My lovely partner bought me a cute little candle making kit. So this evening I’ve been getting creative and getting really into it.

I don’t know why I don’t make candles more regularly, it’s so therapeutic, satisfying and at the end of it you have a little present to give to someone or something cute to decorate a room with.

The candles are still currently setting but I thought I’d show you the kit that was kindly given to me just incase you would also like to do this in your spare time. I will post an update tomorrow on the outcome of my candles.

I’m feeling like this may become one of my new little side hobbies.

Ah it feel good to be back at it again, I miss making and being creative. Now that I’ve come back from my Easter holiday it’s time to crack onto my new project.

So I’ve started day one of my new 10 week dress making course. Today was more of an icebreaker, getting to know everyone on the course and knowing what project we’re about to take on. I have an idea in mind of what I want to do, I just need to get and choose my material then I’m away! Can’t wait for next week to fully delve into everything.

Stay tuned…

So for the meantime while I’m getting my life on track I thought I’d share some of my past projects with you.

For some reason I became fascinated with fans at one point in my life and gathered a little collection. When I examined them, as you do, I realised they were actually really simple to make. So I thought it would be an edgy idea to make myself my own personalised fan being the cool kid that I was.

As this was a B-TECH Art project there had to be something that made it stand out, a theme, story, idea behind it. At the time I had recently gone into education at the age of 16 from being homeschooled most of my life. Also at this point in my life I was never really exposed to the internet or TV which was a luxury I only had when I went over to other peoples houses.  So this was all a big transition to me.

Going to College helped me learn more about sub-Cultures, teen angst, social media, communicating skills, genders and sexuality . These were all new things that I was exposed to and I had a lot of questions.

So that’s what I did. I wrote about all these new things I was learning about and tried to portray that within my fan. I also linked in a bit of politics, ‘The all seeing eye’, or the ‘Big man is watching’. How social media is in many ways good but also corrupting and is causing problems within todays society. There’s so much pressure to look a certain way, or be in a relationship, have a ‘Friend group’ or take part in certain things.

For the skeleton of the fan I programmed one of my designs into a laser cutter machine and cut into some wood. My design is of an all seeing eye that goes into a teardrop to represent emotion and pressure that it’s putting onto the youth.

For the material of the fan I did a series of different textile techniques such as embroidery and appliqué. I also used some fabric paint to add some texture to it.

I’m going to stop babbling now..but this is what I came up with.

 

 

You read that right, my uni days are done.

Uni isn’t for everyone but I tried it and trust me I really did. Making the decision to leave wasn’t easy, it was really hard and emotional. Am I doing the right thing? Is this going to effect my future?  What will people think? Am I a failure?

But I want you guys to know that just because I’ve dropped out of uni doesn’t mean I’m giving up my dream. I’m planning on starting an apprenticeship in fashion design/tailoring/dress making, which I think will be much more up my street. I’ll be working in the industry, getting to know my clients, market and making on the job. I think I will excel more with this way of working and it will get me to where want to be. I will be starting from the bottom but we’ve all got to start from somewhere and I’ve got my entire life ahead of me.

Since I’ve made the decision to drop out of uni I feel so much happier and motivated within myself. If something doesn’t feel right that’s okay, maybe that thing isn’t for you. Life is too short to do something that makes you miserable. Don’t feel pressured by others to control the fate of your path. That doesn’t mean give up on your dreams, if there’s another brighter path that will get there why not take it?

 

I’ve been feeling a bit under the weather this week and haven’t had much inspiration. But I decided to try and helped myself  by going out and looking at materials that may catch my eye and give me vision of what I want to create for my project, ‘SHIRT-CODE’.

The deadline is getting closer now to when I have to sign off my design so I can start the making. I’ve got quite a lot of work ahead of me but that’s the life of a student…

I went to some charity shops as my project is to do with sustainability, zero waste and working ethically. Sadly I didn’t seem to find anything that caught my eye… But I’m going to have another rummage around soon, in hope I find something spectacular! 

At the beginning of this week I’ve started a new Tech-Dem Project on learning how to make a shirt so I will know what to do when making my own for my new project which has begun called ‘Shirt Code. These session of tech-dem will help me understand the process of making a shirt on my neatness of sewing.

I am very excited about making my first shirt and I’m looking forward to seeing what I design and come up with for my final project!

It’s still early days but this is the stage I’ve got up to so far with my tech-dem.

Today I had a lecture on my new brief and things are starting the get into gear. I’m actually really excited about what is to come with this project. I am still clueless of what I’m going to do but I can feel my creativity starting to flow, I know I’m really going to get into this!

I also had a tech-dem class on making shirt collars, but sadly I had to leave early as I’m feeling under the weather today. So I’m going to have to play major catch up sometime within the week!

At the end of last week we got give our new brief called ‘Shirt: Code’. So from the title you can probably guess that I will be making a shirt. But it actually seems really interesting as we have to look into sustainable material, up-cycling, re-using fabrics.

For those who don’t know, fashion production is one of the most polluting industries on the planet. Waste is one of the biggest design flaws, supply chain waste estimated at 800,000 tons a year on landfill sites!

So now the fashion industry is waking up and trying to become more sustainable and ethically aware to cause zero wastage.

So for this project we have been given a label to work with who are trying to make a difference to be more sustainable. I’m going to be working with  ‘H&M Conscious- for more sustainable fashion future’.

To start my research I went straight to the main source, H&M. Just looking at their new spring collection, shirts and textiles prints.

For those of you who didn’t know I’ve been starting up a acapella/music society with two others. We are very excited to get things up and running!

So today we’re holding a stall at the freshers fair, signing people up to build up our troop. We’re also going to be holding a social later on at the Zen bar, to get to know everyone who’s signed up so far on more of a personal level.

I feel that acapella is a very intimate thing and everyone has to be in-sink in order to get the best results. So I think a social is a great way for people to meet and loosen up and build that relationship.