Teaching jobs

http://jobs.theguardian.com/job/4835889/art-teacher-all-girls-school-in-newham/
The link above is for a teaching job.
I have always love teaching and have a lot of experience teaching children and have considered doing a teaching qualification once I have completed my degree. Teaching seems to pay well compared to basic textile design jobs but there are a lot more responsibilities that go along with teaching. I think I would be more suited to teaching at college level as there is more of a creative freedom.

Design jobs

http://www.drapersjobs.com/job/2674005/print-design-assistant-/?LinkSource=TopJob

The link above is about a design job for White Stuff.
I have been looking at requirements and details of these type of jobs and a lot aren't as highly paid as you expect, not unless you have more experience.
When looking for jobs I would have to look at the company as morally, I would not want to work for a company that went against my beliefs of keeping the world from unnecessary pollution and damage.

Illustrations for cushions

For my practical project I need to create 2 coordinating cushions. One is going to be a suitcase that opens with a print of scarves inside and the other is a girl with a camcorder on her travels. I worked from a photograph I took of myself. I wouldn't usually use myself as a model but I didn't have anyone ready to photograph at the time. Here is my kodtrace ready to go onto my screen, my first sketch and the photograph I worked from.
All photos and work by myself.

Beach texture

I took my mum, nephew and pooch to the beach the other day and although it was pretty cold, the sun was gorgeous and picked out some lovely patterns on the beach that I thought would be useful for future design reference.
All photos taken by myself.

3D printing in design

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IS4Xw8f9LCc

While i was trawling through youtube I found another video about 3D printing where it talks to designers who explain how much more accessible 3D printing is now and how easy it is to use compared to what we think. This is what I really get excited about!

3D printed fashion

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeRH_Lm8_1g

I have seen some fashion items made using a 3D printer, but not with the amount of texture that this piece has! To me it looks like it could be based on underwater sea creatures and shells. This is something I would love to explore myself (if funds permitted) as I love any form of new technology that can be experimented with for art.

Edinburgh Zoo 2

Here are some of my photographs from Edinburgh Zoo.

Edinburgh Zoo.

Last week I visited Edinburgh Zoo so I made sure to take some videos and photographs of the animals as a design reference and to keep my nephew happy.
Here are some of my videos.

Stag and deer cushion

I decided that for Christmas that I wanted to make some cushions that my whole family would appreciate (and wouldn't cost me a fortune to make). I used a linen fabric that I had bought in bulk at a car boot sale and pigment dyes to create the print. Here is a photograph I took of one of them.

Tom Philipson

Tom Philipson calls himself a cabinet maker but what he had on show were some futuristic tables. He was one of the last exhibitors I saw at the BCTF and as he saw us eyeing up his work he came over to ask our opinions as it was his first year at the BCTF. But apparently it wasn't just us who loved his work, as he had received an award the day before from the BCTF and I am not surprised. His work looked like it was inspired by spaceships and spiders but he only had a few items on show as each table took approximately 100 hours to make!
Here are some images on his work.

http://www.craftanddesign.net/_i/tomphilipson_xx_cxjr.jpg

http://www.craftanddesign.net/_i/tomphilipson_xx_9lrn.jpg

Lucy Levenson

Lucy Levenson makes folk art style textile interior products. She mainly uses print and applique to create her textile products. There's something quite enchanting about her busy prints.

http://www.lucylevenson.com/siteimages/26/6/0/266075/83/7/2/8372949/500x500.jpg?1396769871

http://www.lucylevenson.com/siteimages/26/6/0/266075/83/7/2/8372934/500x500.jpg?1396769517

Charlotte Nash

http://hearthomemag.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/Charlotte-Nash-Image-Brights-Gold-Mirror-Detail.jpg

Charlotte Nash was another crafty lady that exhibited at the BCTF last week. She uses traditional techniques alongside modern technology to create something quite special. She uses laser cutting with braiding and crochet. In her exhibition bay, she even created her own lighting which is shown in the image below.

http://www.craftfinder.org.uk/service/maker-image.aspx?width=800&height=400&guid=53c0e70f-ef79-41ef-b3bb-015b7f9d098d

Kiran Ravilious

Kiran Ravilious creates simple block prints. They may not be majorly innovative or difficult to produce but the simple clean lines are a breath of fresh air in this day and age.

http://www.kiranravilious.com/images/product_images/full/302.jpg

http://www.kiranravilious.com/images/product_images/full/304.jpg

Nicola Taylor

I fell in love with this girls work. She is such a talented photographer who creates so much emotion and atmosphere just in one image. She then translates them into accessories. Her images could be used to created some amazing and quirky digital prints for fabric or wallpaper.

http://www.notonthehighstreet.com/system/product_images/images/001/042/620/original_into-each-life-locket-necklace.jpg

http://cdn2.notonthehighstreet.com/system/product_images/images/001/229/427/original_like-ghosts-from-an-enchanter-fleeing-locket.jpg?1375952518

Art you wear.

I found a little brand at the BCTF that puts illustrations onto jewellery. They are based around art rather than jewellery. They give off a lot more emotion than a normal piece of jewellery. Justine Nettleton who creates these beautiful adornments is predominantly a fine artist which you can see is where her inspiration derives from.

http://www1.clikpic.com/justinenettleton/images/IMG_0366a_web.jpg

http://www1.clikpic.com/justinenettleton/images/IMG_0782-web.jpg

JEMS jewellery

http://www.jewellerybyems.co.uk/galleries.php?f=Jewellery%20Collections/The_Seaside_Collection

I found JEMS at the BCTF and she instantly started telling me about these gorgeous little items which at first I thought were just ornamental but they are actually silver chip shop forks that were inspired by driftwood.

so you could have one of these hanging from a pendant and ready to use at any moment. Handy and stylish!

BCTF.

Last week I visited the British Craft Trade Fair and found some amazing work by certain individuals. There were hundreds of exhibitors who were happy to talk about their work. There seemed to be a lot of jewellery and pottery that was similar and not very innovative but the rest was of a really high quality. I was inspired by a photographer and furniture designer mainly. So my next few posts will be about some of the crafty people I met and inspired me.

My CV

Here is my CV. I have removed my personal details for obvious reason. We don't want any prank calls or identity fraud now do we?

Curriculum Vitae

Anna Corcoran

Address

Phone numbers

annacorcoranboutique@live.co.uk

I am a hard worker that strives for success. I have quite a lot of experience working with people of all ages and I think that is one of my strong points as I have had to work with disadvantaged children and children with learning and behavioural problems. I love to learn and I am willing to be trained up to fulfil a position. I am also very creative and can use this in practical situations to solve problems.

Education & Qualifications

Our Lady and St. Bede RC secondary school         2004-2009

10 GCSE’s including Maths and English

Cleveland College of Art and Design                        2009-2011

BTEC in Fashion and Clothing

I received overall 18 Distinctions in my modules which equals ‘Distinction Distinction Distinction’ which was the highest grade I could achieve.

Advanced GCE in Art and Design

                B    Textile Design

Key Skills Application of Number Level 2

Key Skills Communication Level 3

Career History

Anna Corcoran Boutique                              OWNER/DESIGNER                         March 2012- March 2013

Duties:

·         Designing and creating clothing and accessories.

·         Promoting business.

·         Creating promotional literature.

·         Using my visual merchandising skills to design my boutique.

·         Taking custom orders from clients.

·         Taking payments from clients.

·         Fabric sourcing.

·         Suggesting styling tips to clients.

Tony Gallagher Hair Salon                           JUNIOR AND RECEPTIONIST        March 2012-March 2013

Duties:

·         Answering the phone to arrange appointments and to deal with any client enquiries.

·         Taking payments from clients using the till and card machine.

·         Adding client information to the Salon database.

·         Completing simple hair dressing tasks.

·         General cleaning duties.

·         Arranging stock orders.

·         Ensuring clients have all their needs met.

·         Promoting offers for the salon.

·         Encouraging sales of salon products.

Apollo Arts                                                          WORKSHOP LEADER                       June 2010- August 2012

Duties:

·         Teaching children of primary school age art based workshops, such as Street Dance, Art, Fashion, ICT, Music and Cookery.

·         Ensuring the safety of the children.

·         Completing daily evaluations of the workshops success.

·         Assisting transporting the children from numerous venues.

·         Organising and planning work curriculums for the workshops.

·         Working as a team to create performances and exhibitions of what the children had learnt.

Blue Square Music (re-branded as Apollo Arts) OFFICE ASSISTANT            September 2007- September 2008

Duties:

·         General administrative duties such as using the Microsoft Office.

·         Dealing with tuition fees.

·         Promotional literature designing.

·         General cleaning duties.

·         Organising paperwork.

Other Achievements

I completed a week of work experience at Kate Fearnley Boutique in which I got an insight into how clothing shops are run and promoted. I was able to join in completing tasks with Kate Fearnley’s PA within the shop and the office.

Along with achieving a high grade in my BTEC at Cleveland College of Art and Design, I also received the Student of the Year Award 2 years in a row.

I am very familiar with Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop which I can use in a professional and creative manner.

Hobbies & interests

I was in a street dance company for 2 years called Arc Crew and in that time we won Youth Dance England. This meant I spent a lot of time with the other members creating dance routines and inputting our own ideas, this shows I can work well individually and as a part of a team.

For a number of years I have been interested in photography as a hobby and I am very familiar with all standards of cameras and equipment.

Also, I play guitar and I am a part of an acoustic duo in which we take popular songs and strip them back to make them our own using guitar, piano and voice.

References available upon request

Customer judgements.

Here is a photograph that I took of some notes that our class took on what we thought customers were like from just one photograph.
It turned out that the customers were completely different to what we thought from the photographs we were shown.

Considerations for design jobs.

Here is a photograph of some notes that our class wrote about things we would need to consider if we were looking at design companies to work for.

CV Writing

Here is a photograph that I took of some notes that our class wrote on CV writing.

Cover Letters

Here is a photograph that I took of some notes that our class took on how to structure a cover letter.

Old things 2

Here are some more images of some of the lovely items that were found at Kiwi Trading.

All images taken by me of objects found in Kiwi Trading.

Old Things

Our latest practical project is to create two coordinating cushions that are based around vintage objects so I took myself down to a shop called Kiwi Trading in Hartlepool. They sell second hand objects from furniture to cameras but you have to search around the shop to find your treasure. The guy who runs it was very helpful in finding the things we needed and also did us a deal where we could hire what we needed rather than buying them. Here are some images of the things I found.

All images taken by me of objects found in Kiwi Trading.

The Fashion and Textiles Museum London.

Last month I had a trip to London to look around museums, exhibitions and shops to get some inspiration for my own work and how to brand it. One of the places I visited was the Fashion and Textiles Museum which was showcasing artists work that was then turned into textiles prints. This included work by Andy Warhol and Picasso. It was probably one of the most interesting exhibitions I visited and thought I would share what I saw.

These are some photos I took in the exhibition.

All images taken by me at the Fashion and Textiles Museum.

More dotwork

Here are some more images of some gorgeous dot work tattoos.

Images from dot work tattoo artist Dots to Lines

New age dot work tattoos

I have recently become obsessed with dot work tattoos and what can be created by tiny dots. ( I've even indulged myself in this trend by adorning my elbow with dots). They can be used to shade and created lines which isn't what you expect. That's what I love about this tattoo style because when you see them from a distance you would never know that it wasn't done in the traditional style until you get up close. Plus, It makes the designs look more delicate.

Images from dot work tattoo artist Dots to Lines