Manufacturer List

Since I'm creating a brand a client list wasn't really what I needed to do, instead I was advised to a list on Manufacturers.

Clothing 

sublab
sublab is a uk based printing company they produce all over print t-shirts which I have noticed are getting more popular lately. I personally love the look of all over prints. The prices start from £26 for 1 and £18 each if you are ordering 26-50 t-shirts. They also offer neck label printing for 25p per t-shirt. They have templates for both photoshop and illustrator on the website making the design process easier. They also do standard t-shirt printing starting at £24 per t-shirt.

identity manchester
I'm not 100% sure they are still up and running but they do/did t shirts, hoodies, shirts, hats, bags and other clothing. I have used Identity before back in A level and my Dad is friends with the owner.

Rapanui Factory
Offers screenprinted t-shirts (which I could do in college anyway) and digitally printed t-shirts. They also do embroidery but there is a local place I could go to get that done.

They also own a site called Teemill which functions like Redbubble but I think you get a bigger cut of the profits.

Headmasters Embroidery & Schoolwear
Local company going to them would help support the local economy and keep businesses like this up and running. I have seen patches made by them and they are just as good quality as any other company. The website might look naff but they get the job done.

stockingshock
I have personally had a piece of clothing made by Stockingshock and it is fantastic quality. StockingShock is an British Gothic and Lolita brand, based in the English Midlands. On the website they say "All our regular designs are tweakable- i.e. if you don't like one feature you can swap it for another, or add some optional extras. Hardcore individualists can select the 'Custom' option and build an entirely one-off piece. You can also supply your own fabric; if doing so, please mention the fabric type (ie. fibre content, such as poly- cotton, wool etc. or a brief description of the fabric if you aren't sure of its composition) and width, and we will advise you of the amount needed."
They also offer custom designs at a discount if you supply your own fabric.

sewport
London based "SEWPORT helps the fashion industry with clothing production capabilities.

We make sure designers and brands don’t get held back because of lack of machinery and labour to produce clothes". They do long runs and short runs, they cover everything I would need help with. They can work from a sketch and design the pattern and go through every step of the manufacturing process.

Fabric

surface pattern print
100% UK based "create your customised fabric and wallpapers with no minimum meterage". "Student discounts available please get in touch for your unique discount code". Silk, Cotton & Polyester Fabrics from £15.99 per metre. They also print wallpaper which would be nice if you had a booth at a trade show or something similar, wallpaper starts at £19.99 per metre.

lacunapress
Based in Gloucestershire, next working day despatch, create your own fabric starting at £10.00 a meter, they advertise that their fabrics are created with environmentally friendly inks and processes. They have a wide range of fabrics to choose from.

printmepretty
Uk based, only seems to print on 195gsm plain cotton and doesn't have any price lists on the site.

citrus rain
Manchester based they produce towels, tablecloths, cushions, blinds, wallpaper, fabric etc. They offer a large variety of printed fabrics and they have pictures on the site so you can see which are better for colour and what the texture is like. Slower turnaround than some of the other companies.

Prints and Other

dstudio
UK based, offers prints on Hahnemuhle Bamboo paper which is more environmentally friendly, I have ordered samples from this company and the Bamboo paper is really nice and is great for coloured pieces. I've made a whole separate blog post on this company and the samples will be in my Ideas and research book which I'll hand in with the rest of my work.

beespokeprint.
UK Based small scale printing company which specialises in creating stock for conventions they do prints, holographic prints, stickers, holographic stickers, printed portfolios, custom sketchbooks etc. Sadly they often have to close shop to work on orders especially around convention times so the shop is closed at the moment because of the up coming London MCM. I have spoken to the owner before and she did say if you were doing a convention she was also going to be at she would bring your stock with her so you don't have to transport it.

jimiagency
Not UK based but I am including it because it has options I can't find elsewhere.They are based in South Korea which would mean I have to consider customs charges and handling fees. They can get designs printed on clear acrylic, card wallets (the kind you would carry a bus pass in), memopads, stamps, washi tape etc. I'm particularly interested in the memopads, stamps and washi tape. I think I have purchase washi tape which was produced through this company and the quality is excellent.

zap creatives
UK based company they do custom acrylic charms for jewelry, zippers, phone charms, shoes. They also do things like badges, papercraft models, phone covers, posters, greeting cards, stickers, wall mirrors, clocks, cupcake toppers, tea light holders etc.

Hand Lettering

Something I want to improve on this year is my hand lettering, tutors and other people have told me I have a natural nack for it. I am not into the technical ins and outs of typography but I do like my work when it includes hand lettering. In my recreational sketchbooks I like to sort of journal element, the work I do for myself is very much about what is going on in my life and how I am feeling. Some pages feature dairy style entries some just a phrase that sums up my day or how I am feeling in the moment. Sometimes it's just balls to the walls craziness that just rolls off the top of my head.

I want my work to have a more ziney feel, I like the spontaneous nature of it. I can collect, experiment more like that. One thing I don't like to see in my work is blank space, I like my work to be lively and I feel hand lettering really helps me fill in those blank spaces.

Some YouTube tutorials

How To DIY Modern Calligraphy
Hand Lettering Step By Step
Modern Calligraphy: Marcelle Lettering
Brush Script Lettering Basics This one is really helpful

I wish I had done this

There has been several artists that have really inspired me since the start of the course but Glenn Arthur has to be the one I go back to the most. I think it's that his main subject is women like me that draws me to his work, among his artwork their is also fan art of anime classics such as sailor moon and dragon ball. I tried my best to contact him for an interview but I got no response. It was very hard to choose one single piece of work of Glenn Arthur's I wish I had done because in reality I wish I had the skill to do all of them.

This was one of the first pieces of Glenn Arthur's work I saw and it is called Groundskeeper, so it is only apt I choose this one to talk the most about.

I love the detail in Glenn Arthur's work, the folds in her clothing the dappled appearance of the skull, the petals falling from the blooms on her dress and the detailing on the grave stones. Glenn Arthur does his work mostly in acrylic paint how he makes acrylic paint look almost air brushed is something which will probably always fascinate and boggle my mind in equal measure. He uses tiny brushes to achieve the flawless look of the paint. One thing I really love about this particular painting is her posture, it strikes me as very proud and I feel this when I look at Glenn Arthur's other paintings to. The motif of the strong proud woman that still retains a sense of fragility and grace. He paints the strange and the bazaar conjoined twins, bearded ladies, vampires and tattooed princesses. 

A motif that shows up in most of his pieces is a humming bird, if I had gotten an interview with him I would have asked him why the humming bird? I have my own theory however, humming birds are always close to starving because they have the highest metabolism of any bird a necessity in order to support the rapid beating of their wings during hovering and fast forward flight. To conserve energy when there is a lack of food hummingbird's go into a state similar to hibernation. Hummingbirds are continuously hours away from starving to death and are able to store just enough energy to survive overnight. My theory is that he includes hummingbird's to symbolize death or to symbolize making the most of life. In Groundskeeper you see both a skull and a hummingbird this leads me to think they might be juxtaposing each other the skull quite obviously representing death and the hummingbird to remind us of our mortality.

I love the expression on the girls face and the way he has painted her hair. I am normally one for vibrant colour pallets but the colour pallet Glenn has used in this painting is beautiful and gives an ethereal feel, there are other pieces that Glenn has done that exhibits much more vibrant colour pallets. The pink of her dress and the cream of her cloak really makes her stand out from her darker surroundings. The main elements are actually mostly grey with hints of blue in the headstones and yellow in the over cast sky.

The composition is quite standard with most of the key elements cantered in and towards the middle of the piece. The only thing I would have done differently if I would have painted this piece is I would make the gravestones in the background have different patterns/engravings rather than the same for all three. 

I don't think my working style will ever be anything like Glenn Arthur's and even though I love his work I wouldn't really want to pursue making work like his, I would feel like I would be ripping him off which I wouldn't want at all. I think I am satisfied with following his work and admiring the skill he has. I would one day really like to dive into painting with acrylics and maybe achieve that flawless look in my own style, I would also like to really start looking at the poses in which I draw my characters so I do can make my characters more fleshed out, for this I will have to look more into anatomy.

1,2,3

This post is about three of the best pieces of advice I have been given since starting the course some of these will not be a piece of advice per say more of a turn in the right direction.

1. The zine making workshop

In the zine workshop I learned that working on pages which already had some preexisting texture or image on really help one overcome blank page anxiety or new sketchbook anxiety. I am someone who can get very hung up on their work and want every page to be perfect while in the zine the perfection is that it isn't perfect it has misspells, it has sketches done on lined paper, receipts, napkins, photocopies from things that inspired you through out. for me I think it is the perfect way to document and brainstorm (and kick a sketchbook buying addiction). There is something wonderful about making it yourself, selecting the papers and the binding. It's like having a little nugget of personality. Personally next year I want to do away with having sketchbooks and just bind my own zine style sketchbooks I think it really helped me with my process when it came to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

2. Be a flaneur

There are so many things you miss when you have your mind set on a destination, enjoy just taking everything in and being purposefully lost. I made another post called Ode to Manchester which really explains in depth what happened when I was being a flaneur in Manchester during my Tales of The City project. I class Manchester as my hometown over Salford and I was surprised by how much of Manchester I have never seen before despite spending a lot of time there over the years. What really grabbed me was how much of Manchester juxtaposes, I saw posh bars next to dingy alleyways and crumbling walls of old factories. Austerity and prosperity dwelling right next door to one another, I felt like if the bars could speak they would be gloating.

3. Don't be afraid to take on more than you can chew (sometimes)

I have a habit of doing very ambitious projects, I feel like a cat with nine lives just managing to pull through every time. The good thing about having ambitious projects is it keeps you engaged because you have to stay engaged or the project will crumble, it forces you to make use of all the time you have. It's stressful but seeing the final outcomes is a great feeling.

Overly ambitious

Upon reflection I think I have been way to ambitious with this project, I'm really starting to feel that time isn't on my side. I didn't take into consideration how long it would take to achieve what I want to achieve or the money I have had to put in. This project has grown into something a lot bigger than first expected.

But I still have 12 days if I work really hard and try not to get distracted by my other creative endeavors hopefully I can pull it off. Blame my brain for always coming up with personal projects I really want to do while doing my main project.