Inspirize

Hand Made Slippers

2011-11-10T11:05:00.000-08:00

I went to a workshop today at Bilston Craft Gallery with 'Sammy the shoe-maker', learning how to make sheepskin slippers :)

It was a lush day - tiring as I don't normally use a hammer and nails, but a great experience.

Visit Sammy's etsy shop here

And pictures from the workshop. I'd love to design some of my own to adapt the shape and work into the uppers before assembling them. I saved some pink suede remnants so might add a star or snowflake to the front with a single stitch.

Mine and Kelly's finished slippers x

Shoes for Show

2011-11-03T03:59:00.000-07:00

Wish I could go to this exhibition!

Shoes by Daphne Guinness, Christian Louboutin and Natacha Marro

[exhibition invite]

4th - 8th November 2011

An exclusive look at couture pieces from private collections - hidden from public view until now.

Courtesy of Javari.co.uk

Location: The Loading Bay, 91 Brick Lane, London, E1 6QL

11am - 7pm

What to expect?

Here are my fave Louboutins,

Daphne Guinness wearing McQueen shoes,

and some Natacha Marros created for a theatre production,

Christmas Home Ideas

2011-10-31T04:28:00.000-07:00

I've got lots of lovely ideas for decorating the home for Christmas this year. J and I are soon moving into a little house and maybe having some family over so I want to make it look gorgeous.

I love this Ikea picture, from the 'Christmas inspirations' section on their website, they also include a link to instructions on how to make paper swans! My theme will be silver swans and white pine-cones. All I need is some patterned napkins, a walk in the woods to gather some pine-cones, and to decorate them, white spray paint and glitter.

Origami swan/crane pdf:
http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_GB/pdf/20122_winter/wirs11a_bird_napkin.pdf

Wow: TKMaxx find

2011-10-17T13:06:00.000-07:00

Stunning cropped leather jacket by Malandrino

Gold Label @ TK Maxx (Birmingham) around £300 in the sale

Love it !

DanielBlake a/w 2011 Events

2011-10-10T15:53:00.000-07:00

I was blessed to be the photographer for two of Daniel Blake's A/W 2011 events, both held in London last week. Daniel Blake offers a 'made to order' service, where you can select your style, size and fabric for your garment. All garments are then made right here in the UK

www.danielblake.co.uk

Here are a some of my favourite shots from last week

Influence/Inspiration

2011-09-08T13:32:00.000-07:00

Influence: the capacity or power of persons or things to be a compelling force or produce effects on the actions, behavior, opinions etc., of others

Inspire: to fill with an animating, quickening, or exalting influence

to exert a stimulating or beneficial effect upon (a person); animate or invigorate

to breathe life into

I am influenced by my passions - fabrics, sewing, creation - and hope for the future.

I am inspired by beautiful friends, their passions, their love and their wonderful freedom.

This one is inspired by Becca.

Part of my autumn range to be released early October.

Printed jersey batwing top
hello@resasmith.co.uk for info x

I ♥ Autumn

2011-08-30T08:17:00.000-07:00

Fresh inspiration

Still loving JW Waterhouse paintings as posted previously, but I'm currently working from some of my uni work that I did in April to create a small collection of one-offs.
The project was called 'Bohemian Journey' and is my favourite, most boho design work. I just had to change some of the colours and textures so I could work with fabrics I already have. The collection will be sold under my label Resa Smith

The original project:

And for those who love me, a sneak peak into realisation :)

Sketches and techs, swatches and trimmings

To clog or not to clog?

2011-07-25T07:01:00.000-07:00

Last summer clogs came in, and I wasn't sure if they were going to take off or not, but the buyers were clever, choosing designs with faux fur to carry us into a/w... knowing it might take us a whole season to decided if we really like clogs or not.

I remember clogs from when my big sis would be lounging in the garden, I never really thought of them as a high fashion accessory. This summer I was still unsure.. Until I found some gorgeous heeled clogs, that my friend Camilla wore to my house. I just had to be totally inspired and bought some the same (thanks Cam!) x

1.My River Island clogs £45 2.Aldo, £70 3.Zara 4.Chanel, the pioneer of clogs for 2010/11 5.Jeffrey Campbell@free people/urban outfitters 6.Free People £70 7.Irregular Choice £150 8.Jeffrey Campbell snick wedges £70 9.Miss KG £85 10.The Laden Showroom £45 11.loveclogs.co.uk £42

Some are clumpy and bizarre looking, others are boho and funky, but they are all still clogs - don't expect to be walking elegantly in them - by their very nature you will find yourself clogging around :)

British Summer Hot Chocs

2011-07-07T14:57:00.000-07:00

This summer evening calls for some hot choc, so here is my own tried and tested recipe with links to the accessories I use.

Enjoy!

1) Measure the milk by filling up the mugs you are going to use. Slowly heat milk and use a thermometer to monitor the heat. Mine thermometer is from Amazon.

2) Just before the milk is ready (about 70 degrees to froth well) boil the kettle and fill your mugs/glasses about 1/5 with water. Add the chocolate powder at this point, stirring it in gradually. For a richer result, add 1 teaspoon cocoa powder. You can also experiment with a gentler taste, replacing 1 teaspoon choc powder with 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence.

3) Froth milk! I filled the jar halfway to the marked line, so it froths over double. If you were making a cappuccino I would recommend skimmed milk, as it froths best. I tend to rinse the glass in warm water before shocking it with hot milk. My milk frother is by Bodum and can also be heated on the hob top.

4) Stir the remaining heated milk into the chocolate syrup you prepared, and top with froth. Admire it for a second, then move on quickly!

5) Top with chocolate sprinkles to impress, although this can cause the froth to disappear more quickly. My latte glasses are from House of Fraser.

Enjoy! x

University review: Course, campus and career

2011-07-04T07:46:00.000-07:00

Comparative review of my university experience: Bournemouth v Birmingham.
Scroll down to 'The verdict' if it's too much to read!

I spent 2 years studying at The Arts Institute at Bournemouth (now known as The Arts University College at Bournemouth) and a further 1 year at Birmingham City University. Each year had its own flavor, from a sunny but intense and dramatic first year studying Costume, to the relief of transferring to a Fashion course and then onto the final lap, making a whole heap of new friends in Brum.

The Arts University College at Bournemouth

Course:
Bournemouth is a wonderful town, full of colour, variety and art. There is a certain 'Bournemouth look' to the young people to seem to have their own version of 'cool' that you only find down south by the sea. I loved moving out into a house in the student area, and quickly got used to my independence. The course, however, was haaard. In a good way. I think... We were in uni most days, had a register, and had plenty of practical work and notes to keep up with. Intense but good, anyone who survives that course will become a well seasoned, well experienced costume designer/maker. The problem was, even though I put so much into being accepted there, I lost heart for costume and wanted to focus on contemporary pattern cutting.

So I switched. Second year brought me more freedom. I lived with some great girls who were totally organised and it did me some good. The course provided pattern cutting lessons, step by step practical tailoring lessons, and self initative in design, to draw the way we liked and explore. Probably couldn't fault the course except that it didn't have a direct thrid year available, and the 'lessons' for essay writing were less than helpful.

Campus:
Bournemouth has a well organised campus, a purpose built library (lacking in toilets and doesn't stay open long enough) an enterprise building to support graduates and new business ventures, and a student services centre that accept card payments! Everything is in one place, with areas of grass to hang out, an arts bar and a (too small) cafeteria.
The motto is 'Work hard party harder' which seems to be true for most students. Often there would be events running alongside tight deadlines, DJs playing outside and a BBQ cooking, whilst we are sewing our final collection! Every course seems to be just as intense, so most students lack sleep.
Overall a great arty place to be, if you are self motivated, disciplined and know what you want from life and from the uni experience.

Career:
I'm sure Bournemouth has great industry links, I know many students have gone on to do great things once graduating. Two costumers worked on The Kings Speech. One fashion graduate won Norway's 'Project Runway'. However, for me, I didn't feel support in this way. Our course ended after 2 years with the choice to top it up, or leave it as it was: FdA Fashion Degree.
I went out to find my own work experience which I still believe taught me more in 6 weeks than uni taught me in 2 years. Thats not to be harsh on uni - but complimentary of the important of industry experience.
Bournemouth's fashion course did ground me in commercial fashion, which helped my decisions in 3rd year at Birmingham...

Birmingham City University

Campus:
May I first tell you my bemusement when I saw BCU's library.. The size of a postage stamp! Sorry Birmingham, but that is something you need to work on here!
I choose a 'proper uni' over another arts institute as i wanted 24 hour facilities, a larger work area, larger group of friends, and a different experience. My main problem with Birmingham is that there is no grass. Nevermind it lacking in seaside, some lovely place to chill at lunchtime would be great, instead we had a cold canteen area - the main doors led straight to this area, causing it to be freezing during the winter, and this being the only place to hang out. A massive bonus to the uni is the art shop. This asset dwarfs Bournemouth, who only had an art sale once a month. This shop had all the materials we needed including toiling fabric and much needed chocolate!
We worked in an art block, separate to all the other subjects - hence why the library is probably so small. I have Wolverhampton uni to thank for my dissertation research, whose library is a 4 story atrium abundant in books and resources, and hardly anyone in the fashion section that I needed.
I mustn't be too hard on Birmingham's campus though, as I have heard some whisperings on a new campus at millennium point.

Course:
My first encounter at Birmingham set me up to realise the reputation of the course. I was early on the first day and waiting outside the lecture theatre for 15mins, at which point a trickle of 4 other appeared, discussing what time we were supposed to be there. Another 30mins later there were about 16 of us, when a tutor arrived and said the meeting was in yet another 30mins time. Wah!
I love being prompt and on time and I'm afraid there were too many times when meetings were postponed or cancelled, which annoyed me as it was a 1 1/2 hour commute to B'ham for me. This was by no means the tutors fault (I got on very well with Lee and Nathan) but down to having too many students in one year for the amount of staff available. I also had to wait 2 weeks to get some sewing help from the technician as she was just too overloaded, in Bournemouth the max wait would be 2 hours, but we are comparing a class of 35 (B'mouth) to a class of 120 (B'ham) so of course there will be more strains and upsets in the bigger class.

Career:
It would be unfair to compare the two universities in terms of career as I did a different level of course, and have only just gotton to interview stage at the moment.
However, Birmingham offers a unique pathway for students who want to make themselves employable. It is called: 'Negotiated brief'. Most final year students create a collection that they hope to show at Graduate Fashion week, however, only 12 students from B'mouth or B'ham are picked for this opportunity, therefore causing some disappointment for other students. Birmingham worked out another option. Instead of making a full collection, I made only 3 outfits, then spent the rest of my time working on my portfolio, and a number fo projects to feature in it. This was then exhibited at GFW, where a number of companies saw it and contacted me. What else does a graduate need? Birmingham City uni worked the timetable in such a way that the ones not being featured on the catwalk could still stand a very good chance in inductry.
Oh and I won an award at BCU for most employable student across Art and Design (called BEST award).. So perhaps I could compare the 2 institutions on this occasion and tip BCU ahead of AUCB?

The verdict:

Bournemouth is a community of artisans, designers and bohemians. The campus is ideal, always improving, moving forward and is inspiring. The work on the walls is current, and the library is tidy and quiet. If you know what you want, if you can self direct and survive a few years of sleep depravation then Bournemouth is for you. It is a place like no other.

For best results: Do a short course, live in Winton, next to the high street: 5mins from shops, 15mins from uni, 30 mins from the sea. Get to know someone who can play guitar. Perfect.

Birmingham uni is big, more grungy and in the heart of the second biggest city in the UK. It is surrounded by big grey buildings, commuters who wish they were in London - not to mention a load of people who don't smile. It did give me, however, the best year of my uni life. I was challenged, forced to do things I wouldn't normally do, and the lack of social occasions to be distracted by severely increased the amount of time i could spend studying and working. The tutors are honest and experienced, we did hear the faculty moan about the lack of money (so we couldn't have a fashion show) but at least there was no pretense or cover-up.

For best results: Live in Wolverhampton so you can use the library there instead. Decide to ignore the banter between the other 100 people in your class. Aim for a first because it is possible.

Why I chose Bournemouth: Impressive showreel and final show exhibition. Great vibe.
Why I chose Birmingham: Big city, competitive class of students, range of course pathway options and GFW opportunity.
To improve Bournemouth: Larger classroom with a separate sewing room (noise reduction) Facilities should stay open for longer into the evening and they need an art shop. More tutorials.
To improve Birmingham: A designated 3rd year room - space to ourselves. A warm canteen and about 3 more technicians. Tutorials with time slots to minimize time spent waiting around.

The Best:

Library: Bournemouth
Events: Bournemouth
Facilities: Bournemouth
Tutorials: Birmingham
Art Supplies: Birmingham
City centre: Birmingham: shops, Bournemouth - sea
Public transport: B'mouth for buses/local, B'ham for trains
Friends/connections/networking: Birmingham
Accommodation options: Birmingham
Canteen: Neither! The both need work!
Trips/visits: Bournemouth
Faculty office/student services: Birmingham
Vibe: Bournemouth
Cultural: Both

Autumn/Winter inspiration

2011-07-04T03:10:00.000-07:00

It seems that a/w trends come in before we have even had our British summer. The summer sale in House of Fraser is really good at the moment though, so shouldn't complain. Here's my inspiration for Autumn Winter 2011, by John William Waterhouse (British painter 1849-1917)

Out of everything...

2011-06-17T02:23:00.000-07:00

I worked so flippin hard on my degree work, late nights up sewing, early mornings on photoshop and endless stress with the pen tool in illustrator! The most daunting task was my dissertation, yet out of everything, it was the most rewarding task and the only project I would not change. It is easy to say that I would change my final design collection, as it was not chosen for gfw - so of course I would re-do it. I remember back in May a friend of mine posted some info about the end of the world! Remember that? It was supposed to happen in May - so therefore we decided it was pointless starting our dissertations!

Well here's the pretty cover of my dissy titled 'Nothing will ever replace silk' and a photo of me at Macclesfield Silk Museum - to which I highly recommend a visit, the tour is just amazing

Portfolio

2011-06-13T09:14:00.000-07:00

And now I'm hunting for a job in London. It is hard when I'm asked to send 'samples' of my work to job agencies, I have a versatile selection (!) different drawing styles, different age groups, etc but very difficult to choose a selection under 2mb! These are what I send through and I hope it represents my ability in design, free hand drawing, CAD, fabric knowledge, construction and techs...

Definitely looking forward to getting my portfolio back from uni in a week. It has fabric samples throughout and is much lovelier to see in real life.

1) Final project: Research, design development and photoshoot
(by supanew)

2) Mini project, for a younger audience, with tech drawings and photoshoot

(by photocillin)

3) Bohemian journey, design development, inspiration scrapbook and colour designs with techs

4) Resa Smith summer 2010 dresses - commercial project example

Final Year... it's over!

2011-05-28T08:48:00.000-07:00

I've finished uni and looking forward to results day in june :)

These pics show my capsule collection that I produced before opting to work more on my portfolio. I'd like to do a 6 piece collection one day, as this had been designed to be 6 pieces originally.

Photos taken by Jonathan. Model: Ruth

Fascination of the week

2011-04-16T15:37:00.000-07:00

4 weeks ago:
Spider silk is stronger than steel, it is being used in medical research to create artificial ligaments.

3 weeks ago:
The reason the silk industry in Britain never took off on a global scale is because JamesI ordered the wrong type of mulberry tree to feed the silk worms. Silk worms are monophagous so without the white mulberry tree they died. No one dared say this back in the day - it would have been treason, so they blamed it on the weather!

2 weeks ago:
The amish community has strict rules; how to dress, what to eat, where to work, and the God to pray to. It seems that most who leave are not in search of a more free-ing or exciting world - but a more free-ing and real relationship with Jesus. They are becoming born again Christians, and ex-communicated for it.

Last week:
My upstairs neighbor only has about 10% of her sight. She is completely independent, her computer talks to her - and she can type faster than me. Amazing. It is fascinating to describe things to her - without using visual descriptions too much.

Big Hair

2011-03-16T14:18:00.000-07:00

I've been in London for the last couple of days having a fantastic time off from uni work. Daniel Blake invited me to his womenswear event where you select a piece from his collection to have made to order.

I worked as the photographer for the event, with Andy Teo aka photocillin working alongside me as my assistant and support (and to keep me calm and functioning!) We got some awesome shots, you can see a small selection of mine here.

The event was at 'Kink' - a luscious hair salon. James, one of the stylists had 'a go at my hair!' and taa daaa! I have big hair that I actually intend to sport for the next few weeks. Thanks James x

Big hair is fabulous. What with graduating in the next few months - I don't intend to take life too seriously! Just going to work harder than ever, putting my heart into gear instead of my head and do the best I can. I'm not going to mind what outfits I end up in, or how late I am for Church ! Just going to get on and live with my big hair. Yeah :)

Photo courtesy of Andy Teo x

Lazy Baking

2011-03-07T15:05:00.000-08:00

Tesco cookie mix 64p

Takes 12mins, makes 6 good sized cookies

Yom!

I unashamedly love this cookie mix, take a look in my cupboard and there'll be at least two boxes!

Photos taken on J's canon 40d, with his lovely new 50mm f1.4 lens

New Flat

2011-03-03T06:44:00.000-08:00

I'm absolutely loving our new flat, right in the city centre of Wolverhampton. It'll be a great base for more Resa Smith work, and fantastic for my current commute to Uni.

We've just had our selection day at university, where the tutors decide who is going to showcase their work at Graduate Fashion Week. Unfortunately I am not one of the few who made it, but I'm still really pleased with the work I put forward. It was probably too commercial for how the university want to represent themselves, we joke at uni that if we'd have stuck some dead birds or meat to our work then we might have been picked. Lols

The show is in June 2011, it'll be interesting to see what my classmates achieve.

Now it's time to concentrate on Resa Smith 2011, organising a photoshoot, and writing a dissertation.

Must dash - got some cookies baking in the oven x

Illustration

2010-12-17T07:32:00.000-08:00

Illustrations from last month's design project.

Using soft pencil, photoshop and of course, my favourite - Brushios

So much to do so little time!

2010-10-25T02:43:00.000-07:00

It's been a while.. Ive still got about 4 or 5 maxi dresses to put online, but I'm at uni now and things are hectic. The journey to Birmingham isnt too bad - 40min walk, 20mins on the train and a 20min walk to uni. Keeps me fit I supose, and the time on the train is some good 'thinking space' (except when I fall asleep)

Well here's one of the dresses that needs to go online, and a page of uni work.

Birmigham uni is very diffrent to Bournemouth Art's. They don't like anything contemporary in your reseach unless it is your own interpretation of something. I've made a lush little concertina book full of interesting finds... Got to do 100 designs from it by tomorrow and only 45 done so far !

J&M Photography - Matt and Sophie

2010-09-10T04:16:00.001-07:00

Last weekend J and I photographed a wedding together for the first time. I've been at a few weddings as second photographer - but this time we could do it our own way :) Exciting! Scary!

I started the day at Sophie's house (beautiful bride, used to be my gorgeous housemate in Bournemouth) and got clicking some funky prep photos. I got to play about with Andy's wide angle lens - Andy is the dude who shot the Resa Smith photos in a previous blog entry. Could easily get obsessed with this lens!

Then on to the Ceremony, J and I had a list each of what we needed to capture, and made sure we were always on oposite sides of the Church to cover different angles - then quicky swapping places saying things like 'ahh help - I havn't managed to get a shot of whoever!'

J was a great help, anything I hadn't managed to cover, he went off to do for me. He got this gorgeous shot after the ceremony - and I didn't even see it happening!

I must say, we had an amazing time, I wasn't nervous, but next time I need to slow down and bring a tick - list to make sure we get everything. There's a heap of photos we didn't manage to get - even some basic standard photos like the wedding rings before they were put on, but I'm not disappointed, it was a lushious wedding to start at and hopefully J and I will be able to photograph some more in the future.

Baby McClenaghan

2010-09-10T04:08:00.000-07:00

Alex and Ivane's new baby - photographed at 3 days old!

J, Caelan and Alex in the V-dub that Alex has restored and is selling on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120609520629&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT#ht_628wt_1013

Ibiza 2010

2010-08-31T04:32:00.000-07:00

Day 1

Arrived at Ibiza Airport 2am, the buses don't run until 7am so we made friends with some New Zealanders and slept under the stars on a grassy bank next the airport

At 7am we headed off to San Jordi market, held at the hippodrome. Scorching heat, sun still rising. Decided the market wasn't the right sort of place to sell my dresses, so we got the bus to the campsite where we relaxed, ate croissants and attempted to cool down

Day 2

The Beach!

Our campsite has it's own supermarket so we got a huuge bottle of water and lots of fruit. Our beach is literally 2mins away and fairly small. The brown spanish kids run around naked, whilst the poor english kids are covered head to toe in a light wetsuit, a hat, sunglasses and suncream that hasn't been rubbed in enough.

Ate Paella :)

Days 3 & 4

Went to the night market at Las Dalias. Totally gypsy and boho - crazy didgeridoo music and people from all sorts of nations selling hand made crafts and gorgeous items. Wish I brought €1000 to spend here. Having said that - the atmosphere was a bit too much. Very Buda and a bit too strange for me. Was happy to get back to the campsite :)

Took a bus ride to San Antonio - the club central - to checkout the atmosphere. Found some gorgeous little shops clustered together. Bough a lushious bangle. Yay :)

Found the most amazing bakery in Es Cana, selling cheesecakes, tarts and apple pie slices. Yom!

Days 5&6

World famous Hippy market at Es Cana. This was a daytime market absolutely heaving with people - many english families. Loads and loads of stalls set up in maze, fortunately enough shady spots to survive.

Took a boat to Ibiza Town - the capital. Wandered in and out of some funky fashion stores (highlight of my week so far!) and went for a walk up to the castle.

Enjoyed a cuppa tea at Cala Nova for the last time

Last day

Packed up and enjoyed the beach, took funky photos and got the bus to the airport for our flight home at 3am

Jools and Jen's Wedding!

2010-08-11T02:36:00.000-07:00

Last saturday was the much anticipated wedding of Jools and Jen! J, being the best man, had a few duties to get on with, whilst I had the wonderful role of being generally helpful; being in the know; but also relaxing and enjoying the day.

Jools arrived in style just in time before his Bride arrived - at which point I got butterflies at how beautiful she looked! We celebrated the day with loud worship music and fantastic songs, followed by a performance from the singer of Basement Jaxx (Jool's God-Sister). Dave Nunn gave a message, the main point I remember is when he described being married - and said that after 3 months you will have forgotten what it was like to be single. It's true!

We then took a trip in a big old London bus to Browns, the classy reception venue. Delicious food, lovely people and funky jazz music - my highlight being when Jool's dad got up to sing with the band. Felt like I was suddenly in a film!

...And finally - sending off the new Mr&Mrs, we shared a taxi back to the hotel where Jen and I chilled out for a bit and the boys ran around organising something or other - maybe something to do with their honeymoon in Bognor (! running joke - Jen doesn't know where the honeymoon is!)

A wonderful day had by all x

... The following day it was our 1st anniversary! We'd planned to catch up with Jools and Jen, maybe share their rooftop hot tub (lols!) but in the end took a stroll by the river, entertained by some top notch classical buskers, and then discovered a bunch of dancers practicing in a tunnel. J defo wants to move to London now - uh-ohh!

And heres our views from the hotel, sweet lil farmers market, and table tennis which was mostly occupied even late into the night.

And finally.. J looking suave in his new shoes :) xx

Resa Shoot !

2010-07-24T11:20:00.000-07:00

Our photoshoot was fantastic! I'm now posting all things 'Resa Smith' on a new blog that feeds into my website - pretty cool! The website is like a hub for social networking - it links to etsy.com, a website for selling homemade items, facebook updates, flikr for the photoshoot and tumblr for blogging

www.resasmith.co.uk

and heres a couple of favourite pics, we followed the H&M inspiration below but added more FUN more exploring. Needless to say it was TOTALLY successful! Amazing photographer Andy Teo can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/photocillin/

Maxi Dress photoshoot inspiration

2010-06-06T09:57:00.001-07:00

Resa Smith maxi dress

2010-06-01T11:30:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago I had time of work due to a nasty throat infection. As I work in a call centre this made me un-work-able! So I began to dream up some ideas.

The Inspiration:

Here is the inspiration, from Monsoon, followed by the outcome, a maxi dress made with fabric I bought with Selina, from an Indian fabric shop on Dudley road.

The Plan:

Well so many people, when they hear about the idea of maxi dresses go 'oOOooo I'd like one please!!' so the plan is to finalise my pattern and have 1 standard size to fit dress size 8-12 (bra 30a-34c)

Followed by two length options:

flats (5"4 and under)

heels (5"5+)

Bigger bust sizes (dress 12-18) will be made in a few weeks when I've got going :)

So I'm off fabric shopping asap (I have work this week boo!) and then I'll get sewing!!

Once 6 are done I'll be calling on Selina (beautiful model) for a photoshoot and J will be working hard to get a website online with paypal enabled

Blessings!! xX

(please comment if you have any further sizing ideas or if you feel you wouldn't be suited to the options suggested)

Blackbottom cakes

2010-05-30T13:10:00.000-07:00

Made yesterday, half the mixture is cocoa and flour, the other half is an egg, mascarpone cheese and choc chips... Yum! Rich but went down well x

Nebula Photos

2010-05-28T14:48:00.000-07:00

I've finished all 6 nebulas and they start going on tour with the kids club from tomorrow. More photos on picasa:

http://picasaweb.google.com/MaresaEsmee/NebulaBlog#

Technique:

I'd start off by tye dying the sheet a base colour, such as green or blue, three hours later I lay it out flat on some plastic sheeting. Onto the spray bottles: two bottles filled with colours (silk dye, bought as a liquid) and one filled with water to blend the colours. I used an image as reference per image so I had something to work from, and once the intial pattern was 'painted' I'd work more colours on top with different intensities of dilution, or using dylon powder dye in the bottles - mixed with salt and using hot water.

The silk dyes are very intense when used 100% and leave the fabric soft to touch, whereas the dylon can be used to cover larger areas and leaves the fabric more crunchy due to the salt.

Once nearly dry (the next day) I sprayed or splattered some areas with bleach, or left to dry completely before applying a second lot of dye. Onto the ironing which would take about 45 mins per sheet to ensure the silk dye is fixed, and because the sheets are huge! I'd then lay

them out to map the sequin using dressmakers tape and sew sew sew!

I got pretty into it and would love to do more!

Nebula

2010-05-21T08:20:00.000-07:00

First few photos of my nebula project.

These are room dividers for a kids club, made from a series of flat double bed sheets. I've used a range of techniques, silk dye, dylon, bleach and salt to get a variety of effects. They've all turned out so different.

The inspiration - Organic space - not rockets or spaceships - Nebulas, supernovas and gas storms

The outcome - liquid colours that still look as though in motion, grainy explosions and crinkly black velvet tones creeping across the sky with a shimmer of sequins and crystals.

Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcakes

2010-02-01T04:14:00.000-08:00

We had some friends over last week and to make it a bit more fancy than the usual lasagne evenings, I made some strawberry cheesecake cupcakes. I've got two recipies for these, one of the muffin variety, and the others are cupcakes. I chose cupcakes because the topping is made from butter, icing sugar and cream cheese with sprinkled digestive biscuit crumbs. Yum. The cake has strawberry chunks through it, making it more of a pudding experience than afternoon tea delight. I think the muffins would be good with ice-cream and they lack the creamy topping.

The day after, I made some black bottom cakes, rich chocolate cakes made from two seperate mixtures - one chocolate and eggless - the other flourless with cream cheese and choc chips. You collide the two mixtures side by side in a cupcake case and wallah! Delicious, rich, varient cakes. Ingredients: coco, choc chips and of course my current obsession; cream cheese. (pictured before topping was added)

Oh and J & I have discovered the best time to go shopping in Asda is 10pm, when all the kids are in bed and the new stock is being put out :)

And heres the cake I made for my birthday.

Delicious Kitchens

2010-01-08T06:05:00.000-08:00

Our initial 6 months in Wolverhampton are nearly over and now we are looking for a new place to live, either in Wolves so J can keep his job, or in Nottingham - to let the real adventure begin! If anything is cetain, its this: I'm on a hunt for a fabulous kitchen!!

It has to be faitly modest too, afterall, in September I will be a student again, so as long as there is room to make baked beans on toast and pizza - we're fine!!

Here's some inspirations:

Breakfast bar attic style kitchen, great worktop space even thought the kitchen is small

Kitchen/Diner in a house in Nottingham (affordable!) Could imagine this for when we have kids too

Lush kitchen island/bar/worktop with storage. This would be ideal because then it can go with us wherever we move to. I like the wood colour with the white.

Davina has kitchen shelves instead of cupboards and it's so handy, you can see where everything is so things don't get lost. (Ikea of course)

Love the chalkboard idea. And I'm spotting a theme here - Kitchen Islands!

Gorgeous exposed brick wall, rustic cooking in a rustic kitchen.

Kitchen/lounge/diner, open plan which has a spiral staircase in the middle of the room, leading to a mezzanine floor for the bedroom... LUSH!

In Wolverhampton Princess lofts (but someone is renting it already)

What's your favourite kitchen styles?

Meez xX

Merlin Boots

2009-11-22T09:40:00.000-08:00

For Christmas I am hoping for some new boots! J has messaged everyone in our families to ask them to club together.. but I keep finding more boots to choose from! I love the current trend over the knee boots, but I would like something more wearable for the everyday uni days, something that will last for years without dating, or at least something that suits me and the styles that I wear. Tall boots can make me loose my legs!

...My inspiration came from watching Merlin, the BBC series..

www.bbc.co.uk/merlin/

From Free People (who now ship to UK, finally!), these are perfect, but perhaps over priced, and coming from USA I can't try them on or return them.. Brit Boot £148

http://www.freepeople.com/index.cfm/fuseAction/products.detail/_/Brit-Boot/productID/548ef12f-db87-4e0d-9a2f-0200f87317ab/productOptionIDs/0b6e9cad-a8f4-4ccf-8a37-466219f4ea95/categoryID/9bc28317-1ea4-460d-a375-7bd1806ebb71/cmCategoryID/8a61524b-907c-474c-ab37-f357c9ae11e3/&detailcross

From Dune, these are great on the screen but crap on my feet! Tiff £90

House of Fraser has a brill range, I headed in the direction of Kurt Geiger even tho they tend to be expensive and found these, they looked fabulous in the shop and on my feet but they are brown instead of black and also heeled.. hmmm

Which are your favourite??

Gap Year beginnings

2009-10-30T13:51:00.000-07:00

The release of 'Pirates of the Caribean' caused a rippling of trends accross designer and high street brands alike. Primark are still stocking the same knee high suede effect boots that they began to sell in high volumes 2 years ago, and harem trousers were even more popular this summer than last.

Above: Lily Cole modeling Jean Paul Gaultier

Below: Similar to popular Primark boots

The next Resa Smith collection (note: amended spelling, word now translates to mean laughter, and also links to the word Yield - useful when my hubby's freelance company is called Yield) was to be a black autumn/winter trend, until that idea was splashed all across the magazines for this years trend - making it become old news by the time I have it finished for next years winter.

2010 will see the release of 'Prince of Persia'. What better idea than to take inspirations from the few images I could find from this film and translate them into fashion ideas?

I will begin injecting colour to my very black looking collection and be making use of my fabulous costume book that Rosh gave me :)

Wedding Day

2009-09-04T12:08:00.000-07:00

Our beautiful wedding day

Our ceremony at Citygate Church, Bournemouth

Culeaze manor house complete with duck pond and rowing boat!

Barn dancing

Husband and wife!

At the stables

Gorgeous photography by Rachel Walkden

Commissions available!

2009-06-03T05:11:00.000-07:00

If you have found a pattern you like and don't feel you have the confidence or time to make the garment, send it along my way.

Heres an example....

Most often, the customer will purchase the pattern, fabric and extras such as zips or interfacing. I then return the completed garment and any spare fabrics.

I charge £7 per hour + p&p @ £3.50

To browse patterns visit: http://www.mccall.com

Crit Photos

2009-05-13T03:09:00.000-07:00

Ombre Photoshoot

2009-05-12T12:26:00.000-07:00

Charlotte's Galaxy fabric - Photoshoot

2009-04-30T07:39:00.000-07:00

Funky Little Waistcoat

2009-04-23T11:34:00.000-07:00

Tailored but slouchy, this waistcoat is taking shape. Should be finished by tomorrow, along with the jeans I have just dyed. 2 Garments down, 7 to go !!

After the final crit on May 12th I will find out if my collection is going to be in the show and for sale in Beales. Below: Dress toile, now on it's way in silk cotton

Another Textiles Collaboration

2009-04-23T11:18:00.000-07:00

Today I worked with Charlotte from Textiles to help her create a dress for her final project.

Charlotte had printed some space inspired fabric and as for the shape, our inspiration was this amazing dress from all saints.

Here's what we came up with. It flows on the bias of the fabric, with a boned corset style under-structure and raw edges. Charlotte is now going to bead it and next week we will do a photoshoot for it.

The pictures just don't do it justice!

all saints reference:

http://www.allsaintsshop.co.uk/product/parachute_dress/?searchtext=&category_id=22&page=1&position=50&all=1

REASA SMITH Logo

2009-03-27T02:23:00.000-07:00

My first development of a logo for REASA SMITH

This will be used for my Professional Project

I will use ultra to print labels and tags for the garments.

Colours will change dependent on how it suits the collection. I may also change the wording so 'Ombre for Beales' is less prominent.

The following was inspired by oriental art as seen at Freer and Sackler Gallery, Washington DC

Wedding Bunting

2009-03-19T08:51:00.000-07:00

Our wedding has a Bohemian theme which doesn't just inspire my dress and style - but also the look of the whole event. We have found a gorgeous garden, not too formal with a rustic country feel to it. We are having a BBQ and barn dance, and decorating the place with this bunting I have started to make.

Using garden string (29p for 500yards, Wilko) I plaited it into a rope and machine stitched the triangle flags on. Each night or so I bead another flag to build up a nice variety of colours and styles. We are going to collect tall sticks to use as poles for the bunting.

Top middle photo and bottom left from google images

All others my own

2009-03-09T13:14:00.002-07:00

WestFields

2009-02-05T10:24:00.000-08:00

"WESTFIELD shopping centre is causing a seven-day rush hour with huge traffic jams across west London, residents claimed today.

Roads surrounding the 23-acre mall were in chaos last night with up to mile-long tailbacks on major routes out of London, despite a £200million upgrade to the local transport infrastructure."

My Shepard's Bush fabric kingdom has been discovered by the world! Noo! Since the new year people traffic at Shepard's Bush tube station has increased by 60% ! Westfields, a shopping monstrosity has taken over, full of every store imaginable, affordable and designer, All Satins, Bershaka, Pull and Bear and Swaroski to name a few. Oxford street just isn't enough anymore.

At first sight it is nothing more than a massive retail therapy theatre, but the councils real reasons for plonking this thing here are only slightly better - to increase the value of properties and land in Shepherds bush area.

Despite my upset at my favorite fabric shopping cave being invaded, the shopping centre is an architectural work of art. The light, space and even sound quality creates an uplifting experience even for those poor students who can afford to by absolutely nought.

Instructions for best results: Gaze at the incredible glass ceiling, take the escalator and visit the windows of swarovski. Gander round the fashion retail stores and then get a haircut at hershesons (next to house of fraser) Grab a coffee and relax on the stone cubes outside until 1am.

Life is for Sharing

2009-01-21T15:02:00.001-08:00

Structured Freedom... Freedom Structure?

2009-01-07T08:57:00.000-08:00

This week I began to explore ideas for my final major project at uni. Of course, as it's fashion, rather than a lush clothes making course, I have to be trend aware and stick to some of the rules.... ahhhh!

So. I'm going to break away from the colours I'm normally drawn to and use a new theme: Obsession, described as beetle black, diamond teal, nude and fleshpot shade with a shot of spice shade.

Shapewise, I'm going to look at the balance and clash between freedom and structure, boned, perhaps stiff and even strong fabrics worked against soft flowing tulles, chiffons and silks. Grungy thick denims with sheer organza and lace.

Structure: Architecture

Freedom: Plants and birds

Other trends to consider: Embellishmentalism! and Exoticism, both verging on boho.

I'm also going to experiment with Ombres; fabrics that fade and shade different colours. I was going to name my collection: Rustic Ombre, but it has been suggested that this sounds autumn, rather than Summer 2009.

Time for some sketching.

Christmas Cookie Jars

2008-12-27T10:01:00.000-08:00

Finished Jacket

2008-12-12T06:26:00.001-08:00

So after a manic three days of sewing machine rushes and iron queeing, I finally got my jacket finished! The lining cost more than double the wool, but took less than half the time to construct. Lining the draped pockets was the most complicated part, because until I actually sat down to sew I hadn't thought about it methodically. I'm going to make this jacket up in some nicer fabric and hopefully learn how to make a bra out of the lining fabric!

Inspiration pictures: Miss Selfridges and Asos.com

I absolutely love my course (fda fashion) because I can do projects that help my self development as well as working towards my BA qualification.

The next and final unit is called Professional Project. I will be making a Summer collection for Beales to sell in July. I'm also looking into doing a project running alongside it where I will be creating convertible luggage/ jackets !

Back to Brushos

2008-12-05T07:02:00.000-08:00

If there's one thing Gloscat college did teach me, it's how to use brushos.

For my Jacket illustration I decided the best way to communicate the wool texture would be through brushos (also watercolours are waay too hard)

Brushos are like powder paints, but more like an ink than a paint. It creates a dye when dissolved in water, and when sprinkled onto wet paper bleeds colour out. After a year or so I have seen the purple fade a bit, but while it lasts it looks fantastic. The results vary alot, sometimes the colours are too dull, this tends to be linked to the amount of water applied, so you have to use quite thick paper to avoid rippling.

Heres my first attempt illustration before putting it onto a mood board.

Trendsetting Chicken Legs!?

2008-12-03T15:12:00.000-08:00

Well I'm not on about fashion models having the skinniest legs ever - I'm talking about leather. I went to a presentation at Uni yesterday and saw all kinds of leather. It started off with sheep, sheep fur -Spanish, Italian and British. The British sheep skin is extremely popular in Russia where they make thick warm coats from it.

Then we saw pig suede in pink ad blue, then Goat's suede which was considerably finer and smaller.

The cow hide was huge! It was thicker and tougher than all the others. When the skin is removed from the meat (most leather is a bi product - the animal was bred for meat) it goes to a tannery. At the tannery they have to treat it to put in artificial oils and other substances that got lost when the skin died, otherwise the skin would fall apart within days. 70% of leather is dyed black. This process can take up to 3 weeks because you have to dry the leather naturally which in itself can take up to 3 days. When leather is dyed, the napped side has to go through a different treatment in order to keep it from scratching and soaking in water. You often see leather that is shinny, patent, metallic or foiled. This has been created by sealing a film over the napped side of the leather.

We then saw leather made from ostrich - one skin costing a massive £300! Alligator skins - apparently not illegal when it was bred for meat. This skin had a special tag on it to tell you everything you need to know about the particular animal to ensure you it is not an endangered species.

The bottom left skin in the above photo is a sting ray skin. The bubble looking texture is actually hundreds of bone. The bright yellow skin is made from ostrich legs! This in the past has been used by students to make coat panels. The brown skin in the background is cow hide.

Above: Eel skins! Sewn together in panels.

Below: Clockwise from top left brown skin eel skin, black and white python skin, black python,brown eel skin, brown cow hide, brown ostrich leg and yellow chicken leg leather!

W also saw cow stomach leather and skunk fur. All extremely fascinating but by the end of the session I became slowly aware of all of the dead animals lying on the table...

Jacket - Update

2008-12-02T15:07:00.000-08:00

Today I started to cut out my jacket in final fabric. At the beginning I was optimistic about the colour change (from blue to purple) but 12 hours of staring at it has driven me crazy - it now looks like carpet to me and I can't wait to breathe fresh air away from it - it even Smells purple!

The lining pattern was printed parallel to the selvage. It was also available printed at a 90 degree angle, meaning that the patten had a stop and start point at every metre. (almost like a portrait and landscape option on fabric) This may have been a better option as to get the printed pattern facing the correct way for my pattern piece I had to line the straight grain up at a 90 degree angle so the grain runs horizontally rather than vertically.

Just need to put he should pads in and sew the lining in tomorrow and I'm done. Photoshoot time!

T W I L I G H T - Textiles and fashion collaboration wins highly commended and asos pitch

2008-11-26T14:39:00.000-08:00

Me, (fashion) Suphattra (fashion and modeling), Fran (model), Charlotte (textiles), (model) and Aisha (model)

T W I L I G H T

Three weeks ago, textiles student Charlotte Jenkin was given a brief to collaborate with fashion students to create a range of t-shirts and a business plan for the brand.

Having seen her gorgeous work (everything she touches becomes beautiful) I was really excited to be working with her.

Suphattra and I started drawing up shapes, designs and researched well into beading and draping to work alongside Charlotte's vision. We wanted very much to facilitate her, and not 'contain' the project within any trend ideas, but inside let Charlottes textile ideas flow into the design development of the actual shapes too.

After the fabrics were created; beautiful dyed and screen printed nylons and lycra, we set to work drafting and pattern cutting in the last week, running up to the presentation.

The presentation was very much like dragons den! A panel of judges (most of whom I had no idea who they were) a big camera from the BBC and some complicated questions about mass production manufacturing.

All lack of sleep and overlocking unpicking was well worth it! T W I L I G H T came Highly recommended, and our work will be presented to the buyers of ASOS (www.asos.com) next week!

Our models before a shoot for the newspaper

Fran in the printed poncho
Us lot!
The hangers and tags for the range

Jacket Project

2008-11-24T09:40:00.000-08:00

Here's my toile before adding the draping pockets at the sides. I've got two weeks until the final deadline, and will be recreating it in purple wool fabric and printing my workbook by then.

I'm loving the fact that I have done something unlike me - its more commercial than what I usually design. Unfortunately the colour I was assigned (blue / bright teal that I fell in love with and will definitely use it for a future project) was swapped to purple, which is waaay too me-like! Changing it to purple makes the whole collection look tighter - altho I'm still convinced that we should have all used the same texture/ type of wool fabric to pull the collection together more.

Oh well! Check out the gorgeous digitally printed linning that I got from GoldHawk, London.

Fitted Jacket with a grown on collar and seaming details on the empire line. Vents on sleeves and draped pockets to follow.

Brelli !

2008-11-17T11:24:00.001-08:00

So now we have a solution for those parasol lovers who don't wana hide from the sun - but shelter from the rain! Chuck your poncey material parasol and replace it with this 100% biodegradable brelli. Nope it's not made from dissolvable fabric, but a new kind that will last as long as you look after it, yet is careful to the environment. Personally I think this large size, for two people is awesome, spesh for when your trip to the arboretum turns out to be a rainy one.

Available from american websites $32 - $50

Hengistbury Head

2008-09-20T05:05:00.000-07:00

We took a walk along to Hengistbury Head the other day - I saw a sign post that said 4.5 miles, but thought hmm thats not much. Ha! oh dear What a walk!

It was a beautiful day - a bit of sun and mostly warm-ish.

I much prefer the rustic countryside than the tarmac fronted beach that Bournemouth has. We found a cafe and onwards some more was a nature reserve that then reaches to the head. We walked all the way to the top.

Definitely recommend going - but don't get excited about the cafe... Bring a thermos of hot chocolate instead and don't wear flip flops.

We went to the New forest the following day and had a lunch in Brockenhurst. I don't know how the wild horses don't get stolen or run over!

Then on to Christchurch harbor. We wanted to go rowing, but 630pm was a little late in the day to begin another adventure. They have a paint it yourself pottery place in Christchurch too!

Church Day

2008-09-14T14:25:00.000-07:00

Chocolate and marshmallow topped marble cake with a glass of whole milk. A perfect way to round off a fabulous dream filled evening and a full day of manic fun.

We went to the late Church service today, all four of us walked in together. I wore my DMs... and subsequently got 2 new blisters (after already having 2 from a walk to the station in flat indian shoes) The heels I had packed in my bag would have been more comfortable in the first place!

We had lunch at the Southey's house to celebrate Andy's birthday - pretty good turn out. Then we trekked off to the beach for some crazy immature fun (well for us girls anyways!)

Tonight consisted of lots of bolognese being cooked up quickly before a good hour of God time. It's definitely the start of something amazing.

Meez xX

Painting without thinking

2008-09-13T09:20:00.000-07:00

My remedy for lowness this week was watching 'the notebook' twice a day and painting without a care. Now I'm feeling happy I'm going to attempt to fix up the painting and get the light angles looking better. Need to learn how to get my brain into gear again!

Perhaps the painting was a little healthier for the soul than the continuous film watching, specially as I am really missing my Jonathan!

New House!

2008-09-11T17:51:00.001-07:00

Well the new place is amazing, what with all the girls, our dreams for the future, the baking and the film watching (I've become addicted to 'the notebook' which is hopelessly romantic) I'm the most organized I've ever been, thanks to my new unit that my material is in... A little different to last year which consisted of a large mound of overflowing material in a big lime green bin.

Not too happy about the colourful magazine letters I used to label the boxes but I figured your only young once so I might as well have it funky before I end up making it in boring black pen.

We're located 2 mins away from the shops (including Charity shop city) which is great for self discipline - ha! But seriously, its a wonderful location. Only down side is the trafic, for a small roads it's surprising how much drives and wanders by, and as my room is downstairs at the front I have to be a little careful about having the blinds open.

Still - the landlord built us a nice new gate the other day (so decent of him) so we are feeling safe and happy.

Should be visiting my course leader again tomorrow as I may be switching course. Must get some sleep - and Alice, hope your school is fun! xX Meez

Vic and Richard's wedding!

2008-09-05T13:17:00.001-07:00

Victoria's wedding was undoubtedly the best weathered day in august. The ceremony was beautifully emotional - gorgeous music was played when she walked up the isle in a specially made satin and lace gown. The train on the dress was the perfect length and the buttons down her back complimented her figurer gracefully :)

The night before was hectic - organizing teapots filled with flowers for the dinner tables and last minute nail painting for the bridesmaids.

Richard wore a fantastic textured jacket and Reuben became instantly popular with the girlies in his pin stripe suit.

More on this later - I've just moved in with 4 Christian girlies and we're chatting about angels :) xX Meez

What we didn't tell you!

2008-08-12T07:29:00.000-07:00

We had a bit of a tumble but help came in about 10mins and we wernt even hurt. We got another cars in a couple of days and continued our journey.

In the morning we had prayed for our safety - pretty amazing as the Sheriff had never seen a flipped car with unhurt people climbing out ok!

Zion: Gold, Silver and green flowing plushness!

2008-08-10T06:17:00.000-07:00

We reached Zion as our final park, unfortunately we didn't make it to the grand canyon this time because we got held up some days previous.

Zion has a shuttle service to save on using gas, so J got a break and we decided to take the bus all the way up to the top to make our way back down.

Some of the popular hikes and walks include:

The weeping rock - a rock that drips with water which seeped into it 800 years ago

The narrows - a walk through the canyon that becomes a river walk - the river banks disappear and the canyon cliffs get narrower as the water gets deeper!

The Mormons discovered Zion, hence all the mountains and interesting points have biblical references. The three patriots, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are three massive mountains in a row. Angels landing, Altar of Sacrifice and The Great White Throne are others along the way.

We decided to walk the narrows, and were forewarned to take a walking stick and be prepared to get wet up to our waists! And I was dressed for horse riding!

Stepping into the water was quite surprising. You see people of all ages daring to try it, but none are prepared for the current! A surfer dude was clinging onto the edge of the rock laughing at me: 'like your really dressed for hiking' Ha yeah so are you mate - you ok clinging on there?!

Eventually I decided that, yes, a walking stick would help so I managed to find a suiter, much to the envy of the Americans walking by 'Oh my! Thats a goood stick!'

We spent the rest of the day working out how to dry off - but the sun pretty much did the job in 30mins or so.

This is the seeping water that looks like gold in the sunset light.

We also saw the weeping rock and emerald pools before it was time to head off - lots of miles to cover now we are journeying Home.

We're Home!

2008-07-31T10:35:00.000-07:00

We might update this soon anyways to show you what we did on our last 4 days or so - plus the stuff we DIDNT tell you at the time!

But for now we are trying to anti-jetlag ourselves :)

Blessings xX

Thanks for prayers and stuff

Meez

Humming Birds, Rocks and Tings!

2008-07-26T18:27:00.000-07:00

After driving late and seeing the storms we awoke to some gorgeous birds fluttering around our doorway. Humming birds! There were at least 3 different colours, grey, green and black and purple. They moved SO fast that photography could easily become a mission and an obsession!

(click on all photos to enlarge)

Rock Shop - we stumbled across he coolest rock shop full of colours and patterns collected from Utah, Colorado and Montana.

Horse-Deer ! Please someone enlighten me on the name of these creatures.

Old Bryce Town
Time to get a train now so I'm sure Jonathan will chat to you more soon! I prefer the pretty pictures.

Meez xX

Natural Bridges and other - Js entry

2008-07-23T07:55:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody! As you know, we're having an awesome time here in the US. We've made it as far as mid Utah and we have two days left to see more amazingness! Last night we drove well into the night through a lightning storm. It was awesome (using the true sense of the word for once), we pulled over, put the roof down and set our seats for support, then begin a long exposure photo session! We were in pitch black with the low car lights and the sound of bugs all around and a warm breeze. Then POW a fork of lightning would light up and the sky and we would be like 'WOW' and laugh about the amazing powerfullness that we had just captured. We had a great night!!!

the storm builds....

lightning and traffic..

rain and lightning..

we were not alone...

.....

Yesterday day we were at the Natural Bridges National Park, we did a small hike down to one of the bridges and if was worth it. there were three ladders to climb down and plenty of rocks to navigate over. Reminded me of Scotland dad. Up for doing that again this year? I've been stirred to again.

As for the rest of the trip; well we've seen, met and been to lots of places and I haven't had the thinking and planning time I thought I may want but having typed that, the plan all along was to have a holiday here and that we have. Variety is the defining word for this trip! I look forward to coming home to wolves and partaking in a presentation to the families of our trip. We have so many photos! Thank Jesus for my camera. We won't show you them all but a few more than the blog. It's time to pack up and leave for another day of exploring and experiencing! Love to all the Coates-Smiths and the Turners. Thank you for your comments, its lovely to know you're following this :)

Love Jonathan

p.s/ Dad - Hey, I sent you an email regarding return to bournemouth/wolverhampton from Maresa's email account. We arrive on Tuesday 29th @ around 9am. The ideal would be for us to get a train to bournemouth, meet you and (maybe?!) Maresa's dad there, sort out the stuff (either leave it where it is, move it storage or take it home and then get a lift up to the midlands with you, whatya reckon?) x x xx x!

Canyonlands

2008-07-20T11:54:00.000-07:00

(click on above photo to see fullsize)

Scary windy roads and steep cliffs greeted us at the Canyonlands National park. The views of the Green River are fantastic. There are lots of trails for 4x4 vehicles which look reeally scary. There are also trails left in the canyons from the 1950s when people were looking for Uranium. The tracks are still significantly visibly because 'black crust' (which holds the desert together) can only develop in around two years per century when the conditions are perfect.

Definitely my favourite place so far - less touristy than Arches.

We camped at a primitive campsite near the needles overlook - luckily this one had running water (some don't, you literally get a spot of ground). We pitched our tent in the moonlight and tried to sleep listening to random 'things' snuffling our outside. We're going to find some greener parks tomorrow and find a place to swim.

Beginning to feel happier about going back to Uni in September. I'm looking forward to drawing and sewing again and I'm excited about Victoria's wedding!

Meez xX

Colorado, Utah and the Arches

2008-07-19T16:37:00.000-07:00

Driving through colorado was beautiful. Our car is FANTASTIC, oh just you wait till you scroll down and see it! We drove thill dusk and then roughed it sleeping in the car to save our $. The next morning we ate a giant breakfast and headed towards Arches National Park, Utah. The scenery is like something in Tintin - or history books, you could literally take a million photographs. Jonathan has also introduced me to the 'no auto' rule of photography (partly cuz his auto setting is messed up) which means that we both constantly use manual exposure settings. Certainly gets your brain working - and also impossible to see the results when the sun is so bright. You have to trust yourself that you got it nailed.

Oh and by the way - this blog tends to bland the photos a bit when compressing them so we will hopefully find a way to present the full size colourful versions to you. For our families we are planning a BBQ presentation afternoon - we have video clips as well yano!

Arches was a thrill! Every turn was stunning and we wanted to just keep on stopping! We did a moderate primitive hike (by accident - we didn't realise how far we were going) and drank about 12 bottles of water. I now have an attractive horizon

tal line across my forehead from getting sunburnt whilst wearing a bandana. Oh dear.

We rolled the car roof back and sat on the tops of the seats to watch the sun go down - so beautiful. Then watched he full moon rise - it was huge and orange. Next was a hunt for a bed for the night, we were almost giving up when we found a 'Rustic Inn' which was amazing considering our budget.

Tomorrow is Canyonlands and then on to some greenery and horse riding.

Meez xX

To Denver!

2008-07-19T16:22:00.000-07:00

Ok so we're off to the rustic soil of National parks - I'm looking forward to this bit!

The train was delayed by 1.5 hours before we even started but it gave us time to relax and were ready to chill out in the lounge car once we set off.

We're in a double decker again!!

We passed the Mississippi flood plains and saw houses still halfway full of water from when the levy broke. We seemed to travel for miles before we actually reached the bridge. In some way the flood was more impressive than crossing the river.

Eventually we reached Denver after a rough night of on and off sleep - and got a bus to pick up our car :)

Onwards to the parks!

Meez xX

Chicago

2008-07-19T16:11:00.001-07:00

We met Scot at the station - He's a guy that J has been emailing who he 'met' through Andy White. We got some food and drove through Chicago to his place in the suburbs. At the moment Scot and his family (wife Sheryl, three boys Ben, 6, Luke, 5 and Ethan, 2 plus 10 week old aiizling (sorry for baaad spelling there) are living at his parents house along with Scots brother and wife SO its amazing that they put us up!!!! Upon arriving (greeted by the gorgeous cute Ethan) we discovered that they had put us up in an amazing hotel!! (Meez's first experience of proper hotel!)

We talked lots about Scot's Church plant - about building upon the right foundations etc.

Kinda hoping J will write a post on this - hes more intellect!

Then on day two (after a scrumptious breakfast) we ended up being big kids and waterfighting with the boys! Also headed off to the candy Factory (do not take Reuben there) (although I did buy you something Reuben!) Followed by a fantastic game of mini golf (I won.....No wait, I think Scot blatantly did, followed by J...followed by Sheryl then me!)

Zayways I'll hopefully get pics up sometime - I abandoned my camera for the majority of the time.

I had an wonderful time - and learnt loads from Sheryl! SUCH a relaxed mum and they were SO generous to us! Thankyou !!

Meez xX

Washington DC at Night

2008-07-19T16:07:00.000-07:00

After visiting the galleries we sacrificed an early night for delicious steak and a night photography expedition! We got the subway down to the Mall (big grass rectangle) and from there discovered that my tripod is a bit too weak for Js camera. Still got some luscious shots though.

Heres our favorite art pieces from earlier in the day. The first is a 6 foot ink mural, the second is just a small section of the 'blue and green harmony peacock room'. Its literally covered in this artwork.

Meez xX

Washington DC

2008-07-17T22:25:00.000-07:00

When we looked at the map of DC it looked like a big green rectangle surrounded by museums and monuments. It pretty much is like that but in a far cooler way than one would first think. Mum would love it, the museums are free and they are eeeendless. Dad would spend hours waiting for the people to clear so he could get a good clear photo of whatever it is that takes his fancy and Reuben would probably scream. At least your wallets are ok though because once you head to museum-ville you are basically in a fashion shop-free zone. AhhHHhh!!

We had loads of fun and went to the museum of Oriental art and also explored some exhibitions at the theatre (above - view from the theatre roof)

xX Love Meez

Please comment

2008-07-11T07:29:00.001-07:00

Hey peeps if y'all reading this please comment so we know y'all are! Thank you xX Meez

Water Heat

2008-07-10T21:12:00.001-07:00

We travelled to DC and on for another 14 hours in a lush train carriage with big swooping seats. Our destination has beautiful trees leaning in all directions, a million lakes full of alligators and bright red yellow blue birds, caterpillars and butterflies.

One night after walking through a jungle type scene over a stream (at 12 midnight) we saw a shuffling shape move across our path...man those armadillos get everywhere (apparently they carry leperacy)

We set up camp in a shady area after riding in the back of a truck (the heat was beating down so hard) Since arriving we have been fed (cereal, hot dogs, noodles and rice) from people donating food at the

communal area. We are well looked after and got to know heaps of people. The showers are always full of people singing and the guitars are in constant use - there's prayer tents and all sorts going on....

Anyone guessed yet? We are in Lakeland! The Florida Outpouring!

The night before we arrived 3000 people got baptised in water at the evening meeting. Our first night they organised a prayer tunnel to get to pray for everyone. The heat is intense - stodgy almost but its a great excuse to just sit still and relax, pray and think on God.

It feels like Real community, Real life working church that you just suddenly live in. Everyone talks to everyone.

For those who have no idea What the Lakeland outpouring is, here it is:

We met a lady called Gwenda (?) who gave us hot dogs and advice on national parks. Her son got saved 2 days ago.

The meetings have been packed out - two massive marquees of people. We've been blessed by hearing 4 different people speak and 2 different worship leaders. Each night has been radially different.

My favourite night was when we got together with some good friends from the campground - Dale and Grant. We chatted and prayed throughout our last meeting and maaaan it was amazing. We had only known them for 2 days and we're talking about life destiny.

We met a Rabbi - a Messaianic Jew. A few weeks ago he had a dream about a woman he was going to marry. At the rivival he saw the same woman and walked over to talk to her. They are to be married with a week! (some years back she had a word spoken over her life about marrying within weeks of knowing her H2B (Husband to be)

Its amazing seeing the annointing on people here. The Rabbi prayed for everyone he met, his hands had oil on them that smelt so sweet.

I know that soooooo many people - even fellow Christians are skeptic about the outpouring here. YouTube slates Todd Bentley - but they forget to mention that the miricles happening her have actuallly been medically verified! Even if your not in it for the healing, there is fruit:

1) people are hearing the word and getting saved

2) people are worshiping - at the campground its 24/7!

3) people are praying and seeing their prayers answered

Worship word and prayer.

Zayways, the campsite is beautiful, but the heat is so intense I've had to shower 3 times a day to stop from burning up. The trees look wistful and romantic and the lightning storms are powerful enough to rival any you might see anywhere. The campsite even has an 'extreme weather evacuation point'!

One night I was craving some chocolate and a young lad went and got me some proper choc cookies. Same night we were all mimicking accents (I've learnt that my alabaaaana accent aint so good boi) and talking about eating some good MEAT (the community cooking is aamazing and always right on time but some steak or something would be good)

The next night someone donate

d 60 burgers!! J's bbq skills came in helpful but the americans had a new thing on us - putting the burgers into hot water right after they are cooked to keep them juicy!?

I was torn when leaving - I'm going to miss the meal times and regular evening accent talking (our englishness is loved) but we know that God has a whole other adventure for us now. Im looking forward to getting some SLEEP (following photos were taken at about 3am)

Being away from the bugs would be nice! This fire ant would EAT you (well....make you feel on fire) Its dangerous man, you dont wana try nd squish it either.

We tried to photograph the fireflies too but it rained that night so there were only a couple.

These are J's poor feet that have been attacked. This was three nights ago and now they are even worse! :(

Some of y'all wana hear about what florida is like?

Its hot, sticky and pours with rain and is still hot all night.

Some of y'all wana hear about the outpouring?

(man we didnt even plan on going we just did?!)

Is it real? Yes.

Is it worth going? Well God TV broadcasts it and you can pray and worship wherever you are. However, the campground is a whole other thing, its like Living in what its all about, everyone shares everything (in a Holy way!!!!!)

If your going to go you gotta forget about 'home' - you wana get an open return so you can say as long or short as you need to.

Zayways i've missed the blog!!!

I'm going on and on probably cuz this train is going on and on - to the next destination!

Peace maaan

Meez xX

ps: to those who were there at the campground - write a comment on this y'all !

Reuben Sandwich!

2008-07-10T20:08:00.000-07:00

Hey Roo - these are pretty popular in the states - y'all can even get a Reuben with curly fries yo!

(Location: Washington station)

Love Meez xX

Blessing

2008-07-03T11:20:00.000-07:00

Last night we were talking about food and money and what to eat that night (i wanted pizza) but without the expense of a restaurant.... Then a blessing arrived in the form of FREE PIZZAS stacked up in the hostel's breakfast room WOOP!

Meez

J's New York Post

2008-07-03T10:54:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's certainly been a busy few days! I've been in a pragmatic mode making sure we get to places and getting off at the right stops on the subway etc..I look forward to the next parts of the journey. What we've planed is great because we have the diversity to break up the journey and give us a variety of experiences!

There is SO MUCH to eat, see, visit, go, listen to and experience here that to truly get all of it you would have to live here. Having said that we've had a good go, getting in a mixture of sights and being in the city. As Meez said, I've loved photographing and would like to come back to just do that!

(Meez is bored, waiting for me to finish this post so now she's videoing me typing!) Zayways...We've been to the cinema here and watched Wanted. It's funny observing the culture; like in the cinema everyone lets their opinions known and then claps and cheers at the end. I think to summarize, everything is made clearer here, everything is explained and is labelled for what it is - perhaps because there are many nationalities here - personally, i like it, It's straight forward and literal! The food is brilliant, if not a lil richer than what we have but the burgers (we've had two) are amazing! speaking of food, we're off to have some lunch...I'll post something else again, probably when we're on the train tomorrow. It's been great so far and I look forward to the coming days and what they bring us!!

Love to you all, yours,

Jonathan x

Discoveries

2008-07-03T09:51:00.000-07:00

Central park has been a great place to crash and relax, its surrounded by sketchers, horses and carriages and is such a huge park that roads run thro it! (park + traffic = not really a park is it lol)

The jet lag took affect yesterday and so we fell asleep in the park for an hour or so, then felt revived enough to head to MoMA

Meez has decided that art should look good - a video of a naked woman hola-hooping barbed wire is not pretty, funny or clever....just a bit gross really

J loves architecture and loves his camera :)

We must have eaten about 100 hot dogs by now.....

A giant allium fountain - very refreshing :)

This one is for dad - a random Cathedral we found on fifth avenue...

Times square is mesmerizing... I suggest you don't bring Reuben here!

a really famous building: (lol)

Tomorrow we will be getting the train to our next destination! It'll hopfully be more of an inspiring time to be pensive rather then rushing around doing and seeing things....

Meez xX

New York

2008-07-01T05:23:00.000-07:00

The flight was amazing! I love the clouds and everything, but we were pretty exhausted. After 2 hours sleep (due to cleaning the whole house) we somehow managed to survive until nglish time 4:50am - American time 11:45ish.

Well this is our hostel (lol) We've met some really cool people from all over the globe, including a girl who is going to Bournemouth arts institute next year!

Breakfast so far has consisted of American pancakes and omelets

On our first day in New York there was an amazing storm. It was amazing how quickly the whole place dried up again tho cuz its so flippin hot! We spent a few hours at the train station booking our entire trip which of course includes denver - and some other exciting places which we will surprise you with

Heres the rain.... Near Macy's (which had an entire floor of dresses!)

Heres some artwork we did.....

As you can probably tell, we arnt so interested in writing heaps of inspiring words just yet, all we have done is filled up my harddrive with photos so I cant even photoshop them and today is going to be a photography day :)

Brooklyn Bridge!

The art installations - a series of waterfalls that from different angles look like they are fall from the sky scrapers and bridges

and finally at the subway ( we met an interesting wheel chair guy who had just become a millionaire after shattering his knee cap when falling off the platform....)

And the plan for the next few days - The Botanical gardens, MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) and the bridge at nighttime is a must.

The journey begins...

2008-06-26T13:00:00.000-07:00

J and Meez - America 2008

Well really the journey began when we moved to Bournemouth, but we have been here for 9 months now and its time to escape to somewhere far away. Hopefully we will update this twice a week to let mum and dad know that we haven't been kidnapped or fallen off a canyon but safe, alive and having fun :)

I (Meez) thought it'd be lush to have a mission statement for the trip!

So here goes:

Our desire is to seek God in space and peace away from what has been happening in our home lives, to experience new places and people. We believe we will come back with The vision for life with positive direction as we re-kindle our passions. We're gunna get ready to hit the ground running!

We're flying into new york on Saturday, please pray for safety and God's provision with train bookings! (we cannot reserve our seats until we arrive there)

Thanks!

J&M

Inspirize

Hand Made Slippers

Shoes for Show

Christmas Home Ideas

Wow: TKMaxx find

DanielBlake a/w 2011 Events

Influence/Inspiration

I ♥ Autumn

To clog or not to clog?

British Summer Hot Chocs

University review: Course, campus and career

Autumn/Winter inspiration

Out of everything...

Portfolio

Final Year... it's over!

Fascination of the week

Big Hair

Lazy Baking

New Flat

Illustration

So much to do so little time!

J&M Photography - Matt and Sophie

Baby McClenaghan

Ibiza 2010

Jools and Jen's Wedding!

Resa Shoot !

Maxi Dress photoshoot inspiration

Resa Smith ***maxi dress***

Blackbottom cakes

Nebula Photos

Nebula

Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcakes

Delicious Kitchens

Merlin Boots

Gap Year beginnings

Wedding Day

Commissions available!

Crit Photos

Ombre Photoshoot

Charlotte's Galaxy fabric - Photoshoot

Funky Little Waistcoat

Another Textiles Collaboration

REASA SMITH Logo

Wedding Bunting

WestFields

Life is for Sharing

Structured Freedom... Freedom Structure?

Christmas Cookie Jars

Finished Jacket

Back to Brushos

Trendsetting Chicken Legs!?

Jacket - Update

T W I L I G H T - Textiles and fashion collaboration wins highly commended and asos pitch

Jacket Project

Brelli !

Hengistbury Head

Church Day

Painting without thinking

New House!

Vic and Richard's wedding!

What we didn't tell you!

Zion: Gold, Silver and green flowing plushness!

We're Home!

Humming Birds, Rocks and Tings!

Natural Bridges and other - Js entry

Canyonlands

Colorado, Utah and the Arches

To Denver!

Chicago

Washington DC at Night

Washington DC

Please comment

Water Heat

Reuben Sandwich!

Blessing

J's New York Post

Discoveries

New York

The journey begins...

Resa Smith maxi dress