Planet Ruby Starrs

Its been a very mixed week this week.  Motivation has shifted up and down like a yo yo... but I have finally completed my Professional Practice module and I'm reasonably pleased with it.  what I'm most pleased about is my amazing understanding of Adobe InDesign ha ha - I have watched and re-watched and gone through step by step endless you tube tutorials which I think I have to thank this lock down situation for - I would never have had the patience otherwise - and I have MASTERED this bloomin computer programme!!!!! Well mastered is probably an exaggeration but I am a long way into it and have even managed to add automatic figures and contents lists... I've tinted the pages... worked out paragraph styles... got an over riding master page - its looking like the bees knees - and I'm handing it in later today so I don't mess it up trying to be too clever!!! Final Major Project to be finished next - I have all the content, my final scarves and now waiting for the r...

As a distraction to college work I decided to overhaul the garden furniture.  These are nice chairs and tables we inherited when we bought out house but they have been left outside and were slightly disheveled and tatty (- bit like us at the moment) so I found some metal paint in the shed - again left by previous owner and I have sock painted them!!! Sock painting is a revelation!  I've always had a sound appreciation of socks, they can provide a wonderful variety to any outfit particular if worn oddly - they make rather good sock monkeys, sock dogs... dragons... puppets a  multitude of animals but until recently I had never though of painting with them.  Of course it means the immediate demise of the sock in question so they have to be way down the line past refurbishing socks but what a way to end life - giving shiny happy paint jobs to liven up the finicky painting of chairs and railings!!! sock painted garden furniture with sock ready for next coat...

I give you the raven king.... i was a bit gutted that I didn't get to print my raven scarves before lockdown!  I was so looking forward to embellishing the crowns with my hot fix gems I was donated by my sponsor  https://www.rhinestonesonline.co.uk/ it will eventually happen but in the meantime I have practiced a bit of heavy blinging on a sample I printed - the picture doesn't do it justice - its sooo shiny and lovely. An almost interesting fact.........the crown is actually the head of a beetle - as seen in other scarf designs. and the scarf with beetles on it is also embellished with hot fix rhinestones - rather more subtly - for now anyway but I have time on my hands...... lots of gems....... and a redundant hot fix gun.... watch this space.

Our frogs know nothing about lock down!!! They are hopping between gardens and believe me are making copious amounts of frogspawn and that requires breaking all social distancing rules....  I am ridiculously happy to find frogs and spawn in my pond!   It was just the icing on the cake when I had one of those good days - we had been feeling the pressure of the current situation when the sun started to shine, I had a major (for me) break through with InDesign, my 'lost in the post' plants turned up, my neighbor turned out to be friendly and then the frogs turned up!!!  Of course that night we sat down and watched the news and came back to reality - that's the last time I looked at the news... I find it so depressing and alarmist - I cant do anything other than what I am doing, I check odd bits on the internet so not completely unaware but I am, like many others, finding this constant battering very difficult. could this be a prince? I actually feel very privilege...

I've been working on some branding ideas this week... I went through a lot of stuff about flowers and ravens... using my drawings for business card design and letterheads - trying to design a logo - none of which I particularly liked.... there was a moment - given the current circumstances when I thought what the heck - anything will suffice at this point - then after an hour in the garden a a calming cuppa I resumed playing about and decided quite rationally this isolation/ quarantine will not go on for ever where as good branding and a nice logo might!!! I discarded my drafts using drawings, working on the premise that they can date very quickly.  I looked at what I had used for 'branding' when I was at Newcastle College and it did look dated compared to what I am doing now so with that in mind I took a different tack and thought about other angles my work had.  After more reflection I decided I liked the moon!  More faffing and I have some working ideas. ...