The Wonderful World of Webbing

A couple of weeks have now passed and my samples are well under way, maybe not all quite as under way as they should be, but all the scary decisions have been made and I have been staring at almost finished products today! I can be indecisive when it comes to certain things and spend a long time thinking....take webbing for instance! Who knew how many types of webbing there was out there! I usually have a good idea of what I want, but I like to see all the various options, maybe just so I know that the one I want is the right one? Then sometimes it's like a game of treasure hunt trying to track down the webbing that I saw somewhere ages ago that I know would be perfect! And then trying to describe it...

the wonderful webbing samples

This is why it has been invaluable working with a manufacturer who has years of experience in this field. What this guy doesn't know about webbing tapes or where to source them, well let's just say I am eternally grateful to him and his team.

So now there's only about six weeks until Pulse and I need to think about other stuff besides the products. I have to get my press images sorted this week and that other important thing...my stand. Travelling from Glasgow to London for the show puts a little extra pressure on coming up with a simple, yet effective stand design that wont require three vans and a trailer.....I only have 2m x 1m to fill, so I am probably exaggerating a little, but it does require some thought. That is why when I've been exhibiting at Top Drawer I have tried to grab some time to see what other people are doing as there's some great inspiration out there. For me, I think less will be more but like I said, I can be indecisive at times and I'm sure my stand design will change radically over the next six weeks...

Colourama!

So I'm making some new work for Pulse Launchpad....I can't say what it is yet, but I'm quite excited about it as it's something I've been thinking about since last year. I was very lucky to receive a Glasgow City Council Craft Makers Award last December to fund this project and as money is always an issue for a new business, I was/am extremely grateful for their support.

Having a bit of extra cash in the bank is allowing me to work with others instead of always doing everything myself. This is great in many ways, but one way in which it is hugely beneficial is you realise that you are in a chain and if I hold it up by dawdling over making decisions about colour then it puts everyone behind. So I've been very pro-active in choosing colours this last week! Something I love is looking at colour charts....it doesn't matter what they are for - paint, fabric, card, I'm not fussy! I just love the little squares or rectangles of colour all jammed onto a page. And I love choosing colours! I think as much as I love designing a new pattern. For me, I always design with the colours in mind. I can't draw things in black and add the colour later, it just doesn't work like that, so whenever I'm drawing or sketching ideas it's always with coloured pencils to hand.

acrylic canvas fabric colour swatches

 My new print designs are done and I have just got the acetate films back from the printers, so have been exposing the first screen this week. In fact today, we sampled the first piece of fabric in the first colour way and I was pretty happy when I lifted the screen up...so we shouldn't be holding the chain up too much!