Clay Play Sunday

, originally uploaded by iant °.

Today was a very creative day. I had a wonderful Sunday afternoon at my friends house messing about with clay. The idea was to make clay heads of each other. It's much more difficult than you first imagine. I was struggling with the eyes and lips. How are you supposed to keep it simple whist trying to keep a likeness of the persons head you are modelling? I enjoyed myself so much that I want to learn more.

I am now thinking about working in the style of another artist. I have decided on Picasso...watch this space.

I went to the Origin London Craft fair at Somerset House today. We had a lovely time and saw lots of exciting things.

Here are a few of my favourites:

Claire Cole Designs

Florrie

Louise Gardiner

Reny Van Der Kamp

Ruth Martin

Laura McCafferty

If I owned a magazine

If I owned a magazine, originally uploaded by Knitwit..

I made this today on Flickr. I messed about with it but can't seem to get the right size font and colour so it is a bit difficult to read...but you get the idea. My magazine would be like Heat but for knitters and feature articles such as:

All the leaves are brown....
....what to wear when the skies are grey

EXCLUSIVE How to Drop a Needle Size in 10 Days

SHOCK Maureen drops a stitch

Boys who knit FREE poster inside.

Any other ideas on what this mag could include would be gratefully received.

Preparation....

In November myself and members of my knitting group Outcast are taking part in a Craft Fair/Christmas market at South Hill Park in Bracknell on the 17th and 18th November. During my long Summer holiday I have been knitting madly on my knitting machine to get enough stock ready to sell at the Market.

The picture above shows a handwarmer in progress and my favourite book of the moment. I keep borrowing this book from the library. I love it so much. It has provided so much inspiration and keeps me entertained as I loving look at the wonderful pages and plan out future projects. Just not enough time in the day :(

Who am I as a designer and why do I choose the things I do...

I'm a student just about to go into my 3rd and final year - eek. During my studies my college has always asked us to reflect on what inspires us and why. I am still experimenting and trying out new ways of approaching my work but after looking at my flickr favourites there seems to be a theme running through the images I like such as bright colours, nostalgia, domesticity, pattern, traditional costume, Eastern European Folk, Fair Isle knitwear etc. So perhaps this is who I am as a designer?

7 random facts about me.

I have been 'tagged' by IanT who was 'tagged' by Alabamawhirly to take part in a tagging game of passing on 7 random facts about yourself.


So here are the rules of the game, copied verbatim from IanT and Alabamawhirly's blogs;

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself: some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).
4. Let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.

I am going to have trouble tagging people as I don't know anyone other than the above names on blogger. I am new to this. Once I become more established with the sites I'll get tagging...promise. In the meantime...lets talk about ME.....

7 Random Facts about me:

1. I LOVE Mayonaise. It is by my side most meal times. I put it on everything (except cake and curry)

2. I have a thing for men in tight leather trousers and long hair. eg. David Bowie in Labyrinth, Justin Hawkins from the Darkness and Jon Bon Jovi (oh the shame - now I'm blushing)

3. I love singing loudly when I'm at home alone to 'The Carpenters'.

4. My best creative ideas come to me when I'm in the bathroom.....either on the loo or in the bath.

5. I love the colour purple - really deep plum purple is my faveourite. I normally wear one item of clothing which is purple everyday.

6. I have a phobia of banks, post offices and doctors (I don't know why)

7. T and I once travelled from Salamanca (Spain)to Oxford on a band tour bus. We had the bus to ourselves. It was awesome. We watched DVD's and did crosswords whilst sat in oppulent green and purple leather chairs.

I am Knitwit

I set up this blogspot a few months ago but have been a bit shy to actually write on it. I am not very good at writing so that puts me off a bit BUT I had a great idea the other night and after chatting it over with my mate IanT down the pub I have decided to write more on my blog.

NOW....message to Ian - I absolutely PROMISE I didn't copy your blog name - like I set this blog up months ago before I knew your blog name.

So...my idea....I am a student. I am studying for a degree in Knitted Textiles. Instead of writing a dissertation we have to create a Reflective Journal. In our Reflective Journal we have to comment on our creative practice and reflect on our creative processes and discuss the who, the what and the why I as a designer do the things I do. Confused yet?

My firend alabamawhirly has joined a group on Flickr called 'crafting 365'. Everyday you post a photo of something you are making or have created that day and make a comment about it. The group rules say:

"Craft a little every day, take a photo and add it to your Flickr! Blog about it too if you want to :)
It's a great way to make sure devote a bit of time to your arts and crafts everyday, and it's always fun to track your work-in-progress, workspace mess and finished projects...
Everyone is welcome to join, no more than one photo per day, please tag them "crafting 365". Spread the crafty love!"

So I thought I could do a simular thing but make it about my college work and keep a blog diary/online reflective journal. My aim is to take regular photos of something that has inspired me, ideas and sucesses and/or failures of work I have created that day. Also it would be great if readers of this blog could comment on my work and give me 'constructive' feedback :)

Apologies for BAD spelling BAD Grammar and BAD punucation throughout this blog.