I've been on Hiatus

Why do you ask? Because I am in SWEDEN!

Yes I am currently in the home of Ikea abroad on exchange! How exciting right? Anyway I have been terribly busy with uni work (I'm taking masters subjects - why did I think that was a good idea?!) and busy being a tourist and partying hard. All terribly tiring and time consuming.

I will update on what I've been working on all semester when I'm done but in the mean time I thought I might share this awesome video of Phil Cuttance. He make AWESOME organicly geometric (contradictory I know but when you see you will understand) lightshades, vases and even tables as part of his Faceture series. 

Just watch the video.

Till I find the time to make another post.

HEJ DÅ!!

Illustration assignments

one of my finals for this semesters. Will add more details after I finish these 3 other assignments... Kill me now (not really)

- Julie

Painting Gems

As much as I love Industrial Design, it's always fun to go and explore other things. Which is probably why I like to choose a bunch of different things for electives at uni as opposed to using those elective units to sub-major in something.

This semester I am taking Illustration 1 (click for a subject description). Our first assignment has a bit of a live brief in that we have an ACTUAL CLIENT! Whether our work goes to print is up to them. But yes we are illustrating for 2ser. Here are some photos of how that's going.

Need to do some illustrations for this local radio station literally just outside uni.

Workspace 1

Painting scans

Rearrangement on Photoshop

Workspace 2

So as you can see, the concept I'm working from is 'the gems of radio'. Still need to do a lot more painting. Have 2 other iterations of this concept to paint up. Mostly just playing with rendering techniques at the moment. Using ink and watercolour!

All in all I am quite loving this subject. So relieving and relaxing compared to everything else I have to do (which I haven't really posted about but might later). Can't believe I can sit and paint for hours and call it work. SO much fun! :)

Will probably update on how it's going sometime next week. Just over a week left to work on it! Till then!

Ciao!

Food & Photography

Two of my favourite things and they go beautifully together!

So my mum has been baking a lot the past month or so (probably because Better Crocker mixes were on sale). She does the baking and more often than not I am resident cake decorator. And so after each masterpiece (not really) I take photos and post them on facebook to make my friends jealous.

I just felt like collating all the photos and posting them up so I can share them all here.

Enjoy!

(from most recent to oldest)

Leche Flan (creme caramel)

Pavlova

Devil's food cake

Pavlova

Chocolate Fudge cake w/ cream

Mum's birthday pan CAKE

Chocolate cake or some kind w/ sprinkles!

- Julie

NEW URL

Also for those of you who are yet to notice..

My blog has a new URL!

juliesdesignadventures.blogspot.com

I thought it would be a bit more appropriate for the purpose of this blog being a design blog. Hope to be able to show more projects and process on here for a more professional... thing (biggest mind blank)

Anyway have a GREAT Easter everyone! Here is an origami rabbit I prepared earlier :)

- Julie.

Setting up shop

So I don't know if you know but I've been crafting since forever and have always wanted to be able to make and sell my own stuff (and hey presto! I do a design course, go figure).

Anyway I've always made little things out of felt (images below) for friends and family back in high school half because it cost less to make birthday gifts and I could cram it the night before (like my assignments!). I've always been pretty pleased with what I've come up with. In saying that, I've never made anything more than once.

After seeing so many of my friends and people I know go into business for themselves selling their own things over the years I keep asking myself "Why aren't I doing that yet?". And to be honest I have no real excuse. I mean I am quite involved around and my non-uni project list is greater than my study workload (6 external projects vs. 4 uni assignments). Sometimes I wonder if I'm procrastinating this small business venture of my own  by doing all these other things?

I think it's because I've never had anyone actually hold me to account for getting it done. On the one hand its a big time commitment and I'm not even sure it will fall through so I guess I don't bother? All these other projects have immediate response sort of thing, generally because they are for other people. The most annoying thing is that I know I can do it and that I have the potential. People have been telling my that for YEARS but I haven't really lived up to it or at least to what I believe I am capable of. Maybe I should start planning to get back into it?

Anyway I leave you with some of my little felt creations.. If you think I could/should do something with it I would love to hear/see some support. I do have a small break in my semester coming up, might be a good time to start something!

The owls I actually have made twice but as you can see they turned out completely different. 

And then there's all the paper craft I do too! Geez, I wish I could only do one thing sometimes so that that would be all I do and I could just focus on those things.

Eugh, anyway I need to go back to working on this assignment for my Masters application..

Julie.

Holiday catch up

Also some of the stuff I did in the holidays after my last Christmas craft post. Pretty much just Christmas craft and things actually at Christmas (i.e. my cards and Christmas eve baking!)

So I finished painting and colouring my cards and FINALLY cut them all up!

20 self designed, handmade Christmas cards.

Little accident spilling a glass of water!!

The paper started curling!! *GASP* Don't worry I made spare cards.

Handmade envelopes with self designed address plates

I don't have a proper photo because I am silly and didn't think about that till after I posted and I cant be bothered looking for my spares to take a photo right now. So I am just borrowing a photo off my friend Rachel who took this and posted it on online after she got it.

ANWAY MOVING ON TO CHRISTMAS BAKING!

Our playground (my cousin & I)

We decided to make some gingerbread cookies.

YAY!!! Gingerstars :)

I really wanted to make a gingerbread house so I convinced my cousin to leave me some of the dough so I could make a mini one. Also decided to make a gingerbread man out of the leftover dough.

DECORATING! :)

CONSTRUCTION! This was actually really difficult because I couldn't be bothered to make actual icing so i was just using nutella to stick it all together.

YEWWW! Finished house!!

All snow dusted! With mister ginger bread :)
Pretty good for my first ever gingerbread house, no?

AND the back of the house

We arranged and dusted the gingerbread stars too! :)

And to give you a sense of scale... look how tiny it is! It was SO CUTE :)

Anyway, so that was some of my Christmas. Hope you enjoyed!

Julie.

AWOL

Now I know I don't update very much but I am starting to think I really do need to update this blog more especially as I get closer and closer to the end of my degree. Had Shane from http://thedesigndivision.com.au/ as a guest speaker at my ID Directions lecture on Friday. He is a graduate from my course (BD in Industrial Design, UTS) from a couple years back and told us what he's been up to.

I thought it was quite a great talk. Really makes me want to go and peruse my own little design group with a friend that we've been planning mostly just for fun. But one of the things I got out of it that I could start doing now was to build my online presence.

And SO I have decided to come back to this blog! I Hope to post once a week to update on what is going on. What I am doing at uni and anywhere else I happen to be working, designing, creating. I am looking forward to a great year! Not to mention that I am GOING TO SWEDEN ON EXCHANGE! :)

And I will leave you with some of that I have been up to so far this year (not much). Mostly photography, not as much design/creative stuff as I would have liked but better than nothing right?

Tangled installation at Sydney Festival First Night '12

I GOT A NEW FLASH! (belated gift (Christmas) from my parents)

I restrung the fairly lights in my room again 'cos I  was bored.

Painted apples on my nails, also because I was bored.

Made some cookies because lets face it, who doesn't like cookies?

Screen printing some commissioned bunting for O-Day at UTS!

What 44m of handmade bunting looks like. :)

Then uni started again. Some drawing exercises from my illustration class.

Random photo of Sydney from the water on a cruise I crashed.. hehe

My first set of homework for uni (also for my illustration class)

Made some dinosaurs for the guys from Wong Fu Productions (at thier Sydney show!)

And to end with some home made tofu/tapioca thing I made earlier today. Otherwise known as TAHO! Also because I just like taking photos of food.

Hope you (whoever you are) enjoyed this photodump. There should be more to come. Might do a dump of my work from last year. At least the stuff that never made it onto here during the year.

Here's to a great 2012!

Julie.