Good Homes magazine feature: Cosy in the Country, Sarah Papworth.

Hello everyone,  

I hope you're all good?  My home was featured in this months Good Homes Magazine (November 2013).  It's quite strange to see the pictures in print, especially while I'm now typing at my turquoise desk right now!  It's about the converted barn mostly and how we've decorated it, including bits about the items I make for our home and the planet-kind homeware I design and hand-print for Beetroot Press; my small business.  

I've scanned in the pages below for you to see and I'm currently cosy-ing up our home more because of the drop in temperature.  Extra blankets are coming out, candles lit and hot water bottles in bed!  Hope you enjoy reading, or you can still grab a copy in the shops now until the 25th Oct.  

Hope you enjoy, thanks, Sarah

A Bump in the Road

Hi all!  My name is Leslie Mark and I am thrilled to be part of this community. Like many of you, I am a Surface Pattern Designer and license my work for use on consumer products.  I have provided some links at the end if you are interested in learning more about my work and me.  But today, I wanted to share a little encouragement for those of us who struggle on occasion to reignite our creative mojo. 

Have you ever hit an artistic bump in the road?  Have you felt that your creativity has taken a hiatus, your self-confidence is bleeding out and your focus has morphed into a swirling mass of confusion?  I think most of us can relate to these periods of faltering inspiration, the real question is, “how do I move through this slump?”

My first step in this and most situations is usually acceptance.  These tough times come and these tough times go.  It is so tempting to fall into the belief that the blockage is here to stay.   We need to remember that “this too shall pass”. Take a break from the panic, quiet your mind and remember an occasion when you have felt this discomfort before.  Walk all the way through.  Did you come out on the other side?  Of course you did and probably having gained a little piece of wisdom to move forward with.

When we are worried an impatient our self-esteem suffers.  That confident, self-assured go-getter starts hearing voices like, “I don’t have what it takes”, “everyone one else is better”, “my dreams are unrealistic”.   Talk to those voices out loud!  Tell them the truth.  "I am the same creative, persistent, courageous artist who created so many beautiful designs."  It is all still within you.  Sometimes, we just need a little break and a lot of trust in our gift and the process which sometimes moves quickly and sometimes moves slowly.

Now, go get some inspiration.  When you are too empty to create something new, go on a few eye candy collecting excursions.  Get out of the house.  Visit the nearest museum of art or public garden. Search through the sand, pebbles and driftwood on the beach. Take a moment to really notice the wildflowers in a meadow or forest.  Admire with intention the colors which surround you. Breathe in the rich scent of the season.  Remember what makes your soul sing and go do it, even if you don’t want to.  You’ll be better off for having made the effort.

I read this quote from A Return to Love by MarianneWilliamson a few years back.  This sentiment always helps to set me back on my path when I get bumped off course by all of the distractions of life.  I hope it will bring you some peace and direction as well.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light, not our darkness

That most frightens us.

We ask ourselves

Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God.

Your playing small

Does not serve the world.

There's nothing enlightened about shrinking

So that other people won't feel insecure around you.

We are all meant to shine,

As children do.

We were born to make manifest

The glory of God that is within us.

It's not just in some of us;

It's in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine,

We unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.

As we're liberated from our own fear,

Our presence automatically liberates others.”

Links:

My Website

Twitter

Pinterest

Facebook (warning-work in very slow progress :)

Sarah Papworth

Hello everyone,  I thought I'd take some time to say hello to my fellow members of The Little White book of Surface Pattern Designers and to those of you that visit the blog.

I'm a textile designer with a love of all things pattern rich and colourful!  I trained at Winchester School of Art as a Textile designer, I now live in the West Midlands, freelancing from the converted barn I live in.  I specialised in Hand-Printed textiles, and am still printing my own designs onto textiles and wall art under the name Beetroot Press.

Photographic floral

Wild meadow floral

I've been freelancing for the last year and a bit, along with designing for the Childrenswear design studio Lemon Ribbon, in areas such as Kids fashion and home for boys and girls, knitwear pattern, stationary, giftware, 3D visualising for home and gifts, colour work, vintage swatch reworks and ipad/kindle cases.  I am happy to take on new areas, as love a different challenge.

Little White Co

Bhs bedding

Patterned lampshade

Bhs scandi style mug

If you would like to see more or find out more about me, have a little look at the following links:

Portfolio
Blog
Beetroot press range
Beetroot Press Facebook page

Thanks and would love to hear from any of you.  Bye for now!

Edition 2 of The Little White Book

Hello all

As you may or may not be aware, I am planning this as of now. I have a very long list of people to connect with to supply details but just wanted to pop a note on here to say that it is in hand.
Apologies for the delay in getting it going. Life is a tad on the busy side.

The first edition has garnered some interest and a number of us have been offered licensing deals from it.

The final date for adding your name to be included is by midnight (GMT) 21st June - if you have already contacted me directly I have saved your name/details already.

There will be a shared Dropbox made available with a choice of three AI templates with the option to add more images (each one is set both left and right and you will be asked to complete both). I will add instructions on how to complete them should you need that  along with the templates.

The fee will be: 16GBP | 20 Euros | 25 USD - I hope to managed via Paypal for ease and clarity.

Further details will be sent out by email.

The anticipated delivery date is 30th Sept.

Hope this is still of interest to any of you that have expressed a desire to be involved previously and missed Edition 1.

Happy days :D
Gill

Introduction: JLW Illustration

Hello, My turn to introduce myself, I'm Jennie, a Leeds based Illustrator/Designer and mother to 3 (soon to be 4) amazingly inspiring children. 

Its taken me a while to gather the time to write a blog post about myself, Simply because I have had a pretty hectic start to 2013, but a great one never-the-less. 

I'd like to share a few designs that I have created recently, for various things, but it will give you an idea as to the 'type' of designer that I am. 

I LOVE a good geometric, and am partial to the odd flower pattern, or two (or 20), but here are some different designs that I have had the pleasure of creating recently.. 

©JLW Illustration 2013

©JLW Illustration 2013

This next one was for a Spoonflower Competition (currently still running here), and will be available to purchase as fabric shortly. I will also be using it to create a few little things for my soon-to-be-born son. 

I cannot wait. 

 ©JLW Illustration 2013

And here is where I am at my most comfortable, designing patterns with  florals and geometrics.

If you want to find out a little more about myself, my work or even peek at a little bit more of my work, then feel free to visit me here:

BLOG: www.jlwillustration.com

FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/jlwillustration

TWITTER: @JLWIllustration

EMAIL:jennie_whitham@yahoo.co.uk

ETSY: www.etsy.com/shop/jlwillustration 

Thanks for taking the time to read my little introduction. 

The 'mighty' yet humble pencil - a brief history.

The other day I was pondering over how little I tend to use the basic design tools these days, other than a trusty old HB pencil that sits by my keyboard and the old spot of black Indian ink for drawing and painting.

Pencils are, by their very design, modest but the lovely marks that can be created have always led to it being one of my favourite implements which I plan to use more.

So, it had me start thinking about how the origins of the 'mighty' yet rather humble pencil so I set about an internet search; with The Cumberland Pencil Company in mind.

They are based in Keswick (my father's home town, in fact) so I have been to the museum there a couple of times but not for some years now.

The Cumberland Pencil Company, Keswick- image courtesy of Derwent

Now according to the history information on the Derwent site, legend has it that in the early 1500s, a violent storm in the Borrowdale area of what was then Cumberland led to a number of trees being uprooted which in turn led the discovery of a strange black material underneath. This material turned out to be graphite and shepherds began using it to mark their sheep.

A cottage industry of pencil making soon developed, culminating in the formation of the UK’s first pencil factory in 1832.

With a history of over 180 years, the factory has had numerous owners and became the Cumberland Pencil Company in 1916.

The brand 'Derwent' came to market in 1938 and from that point on their range has developed into something from very traditional to quite innovative.

A lot of the processes used in pencil making in modern times were pioneered by The Cumberland Pencil Company.

Here are some old black and white images taken from the Derwent website:

Assembling -courtesy of Derwent

Finishing - courtesy of Derwent

The basic principles of manufacture have remained the same although the processes that used to be done by hand are now fully automated.

For a full overview of 'all things pencil' why not have a peak at their website.

They are currently running a competition with a fairly significant prize for people with exceptional talent working in pencil so for further details you can click through to their site using the link above.

Hopefully, you will feel inspired to pick a pencil and start drawing again (or even better go and visit!)

Pattern Addict.

A hello from me

Hello!

I wanted to write a quick bit about myself to start.

Having graduated in Illustration last year from Cambridge School of Art, I am now looking for Internships or placements within the design field, but it does seem to be hard pinning anything down, I have had some interviews but no success, which hasn't dampened my dreams yet and I will keep on trying. I am currently trying to get the ball rolling with my blogging and social networking, I have found this a great way of sharing ideas and tips. I'm also planning on selling for now pretty hearts made of buttons and wire alongside handmade greetings cards with my patterns on, in little local shops and online.

My patterns tend to be a little humorous and subject based. In the last year I have found my love for colour and really enjoy choosing which colours work well with each other.  I do also have my own Facebook page, Twitter and Website,  please take a look and follow if you like, my website has a link to my Blog.

Thank you Gill Eggleston for the opportunity to be part of this wonderful Blog :)

Here are a few examples of my work.

 

 

 

                                         

Introduction from Laura Olivia

Hi everyone! The fabulous Gill Eggleston of Pattern Addict has kindly asked if I can be a guest author on her lovely blog so I thought I would take the time to introduce myself properly before posting. My name is Laura and I run my surface pattern design business ‘Laura Olivia’ from my studio in Nottingham.  I mainly work as a freelancer designer for various retailers and suppliers within the interiors industry, but more recently I have had some exciting stationery and fashion product come my way.You can view my website here and I hope that you will join my FB and twitter pages too and also take a look at my little blog. 

I strongly believe that there is enough work for everyone in this industry and that we should be supporting, guiding, promoting, and learning from one another, not to mention having fun talking about what we all love! I'll leave you with a sneak peek at my brand new cushion prints due to launch in the coming weeks and will be back soon!

Achieving brand recognition

I was tooting on the web the other day and came across the very well informed blogger and art licensing guru Joan Beiriger.

She has some very good posts on her blog about licensing designs - mostly focused towards the US but if you spend the time looking you will find a plethora of information on how to carve your way into the world of licensing so I thought it worth a mention here.


The link below takes you straight to her thoughts on Achieving brand recognition.

http://joanbeiriger.blogspot.fr/2010/07/art-licensing-achieving-brand.html

Pattern Addict
x

Making it simple

"A Hiena Feliz", pattern for the background of a blog, copyright Bethania Lima, 2013.

A very old, sweet and rigorous math teacher of mine, years ago, too many years ago to mention, was teaching us logarithm and began the class by asking: “What’s a logarithm?” Promptly, he answered: “A logarithm is a number”.

I love that way of focusing at things. Let’s get it straight. Let’s not complicate things. That was his message. Logarithms are not complicated at all, they are just numbers.

Surface Pattern Design is not complicated at all either. It is just … pattern. Designed by someone (hopefully one of us, J) to fit/cover/embellish/protect a certain surface.

I have recently begun some pattern boards on Pinterest. Some of my boards cover the sort of patterns that are around us (dots, stripes, florals, geometric, graphic, conversational, you name it). Other boards were created considering the end product that will have patterns on its surface (for instance, garments, home wares, scarves, rugs, fabrics in general, stationery items, so on and so forth).

And, keeping it simple, what’s The Little White Book of Surface Pattern Designers? Well, guess what? Oh, yeah, it is a book. That simple. A book that contains the authors of those previously mentioned patterns that cover surfaces that are everywhere. Who would be interested in that book, you may ask. Well, hopefully, anyone who is interested in adding a pattern to the surface of their products and would like to see a list of people who had been trained to do so. In a proper, passionate and creative way. And the designers found in that book represent a huge range of styles, backgrounds, cultures, ages, areas. In other words: diversity and freshness.

Talking about the book, I must tell you that it all began with a fun and clever idea from a special lady, called Gill Eggleston (the designer behind Pattern Addict, who, by the way, also created this blog). She invited all the designers participating in a Facebook group of fellow designers to make Efutos (a Japanese charming word for decorated envelopes) to send one another and also to feature them in the book she was creating. So, The White Book came out of this delicious initiative of her and became a very colorful showcase of Efutos, representing the different talents we, pattern designers from the group, have. On top of being a great designer and illustrator, Giil is very talented at handling projects and getting things done. She’s a multi task, unstoppable, kind of talent.  And I am very proud of being on the same group as she is.  I am very proud of taking part on The White Book. If you haven’t seen it yet, go and have a look. It is fun, beautiful, colourful and has almost no numbers on it (in case you’re not a fan of logarithms!).

 

Thank you for stopping by.

Bethania.