So.. I tried writing poetry

I was never into poetry growing up. I always preferred reading prose. Writing poetry for school was one of the things I dreaded most. I just didn't enjoy it. So when I found out I had to write five haikus, well, let's just say I wasn't too happy about that. Sat myself down one night while listening to my boyfriend's band perform live on the radio and to my surprise I was able to write the haikus pretty quickly. Here's what I came up with! My favorite one is the Harry Potter one. Do I even need to explain that? Harry. Potter. And Hogwarts. Yup. 

Gathered some flowers

On the ground below my feet

Bunched them up neatly

Read Harry Potter

Right before I slept at night

Dreamt about Hogwarts

We ran, jumped and spun

Around the merry-go-round

Like squealing infants

I spend too much time

on instagram looking at

Photos of cute pets

While doing homework

Listened to my boyfriend's band

On the radio

Lotus and Needles

As I was reading The Spider's Thread I immediately knew that I wanted to create an artwork for this story. I was also excited to use my Bamboo tablet because I was finally able to fix it (with the help of Tin-- Thank you!)! I didn't want to recreate a scene in the story or anything because I'm not that good of an illustrator. Instead, I read the story and chose a few details that stuck out to me. I chose the spider's thread, lotus flowers and the Mountain of Needles. I wanted my artwork to have those elements so I just played around with creating different things and this is how it turned out! I tried to incorporate fire and blood in there somewhere since arson and murder was mentioned in the story. I just couldn't do it in a way I was happy with. I was trying to make blood drip off the web and put fire on the mountains but it just wasn't working. Decided it'd be better for me to just stick with something I was proud of. Maybe when I have more time I'll edit this and try to add those elements. We shall see. 

Galatea

I was reading about Pygmalion and was trying to come up with a design or product that was inspired by the story. At first I considered playing with the idea of Galatea and creating a product called Gala Tea which would be tea that keeps you looking young. I wasn't sold on the idea so I did more brainstorming and thought of creating a hair accessories collection inspired by what Pygmalion would give and dress the statue in. 

I designed this collection and called it Galatea. In the story it says Pygmalion gave the statue bright shells, little birds and flowers in various hues and dressed it in strings of pearls. I based my designs on those things and I was able to come up with three different accessories: a headband, two clips, and a comb. These are all things I'd actually wear and maybe I'll make them in the future since I really do DIY hair pieces!

Rosetta

The things I'm sharing on this entry were inspired by Mesopotamian Literature. I came up with two ideas but I liked one more than the other. 

The first one is a product. It was inspired by how Mesopotamian Literature was recorded. I remember learning in class that they were carved into stones shaped like cylinders and then rolled onto clay. I thought this was pretty cool mainly because I was a Play-Doh kid growing up. I thought it would be fun to take this idea and turn it into something you could give people instead of just giving them store bought cards. 

Basically, you come up with a message, and this is then transferred to something similar to a tiny rolling pin. However, instead of this being carved into the rolling pin, it would be embossed and end up like a stamp. You could then add ink to the rolling pin, roll it on paper et voila! The person you gave this to can now read your message for him/her. I don't know if this is a great business idea, but it was fun coming up with it! 

Though I loved my little rolling pin idea, I couldn't stop myself from trying to design clothes using actual Mesopotamian Literature. For another class of mine in SoFA, I designed a collection inspired by J. R. R. Tolkien and I literally put paragraphs from Lord of the Rings onto clothes. I guess that's just the geek in me. I wanted to do something similar here. I designed an outfit (modeled by Jeyne) and used Mesopotamian Literature as the print of the dress. This dress is something I would wear myself and it could possibly turn into a real garment someday soon. We shall see. 

Don't Look Back

This particular entry was inspired by the story of Orpheus and Eurydice. Initially, it was challenging for me to come up with a design. I first thought of creating a music brand called Orpheus because he was exceptionally talented in this and Orpheus sounds like a catchy brand. I even made some drafts as seen below. These are an example of what the products would look like with the label.

 However, I wasn't completely sold on this idea so I tried to do some more brainstorming. Got on my pinterest account to look for more inspiration and I saw a bunch of inspirational quotes and posters. Here's a screenshot so you have a better image of what I'm talking about.

Personally, I love repinning these so I thought, "Hey, why not make one myself!" I didn't even have to think about what to write on the poster. Based on the text, I knew what message to put. Now, all I had to do was figure out how to design the poster. 


I took inspiration from different parts of the story. I remember reading that Eurydice died in a meadow and thought I could somehow incorporate that into my design. The best way for me to do this was by using a floral print for my text. 


I love taking inspiration from nature and turning these into a print or something similar. In the end of the story, nightingales were mentioned. It is said that they sing more sweetly on the tomb of Orpheus than anywhere else. I wanted to include these birds in my poster but wanted it to be somewhat subtle. 


I chose the light pink background because the color reminds me of flowers and photo shoots in meadows-- with floral crowns on girls' heads to be exact. Also, the print of the background is shaped like little honeycombs. Nature overload!


As for the text, I used "Don't Look Back." This was the main message I got from the story of Orpheus and Eurydice. I thought it would be fun to use this because it has different meanings to Orpheus and to us. To Orpheus, it was something literal whereas for us it can be applied in another way. It can mean don't focus on your past and just move forward. Well, at least that's what it means to me.


Here's the finished poster and I'm proud to say I'm happy with how it turned out! You can definitely expect to see this on my pinterest!

Then he turned to her. It was too soon; she was still int he cavern. He saw her in the dim light, and he held out his arms to clasp her; but on the instant she was gone.

- Orpheus and Eurydice