Renova - Coloured Toilet Roll

Renova do coloured toilet paper alongside normal toilet paper and patterned paper. They have a huge selection of colours and in toilet roll, kitchen roll, pocket tissues, and napkins.

I found these on an off chance of looking for just normal slightly coloured tissue and found it quite interesting that I hadn't seen anything done with these before.

I think I'd known about these before now, I would've tested out them with the scrunching as I think they'd look quite good, even if they are a bit bright. These would be good if people wanted a block colour instead of dyed edges, it would cut out the dyeing process unless they wanted an alternative colour along the edges.

http://www.myrenova.com/c/1/colors

50's/60's Swim Caps

I can see how people saw that my tissue looks a little like the swim caps, though I feel that my tissue is a little more open than these. I do like them, I just don't think the look is something that I want.

Lighting Regulations

Some websites I found that are about the lighting regulations for household lighting and lamps.

http://www.lamp-regulations.org/en/faq - Outdoor, but still important.

http://www.lightingassociation.com/files/downloads/776/LA_How-Lighting.pdf - General information.

http://energy.gov/public-services/homes/saving-electricity/lighting - Video.

http://www.darksky.org/outdoorlighting/guidance - Guidelines for outdoor, but still might be useful.

Bamboo/Ink Tissue Experiments

The bamboo sort of works, but some of the pieces were slightly bent with how they'd grown and made the whole thing look a little lent to one side. I don't think I'd use bamboo as it's tricky and takes a while to do, whereas the string balls take 24 hours to dry and they're completely stable.

The ink I like the brightness of, but it runs too much into the tissue; some of the ink also bleed a different colour to the actual colour that I used, which I really don't like and makes the tissue look unprofessional. I do like the crumpling technique that I do with the tissue, to make it fan out leaving tiny gaps for light to escape through naturally.

Watercolour Experiments

A few watercolour experiments I did with leftover experiments from with the wax.

String Pendant Shades

A few how-to's on how to create the string pendant shades as the research showed that people prefered that shape to the others.

http://www.nzgirl.co.nz/know/our-favourite-diy-string-ball-chandeliers/

http://www.prakticideas.com/learn-string-ball-chandelier/

http://www.pickles.no/whirl-it-lampshade/

http://10rooms.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/lighting-diy-new-chandelier.html

http://www.craftynest.com/2009/03/hemp-pendant-lamps/

http://www.tiffanyruda.com/diy-how-to-make-a-string-pendant-light/ - This one has some information about the lighting fixtures too

Various How-to's on making Paper Lanterns

Some of these might come in handy with creating the structures for the shades.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Star-Lantern/#intro

http://missielizzie-meandmyshadow.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/year-of-rabbit-make-chinese-lantern.html

http://snapguide.com/guides/make-a-cute-lantern/

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Sky-Lanterns

Ikea Lighting

I do like the lighting that was around Ikea, though I was looking more at the structures of how they were created. I think the most interesting is the plastic wavy one which just slits together on the sides; I found this interesting, as I couldn't do it with my own lampshades, it could be an option for something in the future.

I do like how some of them are lighted, especially the chandelier types as they have their own individual light bulbs; if I had the time and knowledge of electricity, I would use light bulbs but for this I would prefer to use electric tea lights as I have thought about the health and safety surrounding the electricity problems. 

Lighting

I haven't decided how I want to light the lampshade yet, but I don't think I want to use electricity as it will be tricky for me to hook all the electrics together (and I doubt I could do this in the time scale, though I would if I had time). 

I found this article - http://www.ehow.com/info_8658410_chandeliers-wiring.html - on different lighting options without electricity. I was thinking of using battery powered lights as it would be easier and I could position them where I wanted.

Harley & Thoresby Gallery

I went to Thoresby gallery mostly for the gallery shop for the market research; I found that because it isn't as well known as the YSP, the art is a lot cheaper than the MADE exhibition. 

I actually liked a lot more of the Thoresby Gallery shop art more than YSP as it was more open and there was a lot more what I prefer. There was a variety of different materials used, although I didn't find any that was recycled, it gave me an insight into what prices could be on some of the lampshades I'll make. 

http://www.thoresbycourtyard.com/thoresby-gallery/

The Harley Gallery I found was a little more expensive than Thoresby, but not as much as YSP. There were a lot more refined pieces at the Harley, but I did like some of the vases and candle holders I saw made from clay. I did see some unusual birds made from recycled materials and mesh/alternative materials. 

http://www.harleygallery.co.uk/index.php?pg_id=4

Overall, I think if I would put my lampshades in a craft/gallery shop, it'd be more suited towards Thoresby as they're more open with the work they sell, rather than it being all similar like the Harley. 

I wouldn't know how much they could be worth until I'd made the final pieces, and I think the best way to work this out would be to build a questionnaire or ask the people around me on how much they would pay for the item/s. 

YSP - MADE Exhibition

Although I didn't get any photos of the MADE exhibition, a lot of what I saw was more of how it was presented and how much they're asking for the pieces.

I found that each artist generally tended to have their own shelves in a glass cabinet, especially if it's breakable, as well as these being exceptionally more expensive than anything else on show elsewhere in the shop. 

Most of the items in the exhibition were either jewellery or a sort of decorative bowl; I did like some of the stuff that was in the glass cabinets, though it wasn't very colourful. 

http://www.ysp.co.uk/exhibitions/made

Youtube - Deconstructing a Lampshade

Found this when searching on how to make them - be useful if I find some in charity shops I can recycle

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcveX9H7ygc

E-How - Different how to create a Lampshade styles

http://www.ehow.com/how_4814364_lamp-shade.html

http://www.ehow.com/how_4966172_make-drum-lamp-shade.html

http://www.ehow.com/how_6671076_make-lamp-shade-scratch.html

http://www.ehow.com/how_6115856_cover-wires-lampshade.html

Few different ways to cover/make a lampshade.

Channel 4 - How to make a Lampshade

http://www.channel4.com/4homes/how-to/craft/how-to-make-a-lampshade

Found this on how to create a lampshade - probably easy to buy one and disassemble it, could give it a go though.

Torafu Architects

On the same website as Hiroshi, I also found the Torafu Architects who create these "Air Vases". They pull out to create these different shaped vases, which you can shape yourself. I really like the simplicity of the vases, but I also like the way they've used images more recently on the paper. I can't imagine they're being any way to recreate this and do it myself unless I had a lot of spare time.

http://en.kamigu.jp/item/airvase_space.html

Kami No Tsubo/Hiroshi Kajimoto

I found these makeshift vases that you can make yourself; the design, Hiroshi sells the kits which you assemble yourself around a plastic bottle. I like the concept of how he's taken a plastic bottle, something you'd either throw away or recycle, into a more useful piece.

http://en.kamigu.jp/item/kaminotsubo.html

Jen Stark

Using paper, Jen creates these layered flower looking sculptures; she handcuts all the paper to get the layers correct; I like the way she uses colours to enhance the effect of the piece, though I wonder if it would work the same with crisp wrappers?

Final flowers

These were the final flowers; I chose to use a variety of larger flowers next to smaller flowers, both made from either the thick, medium, or shined leaflet card. I went with the wire to make the flowers look more simple, and ordered them into a bouquet that looked professional.

Stems

I tried a two different stems for the final flowers, plain wire and newspaper covered wire; I found that I didn't like the newspaper as it just made the flowers seem too complicated and I wanted the focus flower, not the stem.

Paper Vase Finished

I really enjoyed creating this vase using the research on Mary Jean's own wrapper vases; I chose to use paper instead of wrappers as I couldn't get the amount of wrappers in time. However, I feel that I prefer the way this has turned out as I think it will work better as a vase with the recycled flowers.

I started by using a small glass vase as a outline for the bottom, and then used the research to create the outward spiral for the edges.