Daddy('s) long legs (not a serious post of course)

This is not a serious post but an excuse to experiment uploading a short film on my blog as I have never done that before. The title is also a terrible pun but I thought it quite funny so you must forgive me my bad taste. The film is only 17 seconds long and if I had realised that it was going to turn out so good I would have made it much longer!
 

I have just returned from a weeks holiday in England and most my time was spent walking along the beach dodging the rain and blustery weather. I am quite a short person and my Dad too so it was quite fun to find that we had grown to such an incredible height in a matter of seconds. So here is 17 seconds of my Dad and I walking along a Lincolnshire beach and we have SUPER LONG LEGS, enjoy :)

Geometric 'CMYK' patterns

After doing a few geometric designs for the Patternbooth blog feature I have carried on experimenting with shapes and putting them into patterns. I quite like the idea of trying to create a bit of movement within the patterns by changing the 'flow' of the colours in the designs. I chose a bright and very bold colour palette of 'CMYK' which is the 4 colour printing process for print and paper. I also put the designs on my trusty 'Sadler Mugs' which is quite a habit of mine. 

P.S. I am having a weeks holiday in good old 'cold and windy' blighty this week so I don't know how much time I will have to blog and such. What with all the Christmas shopping I have to do and all the walks I have to fit in along the Lincolnshire beaches I think my timetable will be quite full! Happy week to you all. x

Dream Design 15 - Maike Thoma

Today I welcome Maike Thoma to Dream Designs. Maike is a German born surface pattern designer who studied fashion and textile design and now works under the name of Patternjots. She explains for us why she has chosen the pattern below as her Dream Design.

Why I love this design ? I love circles. I like to play with shapes and create new shapes by overlapping them. In this design I used "Scandinavian blue" as the accent colour. During my childhood I regularly visited Scandinavian countries and as a result Scandinavian design is very much a dominating theme in my design taste.

I love pattern on home interiors and I would love to see some of my designs on cushions, wallpaper and even on porcelain. For me dreaming big would be designing for Marimekko one day. 

Maike has been working as a fashion designer for almost 20 years and has always had a great passion for surface pattern and textile design. Maike's work is very graphic and she often uses hand drawn elements to create her patterns. Her style can also be very abstract although I find it has a very sophisticated feel to it and she creates a lot of depth in her designs. Lovely colour palettes, shapes, textures and spirals complete her portfolio to date.

After finishing the course "The Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design" she is currently working on her portfolio and website to change her career direction towards surface pattern design. Just recently one of her patterns made it into the final 25 of the Tigerprint Black and White competition.

You can buy some of her lovely work on Society 6 and very soon be able to see her portfolio at www.patternjots.com

Flights of Fancy

The latest Spoonflower competition goes under the name of 'Flights of Fancy'. Such a lovely name I could'nt resist not entering a pattern. The deadline was midnight yesterday and I began my design at about four o'clock in the afternoon... so I could'nt really be too choosy about the final result! I called my design 'Come fly with me' and it is certainly an invite which is hard to overlook. I would just like to add that the competition had a 'restricted colour palette' which means you can only use the colours specified by Spoonflower for this particular competition. For me this was the worst colour palette they have ever given out, so dull and very hard to make the design stand out or work well. It was a challenge and I managed to finish in time but I 'm not super pleased with the result, partly because of the colours and partly because I just could have done a bit better :)
You can see the design on Spoonflower here and of course vote for it if you want to!

Patternbooth blog feature

Today you will find a 'little' feature about me on Cara Holland's lovely Patternbooth blog. She is showcasing a few new patterns that I am working on and if you look closely in the corners of the design there is also a preview of my new logo! Hope you like the patterns AND my logo. Thanks Patternbooth!

Sneaky peek 3

This is an example of one of the designs you will find in my new Islands collection.The original motifs yet again were inspired by details taken from one of my doodleboards! I can't believe how much inspiration I get when I refer back to my A1 sheets, I just spread them over my studio floor and in no time at all I have ideas for patterns. I still need to find a work process which will help me with my colour palettes... but I am working on that one.

 

Next week, apart from a new Dream Designs post I will be sharing more sneaky peeks, perhaps of my new logo or maybe a layout or two from my new website, so stay tuned. Until then Happy Weekend.

Dream Design 14 - Tiffany Designs

Today we have a lovely entry on Dream Designs from Tiffany Designs a Surface Pattern Designer based in Glamorgan, UK. Her pattern is featured below and Tiffany has explained why she has chosen this design.

The reason I chose this design is because it reminds me of shells on a beach, and I sketched shells to create the design. The pattern works well graphically because it is easy to replicate and sits well when repeated.

As Tiffany didn't specify exactly what her Dream realisation for her pattern would be I hope she doesn't mind me suggesting a lovely silk fabric, maybe on sale at Liberty London... why not? 

After looking closely at Tiffany's work I have realised that she has two distinct styles. One like the pattern she has sent me as her Dream Design, pretty and contemporary, and one which is playful and whimsical. Her patterns are very versatile and could be applied to many different products or markets. Her portfolio contains many placement prints suitable for the children's market or the greeting cards sector. I find her style very modern and fresh with a playful use of bright colour palettes. 

Tiffany studied embroidery and design at the London College of Fashion and attended Camberwell Art School. She has recently completed all three modules of the on-line course 'The Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design' hosted by Rachael Taylor and Beth Nicolls, and is now looking for freelance opportunities. Her work has appeared on the wonderful Print and Pattern blog three times (thats three times more than me!), and also has been featured on Beth Nicolls's blog Do what you love. 
View her portfolio on her blog here or contact her directly at tiffanydesigns53@gmail.com

Sneaky peek 3

Well this is yet another 'Sneaky peek' post. Below you will find my latest design which is also being worked into a collection (I hope). I have called it Doilieaves, a mix of doilie and leaves... hee hee. I am still working on colourways and co-cordinates so it is still far from finished but I wanted to share it with you :)

Dream Design 13 - Gill Eggleston

Today I welcome Gill Eggleston, a British textile designer who works under the name of Pattern Addict and is based in France. Below please find her pattern and read what it's dream application would be.

 

As I am a home textile designer, I automatically am drawn to designing for fabrics and love the clean, simplistic nature of Scandinavian design which I think my latest design Malvik represents. My long term ambition is create my own signature collection of homewares

Gill is a very experienced designer who has already worked for a number of large maufacturers in her already successful career as a textile designer. However she is now concentrating on surface pattern design and her career is moving into a new era.

I find Gill's work very colourful and contemporary and it is full of lovely sketchy elements and 'doodle' style patterns. She claims to be 'drawn to nature and organic shapes' and I think she successfully creates something completely new with this inspiration. 

Just recently her work was shortlisted in the top 25 of the Tigerprint Black and White competition, and, only three days ago her pattern was placed in the top ten of the latest Spoonflower competition with the theme Arrows (not bad for her first attempt!) I'm sure she has done the right thing in changing the direction of her career and I look forward to following her progress.  

You can view Gill's portfolio on her website here and catch up with the latest news on her blog here.

'Mani Sunday' by Maria Jose Bautista Vargas

This is just a very quick note to talk about Majo who does a regular post on her blog La Patisserie des Idees called Mani Sunday, and this week it just happens to feature my nail designs called Star Bits. Majo recreates nail designs and patterns created by fellow ABSPD students for a project which we did a while back.

This is typical of Majo's fun loving approach to design. It is such a great idea and she has already completed over 15 reproductions from designs which we send to her, you can also see some of the others here. Although I'm sure it involves quite a lot of hard work it really makes me smile... well done Majo!

Sneaky peek 2

Believe me I am working hard... but that also means working NOT so hard on my blog, if you get my drift. If anyone is missing my posts (fine chance) here is a little snippet to last you until next week.

I am working on some 'collections' which will be part of my new website. Hoping to have lots of patterns to chose from I am leaving the choice until the very last minute.

This design is part of my 'Pretty in pink' collection. It originated from my doodleboard scribbles and I have surprised myself at how pretty the finished design is. For now it has been included in my Iconemesis Love Illustration collection of iphone 4 cases... but I have bigger dreams for it!

Hope you like it. Happy weekend to all x