Time to get back in to gear...

February was a long time ago and that was when I last posted on 'jane on jane st'.

'jane' has been in limbo for a little while now as my work took over, and I was a little bit disillusioned from 'designer's block'. I wasn't getting any inspiration, from anywhere.

I have my diploma for Surface Design and Colour Design. I did quite well in the course, receiving a couple of awards in each year of my study, including being selected in the Student Section of the Dulux Colour Awards. Didn't matter though, the inspiration had left me.

With the need to work towards 'What am I going to do after my Banking career!', I feel it's time to really sit back and take a look at why the inspiration left me.

It was partly to do with the fact that I wasn't using the theory I knew and I was trying to do everything on Illustrator and Photoshop. I wasn't looking at what was around me, to gain inspiration from nature and colour. It's easy to look through books and magazines and know that 'you could do that', but it's tougher if you don't have a starting point.

Geometrics are my favourite. They are easy to complete in Illustrator, but sometimes difficult when preparing for a repeat pattern. But I wanted to explore other designs.

I have everything I need, although I do need a new laptop/computer. Hmm...tossing up between going all out with Apple Mac or sticking with a PC. I currently have a Dell, but verging on a decision between HP, Toshiba and Asus.

I read MANY design, pattern and fabric blogs. These are inspiring, but you don't want to COPY. There are rules about that. And I'm not a copier anyway, I want to truly do something that reflects my personality.

So I'm starting again. I have some time off coming up, although some of that is to see my baby Grandson Archie...oh and his Mum and Dad (my son)...can't forget about them! I'm going to use the time off to gather some materials, natural objects and so on, even toys, as I'm feeling the urge to create a range of children's fabrics, now that Archie has arrived.

In recent months I've also been doing research on ways to have my fabrics printed. For a while now, Spoonflower in the US has done some for me, and with the AUS/USD conversion hitting an all time high, it was a great opportunity to test the waters and see how my fabrics looked.

This fabric design was my first printed by Spoonflower.

The bags turned out really well and many friends have commented on them. I have a few orders for Christmas for them in a couple of other designs I've done. This is where the dilema with fabric printing came in. With Spoonflower being in America it takes a while to get here sometimes. The first order was quick, but lulled me in to a false sense of hope...initially...then the second and third order took a while, much longer than the first. They sent out 'apologies for the delay' emails, but my preference was still to have the printing done here in Australia.

I came across Michelle from the blog Leni and Rose, who was in the process of setting up a digital printing company in Melbourne, Frankie & Swiss.

I know there are digital printing companies in Sydney, one of them was a customer of mine ages ago, but I need one that will do small print runs for me. At least until I have my design portfolio, because the hardest part is configuring the colours on your computer to the output print. Michelle and the team at Frankie & Swiss have a Pantone colour chart printed on their fabrics, they have 5 base fabrics...I think, could be 6. Anyway, you can select any or all of the fabrics and have a colour chart printed, with the Pantone code, so you know what the colour will look like from your design on the computer, to the end result.

I ordered this one on their linen base fabric, as it will probably be the one I'll use the most, so now I'm off to re-do, or at least look at the colours I've selected, on my existing designs in readiness to have Michelle and her team print some tests for me.

Kimberley Kight, another Spoonflower user and author of the fabric blog 'True Up' has recently published her book 'A Field Guide to Fabric Design'. I pre-ordered it a short time ago as it was only released on November 7, and to my surprise it arrived in the mail this week. She has some fantastic tips on the areas of design I am lacking focus and desperately need a refresh on the theory of.

 

The colour matching will probably take me a while, so my task is to focus on a couple of the designs and have them re-printed in Melbourne by Frankie & Swiss. 

Watch this space!