Laser cutting

Fred Aldous are no longer taking laser cutting bookings with it being busy to the run up to Christmas. But I've found this new place called Fablab who charge £50 an hour, their easy to get too and are friendly and helpful. I was advised that the laser cutter is only compatible with svg and pdf file format and taught how to use the laser cutting machine myself. I managed to cut things out of acrylic, cardboard and wood. I tried cutting this 1cm thick flooring material but the laser cutter didn't cut through it, however, it did leave a burnt smell behind. The settings for the power/speed had to be changed depending on what was being laser cut. Materials can also be etched using the laser cutter just by slowing the speed. The laser bed is only 300x600mm so you can't work on a very large scale but it wwas fine for what I wanted to do.

Riitta Ikonen

Riitta Ikonen came in to college to give us a lecture on her work. She's a Finnish born Illustrator that loves to bring play into her work. I'd never heard of her before and the poster of her snowflake ( I didn't know it was a snowflake until she gave her talk) installation didn't really grab my interest. Ikonen was interesting to listen too, her lecture was playful and funny, very much like her work.

Although an Illustrator, her work focuses mainly on photography of nature and her quirky costumes which she creates herself. Her work tries to tackle serious issues like global warming but in a not so serious way that's personal to her. For instance her snowflake installation (below) was a response to the lack of snow in Finland when she went back to see her family for Christmas.

She's collaborated with many artists like Anja Schaffner and Anni Koponen but is currently working with Ian Wright in New York.

Boris Bally

American artist Boris Bally also recycles road signs to create a multitude of objects like furniture and kitchenware.

Metal Cutting

I wanted to cut out my shapes from metal and the laser cutter won't cut through metal so I looked around the Manchester area to find someone who could. After some research I found a metal cutting company based in Stockport but they only cut aluminium which I thought at the time would do the job. I wanted the shapes I'd designed to be cut out of metal then bent to the angle I wanted them and found that aluminum would have a cracked look around the bend. I was directed to another metal cutting company based in Hyde called Coleherne and after explaining what I wanted to do and that I was a student they kindly offered to cut the shapes for me. Unfortunatley for me Coleherne don't work with Adobe programs and I was told to convert my files to a dwg format otherwise they couldn't help me. I took a sheet of galvanised metal I'd bought with me and with my work on a pendrive in a dwg format I was ready. The files needed alittle tweaking when I got there but after that we were ready to get my metal shapes cut. Two shapes were cut from the galvanised sheet but they had too much burr around the edges. Coleherne kindly offered to cut the shapes out using their own metal sheets and this proved to be more successful. The shapes still had alittle burr but they could easily be smoothened using some scotch brite.

Marie Hermannson

Marie Hermannson created a lounge chair called"this way" from recycled road signs. The signs have been bent to a cylindrical shapes to form the bottom part of the chair which can be used for storage and the arrows form the lounging part of the chairs structure.

Rob Ryan

Went to the Rob Ryan exhibition at the Shire Hall Gallery in Staffordshire. His work is predominantly laser cut which ties in really well with my work because I'll be doing some of that myself. I'd never seen large pieces of his work (some were A1 size) only cards at trade fairs and exhibitions so it was quite a treat. The exhibition had large framed cut outs as well as screenprints, tiles, cards, mugs, bags, vynil wall art etc. It was a small exhibition but nonetheless beautiful, well worth seeing.

Negotiated brief

I've decided to use road signs as a starting point or should I say a theme for my project. I'm planning on creating some designs that incorporates the road signs for interior products like cushions. My highway code has come in handy and taking photographs of anything road related like car interiors , tyres, road markins etc. Lets see where it takes me.

Quilt Museum and Gallery

The Quilt Museum and Gallery in York contains over 400 quilts and is run by the Quilter's Guild. Only a few of the quilts are exhibited at a time and are rotated every few months so that the quilts are not damaged. The museum is based in a Medieval Guildhall called St Anthonys Hall and we were given a small talk on the history of the building. The building is pretty impressive, the museum/gallery is on the first floor in a large hall with smaller rooms leading out on either side. The hall itself has large timber beams and arches and some of the features are original like the chapel. Most of the quilts were contemporary but they looked like they belonged in the old building. The following artists work were being exhibited at the time Brenda Wroe, Jenni Dobson, Hilary Jackson, Hilary Beattie, Susan Hayes, Greta Fitchett, Julia Caprara, Lara Carter, Clyde Olliver, Nicola Henley, Barbrar Bailey.

Road signs

Debbie A. Lord

She came in to talk to us and show us some of her work. After finishing her studies she rang around Manchester to get company's to see her portfolio work and 5 companies showed an interest. After 4 years of working for Tom Lewis Studio creating designs for fabrics, wallpaper and bedding Lord decided to work freelance from home for Pure studios.

She showed us images and visualistaions of her work and brought in samples of wallpapers with her designs. Her top tips for inspiration were:

• create mood boards
• create your own reference library? fill boxes with fabric/wallpaper samples etc
• look at magazines for colour and design
• go to the shops, see whats new in texture/ shape/ colour, take photographs
• look through books
• buy vintage reference: Crownhouse sell old document archive material
• get out of the office, go for a walk or go to a museum

Her advice on recieving a brief were:

• whose the customer
• when's the deadline
• what colour and style
• always repeat size

list of important tradeshows:

• Premier Vision - Paris
• Decosit - Brussells
• Surtex - New York
• Hiemtex - Frankfurt
  

Acrylic manipulation

I've worked with acrylics in my previous projects by laser cutting, etching, layering, painting and sticking vynil. Now I want to fold and bend it like a piece of paper. Karl (the college 3D technician)is always on hand to help to intoduce me to new gadgets like the hot wire strip heater and vacuum former. Both of these equipments manipulate acrylics but in different ways.

The hotwire strip heater (below) is this metal machine that is plugged in and the metal thin strip is heated up. The acrylic sheet is placed on top of the heated wire, this is where the acrylic can be bent once heated. It's really easy and is great for angular bends and folds.



For curves the vacuum former is used, this is also a metal machine plugged in, the acrylic is placed on the bed and the lid is closed for about 30 seconds. then the acrylic is turned over onto its other side to be heated and the lid closed again (protective gloves have to be worn for this process). This alternating of the acrylic is done several times and it becomes soft and pliable. At this stage it can be wrapped around a mould to shape it or placed in a die to set it (see below).

Tent

After visiting Origins I went to see the Tent Design Event because it was just round the corner and there was a concession on the ticket if you bought the Origins and Tent ticket together. The MA students of Kings University were exhibiting their work and I particularly liked the illustration students work. The work was lovely but it was set in the gallery which was cramped and alittle chaotic. It didn't feel like it was organised well, the tent digital work was given much more floor space but not much was exhibited compared to the Kings University students.

On another note it's always exciting when you recognise someone's name or work. I'd been looking at some of Jo Pierce' work weeks before and Tent were exhibiting one of her pieces.

Bean bag by Jo Pierce

3D lace by Rachel Harding

Origins Craft Fair 2010

It's design week in London and there are soo many fairs and exhibitions going on that your spoilt for choice. Since I was only going down for the day I chose to go to the Origins Fair, Tent and 100% design if I could squeeze everything in in one day. I went to see Origins first because I'd never been before and judging from the website it looked right up my street. With limited time I decided to make a list of the artists that I wanted to see at the fair. The people were friendly and approachable and were kind enough to take the time to answer questions. Some of the exhibitors said they had other incomes besides from their craft work which made me realise two things. One, these people were really passionate about their work because they continued to do it even if it wasn't paying all their bills. Secondly, success is measued in different ways, in this instance personal happiness and achievment.

Maarten Baas

I'm used to seeing clean cut linear furniture and Maarten Baas' work was a refreshing change. His furniture consists of a metal skeleton covered in clay by hand and then painted in bold coloured lacquer. They almost look like they belong in one of those fairytales you read when your a kid like Hansel and Gretel.

Lydia Meiying

Kosuke Ikeda

I don't know what to say about these illustrations except for Wow! The detailed patterns within these line drawings are amazing and so different from anything I've come across. Ikeda's work is simple but beautiful.

Maria Livings

I absolutely love these illustrative designs by Maria Livings for Lush Designs. There's something quite humurous about the designs in a childrens story kind of way.

New Designers 2010

I went to the New Designers Show in London to see the quality of work being produced by colleges and universities around the country and to give my support to some of my friends exhibiting at the show. This was the second consecutive year I've been going to see this show and I'll probably be going again next year with the possibility of exhibiting my own work (we shall see). There were some amazing work but nothing that has not been done before. The only thing that really stood out was a 3D dress designed by one of the graduated students (I can't remember her name). I've added a link to the official website below because it can explain the whole event better than i can. I'm afraid I've no images to post on this occasion because photographs were not allowed.

http://www.newdesigners.com/

Angie Lewin

I discovered Angie Lewins work by accident and immediately it reminded me of some 50's designs like Sandersons dandelion clocks and Lucienne Day's calyx. The similarities don't end there, Lewin's has designed a range of textile fabrics for Liberty's just like Day.

Sandersons dandelion clocks

Lucienne Day calyx

Angie Lewin Cliftop

Angie Lewin dandelion

Angie Lewin agapanthus