As for me, I was pleasantly surprised to be selected in the Top 10, let alone to still be in the final four. I think the most valuable thing about this competition has been the feedback and support from the judges. I’ve entered my work in competitions before and am often left wondering ‘why wasn’t my design selected?’ – this competition leaves the guess work out. I have so much more to learn and trying to absorb as much as possible, while I’m still here, but I have a bit more confidence that surface pattern design is something I can do.

So why should I be in the final three? Gosh, I feel like I’m on one of those talent shows stating my case to stay on! Well, I think the challenges and feedback each round have pushed me to explore and design in ways I wouldn’t normally approach a brief. It was a great feeling to get such positive feedback from the last challenge; a design I wouldn’t have even thought about before this competition – so I’m not ready to stop yet. I love these challenges and really keen to see where my next designs take me and hopefully I can show something unique to the mix to get into the final 3!

I’ve really enjoyed this competition and have learned a lot. I’d love the opportunity to advance to the final three to keep testing my pattern design skills. I totally admit to be the novice of the group, I wasn’t even considering pattern design until a few months before the competition started!

That being said, while I may not be as experienced, I think I bring some new ideas and fresh thought to the table. I’m new to the pattern design world, so I draw my influence from different, maybe unexpected, areas. Film, Illustration, Music, Fashion, Comics, Video Games. You name it, I can find a way to make it repeat.

My time in college has really shaped the way I approach art and design. I’ve changed majors multiple times and have taken aspect away from them all. I think that this can help me shape new ideas and utilize concepts differently from other people who are more focused on one aspect of design.

Even if I don’t make it to the final three, it’s been an amazing journey and what I’ve learned is absolutely precious to me. The opportunity to work along side several talented individuals from different walks of life has been a great time and I wouldn’t trade it for anything!

I just want to end with a little thank you for allowing me entry into this competition in the first place. Good luck to all the other designers!

My attitude to this competition has always been to take each round as it comes, to learn and improve from each experience, and to create patterns that I can be proud to add to my portfolio. It has only been in the last couple of years that I have really started to experiment creatively so I don’t feel that I have nailed down my aesthetic as a surface designer quite yet. The re(peated) experience has given me more clarity and direction with every challenge and I’d love the opportunity to demonstrate just how far I’ve come by competing in the final.

If I do make the top three, I’ll be working very hard to make my final submission my best work yet. I can be sure that the other other contestants will be doing exactly the same so I have my work cut out for me! If I don’t make it? I am blown away to have made it this far in a contest with such great competitors and will leave with a new energy and confidence, ready to tackle the next challenge.

Wishing all the contestants the best of luck both in the competition and beyond.

Why do I belong in the final three? I have the talent, I think I’ve proven this repeatedly (excuse the pun) and I’ve been championed along the way by you the REPEAT(ed) readers. Two Challenge wins and thank you, thank you, thank you for 3 out of 3 Readers Choice Wins! The feedback from the amazing judging panel and viewer comments have been invaluable.

I’ve tried some techniques that I haven’t tried before and have found it worthwhile to put all that extra work into a design. The challenges have expanded my experience and stretched my design and repeat skills. I may keep harassing Ellen and Madeleine to keep sending challenges to me even after this years competition is finished!

I’ve found that it has been very helpful being a quilter and sewer in this competition. Designing for quilting fabrics takes extra thought to how the fabric will be used. You don’t have any definitive answers to what will be made with it, you have to allow some scope in the pattern design for this.. will it be cut into hexagons or strips… maybe large triangles… maybe it isn’t being made into a quilt, maybe it’s going to be a bag….

The apple tree, starting to bear fruit.

When REPEAT(ed) finishes, there will be much work to do before Fall Quilt Market. I love the work that I have created here, and I will be building on that and producing some new collections to show the fabric companies. Like those little blossoms on my apple tree, that are now working away to become lovely apples, I’m working with everything I’ve learned and it’s starting to bear fruit.

I’m off to Surtex tomorrow and hope to learn much there and I will hit the ground running when I return home (after giving the family a big hug first of course).

So cross your fingers for me, and keep sending your comments, I love hearing from you all it really spurs me on.

Thank you again.

Cheers,
Kim.

As I looked at each of the designs in this round I could see how all of us as designers, intentionally or not, reference the history of design in our work. It was a reminder to me that we do not work in a vacuum. Our designs are a product of the information our eyes and brains have gathered throughout our lifetimes. The key is to take that information, filter it, and create something new.

I just reorganized my fabric stash (ugh), so I was able to find a few vintage fabrics that remind me of what the designers came up with this round.

Kim’s “Spring Dot” is fresh and modern, yet it references 1930s and 1940s florals.  My vintage floral has a similar repeat and spacing as Kim’s design. But Kim was able to take a “traditional” textile design and made it a contemporary work by pixilating her flowers and using bright, clear colors.

Taylour’s modernized a fleur-de-lis by referencing the digital world we live in. This piece from my collection (which also reminds me of Taylour’s design from the tool challenge), is a c.1930s feedsack. The feedsack has simple, small repeating fleur-de-lis and colors from the depression era, while Taylour was able to take his fleur-de-lis modern by enlarging it and taking out all of the curved lines.

 In Alice’s “Sweet Sunset”, I can see references to 1950s and 1960s prints, as well as the work of Eric Carle, which Alice talked about as being an inspiration. My vintage fabric manufactured by Prints of the Seven Seas and titled “Good Luck” used a similar motif to Alice’s design – seemingly randomly placed leaves/flowers on a dark background.

Designing is not just about looking forward, it’s also about looking behind you to see what has come before. It is hard to know if your design is fresh and modern, if you do not know what has already been done. At the same time, some of the “old” designs are classics for a reason. Take them, use them as inspiration, alter them – and you might come up with something completely new and different.

Some of my favorite designs this round were by Kim, Taylour, and Rebecca.  They took what they saw outside their window and made something new and interesting out of it.  Kim’s half-tone inspired design really wow-ed me…It reminds me a little of the work of Evelin Kasikov  (cool, right?)  Congrats and a well-deserved win for Kim this round!  Taylour’s design defied a single description…it was futuristic, medieval, and digital all at the same time.  Rebecca’s was utterly delightful, as well.  She was the one designer who utilized metaphor in her design and she had a really wonderful outcome.  I think the thing that edged Kim into the lead this round was her color work.  When a single print is the focus of a challenge, it needs to be a statement-piece.  It should be complex in both color and design…in short, it should make people fall in LOVE with it.

Of course, Alice, Nicky, and Jessica had wonderful work, as well.  However, for me, I felt some of these designs looked like something I may have seen before.  That’s the difficulty with surface design.  So much of it’s already been done – florals, stripes, plaids, ogee, etc.  How are you going to put your spin on what’s been done before to make it feel current and on-trend, or like “you”?  What’s something that’s never been done like that before?  Sometimes I need a reminder of what all the possibilities are, so to get myself unstuck, one of my favorite go-to books is Textile Designs by Susan Meller.  It’s a great reference book to have in your design library!

Textile Design by Susan Meller

Good luck designers, with your next challenge.  As for me, I’m preparing to head to Surtex this weekend, and I’m a little giddy about it!  I’m not exhibiting, but I’m hoping to get an idea whether or not it’s something I want to try next year.  I’ll spend a day at the show and get in some much over-due time with two awesome friends from design school.  I can’t wait and I hope to share some of what I learned there with you next time!!

My surface design portfolio

This round I saw a lot of the designers incorporating the advice and feedback from the judges in their designs and these were my favorite round of designs so far. I really loved Rebecca’s print, especially since it took her out of her comfort zone. The biggest feedback we got from REPEAT was how much the judges feedback meant to the designers but it isn’t always easy to hear feedback and sometimes we hear feedback but it isn’t easy to implement so we love to see when it directly shows up in the designs.  The full impact that the feedback provided through our lovely REPEAT(ed) judges will have on our designers will shape each of them in some way…

From Ellen…

Its hard to believe we are down to just four designers.  The nature of a competition lends itself to contestants being eliminated, however that always seems to creep up on me as a surprise each round.  The four remaining designers have hit their stride.  They are each creating inspired designs that are making the judging increasingly difficult.  As Madeleine mentioned, the designers are taking the judge’s advice and really stretching their use of different techniques and approaches to the design process.  I love to see the designers using REPEAT(ed) as a learning experience!  I can imagine most of the prints at the top of my fabric pile, about to be incorporated into my next project…

A big congratulations to the final four designers, can’t wait to see what you all come up with next:)

Spring Dot 12 x 12

Kim Andersson

Kim Andersson! The judges loved her pixel dot pattern.  The fresh colors and layering technique lent itself to a fun, fresh pattern.

Here’s what they had to say:

Timna Tarr:
I really like that this piece has a retro 30s feel, but feels fresh and clean with the updated pixilation. This is a fabric that I would definitely buy and keep in my stash to use as “texture.” Because it can be cut up into small pieces and each piece will be slightly different one’s eye will keep moving around the quilt. You obviously have an understanding of how quilters use fabric! Coordinated solids were a perfect complement to the design.

Jessica Pollak:
I think your one of the more polished designers of the whole group. Your scale, repeats and space between motifs always feel nicely balanced. You also seem very keyed into what’s on trend in terms of colors and motifs. I think your work is very marketable and I liked your idea of playing with the hand cut dots as a way to change your technique. The colors succeed in making me think of spring.

Constructive criticism:
I think you were very successful in getting across the ideas you wanted, the CMYK colors, pointillism, etc. However, I feel like I’ve seen this idea before. I find the dots to be kind of jarring to my eye…like I keep wanting to focus on them but I can’t. (maybe this is my personal hang up) For your future prints I’d love to see you express your point of view as a designer more clearly and experiment with color. Best of luck in the contest and I can’t wait to see what you come up with next!

Michele Rosenboom:
I have been wanting to do a half-tone inspired print for a long time…and you beat me to it! I really like this print – particularly because there’s more to discover than what you see initially. Just like an impressionist painting, your appreciation for the design only grows as you step closer. You had to be very skillful in your overlapping and blending of color to get variation in value within your print! This is very original and a modern interpretation of one of the oldest types of prints (florals) around! Wonder-ful work.

___________________________________________________________

Not only did the judges love Kim’s pattern, but the Reader’s Choice Award goes to Kim…again!  Her loyal fans are looking for a clean sweep…

Sadly as the competition continues, we have to say goodbye to Nicky Ovitt and Jessica Majers. Both Nicky and Jessica have been fierce competitors and while their time participating in REPEAT(ed) is over, we are sure to see their work printed on all sorts of yummy textiles someday.

Here’s the ranking of designers as we roll into the next design challenge:

1. Kim Andersson
2. Rebecca Ng
3. Taylour Beadling
4. Alice Murphy
5. Jessica Majers
6. Nicky Ovitt

Big thanks to Timna Tarr and Jessica Pollak for being guest judges for this round…Stay tuned for the next Design Challenge!

Voting closes at midnight EST on Saturday May 11th.

Flock Together
10” x 10” pattern

Coordinating colours (left to right): Sandalwood, Robin Egg & Lemon

Flock Together 10” x 10” close-up version (click to enlarge).

Here are some photos from outside the apartment window. 

So this is the view of central Jakarta from my window. In fact it’s the view from all the windows in our apartment. We live on the 30^th floor and it definitely beats the view from our old apartment – think dirt field littered with rubbish and an apartment building under construction.

So I spent many snippets of time looking out the window wondering where I could find my inspiration. Usually I tend to be literal in my designs and draw what I see, or at least my interpretation of it. There are many high-rise apartments. I can see the rooftops of houses as far as the eye can see. The road, swimming pools and the mosque singing the call to prayer 5 times a day. But these things didn’t feel like they really reflected life here in Jakarta. After much thought, I decided to focus on the strip of road outside my window and attempt to create a beautiful pattern. Daily life in Jakarta revolves around the traffic or ‘macet’ (ma-chet) as it is known here.

It’s hard to describe the traffic here to people who have yet to experience it. I try to compare Jakarta traffic to the worst peak hour traffic you’ve experienced; that is Jakarta – not just in peak time, but ALL the time (well, probably in the early hours of the morning it isn’t so bad – but most of us are still in bed). The traffic is the first thing you notice when you first arrive and something locals always talk about, especially when they are on the road. It’s not uncommon to spend 2 or 3 hours sitting in traffic to only go a short distance. In Jakarta, there is no such thing as popping over to a friend’s place or to the shops; that takes at least half your day. We took our daughter to one of the theme parks just outside of central Jakarta. After an hour and ½ we were ready to head back home. It took almost 3 hours to get home and required a pit stop for food and a much-needed break on the way!

A close-up of the traffic.

I had to grab a picture from the internet that might better show the traffic!

In a city of well over 10 million people, you can imagine how busy life is here. The sheer volume of cars, motorbikes, trucks, buses and other motorized vehicles (think rickshaws) and the lack of decent public transportation contribute to the very busy roads. I have actually read that unless the government builds additional roads, the traffic could come to a standstill in 2014! Yes, hard to believe!!

Unless you work close to home, everyone is part of this slow mass exodus from home to the workplace (or school, university or wherever they happen to be going that day) and back everyday. And despite the obvious frustrations that come along with being stuck in traffic for long periods of time, I have never seen a person show any anger or road rage – perhaps it’s because there’s not much use complaining about the traffic, but I also think it reflects my experience of Indonesians since living here, as well-mannered, polite and an accepting bunch of people.

Instead of focusing so much on drawing detailed individual motifs, I thought the best way to encapsulate the traffic of Jakarta was through movement and direction. My motif was a shape that could look like a simple bird on some angles or an arrow… I thought that was fitting as it could reflect a flock travelling together as well as showing direction. The varying sizes add interest and also represent the different modes of transport being used; big and small. Creating movement and flow was a bit of trial and error, but I hope I have encapsulated this constant flow of people just trying to get from A to B in this very populated city. It was certainly an interesting process working on this design that made me step out of my comfort zone – I’m also glad I have pattern design as a reflection of my time in Jakarta too!

Here’s another version experimenting with a different colourway. I found sticking to only 2 colours allowed the focus to be solely on the movement/flow.

Hello,
It’s great to be back for round three. Thank you to everyone who has sent their kind words and encouragement along the way.

This challenge was an interesting one for me because I ended up viewing something I live with every day in a new way. I chose one of our living room windows as the focus of this assignment. The subject is ironic because at least a few times a year I rail on this hugely overgrown orange tree in our neighbor’s yard that sucks up all the light I think we should be getting. (I know… come on now, get some real problems.) But really, in the winter it makes our house even darker and I crave the eastern sunlight that could be gracing that side of the house— and the tree also crowds the dining room windows.

The day I received The Printed Bolt challenge email the oranges were in their usual hanging around state but upon further inspection I found them to be all dressed up by our bountiful wisteria vine! The wisteria has decided to migrate to the neighbor’s yard and now mixes with the orange tree and that purple flower that looks like a hibiscus bush. We had only about a week of luscious, full blooms but the timing was perfect for this design. Here you can see the window, my close-up through the window screen, and a photo of the sun-seeking vine on the corner of our house as seen from the sidewalk in front of the neighbor’s house.

I planted this white wisteria about 10 years ago. I have very fond memories of walking to grade school with my mom in Denton, Texas and all along the route the deliciously overpowering fragrance of wisteria would linger in sweet salutation. I also love mimosa trees and lilac bushes for this same reason.

For this pattern I set out to take Greta Songe’s advise from her last reflections post; to try something new, look for the happy accidents. Another suggestion I’ve had from the judges is to think about multi-directional designs for quilting. I began by drawing the little grouping of blocky oranges which reminded me of orderly emblem-heavy Japanese fabric. The wisteria flowers were done with watercolor and the leaves with my usual pen and ink. The hatch marks were inspired by the screen texture that showed up in my reference photo— another nod to the Japanese fabric influence, and maybe a happy accident? Although I was tempted to create the entire design in a style other than my own, I’m glad I used techniques I feel comfortable with as well. I’ve had a lot of feedback to stay true to my style.

I left out this little praying mantis in my entry pattern but have included him here to show this William Morris-ish colorway.

I think “Citsteria” or “Wistrus” could be a lovely eau de cologne, but maybe a name improvement is in order. They sound a little like eradicated maladies from the turn of the century.

I hope you get out and enjoy the sights and smells of Spring!

=================================================================

Research/Process links:
1. Close-up of my white wisteria.
2. Through the window, oranges and wisteria.
3. Hand embroidery tutorial.
4. Traditional Japanese fabric, Kasuri.
5. Woodblock Japanese fabric by Naomi Ito.
6. Sketches in progress.

I can’t believe it’s already the third design challenge. I feel incredibly lucky to have made it this far, and in such talented company! This was an interesting project, especially considering I just moved. I guess you could say that it gave me a good opportunity to admire the view from my new place.

The Window I chose actually leads onto a small balcony (my new drink-a-cup-of-coffee-and-relax-spot). I decided to take the photo viewing through the railings of the balcony, because they’re rather old and very interesting (I think my building dates to the mid 1800′s).

I was very inspired by the work put into the details of the railing, using them for the bulk of my design. I opted to continue my method from the last challenge and abstracted forms that I saw in the photograph, the main focal point being the small fleur-de-lis ornaments. The background of my design is drawn from the verticality of the railing’s bars and the shapes created by the bark and leaves of the tree beyond the balcony.

I found that my design looked very digital. This may have something to do with working digitally or listening to the Tron: Legacy soundtrack while I work (mostly the Tron music, probably). I actually really like the contrast between the source material, being classic and organic, and the end product being almost cold and sterile. The fleur-de-lis in my design even looks a little like a Space Invaders style spaceship.

I hope you enjoyed my pattern as much as I enjoyed creating it. Thanks for reading!

Spring Dot 12 x 12

Spring Dot 7 x 7

Spring Dot 17 x 15 (showing the repeat)

Spring Dot 3 x 3 Detail

Spring Dot coordinating solids

Here in Northern California the Sun has been shining and Spring is definitely blooming. I apologize to all of you that are still up to your armpits in Snow, but hopefully my pattern will lift your spirits and remind you that Spring is on it’s way.

For this challenge we were asked to “Find a window in your house, look out it, take a picture, and design one print around what you see.  Interpret your surroundings as you see fit.  What surrounds your daily life?”

I must say I spent a bit of time looking out of every single window in my house, many photo’s were taken and I think I have the starters for some great patterns… even if the neighbors think i’m up to something funny. One view in particular that struck me was of our apple tree that was in full bloom. The sun was shining, the bee’s were buzzing… you get the idea : )

Outside my window. The apple tree full of apple blossom.

Apple blossom.

I really wanted to make something that said SPRING! So I was taking many pictures of these cute little blossoms. Than it hit me, as I would change focus I would sometimes get the fly screen brought into focus in my photos… which made the picture look all pixelated.

Photo focused on the fly screen. Giving the Apple tree a pixelated effect.

Flowers and pixels! That’s what I wanted to do, as I really wanted to incorporate some sort of graphic element. I didn’t want to use square pixel shapes though, so I started with dots. I love dots on fabric!

Starting with circles I cut and punched some circles in paper and this started me thinking about halftone prints. Halftone prints use a printing technique that produces images through the use of dots, varying in size, shape and spacing. Usually used in paper printed products like magazines. If you look at the page of a magazine with a strong magnifying glass you can see these dots. Read more about it here.

Scanned cutout dots.

These hand cut dots were scanned in giving the dots an irregular more hand feel and blown up large for a graphic effect. Yes, I positioned each dot in those flowers! Yes, I need new glasses now : )

In making quilts I find that so much is seen when they are viewed both up close and far away, so I love having a pattern that looks like dots close up and that the flowers reveal themselves at a distance. With my color selection I knew that I wanted to keep to bright Spring colors. I also liked the idea of staying with a Cyan, Magenta and Yellow (without the Black) that you find in halftone prints and I love the way these colors overlap and produce new colors.

Spring Dots in Hexys

Again I couldn’t resist seeing what would happen when my pattern is are cut-up into hexys and rearranged with the solids. Can you imagine how cute it would be in a bias binding?!

Are you ready for Spring? Get your brights out, Spring is here!

Cheers,
Kim.

NASTURTIUMS!

Nasturtiums! 10×10

This challenge was particularly difficult because I spend a lot of time trying not to look out my windows.  It’s not that it’s a bad view, but I live on the first floor of a classic seventies style apartment building.  My main windows face out onto the side yard and walkway and are set at the perfect location for everyone walking by to see my entire apartment.  I’ve spent a lot of time finding ways to let light in and keep eyeballs out.  So I had to part the curtains for a rare moment…

Out my windows…

I appreciate how the garden appears to be trying to take over.  All these crazy plants growing on around the straight lines of fences, houses and window bars.  I even like the diagonals of the metal mesh- even though needing bars on ones window is always a bit of a bummer. I decided to focus on the nasturtiums not only because they are all over the garden outside my building, but because they are EVERWHERE in the bay area.  Chain link fences are woven with them.  Cracks in sidewalk house them.  Even abandoned lots full of trash magically sprout masses nasturtiums here.  After ten years this is still a novelty to me.

Nasturtium! Detail

I wanted to make fabric that reflected the idea of wild nature versus man-made rigidity.  I drew the flowers and nasturtium leaves by hand with Tria markers to try to keep them loose against the vector black on white diagonals.  I love the vivid reds, oranges, pinks and yellows of nasturtiums and used bolds hues of each.

Thanks so much for checking out my design!  It was a challenge but I’m so excited to try more hand drawn, multi medium prints!

Sweet Sunset / 10″ x 10″

Sweet Sunset / Detail

Sweet Sunset / colour coordinates

This was a strange challenge for me. I don’t really have a house/home to look out of at the moment. The room I am sleeping in was my childhood bedroom and although it doesn’t feel like my house anymore, in a way it will always be home. It also has an amazing view over Brisbane city and the surrounding mountains (which I couldn’t fit into my viewfinder but referenced in my print). I can think of far worse places to end up.

view from my bedroom window

The photo I picked for this challenge is very powerful to me. Not because it is a great photo (lets face it, it it pretty terrible and obviously taken through a mosquito net using a phone camera) but because this is a view that was a constant in my life for the first 22 years. When I look at it, I see much more than buildings, sky and trees. It reminds me of summers spent in the garden picking flowers with friends, sleeping outside when it was too hot to sleep inside and watching the fireworks over the city on new years eve. When I was a teenager if I was upset I’d sit in my room and look out over the mountains and city and everything would somehow seem better.

older panoramic image of the view including mountains

Since this is my childhood home I went back to my childhood for this challenge. A few weeks ago I stumbled on a book about the art of Eric Carle in the library and was smitten. I adored the Very Hungry Caterpillar as a child and it is still my favourite children’s book. I also love incorporating hand painted textures into my patterns so I got to work experimenting with tissue paper.

painted tissue paper

The days are getting shorter here and the sunsets becoming more and more intense as it gets cooler. I love the colours over the city at sunset, especially those last few moments were the colours pop against the darkening sky and used this as my colour inspiration. I also wanted to make a print for the adult me as well as the child so went with a more muted palette in the end.

I also went back and did a floral again this round. What can I say? I love florals. I also really love being in a home with a garden and flowers again after years of apartment dwelling.

exploring the garden

I’m still getting my head around quilting and decided to see what this pattern might look like chopped up into strips. I think these were about 2″ strips but it was getting late into the night when I was playing with it so who knows!

striped quilting block

]]> http://theprintedbolt.com/design-challengethree-alice-murphy/feed/ 6 http://theprintedbolt.com/guest-judge-timna-tarr/ http://theprintedbolt.com/guest-judge-timna-tarr/#comments Fri, 03 May 2013 12:08:08 +0000 The Printed Bolt http://theprintedbolt.com/?p=5001 Continue reading →]]> We are so happy that Timna Tarr is back to help judge REPEAT(ed). Timna is a professional quilting super star, and she is becoming quite the cover girl for quilting magazines. Over the last year her quilts have graced the covers of some of the biggest quilting magazines in the industry. Her attention to detail and her fantastic use of color/fabric result in spectacular quilts.

Last year Timna provided REPEAT contestants with great feedback on exactly how fabrics work in quilts and we are sure she will have a lot to share with our REPEAT(ed) contestants.