3.7.13

A CRAZY FEW WEEKS.

New Designers was without doubt the best week of my life, I spoke to so many interesting people from all over the country who had nothing but nice things to say about my work, and was approached by several amazing companies about some equally as amazing opportunities! And I loved being in London and spending time with the uni girls, it was so much fun! And then yesterday I found out that i'll be graduating later this month with a FIRST CLASS HONOURS DEGREE, ahhhhhh! I cant believe it, but what a perfect way to finish my final year. I'm going to miss it so much, the people, the studio, the laughs... I hate being stuck at home already. 

But life goes on and I now have so many amazing contacts and opportunities to chase, starting with a placement at my dream company... Tigerprint! I'll keep you all posted about what i'm getting up to and hope to post more images daily just showing you everything thats happened in the last few months. I am also using Twitter more and I'm always on Pinterest so i'll try to figure out how to put them fancy buttons on my blog somewhere that links you to them. 

If you're reading this because you picked up a business card then thank you and if you've been reading since the start then thank you as well. I can't explain how much the last few weeks has meant to me, I am a very happy lady right now. 


(So sorry about the bad camera angles, really 
need to improve my photography skills!)

23.6.13

It has been an embarrassingly long time since I last wrote a blog post but it has been a whirlwind few months and tomorrow brings the beginning of the end! I reached my deadline in late May and the Degree Show has finally been and gone. I had a really successful show making 7 sales as well as selling a few handmade cards and i've had some great feedback about my work! I was also nominated for an award, chosen to exhibit at New Designers AND spent an amazing 2 weeks on a placement at Joules so all in all a pretty amazing few months. 

And so to tomorrow... the first day of New Designers! I have finally managed to pack my entire wardrobe, finish my promo packs and sort my car and I am all ready to leave bright and early in the morning. I am so excited but can't help but feel a little unprepared. I'm sure it is going to be a week full of excitement and hopefully more success, and so I am hoping to blog whilst I'm there with lots of photos and news. And I am also going to keep up with the blog once ND is over, keeping you all updated with any new work and starting sending out mail requests again. 

I'll finish with a photo of my final collection of jugs and massive sorry for being so bad at blogging! Lets hope next week brings something amazing, they do say as one door closes another one opens.



15.4.13

I haven't written a post for absolutely ages so i've decided to do one full of images to keep you all up to date :) I have sent out so much mail now I am starting to lose track of it all. My list is constantly growing, I think I have 8 lots waiting to be made at the moment but i've had to put them on hold for a little while because I have exactly 4 weeks and 2 days until my final deadline. But as soon as I get chance or as soon as I get completely fed up of making paper jugs i'll get some made and put it in the post! I also have something exciting to share which i'll put at the bottom of the post. 

So for the mail...



















My scanner is completely awful and changes the colour of everything and zaps all the life of out them all so I will try to take more photos of them instead of scans. But these were 7 more that have been sent out and received! 

Now for the exciting part...
I decided to send some mail to a lady who works at Tigerprint after I attended the ND prep day and met some of the team. It took me a while to decide whether to do it or not but now I am so glad I did! I received a lovely email letting me know it had arrived and then on Saturday discovered they had Instagram'ed a picture of my mail for everyone to see! They also shared it on their Facebook and Twitter pages, which is completely amazing and exciting and just the best thing ever. So i'm very glad I sent it, even more glad that they all liked it and now completely desperate to exhibit at New Designers. But I have a while to wait for that so i'll just get my head out of the clouds for now and start getting some more work done. If anyone wants a look you can see it here...

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=508135472580453&set=a.163448510382486.41439.140591232668214&type=1&theater

Right thats all for today, I'll be back really soon with some new photos and updates. Thank you for reading!


4.4.13

I have some photo updates to share with you! I have loads more things that I want to show you all but I only ever seem to take photos in dark rooms, so i'll get some better quality ones and get them up here. I'm thinking of maybe using my instagram properly because I take so many photos as I am working and just generally that it would be a much better way of doing it, but i'll see.

I had a lovely couple of days off for Easter, managed to squeeze in a car boot AND a trip to the Malvern flea and collectors fair, both of which resulted in me adding another 4 jugs to my collection and loads of paper things, wooden boxes and ceramic objects. It was bliss to be at home for a few days with the boyfriend and family but that didn't stop my daily breakdowns about uni and work and life! Although I had a good cry yesterday and everything has seemed a little better since then. 

But anyway the photos. 




Not massively exciting but gives you a little insight into my past couple of weeks. I ordered my business cards on Sunday and they were dispatched today so i'll put a post up when they arrive and I also want to get some decent photos of my ever-growing jug collection for my back-up work so i'll share them with you all too. And obviously I have loads more mail to put up.

Remember if you would like some mail then add your address to my postable account here... https://www.postable.com/abigailudale. Thanks!

31.3.13

I am finally doing that post that I promised for Thursday, or maybe Wednesday, but its here now and its better late than never. I am assuming a lot of the mail that has gone out now has been received so i'll put a few new ones in this post. Theres been loads going on lately so I'm thinking of doing a post tomorrow with a sort of photo round up of recent goings on so i'll sort that tomorrow and get it up.

But for now some new mail...


The first is for another lovely textile lady called Amy who is a very talented paper cutter, hence my attempt at it! 


The next is for Talisa who is again a textiler and is very good at printing!


And finally some aeroplane themed mail for my dear friend Benjamin!

I have loads more to put up over the next week or so, so keep on checking back for more! 

26.3.13

I'm back again.

I have set-up a Postable account which is an online address book type thing where people can put their details into my account and only I can view them. Or something like that.

Anyway the link is... www.postable.com/abigailudale

Make sure you change it to your country and then it won't ask you for your zip code etc. If you want to put in any other info like email or birthdays then feel free, and you may even get a handmade birthday message!

Thaaaanks!


I have received so so many amazing comments about my mail in the past hour alone! I am a very happy bunny right now. Lorna and Steffi have both received their mail today and Jessie left me a lovely comment about hers. I'll get their mail up asap!

I was meant to write a big post today about everything i've been up to recently but I have been too busy filling out application forms so for now i'll show you some type ideas for my business cards and branding. I think I was having a fluke handwriting day because I am happy with pretty much everything on the two pages. Just thought i'd share them with you!

I'll be back tomorrow hopefully with more. (If not it'll definitely be Thursday!)



21.3.13

Today has been a day of tangents and I have ended up (yet again) not getting much work done. Everything I did seemed to go off in a different (maybe wrong?) direction and so I don't feel like i've achieved anything at all. I feel like I need to let myself make mistakes, to let go a little, but then I always come back to the same point, the same moment of realisation about money and life. But anyway... that is all too depressing and I don't want to think about it anymore, so here is some new mail and some photos from todays work...

The first lot of mail is for my lovely friend Jess!


And the next is for Danielle.


I think i've fallen back in love with collage again, and had a massive realisation that that's my thing, the thing that I do, that (hopefully) I am good at. I don't know whether I am or not but everything I do seems to come back to it and I definitely feel happiest when I am doing it. Choosing colours and papers, working on a composition, adding a little bit of hand-written text and using a lino to print on top of it- that is what I love. 

One of my tutors left a book for me to look at which was about the work of an illustrator who uses collage. I can't for the life of me remember his surname but his first name is Dan and his work is incredible and it inspired me to do something a little different, hence the tangent. On the left below is a photocopy collage that i've started to work back on top of and although its a little different to everything else I'm currently doing, I love it. I am going to hopefully finish it tomorrow, and maybe do some more!


I should probably stop typing now and make a to-do list for tomorrow, here's to hoping its a better day than today was.

18.3.13

Today... two people asked for mail, I made one that I am really happy with, and managed to piece together half a jug. Not a massively productive day but the piece of mail I made kind of makes up for it. I cant wait for it to reach its destination, I hope the lovely recipient in question likes it!

I thought i'd share with you some new mail that I know has arrived. The first is to Zelda who is a fellow textiler at uni. 


And the next one was also sent to a lovely textiler called Jessie! 



They're both very talented ladies who's work will be on display at our Degree Show in June (which everyone should come and see!) You can check out some of Jessie's work on her Facebook page.

And finally I have a couple of photos from my day. 


The first is just some of the paper goodies I was given today to play with and copy and the second is a peek at the half a jug I made. I am so so grateful when people bring me papers and envelopes for me to either use or take copies of so I want to say a massive thank you to everyone who has done just that. 

Tomorrow is a day of making mail, so if you're on my list it'll be with you shortly! 

17.3.13

Its late and I am very tired but I wanted to share with you some new mail! The two below are probably my favourite ones so far and so I am glad they finally arrived and I could post them on here. 

The first one was sent to my boyfriend, Adam. He is my entire world so I wanted to send him something special! (Sorry if its a little soppy.)


And the other is to my lovely friend Meg who I spend my days with at uni. She is a very talented textile artist and she is a constant source of inspiration, and motivation! If anyone wants to check out her work they can do on her facebook page


They both loved their mail which makes is all worth while. Remember if anyone wants any to write a comment below or if you know me just ask!

16.3.13


Lovely signage in Baker Street underground station

Thought i'd put a quick post up about our little trip to London yesterday. I went down to the New Designers Prepare Day with a group of lovely ladies and we were told everything we needed to know about exhibiting there in June, and now I am desperately wanting to be chosen! They told us about stand displays and prizes and introduced us to some of the companies that will be visiting, including the amazing Tigerprint. We got to see inside the impressive Business Design Centre where the show is held and I think it is safe to say all 6 of us that went are itching to be involved. 

Also before the talk we quickly nipped to Shepherds Falkiners paper shop, which was the most incredible place I've ever been. I looked through the catalogues and filled in my order slip and brought home with me some lovely, although now a little dented, papers to play with. We also made a flying visit to Somerset House to see their 'Wool House' exhibition. The parts we managed to see were so impressive, as is Somerset House, and I am now even more excited to visit 'Pick Me Up', a graphic arts festival, which is on next month. 


Our day was rounded off by a lovely dinner with surprise special guest Ed (one of our tutors at uni who we randomly bumped into!) and sing-a-longs in the car on the way back. 


Whether I am chosen or not I will be visiting New Designers in June and so should all of you! Its an incredible showcase of new design talent and I think i'd feel like the luckiest person alive if I am given the opportunity to exhibit. 


14.3.13

Today has been a very strange day! It started off well and I completed another paper jug for FMP2, which i'm really pleased with, but then after lunch everything I tried to do I was completely unhappy with. And then I had bad news from a cancelled work experience placement which changed into amazing news in the form of a 3 week placement. So it was up and down and confusing but I guess it was all okay in the end.

Heres some sneaky pictures from my finished jug:


The next job on my list is to replicate this little one below with printed papers and that will hopefully be a final one too! and also thats my very messy studio space which is almost at its max capacity.


I am off to London tomorrow for the New Designers prep day so i'll post again as soon as I can!

13.3.13

So I thought it was about time I posted a photo or something a little more interesting so I thought i'd share the first mail that I sent out as part of my uni work. I have always loved the idea of hand written letters and wanted to start sending people notes/cards/messages/collages or anything I cant make out of paper. Ive sent out about 15 so far and as people start receiving them i'll start putting them on here!


So here is the first, which I sent to my sister:




The envelope is printed using using a hand carved lino block, as is my AU logo on the letter.

And if anyone wants any mail then let me know your address and i'll put something in the post!

11.3.13

HELLO!

I never really know the right thing to say or how to say it so the idea of writing a blog scares me quite a bit but I am going to try my best to document my work, inspirations and mail on here for you all to see. For anyone who doesn't know me my name is Abigail and I am currently a third year Design Crafts student at DMU. I spend my days printing, collaging and generally making things out of paper and I couldn't imagine my life without design.


I'm hoping this will evolve into something bigger and that I will get much better at it as I go along, as I currently have no idea what I am doing, but for now bare with me and enjoy!