We are all guilty of wasting time on because of boredom, hesitation, anxiety and indecision. See the full series here.

The Time Wasting Experiment project by printmaker and fiber artist, Alyson Provax.

The Time Wasting Experiments are an ongoing series of letterpress prints I’ve been producing which document time wasted. These are in part inspired by tracking ‘billable hours’ but also come from the compulsion to always be doing things and producing objects. This series is a sort of audit of how I spend my time, but the prints could also be thought of as permission slips allowing you to spend a period of time in a wasteful way. This project is ongoing…made with hand-set 10pt Caslon lead type, and printed on an old Vandercook press that is affectionately known around the studio as Tony.

scrabble tiles | stylemepretty

natural | stylemepretty

Big letters | Oscar & Ruby

letterpress | green wedding shoes

Various vintage letters | Brides.com

I am a type nut, I just love using letters and typography. Such a great decorative idea for weddings. Use your initials or make up words about love.

Ever now and then I get students or people starting out asking my for tips, advice or interviews about my design processes. I still young in the industry myself, and not exactly an ‘expert’ and since some of what I do is self taught or developed through experimentation, I’m not always sure it is really the right/normal way of doing things, if there even is a right way! But anyway I thought since I have learnt so much from other people on the web, perhaps I should give back and share some thoughts and tips from time to time.

So my first thought tip, is about developing a design and letting go of fear. When you first approach a project, and stare at the blank page, it can be hard to make that first step. It almost feels like you have to do something amazing or just right first go. But i find the only way to truly create something amazing and perfect is to first make some bloopers. You don’t have to be a design super star, where everything you ever jot on paper is incredible. Often the best work comes from first making lots of mistakes.

And if you are thinking.. ‘But I don’t want my clients to see all my silly ideas’ . Well you don’t have to show them. Don’t feel you need to show people every little thing you did, you can make your mistakes and then as you get into the groove and start producing better ideas, you can put together all the better ones to show. I find you often just have to get the bad stuff out of your system to reach something better. It’s a process, you have to begin at the bottom and work up, because as you go along you will tweak and improve upon earlier ideas.

I’ve had clients say ‘Wow how do you come up with such amazing ideas right away’.. well they didn’t see all the mess I started out with!! hehe

it’s really about letting go of the fear of failure, to set your self free to experiment and try things that may not necessarily work. Because maybe the mistake will inspire something better, but if you never first tried it, you will never reach that better idea. If you don’t set your ideas free, you will only ever go with the ‘safe’ option, and the ‘safe’ option will never push things and bring you to an exciting result.

Also on a side note, never show a client something you don’t want them to choose, because they might just pick the one you hate!! Always show the ideas you’d be proud to say you designed. But of course this doesn’t mean don’t show only the ones you like, as different people have different tastes, but only show the ones you’d be proud to call your work.

Sometimes clients can also help develop the design to something better, by making suggestions based on your concepts, like ‘lets put the top bit of idea A with the bottom of idea B and use the colour from C’. Its all a process, you can never produce the perfect thing straight off the bat. It may occasionally happen, but its rare!

So basically my little piece of advise is not be be afraid to make mistakes and be open to experimentation.

Jill Andrews- A New Zealand photographer. I created her logo and blog.

Pretty Pickles- Blog design for a new business, can’t wait to see her aprons!

It will be Valentines day before we know it, so I thought I’d share a few sweet finds. This also means Dan and I will soon have been together 2 years! And not long till the wedding!!

1/Everything fab  2/Valentine tags 3/Love cards 4/Love letterpress

This trend seems to be growing a lot. And it’s a trend with many offshoot trends, think feathers, triangles, geometic patterns, tee pees, headdresses, dream catchers, arrows and nature. I quite like it, it has an air of adventure, a connection with nature and lovely patterns and shapes.

Top to bottom, left to right:  1&2/Illustrations-lina moysis 3/ Cushion-Little Byrd Vintage 4/Arrow necklace- Digby & Iona 5/Arrow illustration- Mary Kate 6/Print- Urban Outfitters  7/Photo-Spell Designs 8/Photo- Serendipity Corner Blog 9/Illustration- Oh the lovely things 10/Feathers- Lovely clusters

baby black bird

jen loves kev

pinterest

I want to make a tee pee, they look like so much fun, pitty I have no time, space or real need for one. When I have kids, I’d love to make one for them, I always enjoyed tents, cubby houses, and fortresses. I found a tutorial here.

On a side note.. how awesome is this…..  (would have LOVED that when I was little)

domestic candy

I really love these flags from emily manaloruiz’s exhibition ‘1000 WORKS PROJECT & OTHER FLAGS‘

Inspired by my spouse’s dedication to training for a half marathon, I came up with this project, a sort of art marathon. 1000 Works Project is about a commitment to a goal. It is about personal struggle & the search for identity. It is about vulnerability, acceptance & the re-establishment of oneself as an artist. It is about an allegiance to oneself & an allegiance to the act of making.- Emily

I love the mix of old and new, and the beautiful texture. I love textured and weathering. And then with typography! Perfect!!  I’d love to get hold of some old age material like this to make things.

Found on free people

//When you don’t know

//Carla

//yyellowbird

Seems ages since I share some flickr favs. So here you go.
Hope you have been having a good weekend. I went wedding shoe shopping with my bridesmaids, my nan visited, I finished making my garter, did some work, bought a scanner and re-arranged my desk.

Top: bhldn | Middle: Kiss the goom, anthropoligie | Bottom: lookbook.nu, Mignonne Handmade

Since my wedding is in the colder months of the year, I need some sort of wrap/shawl for my bridesmaids and also my going away outfit. Trouble is, it’s not easy to search for these things as there are SO many names for them.. shawl, wrap, cape, caplet, shrug, bolero, stole, cardigans,  jacket.. there are probably more! So it’s not easy to search online for such things! I do really love the ones on bhldn, gorgeous but expensive!

p.s sorry a little late with wedding Wednesday this week, busy times!