Repeat Pattern Gift Box Designs

Here are some photos from a recent design project I did with year 7 and 8 vis com students. 

They were asked to design a repeat pattern based on flowers/plants.  First off we did a series of drawings using flowers from my mother in law's garden, and then an A3 colour pencil study of a flower from an image.  These drawings were simplified into various possible motif designs.  Students looked at the work of Finish textile design company Marimekko and Irish textile designer Orla Kiely for ideas on simplifying drawings into motifs.  They began the next stage by making a small square motif, which was scanned and imported into Adobe Illustrator.  Students then made 'live traces' of their motif and changed the colours and line thicknesses.  They then created a repeat pattern using reflection and repetition techniques.

The design brief given out at the start of the project dictated that the repeat pattern was to be used by The Royal Botanical Gardens, Melbourne on a series of gift boxes in their gift shop.  Students chose which gift box shape they wanted and then transferred their designs into the templates. 

Here are some of the wonderful end results.....

Bee Kite

A couple of years ago I did a kite design project with a group of 2nd year students back home in Scotland.  The department I was teaching in had loads of willow sticks and one of the teachers there set me the challenge of finding something to do with them.  After soaking in water, they are quite bendy and you can do all sorts of fun things with willow, but I decided on kites. 

Here are the students' kites up on the wall...

Here are some photos of how I made my kite...

Shape your frame with the willow sticks and hold in place with masking tape...

 Cover with paper mache.

...until it is completely covered, like this...

Then you can paint it....

For the kite string, I bought some from ebay very cheaply, and made cardboard string holders.  I helped students to string the kites up as it was a bit tricky, and you needed to work out the best place to attach the string for balance and best flying positions.
Did they fly?  Well, kind of!  I took the 2nd year class out on a mildly windy day and we had some stay up for about 20 seconds.  I think on a windier day we would have had better flying records.  On the down side, the kites were damaged slightly after flying, because they hit the ground, but they were patched up easily when we were back in the classroom.

Caroline's Felt Bag

Year 9 Jewellery Designs



Textile Jewellery Design