REALISATION: Blog entry 45

________________________________________________________________

I can't believe it's finished! I picked up my fabric this morning, and it only took me a couple of hours to make my basket liner. Then, while I was doing it, I had the idea to photograph it outside, in front of some greenery. I was going to photograph it on a white background. But that's so boring, and everyone does it, and if you haven't got the right lighting (which I don't have access to right now) it can be a nightmare and look bloody awful any way. So I thought, it's meant to be something for the garden, so photograph it in the garden. Luckily, it's a nice day, so the natural daylight has done a pretty good job...and it's done! I didn't think I'd get this done until Friday, at the earliest; now it means I've got more time to fettle things like my show panel and all of the project documents. Nearly there!

REALISATION: Blog entry 44

Haven't posted for a week because of Christmas, and work..but I'm getting stuck back into it now, on the final stretch before hand in! Pretty much everything to do with my outcome is finished now, I just need to get a few little bits and bobs tomorrow, and finish putting it all together. I'm picking up my fabric tomorrow (! this is a huge relief, because I wasn't sure if it would get printed in time), so tomorrow I'll be making my basket liner from this fabric. It should be really simple, but I need to take my time, because I only have one metre to work with, and theres no ordering more - so no cock ups!

Outcome - nearly finished!

Today I got most of my documents finished (PDP/PPF/ethics form), I just need to do another read through and  the finishing touches then print/send these. 

Once I've made my basket liner, I'll be ready to photograph my outcome; uni opens again on Friday (2nd), so I'll be taking everything in to photograph/upload/edit/print all of that, and also complete my show panel. I'll also upload the final images to this blog, and add evaluation (etc.) here too.

I can't believe it's nearly done! Touch wood, it all goes to plan!

REALISATION: Blog entry 43

Completed bird food bags 

Today I finished all the major bits for my out come! Above are the filled seed packets, and below is the start of the tea up bird feeder, re-done to match the final pattern that I decided to go with. I also picked up my sample fabric (to test before getting it actually printed), and ordered my fabric to use with the rest of my out come. Hopefully, this will come in time for me to make what I need to. If not, I will just have to go ahead with out it. It's not the end of the world, but I just think that having a basket lining will add a nice touch to my outcome, but also give an example of my pattern on fabric as well as packaging  - something that if the project was to ever go any further, I would have liked to experiment with.

Fabric samples (wovenmonkey.com)

I'm glad that I went with the coloured pattern - it just works much better than the black and white. I'm really pleased with how this looks, although I have chosen to have my final pattern printed on a higher quality fabric, as this was really thin and felt really naff.

REALISATION: Blog entry 42

Today, I finished making all of the labels for the products that will make up my outcome, and I started assembling all of my packaging..

Completed bits of packaging

Bird food bags packaging

These bird food bags are nearly completed..I just need to fill them, and then seal them. I've decided to do this by folding over the top and hole punching, then threading string through the holes. I think this will add to the craftsy/pattern thing that I've been trying to achieve throughout my design.

Tea Cup Bird feeder packaging

And now the packaging for my tea cup bird feeder is complete..I just need to actually make the actual one of these! I decided that the design on the tea cup would be dictate by which ever pattern I chose - since I chose to do the colour pattern, I need to redo this bird feeder with the colour pattern on it. I need to go fetch the paint later, and I'll paint it at some point over the next couple of days, but then I can attach this, and that's another little bit complete!

Bottle top bird feeder kit packaging

plant seeds packaging (front)

plant seeds packaging (back)

plant seeds packaging (individual)

Plant seeds packaging (individual)

Plant seeds packaging (individual)

The hard bits done with all of them; now I have little things to do like fill up the packets, seal them, make my tea cup bird feeder, get my fabric and sew my liner..just assemble the whole thing really. I'm really pleased with how its looking so far though - I can't wait until its finished!

REALISATION: Blog entry 41

Since I spent most of yesterday making all the packaging, I'm spending the next two days making all the labels for everything. I did some brief experimentation the other day with a couple of my ideas (Blog entry 38). I pretty much knew the style which I wanted to do these in, I just needed to see if it worked how I had thought it up in my head. So now, I'm making all of the labels in this style.

Screen shot - working on labels in photoshop
(basket lid label)

All of my items have some packaging on, the majority will have a larger, simple label on the front with my 'logo', and another label on the back with some information about 'Project House Sparrow' and the product, and how it helps. This label (above) is for the basket lid; at one point I was going to have a information book included in the kit, but there just wasn't enough time for me to work out what needed to go in it, to make it, to get it printed (etc.) but I did feel that the space on the back of the packaging wouldn't be enough space to write about the project and kit itself. I decided that instead of a book, a smaller, simpler label in the lid of the basket would allow me to give some info about the project and the contents of the basket, and would do the trick more effectively and simply than a book.

Have managed to get a couple of these labels done today (hopefully the few I have left to do will be simpler than these) - also need a final spell check (etc.) before printing ad putting it together, but I like to do that when I haven't been staring at it already for the best part of my day.

Inner basket lid label

Bird food bags labels

Basket label logo

Tea cup bird feeder labels

Bottle top feeder kit labels

Seed packet & sleeve labels

REALISATION: Blog entry 40

Today, I started to make all the little bits of packaging that will go in my basket, and will make up my outcome.

Planning outcome - Sketchbook

Test seed packet

Test seed packet

Test seed packet (sealed with sticker)

Making final seed packets

Making final seed packets

Small sample of stickers (ordered from moo.com) for use on packaging.

Testing bird food bag

Testing bird food bag (actually with seed in)

Final seed packets & bird food bags

Testing packaging for tea cup bird feeder

Testing packaging for tea cup bird feeder

Testing packaging for tea cup bird feeder

All final packaging, ready have labels added, and be assembled.
2 x bags for bird food, 3 x seed packets, 1 x sleeve to hold together all plant seed packets, 1 x packaging for recyclable bottle bird feeder, 1 x packaging for tea cup bird feeder.

Basket that will house my outcome

Now, I need to;

-Take measurements of bags/packaging & make labels (today and tomorrow)

-Print labels and stick to packaging (Thursday)

-Get bits from hobby craft to complete (porcelain paint, hole punch, string, nice packing etc) (Thursday)

- Put bits together, packaging on bird feeders, fill seeds bags/packets, seal with stickers/string

-Paint tea cup bird feeder! (at some point over xmas)

-Make basket liner from fabric..when fabric comes (probably in the last couple of days before hand in)

-Photograph entire outcome, and print nice copies of images for assessment materials.

With this being nearly done, soon I'll be focusing on getting all of the other bits done for assessment; (5th Jan.)

-PPF (make changes)

-Ethics form (make changes)

-PDP (1000 words)

-Evaluation (600 words)

-"A clearly defined plan for the future of your practice area, to include external links and professional liaison" (400 words)

-Bibliography (whole project)

-Exhibition Panel (300 word personal statement/project abstract)

-Presentation of everything

-Portfolio (12th Jan.)

[DON'T FORGET: Include a link to this blog!]