Christmas in London once again

I went visit a friend in London two weeks ago and also to do a short course in CSM which was fun in the most tiring way. I've just been tired recently.

I want to see people and do things but when I get round to it it makes me feel rough.

I just want to sleep and eat and watch films to recharge but even that takes it out of me.

Christmas was uneventful but pretty and I've been documenting it on a disposable camera for fun and it feels nice to just take a step back and take photos and not be so involved. 

I'm also 99% done with factory girl and just hoping against hope that it will work properly when published.

Walking through Kings Cross station and the wooky wavy coloured wall

Outside CSM with their christmas themed fountain lights.

Monday night we went to Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park to watch the festivities, eat greasy food and look at the premium quality tat they sell.

This was the ferris wheel we thought would be a hilarious ride and good photo op but ended up being a terrifying nightmare ride of listening to Adele's Hello on repeat as we thought we were gonna die.

Photo's I found in the library that I loved

Small section of my draping project with my family knot technique that I don't reveal for love nor money (well maybe money)

Sneaky photo of the libary which was my favourite place after I saw a student knitting silently in the window seat whilst pretending to read.

My temporary studio space where I could look down onto lectures taking place and up onto the roof which had a 1950s retro space ship house on there because its an art school why not?

My last day and another photo of Kings Cross wavey tunnel with no people this time

On our last day we visited the V&A to see the Shoes: Pleasure and Pain Exhibition which was exciting but honestly not the best exhibition I've seen there, it did inform me that David Lynch and Christian Louboutin collaborated on a shoe collection together which is wonderfully perverse (pictured below)

 

My parents came to pick me up on the Saturday morning and we visited the V&A again so my mum could see the Fabric of India Exhibition which was fantastic and my dad got to see his favourite exhibition which was the glass staircase in the glass room.

This very film grainy like photo I took of South Ken while we waited for the V&A to open.

I do have more photos but I want to spread out the posts, considering I haven't done posted anything in over a month, and I also want to do another photo diary because its pretty therapeutic for me and is something that helps me creatively if that makes sense?

xxx

Rosie

I always flirt with death

I had an extremely rare free moment one weekend and decided to get a move on with Factory Girl and try and piece together some of the pages and move into making it a readable zine rather than just pages floating about in a document on my computer. 

There is still time to submit and I'm really looking for more pieces of photography and written work as well as poems and illustration. I keep forgetting to mention but while it's Factory Girl it is non-gender specific and anyone can submit!

You can leave a comment below, contact me through my tumblr or dm on twitter or instagram if you're interested!

xxx

Rosie

middle of the worst season playlist

I'm not going to lie I hate autumn.

I hate the leaves dying I hate the rain I hate getting sweaty from all the layers I have going on because apparently everyone needs to wear gigantic polyester jumpers as soon as it rolls round and I hate pumpkin spice lattes.

I mean I've never tried them but I don't like lattes in general and I only eat pumpkin soup out of respect for Kate Nash and pumpkin pancakes because my mum makes them every holiday.

I don't like autumn because it feels like its closing shop on summer, the sun sets far too quickly and waking up becomes a painful extraction of me from my duvet cocoon. And it's a painfully long interlude between winter and Christmas and snow and snuggling up with blankets and hot chocolate and making Christmas gifts. 

So to distract my hatred of autumn I make playlists of pumped up songs that make me forget that the fallen leaves are probably stuck to my boots and I cant wear shirts without vests underneath. 

Two fingers up to autumn.

Photograph by me taken in Amsterdam earlier this year.

xxx

Rosie

Vague and easy last minute Halloween costumes

If like me, you hate the idea of buying Halloween costumes, or even worse paying top money to rent a costume for a few hours and spend the night in fear of spilling beer onto it or dropping a dorrito full of salsa dip down your front, you probably prefer to get diy with it and make your costume. 

I myself think its not a proper Halloween costume if it doesn't need cardboard, masking tape, sharpies and a certain amount of imagination for it to come alive.

(a* Frankenstein reference there mate)

I've flung together some last minuet halloween ideas that wont break the bank/probably exist in your wardrobe already/and leave you with the fun of explaining your costume which is probably the best conversation starter you can have. 

No.1 An extra from a late eighties to early nineties film set.

Be the cool kid in the wide shots and drink that empty glass with as much energy as you can in case the director happens to look your way and think 'wow that kid can drink! Put them in my next movie! You're gonna be a star!'

What You'll Need: The oldest and most mom-est mom jeans you own, preferably plain blue but other block colours may work. A baseball cap, only to be worn forwards unless you explicitly state you are an extra in a tween/teen film from the late eighties to early nineties film set. An attention grabbing t shirt tucked into jeans or left loose for a more relaxed vibe.

 Optional:  A disposable camera to snap up pics of big name celebs in the films, bringing a real one is great for accuracy and will mean you can take photos during the Halloween festivities which is always fun, but if you're not that into film or don't want to spend the cash you can always resort to cardboard for a fun hand drawn alternative.

No.2 Anyone from Swedish Euro-vision sensation Abba

Swing along and sing along to Waterloo like you mean it and disco till you drop. This costume is fail proof if you don't want to explain your costume all the time as I've never met anyone who hasn't heard of Abba. This costume also goes out to my year 3 teacher who loved Abba he made us sing to it in every class assembly including a cringey welsh version of Happy Hawaii that would make you vomit. 

What You Need: Flares. That's it. Any kind of flared trouser will do, flared jeans are fine but can look too cool and this is a pop group who wrote a song called Chicken Tika (actually chiquitita but no one hears it as that). For a shirt anything under the sun will do but if you can a matching shirt works wonders as does a made gravity defying permed hair do,

No. 3 A very tortured poet

Who's that mysterious looking character in the corner there? What are they doing? Are they writing a scathing satirical commentary on society? Probably not. More likely its poetry about 

disenfranchised youth because what else!?

What You Need: Thick woolen layers such as baggy moth eaten jumpers and heavy coats - it's well known that poets are more susceptible to the cold and are easy target for flu germs. Some form of stripey top/dress to show you have read many french literature texts and have an affinity to bourgeois culture. Heavy military boots for kicking the Man out of the music. Glasses, real or fake, to give that constantly reading air. Some form of note book or lined paper to jot down analogies when needed. A general aura of aloofness and deep thought.

Alternative costume: Struggling musician, almost exactly the same but swap the note book for a lyric book and carry round some sort of musical instrument. 

No.4 Spunky Lil Spy Kid

The nosy lil kid who sneaks along fire exits and always falls into trouble. Cute but mildly irritating and always making you ask the question - 'where are her parents?' An ode to Harriet the Spy, Shirley Holmes, Nancy Drew and all the other young mad cool kid spies from books and tv of my youth.
What You Need: Some form of old vintage style jumper, baggy or turtleneck style works best. A mini or midi length skirt depending on what era you came from, tartan and muted tones are best. Running shoes because you always need to be ready in case of a chase scene. Baseball cap again, this time only worn backwards because no punk is gonna mess with you. A magnifying glass makes for a cute accessory and helps identify where the snack table is and can be made easily with cardboard, clingfilm, sellotape and imagination.
Optional accessories include a notebook to write down clues, a camera for snapping up photos at the scene of the crime and a sassy attitude.

Hope you liked these fun and mysterious Halloween costumes ideas and try them out for yourself, tag me in any instagram posts if you do try one out it would be amazing!

xxx
Rosie

Her eyes make diamonds look like loose change

I guess its time for a post, considering my last one was over four weeks ago, oops.

My lack of posting to this blog is due to 3 reasons 

1. University has been so time consuming and constant that I get back to my flat and have so much work to catch up on after a full day its been exhausting.

2. I've been floating in between really ill and pretend ill/hungover for the last few weeks which means when I got out of that I was swamped with the amount of work I'd missed. 

3. Any spare time has been taken up with watching project runway season 14 which I have become obsessed with.

rather than fill this post with fake apologies I'm going to play catch up with some of the photos I've taken since I started uni which hasn't been as much as I thought, I think I've entered a more zen phase of only needing one photo of one thing rather than eight minimum.

   

Crystals from when I had the time to spend all day lying around in bed - I have mixed feelings about crystals, while I'm not out there posting rubbish how crystals have healed them or brought them good luck, I do feel quite comforted having a little gem hanging round with me. I think I just like being near minerals.

The posted or an amazing film me and my friend Efa ventured out into the darkest depth of bristol to find the cinema for, then sat in a freezing cold theater while they tried to get the original film reels to work until they put on the digital version. While we were waiting for the film the second time around the poster may have fallen into Efa's bag. By accident of course.

A photo that I'm not really sure I should post, it may be a little problematic since were not really supposed to take photo during life drawing but as you cant see the model's face or any exposed areas it may be? I just love the composition so much and how she looks like a painting next to my drawing.

    

It's the little things that make us happy and finally staying in a room that has good lighting has brought me such joy.

A photo of a very atmospheric lamp along the harbor when me and my flatmate went for drinks one evening.

  

More light streaming through the window and highlighting my messy room, it's not my fault I have no real system for washing.

A sketchbook page for a shirt design

I call this - What's a girl to do while her sheets are being washed? Why obviously take selfies on the mattress because the lighting is good. 

My Girl Powa sewing machine with its Rookie stickers and the dead flowers I had been using for heat transfer prints in uni but I snuck home in my sketch book to decorate the wall behind my desk.

Living on your own can be a little lonely at times, it's easy to spend a day in bed or in your room with no one to pull you out, that's why I'm glad I have Efa, who I may have only known her for two years real time it's actually been centuries in spirit years. One boring Saturday afternoon she texted me to meet her on the park at the top of the hill near where I live, signing off  'treasure hunt, Go!' So I raced up the hill to find her and up a tower where she was waiting and we looked over the city and tried to find Wales. Also we discovered we are both vaguely psychic and may be the charmed ones.

 

My wonderfully creepy tongue out heart iron on transfer I bought the other day from a fabric shop that I really want to stick on a t-shirt. 

  

And this photo that was taken during my work break today, me posing with my brand new (and by that I mean new to me) charity shop trousers, the first proper pair of floaty baggy artsy fartsy trousers I own with a wonderful art deco fan print all over them. I feel like a classy circus performer. 

I wanted to show of the trousers so much I threw my leg up onto the sink and tried to get in my hair and glasses as well. I can't see myself ever doing a normal outfit pose.

I've also been hard at work trying to win the sheet magazine Christmas wrapping paper competition, which ever 10 designs get the most votes is shown in sheet magazine and will be used as wrapping paper for urban outfitters. All you need to do it vote like mad for me!!

LINK!

just press the little thumbs up underneath my design and I might have a chance of wining! You can vote on different devices as well so please help a champ like me out! 

xxx

Rosie