Natalie Alicia Price: Alphabet / Lightbulbs

Last summer I found an embroidered alphabet sampler by Alicia Paulson which I fell in love with, so much so I set out to collect the perfect fabric and coloured threads to embroider it. I don't plan to embroider it just yet, instead I want to create my own alphabet and expand upon Alicia Paulson's by creating numbers so that I can use it for personalising items and perhaps give them as gifts for birthday's or anniversaries. Things such as cards, wrapping presents, bunting, customising and personalising items of clothing, blankets, household items, table wear, napkins, pillows etc.

So far I have sketched out a few variations of the first letters, however I feel this personal project will allow me to understand the form and shape of typography, this will ultimately allow me to develop my knowledge of typefaces within graphic design and how they use can affect the readability and legibility.

Examples of Alicia Paulson's sampler below and how people have suited
it to fit with their own requirements.

Coloured, Patterned and neutral background material.

A close up of the first embroidered letters A, B, and C by Alicia Paulson.

I think my favourite letter is the A due to the simple and adorable design, her choice of colours balance well together in relation to the overall design, the size of each letter is also cleverly balanced. Things such as colour, patterns, background, size, lowercase vs capitals layout and composition, kerning and texture will have to be thought about if I choose to embroider my alphabet. I would like to experiment within different mediums and styles to achieve the best result before I commit to a certain style, by creating a varied collection with different materials I will need to consider the amount my type will be able to adapt or not.

Could this be another part of my pyrography project? Perhaps I could use my alphabet to produce building blocks for the children in my family as gifts.

Think about printing, transferring, painting, etching how could these effect the shape of the letters?

What kind of effect would I like? Sellotape transfers and emulsion prints can create a distressed effect, would this take away from the design of each letter?

Should I expand my alphabet more by designing punctuation? From the popularity of social media and texting, a shortened language is very popular created by a combination of letters, number and punctuation together, I could create designs based upon modern words but by embroidering them have an old fashioned medium for contrast.

Could this fit within any future modules/projects?

My variations in sketch form

I have circled a few of my favourites in which to develop however I will do this as a collective when the whole alphabet is complete. Loving this project so far, hope to share more soon.

Update on my Light bulb moment project

After my light bulbs base coat were dry, I then layered designs on top inspired by Cath Kidston as a magazine close by to me at the time were featuring her fabric and products. I am a big fan of Kidston's designs and pastel colours and found that they would be the perfect addition to my room and to my collection of Cath Kidston products.