Digital Design I made for a music festival in Lawrence, Kansas back in 2012

Some sketches for silk screen stickers from the “Black Eye Girls” series.

Adobe unveils new version of Photoshop | Photoshop | Creative Bloq

New! Photoshop! Creative Cloud!

Everyday items such as toys and a watering can are 3D scanned using a digital camera and subjected to algorithms that distort, abstract and taint them into new primordial vessel forms. In some cases only close inspection reveals traces inherited from their physical predecessors. These are then 3D printed on a z-corp printer.

Vessels are arguably the lowest common denominator for man-made objects across all cultures, these objects however have no storage function other than to embody the stored digital data that describes them, but he also worked with an ongoing exploration of derivatives of a 3D scan of Mickey Mouse. The choice of character also raises issues of potential clashes with big copyright holders that could potentially choose to lobby for legislation against 3D scanning.

That’s my latest assignment. We have to do a calligram (of anything) for thursday.

For this one we had to do a photo montage. 

There are a couple more but I’m not really that proud of them.. these are my favorites! 

We are having a mini blog train with freebies matching my birthday box give-away. Happy crafting!

Throwing some scraps around

Made by Keuntje

The Brown Owl

Happy Scrappin’ Gail

I am finished with my downloads, sorting, printing and I can say you, this will be a gorgeous Sunday!!!
I am going to show you tomorrow what I did with all those goodies.

See you, Freda

I watched a TED talk about compassion and the meaning of empathy. It was by Joan Halifax who has worked a lot with people in their last stages of life. In hospice and on death row.

She talked about the importance of compassion in the survival of the human race and in turn the whole world. And the health benefits of being compassionate. She says having compassion does make you feel others emotion a lot more and in a situation where someone is dying this can be very difficult but, she also says compassionate “return to base line quicker.”  It also enhances neural integration which hook up all the parts of the brain.

One thing she said really stuck out to me (she quoted something else but I cant find where it is):

“What is the most wondrous thing in the world?”

“The most wondrous thing int he world is that all around us people can be dying and we don’t realize it can happen to us”

Peter Saul works in intensive care in Australia. He did a TED Talk about the importance of talking about death in life.

He talks about the shift in the way people die since he started working in this area. Sudden death and terminal illness deaths are becoming less and less because of increase in medical technology and safety education. The deaths he says are more common now are from organ failure or frailty.

According to him 1 in 8 people think they are immortal and from a survey he and a coworker did on 4500 rest home patients only 1 in 100 of them had a plan for when they die. 1 in 500 of them had a plan of what to do if they became seriously ill. He talks about one instance, the one that triggered his research into this, where a man was in hospital soon to die and he went to talk to the mans daughter about what they planned to do if he passed away. The man was 95 but he daughter didn’t want to talk about it and said she though they would have time to sort it out.

He opens by saying that this is a hard topic to talk about because people don’t want to talk about it. This is what I found relevant to my project in this talk. The fact that everybody will die, but people still find it very difficult to talk about. He uses specific words when talking about medicine: prolong life not save life etc. He says “it matters how you die” and I agree with this. It not only matters for you but it matters for your loved ones. Its about being remembered how you want to be remembered not at your worst. A lot of the time you may die at your worst, so I would like an aspect of my design to enable people to remember or be remembered the way they want and the way that suits them best.

He had two ideas of how we could encourage conversations about death. First, we should ask our loved ones “if it gets to the point where you cant speak, who would you like to speak for you?” and “Have you spoken to that person? Do they understand your wishes?

Second, get political with it. “Occupy Death” was his suggestion. People plan weddings, birthdays, anniversaries etc. So why is everyone so quiet about death. It will happen, if you are born you will die.

“Most people don’t want to die but, they do want to have control over how they die.” I find this really relevant to my project. The more control you feel over your death the less stress you will be under. This means in your last weeks you will be able to focus on the things you want to focus on. The things that really matter to you. Saying goodbye and being with the ones you love.

“You matter because you are you, and you matter to the lat moment of your life.” Dame Cicely Saunders.

Jae Rhim Lee has spent the last few years developing this mushroom suit. The idea for the mushroom suit came about when Lee was thinking of ways to dispose of a body with the lowest environmental impact. Cremation releases toxins into the atmosphere, and in the USA 5000 pounds of mercury per year are released into the atmosphere from cremation. The human body has 219 toxic pollutants in it, green burial options are better than cremation but they don’t deal with the existing toxins in our body. According to her research BPA can be found in 96% of people over the age of 6.

“We are responsible for and victims of our own pollution”

The white stitching on the garment is embedded with mushroom spores and the pattern they are sewed in replicates the growth pattern of the mushrooms. She first attempted to make a hybrid mushroom exceptionally good at decomposing a human but found that was nearly impossible, so now she is selectively breeding and training a specific type of mushroom to recognize her biology by feeding them her own hair and dead skin. This way when it comes to it she will have a mushroom that will break her down as fast as possible.

The aim of her project is to get people to consider their impact on the environment for both when they are alive and after they die.  It’s a “symbol of a new way of looking at death and the relationship between my body and the environment.

The Creative Process Pie Chart

I know I’m not alone in feeling frustrated today, there’s just something about Fridays… So. Aggravating. Gir. I’m flipping over the desk and calling this week done. So anyone else looking to kill some time before the weekend begins can check out this little Buzzfeed article 21 Awkward Moments That Artists & Illustrators Recognize.

Personally, I think the little comics about sketchbooks are particularly truthful, I don’t think my boyfriend will ever understand why there is a continuous yet ever evolving lineup of notebooks, journals, sketchbooks, watercolor pads, bristol board and other stationery showing up at our front door.

“But I neeeeeeeeeeeeeeddddd them!!!” is my usual defense.

Sketchbook Troubles

Shout out to my homegirl, Jamie, who I know understands and is working on some crafty colory things right now. She is always a wonderful collaborator on projects and just oozes talent herself. Just don’t ever ask either one of us about our scrapbook paper collections… just… don’t…

“Double Click” to visit my shop!

finding out via social networking- crude powerful tool- individuals deal with differently, a way to get around it- know its not posted until later. .
put on another social platform, so people can communicate.

ie:

elderly funeral- they celebrate a bit more, the life they’ve had. people afraid they’ll be forgotten
Tailor the idea that its more of a celebration- possibly the person dying involved in it.. connection with living / deal – opportunity for a system based connection- between the people who were around/far away..

a 3d printed file-eg a star which you can print out from wherever you are and wear/hold onto- everyone at the funeral has, but allows people overseas to be connected too. create a connection between those left behind- a sisterhood..

re social media.. an alternative platform..http://mywifesfightwithbreastcancer.com/

from ash- whats cool about facebook is when peoples accounts are still active once they pass- becomes a nice platform to still message- private message or on their page- people like and you feel supported again..record open ended questions which someone can call and hear their voices again..

from ben- create a recipe for a person who has died-, an adaptation of a persons ashes- each thing tells a story..
x5 grains of sand from the time you lived by the sea
x3 grains of flour for the time i worked in the bakery
x1 glass of water for well wishes ?
x1 shot of whisky for..

Interesting how practices begin to copy eachother, the question is where is it authentic and when does it become sentimentality?
Its still valid for people who do it but it becomes different- it shifts- eg a joke interpreted seriously (bad taste) , similarly – child birth, wedding, christening.. when is it your own, when is it borrowed, when do you propagate a particular tradition- look closely and try to understand, create your own position and where you would like your product/system to sit??? what you want to present at the end of the year.. how restrained and understated do you want to do this..

or do people want a template- they cant handle themselves- eg sympathy/greeting cards..

Lynn:
approaching topic well, symbolity- the symbols people chose to surround themselves with- dig into the origins of the symbols and the rituals around death and grief. . storytelling narrative techniques (beads for cancer patients)

go back to the first principles of design..

This is the first piece from my collection for our Digital Design project. Each print is placed onto its own layer on Photoshop and the blurred rubber has been used to blend each print together. I have kept the colours quite limited as the prints are busy: by using the primary colours. I thought to apply my prints to a midi dress to compliment to current trend.

Later this summer we will do a few tutorials on Revit to CNC to broaden the exploration of Revit to Real.

-dave.

The ideal candidate will have design experience in a fast-paced agency environment, working with household name clients and multiple platform projects. You will have experience in social media campaigns and CRM in previous roles.

You should have a real passion for design, specifically designing for mobile (responsive and native) and strive at every opportunity to be innovative and exciting. Naturally, Adobe Creative Suite is a must as is the ability to work with accuracy in a fast-paced agency atmosphere. As a midweight designer you should have the experience and initiative to work alone as well as in a team.

This is a truly fantastic opportunity to join one of the Top 5 Agencies in a role where you will have the chance to grow and learn, working directly with the Digital Design Director.

Interviews will be taking place week commencing 6th May 2013

The ideal candidate will have at least 2 years experience in an agency environment, working with household name clients and multiple platform projects. You will have experience in social media and CRM in previous roles. 

You should have a real passion for design, specifically designing for mobile (responsive and native) and strive at every opportunity to be innovative and exciting. Naturally, Adobe Creative Suite is a must as is the ability to work with accuracy in a fast-paced agency atmosphere.

This is a truly fantastic opportunity to join one of the Top 5 Agencies in a role where you will have the chance to grow and learn, working directly with the Digital Design Director. 

This is an urgent role and interviews will be taking place week commencing 6th May 2013

So I created a little printable birthday cake box for all of you as a little crafting project, a lovely gift for yourself and others.
It is set up as a freebie at Digiscrapstation until 15th May with this coupon code:

May2013NL-BdayFredaF

Just fill it in while checking out and price is set to zero. Please don’t miss to have a walk through the DSS store and have a look at all the great digital scrapbooking and printable products from various designers.
I am having a 50% sale for the next 2 weeks!

If you want to spend money you can also get it from my Etsy shop.

Have fun cutting, mounting and filling!