Digital Metallics

After working with the metallic binders in the print room and coming up with my own shades, I decided it was time I did the same in my digital work - trying to show a more weathered metallic look. After a bit of trial and error I found that it definitely works best on a darker background, otherwise it becomes a little washed out in areas and you lose the illusion of a shiney surface. I began by just filling areas with a preset copper gradient and using the layer effects to change the opacity and tone of the metallics. This is what I've done in previous designs, but it's quite limiting to the amount of colours/shades you can achieve. Instead, I headed to image adjustments and began playing with the hue/saturation of the copper and that's when it just fell into place, this was the way for me to work with metallics when I'm in Photoshop! By altering the hue and saturation, I managed to give the copper a) a more subtle looking gradient and therefore, b) an aged aesthetic like the antique jewellery I've been focusing on. Then by adjusting the lightness (also in this hue adjustment window). 

I've managed to create a few different shades that I'd like to use, including the dusty platinum featured in the images above, a rose gold and a tarnished bronze.  

Metallic Binders

This time around I've tried to focus a lot more on my research, trying to be more rigorous and increase the quantity of things that I'm looking at, whilst varying the source from just using the internet. One of the things I've found quite useful is ordering samples from the companies that are aimed towards the same luxury market that I'm heading for - I've got a huge pile of wallpaper samples from companies like Zoffany, Harlequinn, Anthology and many more, all of which are just so beautiful and the quality of work that I'm hoping to produce throughout this project. I'm interested in how these companies use metallics in their products and the different types of metallics that can be found. You have the foils which add the most shine, there's metallic inks with a more subtle look and even glitter on the papers too. I was unsure about how I would achieve these looks, the only technique I'd done before was foiling but I knew that wouldn't give me the tarnished look that I wanted in areas of my work, but then I found out about metallic binders and I think this is really going to work for me. Mixing the gold or silver powder with the metallic binder makes for a very high shine, but straight from the palette look (something that I'm trying to avoid), however after speaking to the technicians I found that you can mix pigments into these to create your own metallic shades... Time to experiment!

Antique Shops

After finding the fake jewels in the the cheap shop in my home town, I decided it was time to get my head out of the books and went looking around the antique and junk stores of the city to see what kind of heirlooms Norwich had to offer. Walking in it was a little bit daunting, I don't tend to like a lot of clutter and I really dislike it in shops when things aren't organised and you really have to rummage for the things that you want. Not to say that I'm an organised person, quite the opposite in fact (my life is a mess) but that's why when I'm looking for things or in shops I need it to be organised, I need other people to be organised for me it would seem. However, once I'd got over my fear of rummaging through boxes and squeezing through the tight isles - and got sensitised to that old, dusty smell - I rathe enjoyed my little adventure to the junk shops! There was lots of great finds that I found inspiring for my work and it wasn't just jewellery; there were a lot of objects made from metal that had aged rather nicely, with a tarnished look and a slightly weathered texture. And there were a lot of unwanted old style bed warmers. BED WARMERS EVERYWHERE.

Working with the Paintings

Just like I did with my technical drawings, I used the same system with these paintings - just drawing a section by hand and then using digital processes to complete the image. This time I was slightly more organised and I scanned the image after the technical lines and then after the painting had been done on top so that the two were separate layers when I was working with them in Photoshop.

I tried a few different things once they were scanned in, initially just inverting the image like I had done with my other drawings, but it didn't quite have the same effect. They reminded me a little of blue prints, which I thought was quite interesting but it just looked messy. Because the Quink isn't a solid colours, the background is quite blotchy and unpleasant in its colouring once inverted. I did however really like the way the metallic colours, turned into this almost UltraViolet blue tone, as if painted in invisible ink and the UV light is being shone to reveal the design - now this I liked a lot! I think its a good development from my labyrinth idea, holding lots of secrets, maybe secret designs within my prints? 

As these ones were muddy in colour and quite flat to look at, I carried on and just completed the drawing in it's original colours and then experimented with the layers and things, eventually refining the UV/blue print look! By separating the drawing into layers: one enlarged area of the Quink for a more solid background colour, then the gold completed drawing, with the technical lines over the top, filled with a copper gradient. I was then able to use the layer effects, in this case the divide to create the blue tones. It's not perfected yet, but it's getting there!

After using the jewellery from a current designer in one of my technical drawings, it suddenly dawned on me that copyright could be an issue here, I've been from other designer's products and it panicked me a little. I decided to use the knowledge I've gained from my research and previous drawings to try and come up with some of my own shapes and plans, but still influenced by the antique / art deco style that I've been looking at. This time with the idea of drawing different parts of jewellery, to the put together to make a hybrid from parts, not completed drawings. Things that can be easily collaged together, and although they'll be part of a collection, there will never be the same drawing / piece of jewellery repeated in two different designs because they'll all be different.

Quink and Metallic Inks

Starting to become a little bored with the restrictions of technical drawing in my sketchbook, I wanted to regain some freedom so tried to incorporate ink and metallic paints into my work. Something to add a little more flow, colour; getting me away from my ruler, compass and fine liner details. Last term I bought some gold calligraphy inks to use in my fashion project, but I used more fluid inks instead, rather than these six shades that come in a palette. I thought this is is a better time than ever to try them out. They took a bit of getting used to, you have to use a lot of water at first to get them soluble enough to then paint with - it takes a lot of stirring on the surface with the paintbrush! Once I got them onto the paper, they came to life, with so much shine! The nice thing about them was that unlike with my bottled inks, I wasn't restricted to one shade of gold, there was a range from a very yellow, 'standard' gold colour, to white gold and platinum. This was great for the tarnished metals that I was going for, although maybe still a little bit too much on the shiney scale, but we'll get there. I guess they dry with more of a glitter look, rather than smooth look like that of older metals. I painted them onto a dark background to get a stronger metallic look, using my trusty Quink ink to do so (my all time favourite). 

Future Plans and Portfolios

There was a pretty hefty two day session that appears on our timetables this week, daunting at first, but actually the entire thing was ridiculously inspiring and a great push forward to think more about the future.

The dreaded question "So what are your plans after your degree?" something that I get asked on a regular basis by everyone in my life, not just tutors or peers, but family, my boyfriends family, neighbours, my old boss and colleagues. I remember in the summer between second and third year, one of the first things my partners Dad asked me when I met him for the first time was "So what's your goal, where are you going after uni?" I just laughed it off like I always do, "You shouldn't ask stuff like that, we don't think about that yet" And then third year began flying by and that 'yet' moment still hadn't dawned on me - until this session. I realised I needed to stop putting it to the back of my head and start thinking; what do I want to do with my life? At one point I had considered a gap year to New Zealand, and possibly doing placements in Europe or America, however those just never got dealt with and became day dreams rather than future plans - something you say you're going to do but never get round to planning or working towards them. With everything that has happened in the last 6 months, I've also realised how family orientated I am and even though I'd love to travel, and live globally, I just don't think I could now. I'm obviously open to moving around to find work, there's not much textile stuff going on in Norfolk, but I'd like it to be somewhere in Britain. No matter how lovely a placement in NYC sounds, it's just too far for this anxious little bird to fly.

Duck Egg Blue Interiors, Ely - What a find!

So, thinking about what life is going to be like after university is over, I've been house hunting and eventually we decided on Ely. It's a lot closer to London, so my boyfriend can commute a lot more easily that he can from Norwich and also it's not too far from my home town either (but far enough that our parents can't just pop round for a cuppa when they feel like it)! Anyway, while we were talking around the city centre, which is more like the centre of a small market town, I stumbled across this little interiors fabrics and accessories store - a little Aladdin's cave of pretty ornaments and cushions, but in the back there is just piles and piles of samples books! Which led me to find lots of new brands to investigate! Casadeco, CaSelio and Eijffinger. All of which had some amazing paper in the collections! Metallics, glass beads and even some holographic designs... And boy do I love a bit of holo'!

Definitely a place to keep an eye on in the future, for inspiration and to keep my designs relevant!