The 'Enchanted Darkness' Scarf

Happy Friday Everyone! Hope you've all had a great week and have got something exciting planned for the weekend. I'm going to see Breakfast at Tiffany's in theatre tomorrow, which Pixie Lott is starring in. (And if she's anything like she is during her concerts she will be totally amazing!) Well anyway whether you're a creative soul or not, or maybe you sometimes like to see how designers/makers start a piece of art, I've got a lil surprise for you.

Over a year ago I started my first few paintings based on the sealife collection which you can now view on my website sukisabur.co.uk. At the time I was kind of going along with my sketches and very first ideas and didn't really have a complete idea of what the collection would include. I didn't even have a title! But whilst I was designing and painting I was documenting my progress with each new design. As I'm kind of awkward and like to do things the hard way by drawing everything to scale and painting it by hand rather than using technology that would be much more efficient, it takes me a couple of weeks to finish a painting. (Baring in mind that I still have the editing to do on the final design which can take up to another week.)

So I thought it was time I revealed my first ever scarf for the 'Underwater Escapade' collection! Yes I finally thought of a name for my second collection. Even though I've currently decided that this one won't be getting made as a final product as I felt that the colours weren't quite suited to the rest of the collection and I wanted to refine my designs, I still wanted to share my progress and show how it all began.

I wrote a similar post back in January about the third scarf in the collection, 'Storm in the Sea' which you can read here. I hope you enjoy looking through the pictures and let me know if you have any questions. Happy weekend! xo

The 'Storm in the Sea' Scarf

Happy Friday! As much as I enjoy working for myself it does get very tiring at times as I find it hard to switch off and I'm constantly thinking of new ideas or my mental to-do list, (whenever I'm not writing in my notebook). But it's so important to have breaks and enjoy the time off, so I hope you've all got some exciting plans for the weekend.

So as you may or may not know that I've been working on a new collection of silk scarves which I am now sampling. It's taken such a long time to finish designing the collection and at times I felt like I was going crazy and that I'd never get finished. But I've been documenting all the little things and each step that I've taken. And I thought it would be a good idea to now reveal my designs in the process.

So I know that a lot of print designers do their sketches without colour and then have them digitally manipulated , so placing them at the right scale and size and then adding the colour, which is probably so much more convenient rather than making the exact shade that you've imagined and making sure you've got enough of that colour, as it's impossible to get that exact colour again! And there's so many designers who specialise in printed scarves with each one having their own unique style. But I guess I'm kind of awkward like that and just prefer to do all the designing and painting by hand. I just feel as if I can't really imagine a finished design when I'm working on a screen, whereas drawing everything to scale helps me visualise the finished scarf and how it will be worn.

So anyway I thought about showing everyone my work in progress; when I'm in the middle of painting or mixing a colour; or adding the detail once it's all painted. I decided to start with the third scarf in the 'Underwater Escapade' Collection. This one is called 'Storm in the Sea' and it's a mixture of lots of designs I drew from my research. The idea is all in the name, and I basically wanted to throw in all my small doodles to create a square that was covered with different colours and artwork. I wanted to use a variation of bright colours and have a subtle background in contrast. And even though this was quite a risk to take as I wasn't sure how it would turn out, I'm loving the final outcome.

Below I've added a few photos of the design whilst I was still working on it, so you can see how I do my designing. I hope you all enjoy reading this post, xo

All designs Copyright ©Suki Sabur 2016. All rights reserved.

Liberty 'Wall of Wishes'

Happy Saturday Everyone! I hope you are all having a lovely weekend so far. So during my trip to London in the holidays, there was one thing I was SO excited to go and do. I'd seen this on Liberty's Instagram previously and I couldn't wait til I had my chance to go and put up my very own wish.

Yes I'm talking about the amazing 'Wall of Wishes' they've put up in aid of charity, where you can donate any amount you wish and then use one of the tags to write a wish and hang it up with the rest of them. I have to say it does look beautiful with all the tags hanging together, and I know it's not the same thing but it did remind me of Paris' Love Lock Bridge.

So I made my way into Liberty's and onto the second floor, went over to the checkout to donate, and I was then told to go over to the 'Wall of Wishes' and I could grab a tag and write my message. But when we got closer we noticed that the table was empty. We walked back to the lovely gentleman who had served us and were then told that they had run out of the tags, and as it was a Monday and the Head Office is closed, they were unfortunately unable to put out more tags.

I was then kindly told to scribble my name and address down on a piece of paper and that a tag would be posted to me so I could still write my wish. After 12 days of expecting it to arrive in the post I'm guessing it's been misplaced, which is completely understandable with the busy rush of the sales! Sadly I've seen that it's now been taken down and they will announce a winner on the 29th of January.

So as I was unfortunately unable to write my very own wish on the wall, I decided that I would write a post about it instead. This year I am launching my very own label of luxury silk scarves and pocket squares. If you've read my previous post you might have visited my website that launched this week, where you can view my designs and see the collections. My wish for the Liberty 'Wall of Wishes' would most definitely have mentioned the fact that I've always dreamed of my scarves being in the Liberty Scarf Hall one day.

Every time I pop into Liberty's I head straight for the scarf hall so I can admire all those beautiful, unique designs by some amazing and VERY talented designers. My wish would be to have my very own silk scarves hanging up there with the rest of them, and maybe one day there will be people like me who will go into the store just to admire those mesmerising pieces of silk, wool or any other fabrics that scarves have been made of. I might even be so lucky to have people not only love the designs, but love them enough that they hate to part with it and just have to buy a piece.

Hoping that my scarves do get noticed, and I'm hoping that this year will be even more exciting than I imagine! If you haven't seen my collection of the 'Underwater Escapade' you can view my website here, or go onto sukisabur.co.uk. xo