Make Something Cool Everyday

'Make something cool everyday' what a good motto or resolution or whatever you want to call it. Above are some images taken from Olly Moss' (http://www.ollymoss.com/) self initiated project to (surprisingly enough) make something cool everyday.... plus a llama with glasses for good measure.
I was talking with the boyf this evening actually, about how I want to work on more self initiated stuff. At the moment I put all my efforts into uni work and that is it, which is great, but all the ideas I have get written down and not put into motion which is a shame because I have lots of ideas and good ones I'll have you know! So anyway think I have just found new years resolution #1...

Superheroes

Came across these photos on fellow students blog (http://laurenelizabethwells.blogspot.com/- Have a look!) they are orginally from stylefrizz.com and you can see better quality images there if you fancy....
I don't really know much about fashion just think they are super (haha pun yeah?) images, love the concept along with the colours and poses.

Damn you burglar bill

Well my house got robbed last night, it's such a hassle with all the crime numbers and police in your house till 6am and insurance and lost essays/ photos/ videos ect. I came out of it the best off really because spookily, I forgot my scarf before I left the house so went back upstairs to get it and saw my laptop on my bed and thought hey for one time only why don't I just follow my dads advice and hide my laptop. Turns out it paid off and Larry the laptop is still my best friend...it's soo creepy (the burglary situation not the fact that I have given my laptop a name)...
So anyway me and the boyf went out for a 'ohh no I have been robbed, poor me' breakfast/ lunch. Here are some more food faces for you to enjoy :) I think the waitress thought we were a bit mental, oooh well it had been a rough night...

Also.

I thought I would post this too, looks better in real life and not on blogger. So yeah basically something I accidentally made in Print today just quite liked it so I thought I would give it a whole blog post!

Quick selection of work by Alan Kitching, they make my insides happy... Plus he looks like a jolly fellow...

Update

Updated poster idea for promoting this blog...

International Year of Astronomy

Apparently this year is the International Year of Astronomy....yeah I know, no one told me either! Anyway after a wrong turn the other week took me deep into the heart of the university's physics department (looking for a room I am sure does not exist) these images struck a cord and reminded me of those out of date textbooks you find in every science lab/ musty, old science teacher office. These retro images are a breath of fresh air in the highly photoshoped world we now live in, they remind me of screen printed images- more personal and unique.

Starting out as a self initiated project by designer Simon Page, the above images soon found their way into the hands of the Year of Astronomy organisers and were so successful they are now available to buy as prints. I also found the fact that Page is mathematically trained rather fascinating, since I have recently been spending a large amount of my time drawing various geometric patterns for the delightful professor Hann. It is nice to see a clever design use for them.

Bear and the boat

Something I made earlier, needed an image for my self promotion stuff. Currently feeling like it's too photoshoped, I hope I have time to screen print it or something handmade this week.

Hey fatty

Simon Spilsbury- Skeletonne, 2008.

Procrastinatetatetate

I have just realised that the main way I procrastinate is to write lists, hundreds and hundreds of lists, I trick myself since it makes me feel productive but in fact I am not actually doing any work...... Also I write blog posts......and browse flickr (hence above image, pretty super yeahh?)....

Codladh sámh Dan

Okay just a quick post before I get on with some work... Just thought I would post some family photos that I have on my computer here with me at uni. This post is mainly prompted by the fact that I have spent the last day or so in Liverpool at a family funeral. And basically at the after gathering thing my second cousin (?) had set up loads of photos of his dad (my grandpas brother) taken throughout his life and I was just thinking how much I love looking at all those old photos.

For one it is interesting seeing how my grandparents and great uncles looked when they were my age, having just moved over from Ireland to work. Secondly I love the quality and feel the old photos have, from the folds and creases to the faded colours and sepia tones. They just give me a warm feeling hahah :)

I did touch on this theme in some uni work last year but never really developed it further. One thought I had while working on it was the fact that those 3 photos above probably mean nothing to you since you won't know the people in them, but to me they are a link to my past and depict some of the most important people in my life and remind me of some of my happiest memories . It would be the same for me looking at your family photos, it would be nice to see them but they don't really mean that much to me. This point was raised again today when I found it much more interesting looking at the photos with my grandma. Mainly because she knew who most the people were and why and when the photos where taken, solving some mysteries in the process. Maybe it's the back story that I am really interested in. I have always said the first thing I would rescue in a fire would be the big box we keep all our family photos in, well maybe the cats first because they would be miffed if they got their tails singed...

I am not really sure what I am trying to say with this blog I could go on and on forever about photography and these photos and my family and memories so I will leave it there because geometric patterns are beckoning sigh...

p.s. I could also write a massive post about how I feel so very out of place in a church, bad times!

GIANT

Just saw this on BBC news (yeah yeah I know pure procrastination). Apparently giant deer used to exist, cool yeah?.. Maybe not?... Useless blog post? Pretty much, yeah....

Bookshelf spectrum

NEW LIFE AMBITION: To own a colour spectrum library..... *sighh* one day.

Up Up Away

I was just thinking about how I could promote this blog and having just seen the film Up, I was thinking that it would be really cool to set loads of balloons free with a label on the bottom with a link to this blog. You know like they used to do at school summer fairs and the person whose balloon got the furthest won something... However I have now come to the conclusion that it would be expensive and apparently those balloon setting free sessions are pretty bad for the environment, you know the story, the plankton eat the plastic and die, then the fish eat the plankton and die, then the sea gulls eat the fish and die ect. Maybe I could use doves instead or pigeons...?

The above image is something I found on flickr again (I am really not sure about copywrite stuff these days) and I just really liked it, I love the feel and look of Polaroids shame they have stopped making the film. I hope the impossible project becomes possible, it would be rather sad to say bye to Polaroid forever.

I wonder if I could do some message in a bottle type thing, although I don't really live near the sea right now. How disappionted would you be if you found a bottle washed up with a message in it that was just a link to this blog haha. Maybe I should start some sort of guerilla campaign and fill the library books with notes that have links to here written on them. At least that way I could target people who may be interested by putting them in certain books. That may be an idea actually....

Pinhole

Pinhole photography (image above found on flickr) need to find somewhere that sells photo paper since I have run out...

I LIKE DINOSAURS. That is all :)

The bane of life

Flyers. They annoy me so so much, they must be the least useful way of communicating with the world, well to the students of Leeds at least.

If you are a student in Leeds (and I am sure many other places across the country) you will be well aware of the people standing along your route around uni thrusting leaflets into your hands. I know I barely take a second look at the shiny bits of card in my hand. I think the reason they bug me so much is the fact that they all blend into one, gaudy, scantly clad woman promoting the same drinks offers at some night you don't care about plus they are so wasteful! You know the routine take a couple from the cold looking person, barely look at them, throw them in the next bin you see- that is not effective advertising. I wish these clubs and bars could get more inventive with their advertising. I tend to go on word of mouth about good nights out, not that I saw the flyer for the said night and thought 'oooh I must go there because that cartoon lady with big boobs told me to'.

Then again maybe the reason I don't like these flyers is because I am the wrong audience for them I can't say I am the biggest fan of R&B and hip hop nights. I have come across flyers with witty and memorable designs that have ended up on my notice board (images above). These flyers also happen to be advertising nights that I would actually go to. Coincidence? probably not.

One of those days

Think I must have woken up on the wrong side of bed today, just can't seem to shake off feeling tired and pissed off. Got my development work back from a project I am working on, not bad marks but not good enough in my mind, I am so bad at writing what I mean. It's all in my head I forget that people can't read my mind so I need to prove that I know it by being more detailed...arghh. Just typed 'got out of the wrong side of bed' into flickr and the above image is something it came up with, made me chuckle.. :) I should really get on with my design theory work bahh it's taking soo long I need to stop being such a perfectionist..

I bloody love these guys

Above are a few images by the design duo Telegramme. I am not sure how I stumbled across them but I really really love their work- so if anyone would like to buy me one of their prints for Christmas.. go for it :)
Anyway since I am currently spending most of my studio time at uni in the printing studios learning all sorts of printy things I thought I would have another look at their work and hence this post. Their primary medium is screen print, they say that they like this medium because its very experimental you are never sure what the end result is going to be. I definitely agree with this, so far this term I am not really sure what I have been trying to make and have just ended up playing and seeing what the end result is and it never quite being what I expected. I think the reason why I love their work is because its all handmade, obviously there are some elements of digital production but I think what makes their work so strong is the fact that there are imperfections and that they have to work with the limited colours of the inks leading them to be more inventive. I was thinking today (mainly due to it being rainy and cold outside) that it would be perfect to have all the screen printing equipment I needed in my room, I would never have to leave the house I could screen print all day and night and life would be good.....