and i dont think i should be getting in more debt with my bank. Ill need £4000 upfront in September, as well as money for rent and living. Ive worked out ill basically need £10'000 for the entire year, though most of this can be earned as i go along! 

Unless i win the lottery, this seems another impossible dream. But im going to apply anyway.. You never know what might happen over summer. I might sell loads of work.. i might get taken to New Designers, and sell loads of work.. you never know :)

This time next year i could be most of the way through my MA Textiles Design Innovation!!




25 March 2014

Birds, Statue colour palettes, Polkadots & Visualisation

Colour has always been an issue within my work. I can never settle, and i need to graduate with a distinctive palette. I have alot of research from edinburgh but i am looking in the general direction of architecture and tourist hotspots for my concret colour, then ill let each location determine some other colours which i will weave within my concrete palette. This palette here, shown in the bird print,

Statue Palette.

Polka dot sections of a print! This would make an interesting screen-print.

The start of my visualisations. this is how i play with the surface image to create the sections i need :)

Lanterns Recreated

Well i created a lovely lantern repeat print today, from a drawing, and i skipped into uni to show my tutor.. oh.. she didnt like it!! not at all. Thats annoying i was really happy with it. So this evening i have been playing around with it some more to make it more loose. I also tried some new colours. and im really happy with these!! We will see how they print in fabric before any decisions are made :)

Blue :)

A nice strong green! Not summery - more royal

Another blue. Can you tell what my favourite colour is?

Love the pink - a bit different for me!

Greeeeeeny teal :)

24 March 2014

Updates! New business card templates and a few repeats

My business plan (disseration) is SUBMITTED! 30% of my degree is officially out of my hands! strange feeling.. but a good one. i can get on with some 3d work and not ever have to go in NTU library every again!! 

Here are some business card ideas i submitted. The idea is im going back to edinburgh to photograph my products in situ and those images will replace these current images.. I kinda like the lifestyle shot idea.







Im playing around in photoshop alot lately. my prints are based on my drawings, and they're usually kinda simple. my repeats aren't exactly complex either but i really like them this way!

Copyright Louise Richardson 2014 (c)

a little play :)

not sure why this has a greying background - the copy i made has lovely blue cups and a crisp white background

16 March 2014

Eight Weeks to Go

not joking. eight weeks to go until my degree collection is finished and up on display for my graduate show!!!!! HELP!! okay i think i will be okay but heres a quick update from the last 6 weeks!!

I did a fabric shop in London.. well its got to be done hasnt it!

My business plan is handed in.. that a 150 page report of research and final written plan!

Colours im working with at the moment. some changes to be made

Organisation :(

Well i visited my favourite fabric shop in the world :(

some drawings

In the print room again! - printing onto my digital prints with gold.. YUM!



blogger template by lovebird