plan b cable tie rings

Another piece of inspiration that led to my To Adorn project was this Plan B Cable Tie Ring Set by Ambre France. It's so brilliant I had to share it with you on here. Really simple but beautifully done. The rings come in silver, gold and platinum and there's also the option to add a diamond.

Plan A is to: 1. Fall in love 2. Get married 3. Live happily ever after. If Plan A fails resort to Plan B. Plan B: 1. Cut all ties.

It's so brutal but true! Maybe one day a nice young man will buy me one, let's just hope Plan A works!

http://www.ambrefrance.co.uk/ (they have some great jewellery and a pretty cool website too)

finn magee's light poster

I saw this awesome light a while ago in one of my books. It's designed by Finn Magee and actually works using LEDs. It was one of my pieces of inspiration that led to my To Adorn: Tyvek Jewellery. I wanted to make something useful out of an everyday material like paper (or tyvek). It just shows you that not everything has to be the same; everyday objects can become pieces of art.

tim hendricks

A while ago, I found Tim Hendricks' blog and found this amazing tattoo. His tattoos are incredible. I wanted to go to the London Tattoo Convention this weekend to see if I could get a tattoo by him but sadly I'm skint! Maybe next year. I'd love to get a tattoo like this one on my inner arm, see the proper version on his website: http://www.saltwatertattoo.com/blog/

amazing dress!

Just saw this on the Cool Hunter's facebook page. It's a dress by Holly Fulton: http://www.hollyfulton.com/

I love all of her geometric designs, I want one!

elevator pitch

Eilidh Marshall

University of Dundee: Product Design

Product: Tyvek Jewellery: To Adorn

Elevator Pitch: Many products today are simply mass-produced, standardised objects that do not give the user a sense of ownership. I wanted to create a product that could be adapted by the user to give a sense of individuality; making a unique product that the user could adapt and personalise as they wish.

To Adorn, Tyvek Jewellery, uses material not typically used for making luxury items such as jewellery. I wanted to create an affordable yet desirable item for people to wear, giving a high-end product on a low budget. Tyvek is waterproof and tear proof to ensure that the jewellery is durable, as well as being recyclable.

Each sheet contains one length of jewellery for the user to remove and wear where they desire. There are six designs in the range, all based around tattoo imagery. Each sheet acts as a piece of art in itself before the images become abstract when worn as jewellery. The designs can also be layered together however the wearer wishes to fashion different looks.

user testing

For testing my finished product, I asked a number of people including, clothing boutique owner Kirsten Dunnet at Missy La Las boutique, the owner of Boo Vake, a designer maker shop and Lorraine Law, a contemporary jewellery designer maker and shop owner. Lorraine gave me the following feedback:

"The product itself is innovative and imaginative, the use of Tyvek as a
material shows you have taken the idea of paper as a material and expanded
it to using something with more flexibility which is less disposable giving
it a longer wear life. This in addition to the price point would make it
appeal more to the fashion/costume jewellery/accessories market.

The appearance of the product draws you in, makes you curious particularly
when displayed as jewellery but has the appearance of a poster. Images
printed on the Tyvek allow you to see what the shapes are but being printed
at odds with the shape it's less obvious when popped out. It created a
nostalic feeling for me of child hood scrap dolls where you took a figure
and created a look using the materials supplied. When a product invokes
emotion it's half way to being sold.

I feel as a concept and design it's great. As a jewellery product it will
appeal to the more creative individual wearer. I see finished product it
being offered for sale in a wider accessories market via boutiques,
galleries and accessories shops rather than retail jewellers. With this in
mind it could be further developed by introducing the use of colour with
dyes and fabric pens. This would bring it more into todays current trend of
creating your own jewelleryto fit with outfits. At the moment the 'big
thing' is beads and charms, 'To Adorn' marketed effectively could fit into
this area."