Tag Archives: document

Bead Weaving

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New category for a new hobby :) document time!

This has continued on from the beaded jewellery I started making last summer and sold at craft fairs, but I’m hoping to improve and take it to the next level as I’m enjoying it all :) the whole process from design to the finishing touches on a piece- I’m finding the actual bead weaving itself quite therapeutic. I’ve got lists and lists of designs and accessories to get through! Which now consist mainly of crash bandicoot, zelda, something harry potter, the tardis, space invaders and several ambitious painting remakes and film scenes along with patterned designs and once I’ve drawn up myself :) and yes it’s going to take me to the end of summer to get through it all :P

I’ve discussed before how I often had creative crafty outlets when I’m not in work or on photography jobs, I think it’s because I’ve always been painting etc whilst in school and I always need to be doing something. I initially was going to get my hands on a soldering iron and do some metal work until I got the bead loom for Christmas- now I’m hooked.

Here’s what I’ve done so far: I started off simple to get the technique down;

Simple Patterns!

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Then I started thinking more elaborately and had one of those “the possibilities are endless!” moments when thinking about designs and that I didn’t had to stick to jewellery.

So then I started trying shapes, more so to see if I could do it:

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Experimented with beads too- types, colour and sizes, then I had to move onto how I would finish off each piece. Especially when the gifts began;

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I want to do some more scenic one’s- beach scenes, forests and the like :) but quite proud of the peacock feather bag charm- it was tricky and probably took the longest, but all the more to be happy about when it was finally finished. Here’s were I got thinking about making more than jewellery, I’m aiming to be able to create purses and phone cases as well as the current creations which consist of sew-on patches, bookmarks, badges and coasters. I’d love to do more, but right now I need to perfect what I’m already doing.

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As I’ve mentioned previously on a blog update, I want to also create a lot of photography themed items and products for photographers. It’s going to take a lot of work, research and moulah so right now I’m focusing on the designs. Ideally, I’d love to get to the point of being able to make elaborate bead embodied items- but that’s a long way off, and I don’t want my photography to suffer. At the moment I’m involved in an animation collaboration project and have been commissioned to do some food photography :) whoop! The first batch of Jammy Dodgers were awesome :P

Finding a balance has been a bit tricky with working at a restaurant as well, but I’ve enjoyed bead weaving! And so, you can find these for sale in my Etsy shop “Lets Make Tracks” :)

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This one's going to be a camera strap!

This one’s going to be a camera strap!

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I want to be able to use this blog category to document each design or piece- I’m going to start doing more research and I’ll do write ups about what I find interesting or helpful :)

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Photo Blog 9

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The last one on my list for now, so I’ve made it a big one. Something I’ve mentioned before- last April in fact; is the surroundings project I started a few years ago. I kind of didn’t realise at the start that it was going to turn into a project, I was just shooting.

Here’s a bit more about it from my first blog about it:

“So since I’ve recently moved house and city I wanted to talk about an ongoing project that I started a couple of years ago documenting my surroundings as I moved each year whilst at university, I was interested to see where everything would go in each house, what possessions came with me, where they were placed and what I felt was important to have in my immediate surrounds, not tucked away in a box.”

I mentioned at the end of it that I was coming to the end of the project and would release it soon, but afterwards I realised that I probably won’t finish this project for years. So I have some of the images from the past few years for now :) here’s a bit more about how I figured out were my urge to photograph my surroundings came from:

“This all stemmed from a documentary project I started about my Grandmother and her move from her home to a nursing home. Again, I looked at what initially went with her, where it was placed, what was left behind, what her house looked like when she left and her new bedroom in comparison.”

My main source of research came from Mari Mahr:

http://www.iniva.org/dare/themes/space/mahr.html

I then tied in a few images from a short documentary experiment I tried out when I was packing to move out from home a second time; images of my memory boxes from school, streets I walked everyday and how they’d changed, all that jazz: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeaninemarteau/sets/72157629089415623/ 

I’ll probably post up the rest of the images from the surroundings projects up soon on flickr, these are the favourites (mostly 35mm):

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“At the time, I was a little obsessed with documenting everything- my thoughts, my room and everything in it, my walks, old haunts, and I think this was due to the fact that I knew I was leaving home so I wanted to get it all down. It didn’t help that my room now had all of my old books and toys in it. Staying up to capture perfectly the refections the windows made on the wall and the pattern the rain drops made, I just wanted everything to be recorded, all the little details. I can safely say I’m not that bad anymore but I still understand this urge to reserve the past, to record everything as it was and as it is now.”

http://www.jeaninemariemarteau.co.uk/?p=148

Photo Blog 8

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Following on from the last few photo blogs that were themed on photo walks, I’m onto the images from my first urban exploring experience in an abandoned hospital.

I didn’t really know what to expect- I’d seen urban exploration images in books and online and a lot of them involved having people in shot on rooftops or in abandoned tumbling down schools with walls graffitied and filthy, debris everywhere. My favourite types of images in this genre are probably anything shot in an old church (whilst anything involving tunnels makes me feel claustrophobic), you see the original structure, bare and now useless. Colour- or lack there of- plays a big part in these images- it lashes out; cutting through all of the muck. We get a sense of what was once there and remember what this place used to be to people when it was inhabited. Large scenes of grand halls are always beautiful- in colour or black and white, these images serve as a documentation of a structure even if it isn’t in use any more, at least it’s not being ignored.

So anyway, my expectations. I didn’t know a great deal about the place, in fact I was a bit scared. Excited but nervous- what if it was unsafe? Everything was fine, of course, once I got there the camera took over:

I took a few more, but these are my favourites:

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I loved the colour in the place- you could see the layers of paint coming away to reveal more underneath. It was the same with the building itself- there was something new around every corner. As something I hadn’t done before it was a great experience; it broke the mold of my usual days out :P my usual photo walks consisted of landscapes and street scenes!

Afterwards- I’m not sure how long- I found the book “Beauty in Decay”. I loved a lot of the work in there and the spaces they were in, how they composed their images and used the lighting, but I was a bit disappointed that a lot of the work had been digitally manipulated. Don’t get me wrong- they all looked great and I appreciate the amount of work that went into them but for me it kind of took away from the beauty in decay- it wasn’t so much about the space but instead what they could do with it, I would have liked to see the original image as well as the edited, then it would have been great to see what inspiration they took from the place and what aspects they wanted to enhance. But hey that’s just me.

So anyway, photo walks and exploring are great outlets and practice for photographers :)

Photo Blog 7

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A holiday special!

Seeing as the sun’s out and I’m looking forward to summer :) especially going away to new places :D

One theme that has ran through my last couple of photo blogs- and it’s probably been discussed before that- is photo walks; going out specifically to take photographs or taking your camera with you wherever you go, just in case. It’s even better when you’re going somewhere new- I’ve always taken this as an opportunity to document, and it’s exciting :) different culture, unknown streets, new food.

My last holiday was to Berlin in 2011. But as well as the holiday pics there was a lot of historic aspects of the city to capture, all on 35mm film. It turned out to be a photo holiday with the amount of photo walks :P this year I’m hoping to have a mixture of galleries, hills and beaches :D

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One of my favourite days of this holiday was when we went to the Bauhaus museum :) researching this movement back at GCSE stage was one of the main things that inspired my photography and made me want to continue creating, so going to visit a museum dedicated to it inspired me all over again. I often find that when going somewhere new- everything gets refreshed with a change of scenery: that’s partly why I’m looking into mini-breaks this year; more new places :P

That’s also what I love about photo walks- you don’t know what’s going to influence you. Even the place; there’s nothing stopping you from going back at various times- at sunset, in autumn or in the rain.

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Two more photo blogs lined up- themed this time; urban exploration and surroundings.

Bonjour blog :)

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Last time I mentioned another photo walk I took and here are the results:

I’ve planned to take another night time one after it’s rained, trying to squeeze it in around work and everything else I want to do: cycle more, test shoots, write, draw,  have days out etc and more recently there’s the jazz festival and beer festival hehe.

However I did get some film developed :) these are from work and I’ll post the rest from the other rolls this evening:

               

Getting it Together

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One blog post down :P my first one ended up in the “me” category as it was generally a look at what I’d been up to and some images from a couple of photo walks, so I thought I may as well carry on and do a general update about my projects as the “photography” category will be for my professional work and ideas.

So since I’ve recently moved house and city I wanted to talk about an ongoing project that I started a couple of years ago documenting my surroundings as I moved each year whilst at university, I was interested to see where everything would go in each house, what possessions came with me, where they were placed and what I felt was important to have in my immediate surrounds, not tucked away in a box. As I’m coming to the end of this project I can safely say it varied from year to year, sometimes due to the size of my dinky student room.

This all stemmed from a documentary project I started about my Grandmother and her move from her home to a nursing home. Again, I looked at what initially went with her, where it was placed, what was left behind, what her house looked like when she left and her new bedroom in comparison. Honestly, it was a bit weird to see her house and her left over possessions placed somewhere to replace an item that had gone with her, it didn’t look right, it wasn’t really her house anymore and it saddened me as I could still remember what it looked like when I was a child spending a few weeks per summer there.

Her new room is a lot better now than what it was. I think it was important, especially to my Mother, to make her new surroundings feel as homely as possible, with some old objects, photo albums and new cuddly toys bought for her every so often.

Thinking back, Mari Mahr was a big influence for this project:

http://www.iniva.org/dare/themes/space/mahr.html

There were a few other names I looked at but I can’t remember them right now.. I may go away and research this project on my hard drive then come back to it..

Either way, my surroundings projects will be released in a few weeks and it ties in with a couple of other documentary projects I did whilst I was at home for a few months after University, which consisted of my memory box project and my “routes” projects which you can find on my flickr. At the time, I was a little obsessed with documenting everything- my thoughts, my room and everything in it, my walks, old haunts, and I think this was due to the fact that I knew I was leaving home so I wanted to get it all down, but I did start to document desperately at one point- staying up at night to write down things to photograph (it didn’t help that my room now had aalll of my old books and toys in it) and staying up to capture perfectly the refections the windows made on the wall and the pattern the rain drops made, I just wanted everything to be recorded, all the little details. I can safely say I’m not that bad anymore :P but I still understand this urge to reserve the past, to record everything as it was and as it is now.