Planet Ruby Starrs

detail of autumn dawn scarf An intense couple of weeks but the whole Photoshop thing has finally clicked and that's all I'm going to say- it was a bit like the day when (aged 15) I suddenly realised how algebra worked... still couldn't fathom its use out but I had a vague idea of how to do it - the result being a much needed maths 'O' level first time round!!! Lets hope Photoshop proves as useful and enduring.. Incidentally and completely irrelevant but I now live with a man who does equations and calculus for fun! My module brief was to make two different, but matching, scarf designs inspired by Liberty style, a style I have always loved.  Each design had to be presented in two different colourways. From the outset I made this module my mission to overcome my aversion to digital design and find a way to incorporate computer aided design into my future work.  This required several hours of online Photoshop tutorials and really starting from the basics but I am...

I've been down to Leeds having a lovely visit to see friends and family, we stayed in the best 'hotel' ha ha courtesy of M&M who were fab hosts and then once home I find myself having to lay sickly in my bed for a few days hence no postings.. but I have a new favourite shop, Fab Works in Dewsbury... full of beautiful fabric, everything you could ever think of including the most wonderful woven tweedy colourful things from Avoca - the mill we visited in Ireland last year. I was quite giddy with excitement to say the least.... thinking I would purchase some nice Avoca cloth I actually ended up with the MOST fabulous redfur fabric to make a coat with!!! I did buy a little bit of nice thick woven pink and blue hounds tooth to make a skirt with but soooooo excited by potential red coat!!! Also I got my last module mark back which was a good mark but more importantly my tutor acknowledged my difficulty in obtaining the 'right' fabric so she suggested to try and...

Two very productive and enjoyable days at college doing lots of things I really like doing... sticking glueing, drawing. Our brief this module is to design two different scarves in different colourways.   Lots of the drawings I've been doing over the summer and more recently have come together to build a final overall design.  I have experimented with lots of different placement ideas using iconic liberty scarves, and other designers - Hermes, Swash and Lacroix for inspiration.  I've played with simple repeat designs in a William Morris style, they were pleasing but not quite right.   I tried changing the scale and making a picture scarf inspired by Swash scarves and it started to look more interesting.  potential (discarded) scarf design But in the end I decided to go with Lacroix inspiration and do a bold linear design for one scarf and a random large border design to be hand coloured for the second design. To this end I have spent all day ...

Feeling like a clever girl today... Finally, after about a year or more of wittering on about recovering my sofa I eventually got round to it!!   To be fair it was flinching about about the vast amount of fabric to potentially ruin, at considerable expense that was holding me back.  Its a lot of time and effort to put into something if you don't have (or like) the right material and good fabric cost lots of money.... Not having a pattern didn't help much and also to do the job right I knew it's not just about liking the fabric but also having lots of time, the inspiration, attitude and enthusiasm all on the same day - no mean feat! I was fortunate when looking for fabric samples for college I came across a bolt of upholstery fabric I liked in a sale - Probably cheaper than your average good calico so thinking the worst here will be a practice run I bit the bullet and bought 15 metres - a guess as to how much I would need.  (spot on guess!) To make myself feel better I...