miscellaneous obessions

Mind-Bending video

2011-08-23T13:25:00.000-07:00

Utterly awesome video by artist Daniel Crooks, I have no idea how this was made but wow!

Nesting rings

2011-08-11T06:01:00.000-07:00

Beautiful nesting rings - think of the possibilities...

Completely forgotton where i found these, sorry.

Folk lore

2011-08-10T12:51:00.000-07:00

I'm such a sucker for brooches and these have just blown my mind! Super beautiful folk inspired jewellery at Skulk of Foxes. They also have gorgeous home pieces.

Home collection at Urban Outfitters

2011-08-09T04:11:00.000-07:00

I'm loving Urban Outfitters new home pieces, especially the rugs, and all at pretty good prices. Perfect to add a quick brighting touch to any room. Think i'll have to take a trip instore!

Stacking rings

2011-08-07T05:42:00.000-07:00

Completely obsessed by stacking rings at the moment, especially antique style settings and finshes. Seriously considering getting a satomi kawakita hexagon ring....

sorry about the bizarre positioning of the pics!

In this post - erica weiner antique one-offs, cathy waterman, satomi kawakita and an image from catbird.

Best Made

2011-08-07T05:11:00.000-07:00

The simplicity of the graphics on the products by Best Made Co. are amazing. Everything ties together with a sense of nostalgia and simple colouring. I love it all, makes me wish I was a lumberjack.

Rapture Ring

2011-08-02T15:33:00.000-07:00

WOW

catbird Speckled Band with Diamond

2011-08-02T15:11:00.000-07:00

Beautiful speckled gold ring, perfect to stack up.

Speckled Band with Diamond

Insect jewellery

2011-07-26T06:27:00.000-07:00

Found these beautiful necklaces by Philippa Holland on Net-a-porter. Gorgeous details, very bjorg-esque. The ring is just amazing.

Kevin Cooley

2011-06-29T15:42:00.000-07:00

I love these photo's by Brooklyn based photographer Kevin Cooley. They make me think of distant explorers uncovering new lands. The lighting is so perfect, I'm so drawn to them.

Paper bag

2011-06-18T12:31:00.000-07:00

Want this clutch by Marie Turnor, the leather looks so supple and it's such a beautiful natural colour.

Conroy & Wilcox

2011-06-18T12:25:00.000-07:00

i must have this in my life.

or even with a diamond!!

alphabet rings

2011-06-18T12:21:00.000-07:00

In love with these alphabet stacking rings. These are from Catbird and only $88 each.

Bristol Zoo Gardens

2011-06-15T06:48:00.000-07:00

If you go down to the zoo today....you'll probably get rained on, the weather is looking terrible, but i managed to time my visit to much warmer sunnier day.

Jonathan Adler bags

2011-06-01T12:38:00.000-07:00

Absolutely in love with these new Jonathan Adler bags, the quirky details, the colours and the beauitful prints. Yes please!

Project Ocean

2011-06-01T12:34:00.000-07:00

Selfridges have a very cool campaign going on at the moment called 'Project Ocean'. The store installation's look cool, but this whale rodeo has to be the best!!

Great Italian Motorbike Display

2011-05-06T12:38:00.000-07:00

Mesmerizing motorbike display by Rome police force.

May Anthropologie catalogue

2011-05-04T12:14:00.000-07:00

The new european Anthropologie catalogue is out and as ever the imagery is so lush. What i would give to be part of the creative team!

Vondelpark

2011-05-04T07:10:00.000-07:00

If there is anything cuter than parakeets eating blossom i haven't seen it! Saw these beauties in Vondelpark in Amsterdam.

Tin Tin

2011-04-29T14:06:00.000-07:00

Tin Tin was one of my first crushes when i was younger. All his heroic antics and world wide travelling solving mysteries seemed very glamorous. Now, i really appreciate the simplicity of it all. Herge's bold use of colour and meticulous attention to detail is beautiful. These collectable models stay very true to that simplicity and just draw me in the way the cartoons did.

Globes

2011-04-28T13:42:00.000-07:00

I love globes and this amazing light sculpture was created by Benoit Vieubled.

Land carpet

2011-04-28T13:39:00.000-07:00

These are the most beautiful rugs i've ever seen.

LEGO

2011-04-28T13:09:00.000-07:00

This lego storage is just too cool, very tempted to buy enough to build a fort.

Sunny days

2011-04-27T09:42:00.001-07:00

The weather has been SO beautiful lately - hoping this isn't our summer already. Here's a few pics of what i saw on a little trip out.

Harvey Nics do it again

2011-04-27T09:31:00.000-07:00

The new Harvey Nichols windows at Cabot Circus are a real, summery funfair treat for the eyes. There's everything from baby elephants to crocodiles, deep sea divers to gigantic hotdogs. I'm such a fan of there weird creations.

Get Famous

2011-04-21T11:09:00.001-07:00

Get your 15 seconds of fame with this amazing project by artist John Baldessari. A huge LED screen will be placed in Museumplein in Amsterdam and you can register your name to appear on the screen. The project runs from June 1st through to the 26th.

2011-04-09T03:17:00.000-07:00

Went to the Arnolfini gallery the other night to the Mountain of 4 event. Only saw these two acts but what acts!!! If your record collection is in need of some noise, dub-reggae then King Midas Sound is definitley what you need. This video doesn't do them justice. The walls of noise were immense and the bass made everything vibrate, so amazing. And Oneohtrix Point Never, beautiful soundscapes and dodgy 80's graphics in the background.

Texas 2011

2011-04-03T12:07:00.000-07:00

Texas 2011

2011-04-03T11:53:00.000-07:00

Texas trip in February 2011. A few momentos of those sunny days.

Bristol Zoo Gardens

2010-06-23T14:40:00.001-07:00

A trip to Bristol Zoo, amazing and colourful as ever. Had the cutest encounter with a fruitbat flying down right next to us. So furry and lovely.

Goram and Vincent

2010-06-15T09:28:00.000-07:00

Here are a few photo's from the Goram and Vincent exhibition that Danny organised. I made a text piece for the show concentrating on the legend of Goram and Vincent, overlapping two versions written out onto tracing paper.

Jan snow

2010-03-31T15:37:00.000-07:00

A few rollei pics of the snow from Jan 2010.

Balloon fiesta 2009

2010-03-31T15:35:00.000-07:00

An update of a few balloon fiesta pics I found.

Snow

2010-01-07T15:33:00.000-08:00

Some of the recent snow we had in Bristol.

Kodachrome slides

2009-12-11T06:38:00.000-08:00

Finally....Here are my slides from Texas - mainly Fort Worth with a few San Antonio thrown in. The colours are really gorgeous and really show Texas as I saw it.

Form

2009-12-11T06:14:00.001-08:00

Heres a look at the Form book i was recently featured in, there is some very exciting work featured in it so it's a great privilege to be included. It's so exciting seeing my name in print and next to the likes of Un.titled and Sagmeister Inc.
Sandu Publishing, November 2009.

TEXAS

2009-11-21T07:28:00.001-08:00

Please excuse the terrible scans - the prints are the worst quality ever. Also my photoshopping skills aren't mad enough to cover up the horriffic pixelyness.

Birds in texas

2009-11-21T06:45:00.000-08:00

Other texas animals

2009-11-21T06:39:00.000-08:00

News

2009-11-13T14:35:00.001-08:00

Well my laptop has died and it turns out trying to steal moments on Danny's is nigh impossible - except when the xbox is on. But some exciting news has come to chase away the non-mac blues. I have been featured in a new design book recently published by sandu 360. The book is called Form - Book and Promotion, and features heavyweights such as Sagmeister Inc and Graphical House so I'm extremely pleased and excited to feature along side them. It's in the post on the way to me right now so hopefully I can get some spreads up pretty soon. I'm also working on scanning in all my Texas photos, but I may be some time with that.

Michel Gondry Portrait

2009-06-23T10:37:00.000-07:00

It finally arrived!!! This is me and danny as seen by Michel Gondry.

Brussels Trip

2009-06-23T09:11:00.000-07:00

Here are a few photographs from my recent trip to Brussels. We went to support our friend who currently has a solo exhibition over there, you can see his work at DanPonting. The show is really great and he has already sold six pieces, not surprising as the work is so good and was really well received. The trip was such good fun and so nice to see all our friends together, now that we're spread all across the country. There were pleanty of good beers to try and some great bars to drink in.
I think i'm having camera issues again as the shutter doesn't seem to be working on the slower speeds so well (again). Unfortunately my pinhole camera didn't work out - i figured as it didn't seem to be very robust or light tight. I think i'll stick to making my own.

Harvey Nichols window display

2009-05-28T02:23:00.001-07:00

Lately I have been helping with some crazy window displays for Bloomsbury & Co in Cabot Circus, but we've been out done by the amazing display in Harvey Nic's across the road. They have full size dinosaurs created entirely from wooden coat hangers. It's really something to see.I love it.

Shelf cloud

2009-05-28T02:18:00.000-07:00

A few weeks back I spied this crazy cloud early one morning. It made me think about the film 'Independence Day'.

Output 11 year book

2009-03-11T11:28:00.000-07:00

Finally, here it is my Output 11 yearbook, with my work gracing its pages. A very exciting read with an extremely high standard of work. Quite honoured to be given a distinction. You can order your own copy from the inputout.de publishers.

2008-11-04T13:43:00.000-08:00

No posts lately as i have been extremely busy with my new job and enjoying my life here in Bristol. It's taken a little time to get my creative hat back on but its coming back to me and luckily working in a creative environment i haven't completely lost touch, the idea's are creeping back.
I finally got around to making up the pinhole camera Danny brought back from Texas for me and i currently have a film in it, so just experimenting with exposure times and such, so i should finish the film soon and the results will be here in glorious technicolour.

Balloon Fiesta

2008-08-08T02:43:00.001-07:00

Here's a few photo's from last nights International Balloon Fiesta, which was really good fun. The balloons were all tethered to the ground and fired their burners to music, it was very odd but serenely beautiful. It was all finished with fireworks which were big and loud.

Fuji Instax

2008-08-04T14:17:00.000-07:00

I recently purchased a Fuji Instax for a princely sum of £7, a bit of an 'Instant' resort since fuji are still making film. Tested it out at the recent Bristol Harbour side festival - and now thoroughly looking forward to the Balloon Fiesta. Should hopefully get some great pics up in week after next.

Mailers

2008-07-29T07:46:00.001-07:00

So the mailers are finally done and the first batch are sent, really hoping something should come of this! Even just a contact or two would be really great. More are being made and my list of studios is growing.

Some Ideas

2008-07-25T12:34:00.000-07:00

Well, been very busy lately what with the moving and the trying to find a job. Both of which are very stressful and time consuming. Then on top of that there was the stress of a graduation day - which surprisingly went really well and was great fun.
So this post is mainly a little insight into what I've been up to over the past few weeks. I don't really know where these ideas are headed yet but want to explore them.
The main thrust of these ideas are towards mailers to studios to try and get a foot in the door!
Best get my head around it quick sharp!!

Degree Show

2008-06-10T08:56:00.000-07:00

The degree show is almost over now, if you are still able to get to it I would encourage it as there is some really great work on show. Not just in Graphic Design but Fine Art, Fashion and Ceramics.
The theme for the for the graphics show was moving on and creating a show on cardboard boxes and wooden pallet's. I'm still unsure of how well this has worked, maybe because I exhibited my Brothers Grimm concertina book, where the board covers are exactly the same colour as the card and wood.
I have a few extra copies of our yearbook/newspaper that was created for the show so if anyone is interested drop me an email at vicki@vickibarnes.co.uk and I could maybe send some out.

Pretty Vacant

2008-06-10T08:47:00.000-07:00

So here is the book I created for my degree show, although it's not on display, I chose the Brothers Grimm concertina book instead. It's basically a step on from the Red Carpet book I produced, this time introducing colour. The 50 celebrities in this book all walked down the red carpet at the 80th annual Oscars 2008. The pages are French folded with the colour of the celebrities dress printed in the inside, the viewer is able to tear open the page to get the full colour, though runs the risk of destroying the page. The colour is the nearest average Pantone match to the womens' dresses and ideally would have been silk-screened individually, but I had no time to mix 50 diferent colour's so inkjet it is. It's a B5 format with a silver foil blocking title.

Bath 08 International Music Festival Photos

2008-05-18T09:17:00.000-07:00

So the poster have finally gone up in the centre of Bath Spa, and they really look great. They have been printed onto an MDF type board and then mounted onto the hoardings. That sickly green colour really does stand out and catches your eye so hopefully they will get some good publicity from it.

Exciting News!!!!

2008-04-25T12:19:00.000-07:00

Some extremely exciting news, I found out today i won a distinction in the :output competition i entered in February for my Red Carpet book (archive 02). I'm pretty sure it will be featured in the yearbook :output 11 which is published in October 2008. Click the title of this post to see the list of winners. Yeahy

Bath 08 International Music Festival

2008-04-22T12:46:00.000-07:00

I've been a part of a small team of students who have taken a commission from the Bath International Music Festival. We were asked to create an exciting promotional piece to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the festival and to also promote the acts. We laid done some rules so each poster wasn't going to mismatch. These rules included using the typeface Univers, using the existing colour from the festival identity and setting a simple grid for everyone to follow, allowing for absolute typographic freedom within it. The posters will be placed on the dominating builders hoarding which are right in the centre of town, and the actual size of each poster will be approx. 3m by 1.5m. The overall effect should create a ribbon which wraps around the hoardings, listing each act. This has been a very enjoyable project, and very exciting, considering i get a huge poster set right in the middle of town for hundreds of people to see for free at the end of it. Don't worry plenty of photos will be taken when they all go up!

The Brothers Grimm

2008-04-22T11:32:00.000-07:00

So I've finally finished my 5 metre concertina book containing Fairy Tales by The Brothers Grimm. There are admittedly a few tweaks to tackle for THE final print but this is good enough for now. The front cover is hardboard with letterpress titles, to match the titles throughout. The concept behind this piece centered around the idea that fairy tales all follow the same pattern, with the good being wronged and doing some hardship before overthrowing the evil and living happily ever after. So to emphasise this i have placed each tale into four pages each, with shorter tales at the start and longer ones towards the end. This means that tales at the beginning have larger type sizes compared to the ones nearer the end, to fill the space. It also means that young children can read the tales at the beginning and as they become more competent readers can move closer to the end.

Save polaroid

2008-03-30T09:08:00.000-07:00

This is a very important issue that is very close to my heart. With the closure of the Polaroid factories and the end of the instant film many people are lost for words. But at this website (savepolaroid.com) you can sign numerous petitions to save the instant film, with a possible hand over of production rights to either Fujifilm or Ilford. I adore my Polaroid cameras, i've had a long love affair with them, and i can already see large batches of film being bought up. I never imagined not having my camera's loaded with film ready to capture anything. I also always imagined handing one of my camera's to my children and letting them be awed by the instant image, hopefully encouraging some creative genius in the process. It will be such a shame if this medium is lost and will cause much upset to artists, designers, photographers and the loss of the beautiful instant family and friends portraits!

Cassette tape typography

2008-02-29T13:54:00.000-08:00

I'm currently working on a cassette tape font. I've had this idea in my head for a while and so i've finally decided to try it. It's proving very difficult, i need to decide on my rules and see what happens.

The Brothers Grimm

2008-02-29T13:49:00.000-08:00

I'm working on a 5m concertina book containing seven tales by the Grimm Brothers. Here are two mini mock up's i've recently made.

Holgaroid is here.

2008-02-18T03:22:00.000-08:00

So here they are, the very first test shots with the new Holgaroid. I'm still getting used to this very eccentric of cameras, and the polaroid film is another matter completely. I'm hoping to use it for the Jack Kerouac book cover i'm doing at the moment.

R.I.P Polaroid

2008-02-15T11:27:00.000-08:00

So it's happened. Polaroid are closing their factories and discontinuing their instant film. I'm very upset at this, since i adore this medium, and recently purchased a polaroid back for a Holga camera (examples coming soon!!) which is so beautiful. We love you polaroid.

:output

2008-02-08T14:04:00.000-08:00

I've entered the inputoutput competition with my Red Carpet books and the Forestbox, with a mention of the Glacierbox. Very hopeful something good could come out of it! Check out the details at www.inputoutput.de. Fingers crossed.

Glacierbox

2008-02-06T05:16:00.001-08:00

Ideas for another noise box are in the works! This time it's glaciers, with icey doom resonating sounds. The same basic origami structure will be followed though maybe a more abstract image employed, unsure at the moment. This project, primarily the Forestbox wil be entered in the InputOutput competition (closing date Feb 15th) and maybe the Red Carpet book also.
Final designs are coming together for Holocene records also (Danny's project) so hopefully some releases should be seen soon, this being one of them.

Red Carpet book

2008-02-06T04:52:00.000-08:00

2008-02-06T04:46:00.000-08:00

This is the Red Carpet book, which was a bit of side line project from the provoke change brief we were given a the start of the year. Each silhouette is individually hand cut (i have no fingers now) and hand bound. This edition has a monster 64 celebrities inside. I have made two smaller versions, each containing 32 celebrities. I'm hoping to continue making these books in the hope of possibly selling them. The idea behind them is the anonymous nature female celebrities take on when on the red carpet. All the photos seem to be the same, with the same pose and smile for the cameras. Also it's a pretty object.

Forestbox

2008-01-11T07:05:00.000-08:00

This is a project i was asked to do for Danny Griffin (check out his work at dannybeard.blogspot.com). I was asked to create something that would promote his 'forest' project. The forest project consists of ten images, all of forest-scapes, with different bands of colours and gradients applied to each. These images are then put into a sound programme and the image is read as sound, the gradients produce some interesting effects (thats about the jist of it, i'm still unsure how it works!). The initial idea was to create a book, but when looking at the images they needed to stand alone so the idea of having postcards came about. The origami box and cd case are printed onto a A2 sheet and folded down, no glue applied, and neatly house the items inside. Type is kept to a minimum to allow the images to stand out and to be viewed individually with the corresponding track on the cd-r. Hopefully some others in the series could be on their way!

2008-01-11T06:54:00.000-08:00

These are a couple of the images which are included as the postcards within the forestbox

Alex Rich poster

2008-01-10T07:27:00.000-08:00

This poster was produced in a masterclass with Alex Rich. The session was fantastic with some great help from Alex. Our poster is a comment on text (sms) language taking over the English language. So you should be able to type these numbers into your phone, on a predictive setting, and get a message back.

Polaroid Transfers

2007-11-15T07:43:00.000-08:00

These are a few polaroid transfers that i've made recently. I have bought an old (very old) 350 land camera, which takes peel apart film, there's a lot of potential here. There are a few techniques that can be applied to the film. These were the first test's which i'm quite pleased with. They were made by peeling the film apart after 15 seconds and applying the negative to damp paper, the image then develops onto the paper. I just need to find a direction for them now.

2007-11-15T06:45:00.000-08:00

These are the postive images from the polaroid transfers, obviously they haven't taken the full colour, but i really like the sunset blush to them.

Polaroid Emulsion Lift

2007-11-15T06:22:00.000-08:00

This is another polaroid transfer technique, where i submerged a fully developed polaroid print in boiling water for five minutes. The emulsion then lifts off quite easily and can be placed onto any other surface.

2007-10-09T09:27:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of nice pictures of birds from some forgotten days in the summer that happened to be sunny. Unfortunatley taken before i realised my camera was broken.

Moose Heads

2007-09-16T09:15:00.000-07:00

Here are the plaster moose heads. The clean white one is cast from the alginate, give's fantastic detail but due to the tricky shaped antlers the alginate had to be cut away and could only give one good cast. The orange cast is from plastacine, again some good detail but a crushed nose. Don't quite know what i'll do with them. I'd really like to cast the heads in resin, but need to find a good way to mould the head.

Print Gocco

2007-09-16T09:07:00.000-07:00

I've been playing with my print gocco, this was an image i had left over from a previous project. I was looking for something to adorn a cd case for my boyfriend. The candy stripe bag is the cd case. I love how instant the print gocco is.

2007-09-16T09:01:00.000-07:00

This is the beginning of a small moose project. I've moulded the head of my plastic moose, in some alginate. I will then use this to cast plaster in.

2007-09-02T08:05:00.000-07:00

A few other photo's from my holiday in Florida.

2007-09-02T07:53:00.000-07:00

Lucky enough to visit Florida this summer right at the same time as the shuttle Endevour launch. One off the most incredible sights i have ever seen. Spent the day in the visitor's complex which is fascinating, then moved to the cause-way to view the shuttle. It was over very quickly, vanishing into the horizon at 5000mph. Unluckily though my camera has a faulty shutter so my films didn't come out too good, thank goodness these one's are just about okay.

2007-07-14T09:34:00.000-07:00

Here's a canvas bag i've made. I bourght the scrap of canvas from the fabric shop in town. I've had the lion design hanging around for sometime and didn't know what to do with it. So here he is, i think the stripes are fantastic. I've made another bag but haven't decided on the design yet, maybe anchors.

2007-06-13T12:13:00.000-07:00

This is a magazine about bookbinders and the art of the book, created for a second year project. It contains interviews with Mark Pawson, Masters bookbinders and the Bath Spa binding tech Sarah Rowlands. There are also reviews of the BABE event at Bristol and various books with interesting bindings. The magazine is printed onto 90gsm tracing paper with tip ins of 100gsm copy paper and a 110gsm fabriano emossed cover. The pages are french folded and perfect bound.

2007-06-13T12:06:00.000-07:00

This is little silkscreened book i've produced inspired by my trip to Morocco. The book documents a journey down a particular street in Essaouira. I chose to document all the awnings over the stalls. In the book i created out in Morocco i also cut the pages to the shape of the awning, i haven't in this book. The book is silkscreened onto 50gsm paper and stiched together. It is presented in a candy stripped bag, reminisent of Essaouira, with white and black letraset titles.

2007-06-02T05:23:00.000-07:00

I love envelope patterns (just as every other graphic designer seems to). So many people have made books and badges from them, i wanted to do something different. So i've kept them as the object i loved in the first place, the envelope.

2007-06-01T13:27:00.000-07:00

In addition to the Alice project i completed a while back, i've made a little book with details from the table cloth. The cover is made from greyboard covered with a doyley and hand written text and a fastening is made from ribbon. Each page is hand drawn on cartridge paper and concertina folded.

2007-05-29T14:59:00.000-07:00

A couple of spreads from my Morocco sketch book.

2007-05-29T14:19:00.000-07:00

Some images taken from my magazine project, based on bookbinders and the art of the book.

2007-05-29T14:17:00.000-07:00

A polaroid from ATP vs fan weekend in May.

2007-05-09T11:55:00.001-07:00

Another photograph from Morocco, this time from my SLR
which I encountered many problems with, as you can see.
I quite liked this graffitied cactus.

2007-05-03T12:01:00.000-07:00

A very disturbing find in the garden.

2007-04-13T11:35:00.000-07:00

A few photographs taken on a recent trip to Morocco.
I really loved it out there, it's completely different and chaotic.
Also being the pattern fiend I am, I had no end of references and influences.

2007-04-12T12:17:00.000-07:00

Some pinhole photographs, made with cocoa tins, for an invented world project.

2007-03-28T13:05:00.000-07:00

A table cloth made for a typography project, based around the Mad Hatter's Tea Party.

2007-03-05T12:35:00.000-08:00

Letterpress

2007-02-24T13:34:00.000-08:00

Flags.

2007-02-22T12:24:00.000-08:00

A few photographs from a trip to Amsterdam.

2007-02-18T12:22:00.000-08:00

Photocopy and ink

2007-01-13T13:09:00.000-08:00

Messing about with the scanner and a lolly pop stick.

2006-12-04T13:22:00.000-08:00

Some polaroids.

2006-12-03T13:31:00.000-08:00

Balloons.

2006-11-24T13:24:00.000-08:00

Trains in Sydney Gardens.

2006-11-13T11:44:00.000-08:00

A first year project on theme of touching the heart.
Inspiration taken from a Shakespeare poem 'The Pheonix
and the Turtle'. A poem about the loss of perfect love (between two birds).