Over all, this project has worked out well in terms of
outcomes and productivity. I am glad to be able to look upon what I have
produced and be proud of it. Having worked with a form of greeting card before
I definitely think that this was a good path to go down and as a result I feel
that I have built upon my previous work helping establish myself as a creator.
I have pushed forwards using a new topic and quantity, of which I am pleased
with both. However, I am still unaware of my strengths in this field, but like
the previous project I feel that I have come away with a deeper set of skill and subject knowledge.
I still very much enjoy producing handmade work and
think that this is a niche I am gaining a firmer grip on; the use of the hand
stamper and the attention to detail that I can include within my work both
excite me.
Throughout this project I have kept a steady eye on the time and have therefore
triumphed with my time management! This is encouraging for me and has helped
boost productivity on my part. Once more I have also found it helpful to keep
track of my research and final outcomes using a blog, as a result complementing
my sketchbooks nicely.
However, I would say that my weakness in this project
has been, once more, not being able to knuckle down to a specific title for the
project for some time, however, this is potentially a positive thing because of
the time I have been able to spend easing myself into this.
I am pleased to a point with my final outcomes, I
don’t think that they are overly exciting to look at, but I need to remember
that I won’t always be producing work for myself, and I suppose that this is
good way of looking at it, that sometimes what a client wants is just not fully
your cup of tea. But perhaps I need to learn how to inject a little of my
personality into the work. These are, after all, minimal hand made
note/correspondence cards that get straight to the point, and I think that they
do this effectively. Just like the Wish You Were Here cards I think that they
stand out and at the same time blend in with the current market; what will set
them apart is their theme, which is communicating to an audience a widely
unknown ‘card’ topic.
With this work I not only plan on selling the cards at
the summer show and in local hand made shops such as No Guts No Glory, I also
hope to approach farm shops around the local area of where I am moving too. The
nature of farm shops can be very handmade based and as a result my work should
fit right in. I plan on keeping the card templates and thinking about new
themes relating to where I will be living; rural life, animals, farms, etc.
To develop this project
further I would include the title of the over all topic on the rear of the
cards instead of the card title, for example, I would place ‘English Idioms’
instead of ‘She’s a Peach’, as this would encompass the card as part of a wider
set. I would also think about perhaps stamping the inside with what that
particular idiom means, so the description would read in the middle. Although
this may take away the broadness of the card topic.
