Lauren Leiper

Happy Valentine's Day

2012-02-14T08:54:00.000-08:00

Ooh Love Day is here!!

I do enjoy Valentine's Day, it's nice seeing all the decorations in the shops and all the nice little love inspired treats. I was out earlier and saw a little old couple holding hands it was so sweet! Well I have made some chocolate chip shortbread hearts for my lovely boyfriend and will give them to him when he comes home from uni. I am very excited to spend the evening with him, we're doing Mexican and having fajitas and then see a movie, just a nice relaxing night without going all out. I hope you all have a very lovely day with your special person :) xoxo

( Image taken from PaperAlter on etsy )

Paper aeroplanes

2012-02-09T05:22:00.000-08:00

The past little while I have been looking closely at where my inspiration comes from and how my work develops from that. I stepped away from the work bench this week and turned to paper to play about because it's been a while since I made a paper sample! I wanted to make some paper aeroplanes so that when i'm working I can look to where my inspiration comes from instead of staring blankly at my sketchbook when i'm struggling to figure out what i'm doing. I love the shapes that form, the lines and the edges are so sharp and clean. My jewellery is quite geometric in the way that the triangles come together and I like that I can replicate the same kind of lines and edges that are formed in paper.

Gold Nails

2012-02-01T21:07:00.000-08:00

Well i don't know about anyone else but I love a bit of sparkle maybe it's the jeweller in me but gold nails are the way to go. I was doing my nails and thought it's about time I try to be a bit more adventurous when it comes to nail decoration and I found this blog when looking for inspiration. Definitely one to try it's lovely and a great take on the french manicure of which I am terrible at but this doesn't look as though it has to be so perfect at the tips.

Online Shop

2012-01-31T08:01:00.000-08:00

My shop is officially set up! I'm very excited although it may be small for now i'm hoping i'll be able to add to it when I get some sales in. Check it out at http://laurenleiper.bigcartel.com which is also linked to my blog if you wish to return :)

Lovely Plates

2012-01-25T13:33:00.000-08:00

As previously mentioned I like a decorative plate and so I came across this example of a lovely plate wall. How cute are these plates!! Hmm...would it be strange to have multiple themed plate walls or is that a bit extreme? Possibly a bit too much but nice idea for those who have large walls to fill. Anyway how do you feel about frame walls?

I must confess...

2012-01-20T08:39:00.000-08:00

I Heart Triangles!

It's true and I can't even hide it my work is all about the triangle and more specifically it's all about Isosceles. Many a notebook has been covered with little triangle doodles, it all started back in the day learning about the different triangles in school and as most people will know maths is not my strong point but the little shapes stuck. A necklace for you to feast your lovely eyes on it is made up of silver wire triangles and all connected by tiny little triangles...

Resolutions: Yay or Nay??

2012-01-16T12:47:00.000-08:00

I've never really been a fan of making new years resolutions, I preferred to make plans instead of how I wanted my year to go. This year my plans are something like this...

Get my jewels into a nice gallery (or a few...)
Be a fabulous designer & blogger which means having amazing dinner parties, talk about design and fashion, visit more galleries and exhibitions and in general talk about all things lovely!
Build up my collection of decorative plates for my plate wall....that's right I want a plate wall.
Go in a hot air balloon! How cool would that be???
Put my sewing machine to work, I really want to make a dress but think it best to start off small with a cushion or something.

Exciting times!! So, my once jewellery focused blog is now going to be a lifestyle based blog. The other day whilst having lunch with Holly ( fellow jeweller and friend ) we were talking about how we want our blogs to not only be about the lovely shiny, sparkly jewels but to show more of the life of a jewellery designer. I am looking forward to a fresh start for my blog!

New Work

2011-12-05T09:04:00.001-08:00

Well, my new collection is finally here. I have spent most of this year learning how to build a business and the past couple of months I have been designing and making my new collection. Now this is a little sneak peek of some of my pieces so you can see what it is like...now, it's safe to say that it is completely different from my degree show collection but I am very excited to be doing something new and see how it develops. I hope you like it and i'll be keeping you posted with all that's going on with my little jewels.

Degree Show 2010

2010-06-13T09:35:00.000-07:00

Ok, so these are the final two brooches in my collection...

Bird, Florals and Pearls

One of my favourite pieces from my collection is this one, with the etched hummingbird, the floral pattern etched around the rectangular box and the etched roses and the added freshwater pearls I think makes it the most prettiest brooch in my collection. It is inspired by a girl with tattoos (the hummingbird and roses) wearing a floral skirt and a pearl necklace.

Checks, Camera and a Gold Ring

I like this brooch because I think the black thread on the stitched camera really helps bring out the 22 carat gold-plated silver. I saw this man in town one day and he caught my eye, he was wearing a checked shirt and a very nice shiny gold wedding band and was taking a photograph...his camera was pretty sweet!

So, that is my collection... :D

Degree Show 2010

2010-06-08T03:19:00.000-07:00

Two more brooches from my collection...Oh my collection is called Fleeting Encounters simply because these brooches symbolise a look into an everyday life that is full of moments that simply pass us by.

Sheet music and curly hair.

This brooch has the sheet music to Across the Universe by The Beatles, it is such an amazing tune and I love the lyrics! The sheet music is photo-etched onto sterling silver and I stitched black thread down the side to represent a man that walked past me with the biggest curliest hair I had ever seen...who also reminded me of a younger version of my dad (I saw a photo of him in his twenties...very curly hair!) Across the Universe was the song I was listening to at the time.

Polka dots, a teddy bear and ribbon.

The polka dots are round the frame of the brooch, this is one of my favourite pieces because it is just very sweet! It represents a girl in a polka dot dress carrying a teddy bear with a blue ribbon and I added a little freshwater pearl.

Two more brooches still to come!

Degree Show 2010

2010-06-06T15:35:00.000-07:00

My collection for the Degree Show was made up of six brooches...I have always loved making brooches and throughout my 3 years of studying jewellery I found that for most projects I only ever saw my ideas and designs as brooches so it felt right that my degree project be brooches. So, a little about the work I produced....well each brooch represents different individuals all of which are complete strangers to me but all had certain details that when I saw them (whether in a coffee shop or simply walking past me in the street) they stuck with me...Do you ever just get that sometimes when you see something or someone there is always something that catches your eye?well to that person wearing a floral skirt or a pearl necklace or drinking a cup of coffee is just what they do, all these little things make up their everyday lives but I see it as inspiration...simple details that can be turned into a piece of jewellery.

Leopard print cardigan, a cup of tea and chain.

I put this piece in for the catwalk held on the industry night...which was fantastic! The model did a very good job of working this piece and I just loved how the chain fringing swished about when she walked.

Squares, a cupcake and chain

This piece was inspired by someone wearing a geometric patterned scarf, a gold bracelet and eating a cupcake! I added a little garnet to represent the cherry on top of the cake.

More pieces to follow!!

Some work so far...

2010-02-28T13:25:00.000-08:00

So, at the moment it is all degree show work that i've been doing...you'll all have to wait until the degree show to see my final pieces but this will give you a little idea of what i'm doing. I've put up a few images of some drawings, silhouettes with some stitched detail. I picked out the main focus of the photograph and for me that was the ruffled collar and buttons of a cardigan and the pattern on the girls jumper and the girls hair. I began to leave the stitching quite loose, I want my pieces to have some texture in them so there is something else to touch and by leaving it quite loose also something else to play with.

With my first piece I felt that it needed to have something different than just a silhouette...it needed a bit extra and so, I took it through a few stages of distortion and stitched in the main detail of the image.

The Final Design

The image is of a man taking a photograph...the stitched detail is the camera and the gold-plated silver is the hand. It is not immediately obvious what the image is so please feel free to let me know what you think it is when you first see it.

After finishing this piece I wasn't completely happy with the end result and I felt that the piece had become too abstract, but now having finally figured out what was missing I have come up with my degree show pieces...I'll be sure to keep you posted!!

Bonjour Paris

2010-02-23T13:06:00.000-08:00

I finally got to go to Paris!

My friend stewart took me to Paris for my 21st birthday and it was even better than i'd ever imagined!Despite the freezing temperatures (Paris still looked beauuuuutiful in winter) we made the most of the few days we were there and became experts of the metro!I've got a few photographs for you all have a little peek at.

The view from the first floor...so pretty!

The Louvre

Such a lovely chair...I really love the floral pattern

It was such an amazing trip and I loved walking about finding lots of little streets with cafes and lovely shops and dragging stewart round the Louvre and just staring in pure shock at the size of the Mona Lisa, I didn't expect it to be so small! Of course cannot forget the view of the eifell tower from the hotel and the lights...oh the sparkly lights! :)

People

2009-12-28T04:54:00.000-08:00

Since third year i have been looking at the human figure, previous projects focused on the connection between family members particularly my own family.

This drawing is of my sister as a little girl holding her teddybear.

Over summer and the past few months I have been thinking that it was a bit too personal and i figured that the people i was using as my inspiration were strangers to the viewer and so felt it a good idea to focus on people unknown to me too. People are my biggest inspiration, I am surrounded by lots of people everyday and each person has a different story to tell. What I am doing is picking out certain details about people I see...most first impressions we have of someone is based on their appearance. Knowing nothing about the people I see allows me to make up my own stories about them, but I am also hoping that when this work gets going people will be able to view my jewellery with a story of their own. So, by taking myself on little day trips I can sit down on a bench and just observe all the people that pass by me and do quick sketches (I feel it would be quite weird if I took photographs of strangers!) and also I like to leave these very simple with only the detail that caught my eye...here are a few examples of these sketches.

Frost

2009-12-28T04:01:00.000-08:00

Well the frost has taken over and unfortunately has also taken over all the spider webs in my garden yuck!...i didn't realise there were so many but i have a little photo to show you all. As much as i am terrified of those eight-legged things i find spider webs fascinating! Reminding me of the 'Preserves' exhibition by Christine Borland. One of her sculptures included glass and spider's silk that is apparently bullet proof!

The Lucky Butterfly

2009-08-24T06:52:00.000-07:00

I have been trying to do my dissertation for ages now and it has not been going well! So, last week I decided to do something about it. I was asked to housesit for my aunt and uncle while they were on holiday and I thought Yes! finally peace and quiet out in the country, no distractions i'll get loads done. Well i got some done, not as much as I hoped though.

On one of my many breaks I went for a little walk round the field that is there garden it's huge!!! there were loads of butterflies and I love butterflies they are so pretty. I found a lovely white butterfly on the lavender and as it was the only nice sunny day of the entire week I took a photograph.

So, now I am back home trying to do my dissertation surrounded by the 2 loudest dogs ever, I am able to think of that lovely day and how I got the most work done thanks to the lucky butterfly!!that is what i've called it and I hope it brings luck to other people who are sturggling with their dissertation too (please let there be more of you I don't want to be the only one not finished!!)

Flowers

2009-06-30T07:13:00.000-07:00

I was just walking along...as you do and I came across this bush of flowers, well I could smell them first because they were so strong! They are very bright I do like them very much so I thought I would share them with you..so have a flower! :D

Penguins

2009-06-29T13:52:00.000-07:00

I went to Edinburgh Zoo yesterday for the first time ever!I know it's shocking!!

It was fab, I loved it and I took a few photographs of the penguins...they make me laugh, they are oddly cute but their feet freak me out a bit because they are so weird looking and I saw a polar bear (my fave animal) ahh she was a very lovely polar bear swimming about. Also I have to say they do have a very impressive collection of monkeys! I had no idea there were so many monkeys!

Scottish Identity

2009-06-17T10:33:00.000-07:00

The four brooches that I have made are inspired by the idea of Scottish Identity, so, for this project I decided to look into my Scottish identity. All four brooches can be worn separately as each of them hold a story of their own but altogether they show little pieces of my family. I really liked the idea of buttons to represent my family identity as I like the idea that buttons hold things together, much like a family there is that strong connection that keeps us all together.
The first brooch is silver riveted to acrylic with a piece of lace trapped between them. This symbolizes a dress that my nana made for me when I was younger that had a lace collar.
The second brooch is a photograph of my great grandmother with her friends photo etched onto silver.
The third brooch is a little cupcake stitched onto felt, also with acrylic on top and I used thread to hold it together that represents the love of baking that I share with my papa.
Finally, the fourth brooch is a small piece of silver with a Scottish landscape photo etched onto it. As the majority of my family come from Glasgow I recently discovered that my great grandmother came from Barra and that is what this piece is representing.

Cake Art!

2009-06-16T07:20:00.000-07:00

So, as most people who know me, know that I love baking especially cupcakes! There is something great about making cupcakes and decorating them any way I want that makes them look amazing. My friend gave me a cupcake book at Christmas and it had recipes for some of the nicest looking cupcakes I have ever seen!

Enjoy!

Family Photographs

2009-06-16T06:18:00.000-07:00

For my source project over the year I have been digging out all those old family photographs. These are just a few that i've found of my dad's side of the family and one of my mum as a little girl.

My Blog

2009-03-25T06:19:00.000-07:00

i think i've finally found stuff to put on my blog....wasn't really sure how a blog worked to be honest but after a veeeeeery long period of time with nothing on my blog i've decided to just put radnom stuff on it...which is what it is for.Enjoy!!:D