A Day in the Life

I love to read about other peoples days creating and how we all manage to fit everything in. Often in between designing and creating we are juggling marketing, pr and admin never mind looking after our families and keeping house. I wonder how many of us are reading emails or tweeting whilst trying to  load the washing machine!!

Unfortunately I don't have a day in the life to share with you today, but I am in the process of contacting some fabric designers I have featured in Fabric Fridays to see if they would be kind enough to share a day in their busy lives.  But I would also love to read about your days, whether you craft for a living or for fun and would love a sneak peak at your workspace.  So please email me if you are interested in being featured in a day in the life.

In the meantime you may like to pop over to UK Handmade blog where they have a regular 'meet' section, with artists, designers and creative types sharing their workspace and creative lives with the readers.  Also the Folksy Blog have regular posts meeting different Folksy sellers.

A Day In The Life - Flemyng Design Photography

Whilst my own creative space has now been packed up in preparation for moving I am sure many of you are very busy in yours, especially as the creative world starts preparing for Christmas. I am excited about this weeks A Day in the Life as I am a keen amateur photographer. This week Katie from Flemyng Design Photography is going to share a day in her life. I will now pass you over to Katie -


Flemyng Design Photography – Katie Holland

Q.How did you get started in photography?

A. My Dad has always been a photographer, so I have dabbled in it for most of my life... mostly with rubbish cameras! A couple of years ago after investing in desktop publishing software (Adobe InDesign) I decided I would produce my own Christmas cards rather than buying them... I made a template I liked and discovered I could adapt it for other subjects. Since then I haven’t bought a single greetings card, but prefer instead to tailor them to the recipient’s interests and tastes.

I managed to sell some of the cards I made at events, and set up a website. Unfortunately this was a non-starter, and I had no takers... so the cards went on the back burner. Earlier in 2010 I decided my little point and shoot digital camera wasn’t really doing what I wanted it to, so I treated myself to a ‘proper’ camera – a Panasonic Lumix G1 DSLR and some macro lenses.


Suddenly I was able to do what I had always wanted to, and never could because I could never get close enough in... photograph flowers intimately and show off their beautiful secrets. Serendipitously I had noticed a growing trend for the writers of some of the blogs I read to make their photos look vintage through the use of filters... and I decided to have a go. From this Flemyng Design photography was born. I discovered that an otherwise fairly ordinary subject (albeit properly composed and cropped) could be transformed with a ‘through the viewfinder’ (TTV) layer which changed the character giving a contemporary image that has a nostalgic twist. I started off on Folksy, but found it very hard to drive traffic there and felt the publishing of the number of sales was off-putting to potential customers as it looked like I was untested. So I decided to develop my own site, which shows the images off to their best advantage and that has been much more successful.

Q. What is a typical creative day for you?

A. As a photographer I don’t tend to have a typical day because it all depends on where I happen to be and the weather conditions. A lot of my photographs are taken locally in my home county of Nottinghamshire... and the seasons are always on the move in terms of flowers, wild or cultivated. Many are taken on trips out or holidays... such as the ‘Of Sea and Shore’ collection which was taken whilst I was down in Cornwall. I suspect I become a pain in the neck on such trips as once I get my eye in I can see potential pictures everywhere, so have to keep stopping to capture them!



Q. What is your creative process?

A. Once my photographs are taken its time to download them onto the computer, scan through initially to find ones I think stand out from the rest and then settle down to cropping. The majority of my final images are square, which I think makes them a bit different from the majority of photos out there, so I need to bear this in mind when I compose the frame. I try to home in on some detail, and avoid getting the subject dead centre. I then work some magic and add my TTV layer, choosing one which complements the colours and subject of the photograph. Images are then uploaded to my various sites and sent to the printer.

Q. Do you create full time, part time or as a hobby?

A. At the moment I would have to say that this was something in between a hobby and part-time. The easy part is taking the photographs... the post production work takes time, marketing and promoting it takes even longer. What I do really enjoy is having a stack of orders which translates into a stack of neatly packed parcels waiting to wing their way out to different parts of the country. I also sew, knit and make jams and jellies, so there is always plenty to be getting on with!


Q. Where do you find inspiration for new ideas/designs?

A. Everything around me. A walk in the garden, a walk in the countryside... a trip round a museum or event like a vintage car rally all throw up endless possibilities! But I am confident that I have found my own ‘style’ now, and am comfortable within that.

Q. Where can your work be found?

A. On my main site  you can get anything as a print or as a card. I have a limited amount of images on folksy and have recently been included in From the Wilde’s exciting new online gallery. Prices start from £2 for a card and £10 for a 5x5 print (incl. p&p).


Thank you very much Katie. I agree it can take time to find your own style within your creative discipline and yours is fabulous.

Flemyng Design Photography

{website} {folksy} {gallery}

A Day in the Life - Valori Wells

For me wonderful designers are like celebrities and if I am honest I feel in awe or a little star struck when I meet or speak to one.  So when Valori Wells replied to my request for people to feature in my new Day in the Life feature I was very excited, having recently featured Valori in a Fabric Friday post.

fabric stash heaven!

Valori is an incredibly busy working mother, as you can find out now as she shares a day in her creative life.

day in my studio.....


My day usually starts with email. I get my computer time out of the way so that I can create. What I create depends on what deadline I have. Right now I am working on new fabric designs so I am at my drawing table.

Drawing Table

 these are some drawings in progress for new fabric.

 

My studio is above our garage in our house. It is pretty big and has wonderful high ceiling and lots of natural light. There is lots of space, although I can fill it up pretty quick. I have room for the whole family because I never want my kids to think of my studio or my work as something that takes me away from them. We think of it as another family room. These days I have to keep an eye out for the baby since he is crawling everywhere and taste testing EVERYTHING!!! I am sure he will eat some fabric at some point.

Mama Photo Wall

this is a bulletin board that is above my cutting table that I put lots of photos of the family, sketches, inspirational words....etc.

I have lots going on in the studio at one time....fabric designing, new fabric to make samples out of, painting (something I like to do for fun), knitting projects, sometimes silk screening, work from the store there are lots of projects in the works. My attention span is pretty short so I like to be able to work on what is inspiring me at the time. And when I get stuck on a project it is nice to have something else to work on. Like piecing a quilt - it can be just labor and then I can let my brain rest. In turn I usually figure out what I am stuck on and go back to it. Probably not the best use of my time but I have to be willing to stop and go with the kids around and life being as busy as it is. There are times when I have to work on store projects at home and it is nice to have more than one thing going.

Bird Box 

I have an obsession with boxes, containers....this one holds my birds (another obsession that I have), rocks that I like to draw on....other things that mean something to me. My girlfriend from college sent me the hand one day and she wrote on it “I am always here to lend a hand”.

Inspiration Wall

one of the walls in my studio with lots of ideas on for fabric, patterns, etc. sometimes just stuff that I like at the time.

Inspiration comes in so many forms...my kids inspire me. Their love for life and just being with them fuels my creativity. I take lots of photos - especially around my home and where we live. I look through magazines and love to go to galleries and look at other peoples art work.

My Red Chair

 My mom bought me this chair one year...my love!! I sit and knit there, read to the kids, just contemplate....

Painting in progress

I love to paint and this is a painting I have in progress for my girlfriend Carolyn..I do hope to get it done soon!

Friends

My stuffed friends...they are from patterns that I have done or just made them because. The kids love to get them out and play with them in the studio.

Thank you so much Valori for sharing a day in your life. I also have to have several projects on the go as I get bored easily, I just need to remember to make time to finish some of them soon!

Valori Wells

{website} {blog} {twitter}

A Day in the Life - Nicola Rowlands

Last Tuesday I introduced a new idea for this blog so that you have the chance to share a day in your life and for us all to learn a little more about the creative lives of other artists, designers and makers. I have had a great response and have some fantastic posts coming up over the next few weeks.

The first person to respond was artist and designer Nicola Rowlands.  Here are her answers to my questions-

When does your creative day begin?

Although I try my very best to seperate my work from my real life (ie I switch my computer off when my boyfriend gets back from work) I am nonstop looking at signs/the colours on the seat of the bus/peoples moustaches/writing down song lyrics on my hand/creating pdfs whilst sleeping...so in my mind, there is no beginning or end but in reality I get up around 6:30, shower, put my makeup on and that’s when my day starts.

Where do you create?

I sit at my desk to gather all of the research for a project, I sit on the bus to think a project through, the logistics of print/the reality of a project is discussed over a chicken shashlik at the Gurkha Grill with my longtime suffering other half, drawing is done in my living room accompanied by TV and tea and the finished product is usually picked up from a printers somewhere!

What do you create?

 Illustrations, greeting cards, designs for fabric, wedding invites, prints, stickers, mirrors, tea towels,  t shirts, logos...


Do you design/make/create full time, part time or as a hobby?

I’m self-employed...so it’s full time...and I mean full time!

If Full time, do you structure your day to include design time, making, admin and promotion or is it dependable on work load/orders?

I live by the power of The List. If the list says ‘think of 5 ideas for so and so brief,’ I get the bus to town and listen to my music and go through the project in my head.... and usually get to cross off ‘Post orders to so and so’ and ‘deposit cheque at bank’ off the list while I’m at it. So yes, I make sure that every aspect of a project is written on the list so that I can make time for each part and also get the deliciously satisfying enjoyment of crossing things off the list when they’re done.


If Part Time, is this an addition to another part time job or even a full time job?

I also run workshops at the BBC and freelance as a project manager at a web design studio... I love the variety but there is always a voice in the back of my head saying ‘you should get a real job...’

Where do you find inspiration for new ideas/designs?

It’s usually my constant desire to be better that inspires me to create new things... When I finish one project I’ve usually figured something new out or created a certain aesthetic that gives me an idea for my next project...if that makes sense?


Thanks Nicola. I am sure many of us can relate to working 'full' time when we're self empoyed!

Nicola Rowlands

{website} {etsy} {blog}

 {twitter} {facebook}

Please email me if you would like to share a day in your creative life.

buttonsandbows130{at}btinternet{dot}.com

A Day in the Life

                                                                         Everything Etsy

I love to see other peoples studios and enjoy finding out about a normal day for a full time crafter. I dream of having a studio/workroom like these I have pictured today, maybe one day! I know some of you are lucky enough to design and create as a full time business, whilst some of you are 5-9ers, creating after a full days work in a number of professions. 

Vicki Boutin : My Creative Space

Over the next few weeks I would love to feature some of you and your work on Tuesdays, asking you to write about a day in your life, whatever craft discipline or art and design medium you specialise in.  Even if you don't craft as a full time business or it is just a hobby I would love to hear about your inspiration, the way you work, is it methodical or you just create a whole piece at once, or are you like me and have several projects on the go at once!

Everything Etsy

If you would like to share a day in your creative life please email me buttonsandbows130{at}btinternet{dot}com I am happy to give more pointers of what to write or could just email you some questions and write up an interview if you prefer.

Everything Etsy

By sharing a day in the life of different designer makers we can all learn more about what is involved in creating something that we don't create ourselves. I look forward to hearing from you soon.