Well - I'm very pleased to find that I've been given a First for my degree! All that hard work and stress was worth it. 
I'm now going to take a break from all things design related over the summer and take the opportunity to refresh myself, and then start to plan the next step in September.

A busy and exciting week at New Designers at the Business Design Centre, Islington. Thanks to everyone who came to see us at our College stand, and for the positive and encouraging feedback about my work. 

After a few hectic weeks all the work is finally finished and now the degree show is up and running. Congratulations to all my fellow students for finishing the course. 

This is my display area with some of my aprons, tea towels, tablecloths, runner and crockery. 

Back at College again for the last few weeks of the course and busy in the print room screenprinting some tea towels.
Here's a couple of completed aprons.

I've just spent a few days in New York, singing with my local choir at an event at the Carnegie Hall. Not great timing considering how near we are to the end of the course, but it was too good an opportunity to pass up.
Between rehearsals I managed to get to the Chrysler Building and the Rockefeller building. I love Art Deco and took some photos of some of the architectural details.

And here are the finished items. I'm pleased with the way they've turned out.

Just spent an afternoon applying decals to crockery to go with a couple of my collections. It was a very enjoyable process and I was completely absorbed in it. The transfer paper is blue until it is fired, then it becomes clear, but in fact I like the blue blocks, and if I was doing it again I would have included some blocks of colour in the designs. 
The paper comes from Fotoceramics - send them your designs and they will print them off for you.

This week I've been screenprinting some samples of a motif for a table mat, and testing to see if it looks better with some simple machine embroidery on top of the printing.

One of the advantages of doing the course part time is that, in theory, there's a lot more time to get the work done. One of the disadvantages of being a mature student is that there's a lot of other things in life that get in the way and eat into your time. With the end of the course in sight, it's easy to let the pressure mount. But one of the things that I've found very helpful is a daily meditation. I've been doing it through Headspace 

which makes it very simple and straightforward, and is a supportive way to start the day, giving me a bit of space from all the busy thoughts about my project. By happy coincidence I've just reached the Creativity series in the programme. Highly recommended!

                                                                                                                                    www.getsomeheadspace.com

I've been at my sewing machine this week, making up my apron, tablecloth etc and a small sample curtain - a nice way to spend a few days, with the radio on and looking out over the garden between stitches, looking forward to spring. 

I found these printed fabric labels at www.cottontrends.co.uk and had some made up to give a professional look to the finished items. 

My first batch of fabric came off the digital printer last week - very exciting to see larger pieces of fabric in my own designs. My next job will be to start sewing them up into a tablecloth, napkin, apron etc. 
I've also done some sampling of simple machine embroidery on a runner.

Over the last few weeks I've been busy doing design development, and have made my first foray into digital print. Starting with some test samples I've been pleased with how it can translate most of the textural detail from my monoprints onto the fabric.

I went to see Angie Lewin's exhibition, A Natural Line, at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park over the weekend. A beautiful collection of her delicate drawings and striking woodblock prints. I particularly liked the small pieces with details painted onto pieces of driftwood.

I've been experimenting with monoprinting as a way of creating a base for designs. By its very nature it can be a bit hit and miss with some unexpected results but it's a good way of creating layers and motifs. Sometimes the image left on the plate looks good in its own right. When I was researching some background for this I came across Linda Germain's tips and the use of gel plates. This is something I want to try more of. I also love Andy Skinner's sophisticated use of the technique to make fine art prints.