Antique book store images . . .

I got the images from the shoot we did in the book store in Winton on Sunday, Holly worked over the weekend to get the best ones edited for me, and then gave me all of the images taken for me to have a look through, if there are any that I like she said that she can edit them for me, which is fantastic as my Photoshop skills aren't too sharp. I've included some of the images that I'm using in the spread in the publication, but you can view some more under the Photo Shoots tab at the top of the page.

Beach shoot . . .

All the plans have been put in place for the Sandbanks beach shoot this coming Saturday. I have FINALLY managed to find someone with a car, so that we are now all able to make our way to the beach at the same time. It also means that the hair and make up can be done at my house opposed to at Nikitta's (model) which I wasn't too happy about, we will also be able to get her into the first outfit. Phoebe (photographer) has a tent which we will be using on the day so that the model can get changed in privacy and also provide shelter for the clothes when we are not using them. I'm just hoping that the weather holds out, and remains nice and sunny for the day.

I've included some of the model poses that I've sent over to Nikita, to give her some idea as to the look and narrative that I'm after, but I want it to look quite natural so I don't want to direct her too much.

Book Store Photo Shoot

Photographer - Holly Smith
Creative direction & Styling - Aisha Green
Hair & make-up - Charlotte Strong & Roseanna Heymann
Assistants - Averil Treeby & Jason Cluitt

I did the shoot in the bookstore today, it went really really well and took a lot less longer than expected. Hair and make up arrived a little earlier than expected and as there were two of them it only took fifteen minutes, so I had an extra hour to spare allowing me to go through the poses for the shoot.

There were a couple of poses that we were not able to do, as the bookcases had backs on them so Sophie was unable to look through from one side to another, but I came up with a few extra poses on the spot which worked well. The owner allowed us around the restricted section which provided us with some extra shots and poses.

Fingers crossed I'll have the images by the latest this coming Tuesday, she's going to edit the best ones and then give them all to me on a disk, she may also be putting a mini film together of the shoot, which will be interesting to look at.

Packaging developmemts . . .

I finally mustered up the courage and went on the eyelet machine today, it gave my two potential packaging designs a very professional finish, I'm really pleased with the results, although I'm still not sure as to which one to choose as I like both.

With this design I will have ribbon running through both eyelets holding the packaging shut. This would form the back of the packaging with the front being the laser cut dandelion, with the floral fabric that I am wrapping the pages in showing through.

































I did this one slightly wrong, in that I put the eyelet at the bottom instead of the top, this will allow me to have a swing tag on the packaging saying the name of the publication. Like the design above it will have the dandelion cut out of the front of the box, and then the publication will be wrapped in fabric inside, with the lid fastened using magnetic strips.

Country Living Fair and London . . .

I went to London yesterday to visit the Spring Country Living Fair. They have a similar target reader to that of my own publication, and I wanted to get a better understanding of the market as well as my potential customer.

It was the first day of opening, so the exhibition space was packed with people. there were a variety of people walking around from 30 something yummy mummies, to middle aged women, to the occasional 65 year old. The majority of the products on the stalls were all produced here in the UK, I picked up a lot of business cards, to put in the product pages of my publication. My favourite stand was Beg, who were selling beautiful vintage bikes made in Germany, with the option of having your own wicker basket or old style fruit crate on the front, with additional leather satchel and woolen blankets all made in Cornwall.

After a good two hours of exploring the stalls, it was clear to see that there is a definite market for my publication as well as the subject area, it also made me realise that I was completely targeting the wrong reader before recently re-doing my reader profile. Visiting the fair also gave me some ideas for future features that I could include within Dandy-Lion if I were to try and launch it as an actual publication.

































































Whilst in London I also visited Magma book store in Covent Garden to have a look at the prices of other magazine and publications that use multiple paper stocks, as I'm still unsure as to the retail price of mine, given the absence of advertisers or sponsors. The Gentlewoman used three different stocks for their third issue and was priced at £5, which I thought wasn't too bad, given the quality of the papers, and there aren't too many advertisers in it either. It's something I really need to sit down and do but I keep putting it off.

I also went to the flagship Paperchase store on Tottenham Court Road to get all of the papers for the publication, and got some really nice recycled hand made card for the packaging of the publication as well, at £3 a sheet it's not cheap but it has that tactile quality that both Tiffany and Tony have been talking about.

Logo development . . .

I spoke to Bex today about screen printing my logo onto luggage tags to attach to my packaging, However because of the detail in the logo she said that I would not achieve a good quality print and suggested I try using my inkjet printer, something I'd not thought of. She also suggested popping over to the EP and asking the advice of CopyPlusXL who are printing my publication, as to what they could suggest.

Imposition Plan . . .

I FINALLY made the first steps to doing my imposition plan for the publication now that I have decided on the layout of the publication, and it didn't take me as long as first anticipated. Therefore I managed to get the whole thing finished, I've included to almost finished plan below detailing what is on each page as well as colour coding the pages as to what paper stock I will be using for that particular page. I just need to sort out what I'm doing about advertisements, and include this, which I'm going to include within a separate section.

Packaging Experimentations . . .

I've been doing some packaging experimentation's over the weekend, I'm really not keen on the idea of using wood, so I've been researching into packaging that was used by the soldiers during WW2, as well as looking at packaging that other publications have used in the past, in particular Visionaire.

With the help of my trusty assistant, we put together five of the designs, which I've included below -

Idea one -
This is one of my favourite designs, however it is one of the least successful, I don't think it would be a very practical option given that the publication is made up of loose sheets, however it is easy to access the pages, but the outside of the packaging would be very boring and there isn't really any successful way of seeing what is inside the publication. Unfortunately this will be an idea that I won't be taking any further.












Idea two -
This is one of the designs I would like to further, it's almost like a publication within a book. I would like to look at maybe incorporating the dandelion cut out into the front so that you can see the cover, as well as an eyelet somewhere, so that I can attach a luggage tag, which will have the name of the publication on it.















Idea three -
I think this idea is too simple, and doesn't really reflect the independent/niche aspect of the publication, although if developed further I would look at having the dandelion laser cut in to the front of the box so that you could see the cover through it, and maybe look at using some form of fastening method to keep the front of the box firmly in place.















Idea four -
I'm not too sure about this one, it wasn't very easy getting the Lula publication in and out of. It was designed around the idea of a gas mask box, so would have the string strap attached to the sides and the customary luggage tag attached with the Dandy-Lion logo etc. Maybe one to develop further?

























Idea five -
This is my favourite of the designs, I'm going to ask Bex about adding eyelets to the two shorter pieces, so that the box can be tied shut with ribbon or parcel string and then have the luggage tag with the logo etc. It could also have the dandelion that Sarah designed laser cut into the front of the box so that you can see bit of the publication poking through, such as the front cover, or I was thinking of having the publication wrapped in a floral print that the reader could put to use in one of the projects featured within the publication. An idea that I would definitely want to develop further.

Fitting with Sophie . . .

I met with Sophie today, who is the model for the shoot I'm doing in the bookshop in Winton this Sunday. I wanted to make sure that all of the clothes fitted her properly and that it looked good on her. I've had to change the jumper as the men's one just wasn't working and looked far too big, so I've used one of the jumpers that I picked up from Vintage Persempre today which works a lot better.























Thankfully all of the clothes fitted fine, just the boots need some tissues stuffing in them as they are a little big, but I'm pleased with how the final outfit looks. I may also get some tights for the model to wear, as her legs are a little pale. I love the jumper and necklace together, they work really well. As there is only one outfit I wanted to use something versatile, and throughout the shoot the jumper will either be on, with the sleeves rolled up or tied around her waist as the shoot progresses, as it's more about telling story rather than the clothing.

Skirt - Topshop £28
Socks - Next £6 for two pairs
Boots - Zara £59.99
Vest top - Topshop £12
Jumper - Vintage Persempre £15
Necklace - Handmade by Bluebird £10

Rachael Dinnage and Holly Smith Collaboration . . .

Holly, who is doing the shoot in the bookshop for me this weekend, had some beautiful images that she'd taken when off and about around the UK, I asked her whether it would be possible for Rachael, who produces amazing tactile illustrations, to work on six of her favorites to put into a spread in the publication.

Rachael has sent me a couple of the pieces she has been working on, I told her about the autumnal theme of the publication, so that she has used colours that are representative of the tie of year, and also fit in with the colour palette of the publication. Below are some of the pieces she sent me -

Wood in the publications industry

After both Tony and Tiffany's enthusiasm I started looking at how other publications have used wood within their publications, whether it be in the packaging or the publication itself. 

The publication, left, looks as if it's a print out of wood, however it is in fact one solid piece of wood, and that's it.

I'm still not too keen on the idea of using wood within the packaging of the Dandy-Lion publication. More research is needed I think before I make a decision.

Vintage Persempre shop visit . . .

Vicky, Naomi and I went to the Vintage PerSempre store in Pokesdown this afternoon, to pick out some clothes for the beach shoot on the 2nd April, it went really well and we got about three of four outfits in total with a couple of spare pieces just in case some of the garments don't work with the model we're using, I've included some of the items we've asked Leah (owner of Vintage Persempre) to hold back for us, and I'll be going to pick them up sometime on Monday. We also came across some pieces for the Land Girls shoot, but we've planned another trip to the store for this shoot as its not for a while yet.