MA in Textile Design - a mature student's journey

So, today at Uni we met with the external examiner for the MA course, who had come from Derby Uni to oversee the work/marks of the students. We all (well those who showed up and those who hadn't been signed in as being here by another student but are actually still on holiday!) had a group chat with her about the course and then if chosen we went in for a 121 chat with her. I was asked to go back and have a chat with her. It was quite encouraging, talking through my work with someone not connected to the Uni and someone new to my work. I definitely need to work on this - be a bit more upbeat and have a patter. After that I continued to work on updating my Etsy site - I spent most of the day yesterday taking photos. Here are a few:

So after the Easter break I was back at Uni today for the second Viva. It's weird, only 10 minutes, but I'm sure going on Dragon's Den would be easier. I think the thing that's so confusing is that there's no direct feedback on your work. They (three lecturers) don't say one way or the other what is right or wrong. So basically, and I know that this is a problem, I try and do too many things.  I need to concentrate on one thing and do it well. But, and this is my problem, what if that one thing is wrong and it won't make me any money. At the end of the day, I need to make a living and I think that's always in the back of my mind. I took away the fact that I need to realise the value in a textile design. I need to concentrate on one thing - will that be designs for a swimwear collection or an athleisure range I need to go back to my sketchbooks and work my work Steps I need to take now: Work more on Illustrator and Photoshop to work my wo...

Over Easter we went camping to Upper Lyme, just outside of Lyme Regis. My husband struck gold with the campsite called Hook Farm. Friendly, affordable, big pitches and near a riverside walk that takes you all the way into Lyme Regis.  We also went to Forde Abbey and Mapperton, both in the Historic Houses Association which we are members of. Unfortunately because both houses house historic tapestries and works of art you can't take photos inside, but I went a bit snap happy in the grounds, loads of flowers in bloom to capture and hopefully use in designs. Benji was super tired after all his travels and I can't resist taking a photo of him, after all he is my fur baby There's no Uni this week so today I was in my studio cutting up material to make into my side tie pants that sell on Etsy. More of the same tomorrow.

So tomorrow is hand in day for the second part of the MA. I'm in Uni sorting out my display and finishing off sketchbook work. I thought the MA room would be busy, but there's only me and World in. (World is a Fashion design student from Thailand). Below are some of the photos. I think I need to get a better camera because the photos make the prints look washed out. I hope I've done enough, I'm not far off Distinction marks.....

So far today I've been working on display ideas for my 2nd portfolio hand in, which is next week.  As my scarves were initially inspired by camouflage, it makes sense to use animals to help display my designs. So here's my giraffe, with a background and then without and an elephant. The great thing about coming to Uni is having other students around to bounce ideas off of.

Today I was in Uni to have an induction in the photography studio so if/when the time comes I can use it to photograph my designs or products. I read an Etsy post about driving more sales and one of the points was to make sure the photographs are up to a high standard, so that's the plan.   I also used this Uni time to spread out in the MA room and play.  I don't like wastage and after all my sublimation prints I have an abundance of the paper prints and nothing to do with them other than stick them in a sketchbook, so I wanted to do something more creative with them. Playing around with a bikini idea:   I added a frill and cut the briefs to shape them a little.  I also made a bra and pants set, more for yoga or for working out in at least. I want to display my fabrics in an interesting way, so I've had the idea of putting some of my larger prints on the wall and I've drawn a lamp post on one of them and a giraffe neck on the other. The idea bein...