If you follow me on social media already, you may have noticed the start of ‘Pattern Month’ which for me is a lookback at patterns old and new that I have designed over the years with varying themes.
I don’t get much time for designing these days, but I am hoping to work on a new collection soon, so looking back at patterns also shows what works well or what doesn’t, and also what my customers and followers like too; if these end up on products, it’s you i’m designing for!
One of my favourite collections I did was the fruity ice lolly collection, it was such a bright and colourful pop amongst some similar colour schemes and themes that had been going on at the time. I loved drawing the fruits and motifs, and the end result was great. Weirdly the original idea came from a totally different place, Ink Master, you know the tattoo contest show?
I was watching Ink Master one day and there was a New School style challenge, one of the artists that was very practiced in that area came up with an ice lolly design, it was bright and bold, and had a cartoony face and tongue, I tried adding little faces to my designs but I just couldn’t get them to look right, so instead I added some fruit into the lollies for some depth and colour.
The way I got the ice lolly to look like it was semi-see through was quite fun, I put one layer of the main colour down first, then added all the fruit and clipped off the edges, then added a copy of the main colour ice lolly shape down on top and made it a bit transparent so it looked like the fruit was sat in the ice. It was a bit of experimenting but I do like how it turned out in the end. I plan on doing a cocktail collection at some point which will probably use similar techniques.
Another design I really like is my jellyfish design, which evolved from this:
Into this:
The newer design is a bit more in-depth, and I do like the detail it has in it. This was actually one of the first dark designs I tried too and liked, I mostly stuck to pale colours before because it was easier to balance. This one actually printed out very well onto fabric as well so i’m pleased that this will probably be making more of an appearance in the future.
If you enjoyed seeing a few of my older designs here, check out the socials for a pattern a day this month, get involved and let me know your thoughts 🙂
www.instagram.com/tahliapaigetextiles
www.facebook.com/tahliapaigegiftware/
