natural design ...

I bought these at the green grocer this morning - I love the shape, texture and colours ...

The sign on the bucket said "Hakea Peach", but I can't find any references for that name anywhere. Perhaps some more plant savvy readers can help? I'm going to try and find the time this week to have a play around with some designs, using these beautiful shapes as a spring-board.

time to design ...

... often comes very late at night ... here's what I've been playing with tonight ...

... this flower is actually part of a bigger design, but I like it on its own too, and grouped like this. Playing with colours - the usuals - but working on a new palette involving greens - thoughts?

my creative space ... design + colour

I've been drawing quite a lot this week - I seem to be full of design ideas at the moment, so I'm getting them down on paper, then editing them with my trusty red pen ...

I tend to draw, then edit, then draw, then scan, then refine on the computer until I'm happy, then play some more with repeat patterns. It usually takes a couple of weeks to get something to a stage that I might consider printing it, or decide that it needs to be filed in the bin! After that, it's the best bit - colour and fabric choices. Have you seen this nifty tool: create your own colour palette ...

These little tools are great for coming up with colour ideas, and are a bit of fun too! More crafty spaces here!

playing with pears ...

Today I've been playing with pears. I had drawn a pear in my sketch book ages ago - just a shape and a few seeds. I scanned it in and began playing. Here's what I've done so far ...

All I know so far is that I like the shape and I like the seeds, but I'm still playing with everything else! I want to do two things with this pear - make a stand alone design (could be multiple pears involved) and create a repeating pattern. The next step for me (usually) is to go off and do something completely different for a while, come back with fresh eyes and elinimate the crud, and work on what is left. It's kind of a process of elimination combined with experimentation. As I am not formally trained in graphic design, it's mostly guesswork and instinct as to what works for me. Hope you've been having a good weekend!

a design a day ... four

This it is .. the last design for this week. Previously unseen, this design is a hybrid (and a happy "mistake") - arty artichokes, or ARTichokes as I like to call it ...

 

Thanks for the support this week - I've had fun sharing my designs, and I hope you've enjoyed looking too! If you are at all interested in buying a tea towel with one of my designs, I will post shop details shortly.

a design a day ... three

Hello again ... welcome to the third instalment of a design a day. One more sleep until the final design and then details of where you can buy!

Today's design draws on my love of vintage typography - inspired by old bus/train/tram rolls like this one from years ago ...

(photo courtesy of: benrincebobsherhair.blogspot.com)

It's not an orginal design idea, but I wanted to add my spin to it ... and make it more "foodie" oriented. After a bit of experimenting with words and styles, I came up with this ...

... which I then turned into a double ended tea towel, so it sits nicely over any rail ...

 

Thanks for visiting, and see you tomorrow for the finale!

a design a day ... two

Welcome back to my journey of designs this week ... today is all about artichokes!

Part of my motivation for creating designs for homewares was to deck out my newly renovated kitchen with things I liked. I'm lucky enough to live within walking distance of a lovely fresh food market (Camberwell) and am constantly inspired by the seasons. A couple of months ago, I was hugely inspired by fresh Victorian artichokes ...

Some drawing and playing on the computer followed ...

Until I ended up with this ...

 

... another tea towel design is born! I really enjoyed creating the colours for this print too - I chose a dark green and a burnt orange.

Thanks to all those who left such encourgaing comments yesterday - it really made my day! Hope to see you here again tomorrow for the next instalment!

a design a day ... one

OK ... I'm ready to (nervously) show and tell what I've been designing and making ...

There have been snippets here and there over the past weeks, but over the next few days, I want to share my first commercial designs with you - one at a time.

But first - a little scene setting ... I am one of the many crafters who went to this years Stitches & Craft show in Melbourne, and came away inspired, renewed and excited. I thought about it for many months, and then decided to put my creative passion for design and fabric into practice and have a go at making it my "job". And so, yardage design was born - a business name and a goal in one - the goal is to print my own yardage fabric one day. For now, though, I'm printing onto tea towels. Everyone needs to start somewhere, and this product is a great stepping off point for anyone starting out small. After testing lots of fabrics, I'm using a hemp/organic cotton blend basecloth. I think it prints really nicely, has better sustainability credentials than many other fabrics, and works extremely well as a tea towel - which is really important to me. I sew them up myself too, which is quite theraputic (glass half full) or a little sweatshoppy (glass half empty) depending on how I'm feeling!

Moving right along ... today, it's my first design - what I call my signature circles. It was the design that inspired the business name, actually. These circles are my version of the end of a bolt of fabric.

 

I love this design, and can't wait to print some yardage fabric using these ... hopefully in the new year.

I hope you've enjoyed this little window into my design world. Tune in tomorrow for the next design in the series ... we're building to a finale later in the week!

Have a great Monday!