Planet Ruby Starrs

The motivation to do college work from home has been low, I know that in the light of the bigger picture not having a degree show or a graduation is minor but its still disappointing and also I had under estimated how much I would miss the inspiration, the chat, the support, the camaraderie of my fellow students in our and across other year groups... I'm definitely missing the technical support and wish I could recall more of my one to one session re InDesign - I know its not complicated but its thwarting me at the moment!!!!! Anyway after a relaxing week in the garden - as relaxing as one can be knowing the virus is out there - we are lucky to be safe and hunkered down with plenty to do - I have decided to get as much uni work done as possible.  Its likely going to be a digital hand in and this means less scarves actually printed at this point, but lots of photography especially as my sketch book is crammed to the gills and multi layered and wont look half as good in pictures as...

Its a rum do this CORVID 19 - scary stuff and scarier still is the mob mentality that it has brought out across much of the population(post script...but the clapping was good).  I'd like to think that with the press coverage and films of nurses weeping people will start to act responsibly and stop raiding the shops like the Apocalypse is about to happen but I fear this wont make the slightest difference - for too many years now we have been conditioned to look after number one and its all about survival of the fittest!!!  I'm holding off supermarkets hoping that by the time we get desperate for loo paper and have emptied the cupboards life will have calmed down and everyone will have spent up and there may be stuff on some of the shelves!!!  Watching the television coverage it reminded me a bit of Cuba where there were small shops with long empty shelves and a couple of tins on each -  a country used to rationing!!! Yes it sounds very cynical and social media doe...

this beetle inspired by the Natural History Museum features quite a lot in my designs I'll passingly mention the Corona virus as it impacts everywhere - College has stopped all group sessions - the buildings remain open to use the facilities for the time being but ominous emails about handing in digitally are arriving so I expect it's only a matter of time before it shuts until further notice.  For some students this will cause massive problems - fortunately I'm probably going to be ok.  I have pretty much got myself to a place where I can work from home, I have printed several scarves at college using the sublimation printing and heat press, and now its just a matter of embellishment.  My intention is to order a further 6 designs from an external printing company so I can have them printed bigger and on natural fabrics like silk and cotton lawn but his may not happen just yet.  This is at considerable expense and due to purse strings being a wee bit tight - Dr...

Final designs happening at last!!!  I have over a 100 designs to choose from - some more final then others, some which I don't care for at all and some that still need a wee bit of working up, but all were part of the design development journey.  I am going to have 6 scarf designs printed by an external company and have just sent off for some sample prints to check colour and also to try and make a decision between printing on 100% soft cotton lawn which I have done before and it was very nice or 100% silk twill which will make the colours pop and is extremely floaty and perfect for scarves!!  I like the idea of both but just couldn't decide.  Printing the scarves is a huge expense for an impoverished pensioner art student so it needs to be right, so the outlay for samples feels worth it, it will hepl me decide which fabric works best and they will look grand in my sketch book.... and eventually I will make something from all these sample fabrics I've collected over ...

Last week I made a new discovery!! Our lecturer for professional practice is Claire A Baker, a textile artist specializing in embroidery https://www.facebook.com/claireabaker2/ .  I couldn't make her web page open so I have posted her Facebook page instead...  In the course of events which I think was more to do with our final major project rather than PP she brought in some of her work and talked a bit about embroidery and how it had evolved.   Her work is very beautiful and very inspiring, the work she showed us was very varied and in places incredibly detailed.  Totally beyond my patience levels although I would love to  give it a go one day... this is yet another skill to learn when I have time!!!! Claire is very involved with the Babushkas of Chernobyl - another tale for another time - but very very interesting and worth looking at her FB page to find out more... but back to my new discovery... hidden away in among Claire's incredible embroidery were...