So after a week of no sleep, stress and crying all the time I have finally finished my degree! I am very proud of all my hard work and my display looks pretty good if  I do say so myself! The show opens on the 9th June and runs all week, so all are welcome!

So what's next? Well apart from the obvious applying for jobs and moving back in with mum and dad (of which I am NOT looking forward to doing) I'm going to carry on designing, taking inspiration from what I see around me and most of all drawing! Now that I have found a new love for it, I think it will never be over, after all that's what being creative is all about! I find out my grade on the 19th June so fingers crossed for me but also for all my hard working friends! At the moment I'm going to submit some designs for the expansion of global color mix magazine and see where that takes me. I'll keep you posted, bye all x

Tufting :)

Hello! Hope you have all had a good and productive week! I no I have! :) I have spent a lot of time on the tuft machine making samples for my final show! It's not long now till deadline and I have been finalising bits and pieces. Today I made a trip to ikea to get props for the degree show, whilst there I also got a base for my table top lampshade which I am now very proud off! I can't wait to share my final show pictures but for now pictures of my tuft designs will have to do.  The images below show a selection of pictures from my tuft designs. I hope you like it :) keep and eye out for another post as I get closer to deadline :) x

Hello again, I thought I would share with you what I have been up to this week. I have been planning my display for my degree show, sorting through my sketchbooks, busy with visualisations and trying to add something a bit different into my project. I got my lampshades back and I'm so please with them, they are much better then what I ever thought they would be and I'm so excited to see them up on display. However I think I need something different to add to the display, I have have been weaving with my designs on tracing paper to give it that abstract distorted look while keeping the detail drawing aspect to it as well. The following photos are a few examples of what I have done. Please excuse the quality of the photos, they were taken with my phone in my bedroom. Thanks for your time again, I'll keep you posted of what is happening over the next three weeks leading up to deadline.

Hi there, I have been absent over the last couple of days, been very busy with university. I have been designing my final lampshade designs, getting them printed and choosing what sizes to have them. It has been a difficult choice to make as I like them all so much so found it difficult to commit. However after a lot of hard work and trying lots of different things out, I have finally committed to my three final designs to be made into lampshades. I've made the decision to have three different sizes, one 58 inches high, one 46 inches high and the final one 36 inches high. I'm really pleased with this decision and like how they have turned out. They have been packed up and are ready to go! I'm so excited for this, can't wait to see the final outcomes :) I have also got my business cards as well which look very professional. Deadline is coming fast now, but I feel that I am getting there just a few more weeks of hard work and then I'm going to sleep for a week, drink cocktails and celebrate my degree show with my family and friends! The pictures below with show my digital designs printing off the dye printer, my business cards and finally my designs packed and ready to go :)

Hello again, I'm currently trying to design the third lampshade which will sit along side two others at my degree show. The first was inspired by free bark. I spent some time studying and drawing tree bark until some made it on to screen. I then worked with these images to create large scale designs which may be chosen to be made into lampshades.

The second lampshade was inspired by twigs on the tree. I again spent a lot of time studying and drawing these twigs. Some made it onto screen but I felt that they lost personality when screen printing with them. So I decided to have draw them onto the design, which took a whole week to complete. I then stitched into these designs to give it some added texture. 

Finally this brings me to my third lamp shade, I think I will choose a design that I have already done to print off. That way my hard work from before won't be going to waste. I better carry on or there will be no third design. Thank you for reading my blog, I will keep you updated on how the designing goes. X

new to blogging

Hello, let my start off my introducing myself. My name is Kelly Dyke and I'm currently coming to the end of my final major project at Birmingham city university studying textile design. As you can imagine I am extremely stressed, tired and over whelmed yet loving every minuet of it and I'm sad that is it coming to the end. I would love to share with you some images of what I have been up to over the past 13 weeks or so. My initial inspiration for this project was the English woodland. I cant tell you why exactly except that I just love trees! They are amazing, so organic, raw and rustic. Its the closest thing you will ever get to pure nature (well in my opinion anyway!). I started off with quick mark making to represent the tree bark. Mark making comes very natural to me, I love it, its so quick, fun and playful. To use ink and what ever is lying around the house be it the end of a paint brush, a tooth brush or a hair slide you can make mark with almost anything. However this project required more from me and with some encouragement from my peers at university I sat down to draw tree bark and twigs.

This can seem like an easy task, however to me the thought if sitting down and drawing anything really scared me. I think it is because I'm very impatient and I want things done now, rather then taking the time over it. I was so happy I gave it a chance as I have discovered I love to draw, I only wish I did it sooner! 

I am now currently designing a rang of lampshades and vessels from these original drawings. This had proven very difficult but I think it will be worth it in the end when they finally get made into the huge bespoke  one off lampshades. I will be sending them off on the 5th May which is very exciting :) at the moment I am stitching into one of the designs for the shades, I will then moving I to the vessels. Thank you for takin the time to read my blog post. I will keep you up to date with it's progress over the next few weeks.