29/05/2014

HOW TO QUICKLY PRESS FLOWERS USING A MICROWAVE









Hi all! I wanted to show you how you can quickly press some beautiful flowers to use in any way, in this tutorial I'll be showing you the process in pictures, there's also a quick video below if you wanted to check that out. Firstly you need to collect your flowers, get a range of colours, shapes and sizes, so you can experiment and start to understand the process and what flowers you're the most pleased with. Once you're happy with the collection of flowers you can begin to arrange them to be pressed, Cut a small square of paper to go underneath your kitchen towel and start arranging, be conscious about the placing and open petals making sure they're flat and straight. 
Place another piece of kitchen roll over your flowers, then another piece of paper over that, you can then pop them into the the microwave with a microwavable weight ( I use a dish or a few flat plates) on top to being the pressing process. If small petals such as daises and little stems then 1/2 minutes should be enough, however you can check and continue heating if they're still a little soft. When completed the petals should be brittle and straight with no bend, the colours should also be slightly darker, If you want to press using traditional methods then the colours will be even deeper than these.



Here are a few examples of petals that i've pressed, as you can see the colours are a lot darker than the above images of when i first collected them. I loved the Yellow Gerbera (I think that's the correct flower, if not then please correct me! ) That particular flower took a lot of heating due to the centre and the petals being very long. I'd say buttercups and rose petals worked the best for me. 
 I really hope you love my video i've also uploaded, I've also created an illustration with flowers and pressed petals which you can see in my new blog post and video! I'd love to know if you like the new videos that i'm making and if you find them useful, etc!
Thanks again for reading x 




MAKE SURE YOU CHECK BACK TO SEE HOW MY
NEXT TUTORIAL WHERE I SHOW HOW YOU CAN USE
THESE PETALS IN FASHION ILLUSTRATIONS.


22/05/2014

Free Phone Case?




 I'm so excited to announce my first series of YouTube tutorials on how to illustrate, sew, design and print etc! My first video I made recently showing around my workspace and the little things around that inspire me. It got such a great response, My desk isn't to everyone's liking as it's a little minimalistic, and yes it does take an enormous amount of effort to keep it that tidy if you're as messy and forgetful as me.  So here is the first video. I really hope you enjoy it I'm currently working on a new tutorial, featuring flowers, petals and a few found objects, it's really to show how you can create interesting artwork without feeling like you need to invest in a lot of expensive equipment.





 In so many illustrations I seem to be drawn to flowers, they seem to link in perfectly with my designs.
 I'm also looking for bloggers to interact and collaborate with, I'd love to give away one of my newest pastel phone cases in exchange for a review or feature on a blog/video/instagram post. So if you're interested and think that our styles and viewers are interested in the same things then please, drop me an email at natalielines90@gmail.comnatalielines90@gmail.com or leave me a comment here, obviously i'll only be able to give a few away so please don't be upset if i can't choose you!
Thanks again.


07/05/2014

New Items added to the shop!


Hey Everyone!
 Thank-you for the new followers, I hope that I'm creating interesting posts to keep you reading, I wanted to tell you all about what i've been up to lately, there's a lot going on which i'm really excited about, I'm trying to build up a lot of my physical work, printing onto fabrics to make cushions and other things. I've built up more stock for my iphone cases 4/5 which are £10 each and can be purchased off my brand new website shop.natalielines.co.uk
 It's so exciting to start selling these again, as I print them myself I had a lot of learning to do in terms of working out how to get the best print, choosing the best colours, tweaking certain settings, and of course printing them onto the case. As always there are a few teething problems but I'm so proud to say that I think I've ironed them all out now and they're the best quality they can be, I've also had interest in some shops stocking them! (if you're someone who's interesting in stocking the cases then please email me)
I've also been building up more cushions, finally getting the nature set printed, in a stunning slate grey too, it's limited stock as I want to see how they sell! and my absolute favourite are my new sunglasses cases, I have them in the kitty print, feathers and some more brighter and bolder fabrics. I'm always losing my favourite sunglasses so now I've got something to put them in (although I'm a little spoilt for choice) I also have them as little bags which can be used for change, jewellery, etc. I was going to make a few tote bags however I think the market it saturated with them unfortunately.