Pattern Explanation

So for one of our assignments we have to make patterns that represent/are inspired by all the countries we visit. This week we had to do some for each museum we visited. It's WAY harder than it sounds but these are the three sketches I came up with.

Pattern #3-British Museum

This pattern is probably my favorite. It didn't really come from a specific work of art. I just kind of thought of it as I saw a combination of things. The spirals made me think of a sheild and the little tick marks I used to create the shapes were inspired by a necklace from Egypt (or something).

Pattern#2-Tate Modern

You couldn't take pictures in this museum and I forgot to write down the name of the painting I used but basically I just looked at the different shapes and lines in an abstract painting and then arranged them in different ways. This painting had a lot of squiggly lines and on some of the shapes there were little circles so I added them together. Then I added in the different line weights to create more interest.

Pattern #1-V&A Museum

This pattern began with inspiration from a chandelier in the V&A Museum. I started with the shapes that would be seen looking up from the base of the chandelier and then I just arranged them in different ways until I came up with this one.

Day 21-July 22

This morning came way too early! We met at the tube station at 5:30 and took a train to Kidderminster where the Brintons carpet factory is located. It took a little over an hour on the train and then they picked us up on busses to go the rest of the way. That felt like at least another hour but I have no idea how long it really was. Brintons carpet has been around since 1783 and is one of the leading carpet companies for high-end carpets in the world. They are very competitive and produce top of the line products. They do a lot of stuff for casinos and commercial areas but they have a small residential line as well. They even did some carpets for the Whitehouse! They do both custom-made and pre-made designs and I thought they were all pretty cool. We split up into four groups and went through four rotations that lasted an hour each. They took us through their archives, gave us a background presentation, showed us their products (including some pretty cool stuff that hasn’t been released), and took us on a tour through the factory. It was way cool to see how they were made. It was not at all what I imagined. I lucked out and was in a really small group and so we got to see everything really well and that was pretty awesome. They fed us lunch halfway through the day, and I had no idea what was in any of the sandwiches but I ate a gazillion anyways. Haha. I didn’t feel very good afterwards, but we ate some digestives afterwards and that was much better. I swear I eat like ten desserts a day here! There’s just so many delicious goodies to try. It’s a good thing we walk around a lot! The whole tour thing took most of the day but it was really interesting. Everyone there was really passionate about the company and their work and they were super friendly and you could tell they were enjoying it. Also, they really do put a lot into the end result of their products and are very careful to make sure that it was only the best. You could tell that they had a very high integrity. So, although their carpets are pretty expensive, you can pretty much be guaranteed that you’re getting a great product that will last a long time. I felt really bad because by the end of the presentations we were all so tired and I was trying SO hard to stay awake but sometimes my eyes would just shut without me even realizing it. I must have looked way more tired than everyone else because everyone who was presenting to us always told me I looked exhausted and they didn’t say anything about everyone else. I felt way bad, but I really was trying my hardest! We couldn’t take any pictures at Brintons so I don’t really have any pictures from today since that’s all that we did. They said we’d get arrested if we took pictures in there…and they were serious…so yeah, not a good idea. On the way home we stopped at a Tesco and picked up some bread and goodies and then we came home and made Hawaiian haystacks for dinner. It takes sooo long to cook in our kitchen, but hey it saves us money. It kinda turned out gross. Everything here is so bland compared to the States….the peanut butter, the soup, baked beans…they just don’t have any flavor. What can ya do though right? At least it’s not super gross. It’s just not very good. They have delicious snack foods though!

Day 20-July 21

This morning it was so hard to wake up! I’ve been ok almost every other day, but today I did not want to get out of bed. We went to the British Museum which was cool but I’m kind of on museum overload at this point. It has the Rosetta Stone and parts of the Parthenon in it and those were really cool. The rest of it I didn’t care to see as much.
The British Museum, in all it's fame and glory

The Rosetta Stone...not the best picture, but it was pretty dang hard to even get this. WAY too many people!

Afterwards we went to a little museum in some architect’s house that just had a ton of stuff that he’s collected. It was pretty cool. There was so much stuff and so many passageways in the tiniest little space. It seemed like it went on forever. We went back to the British Museum after that and after looking around for a while longer we went to the cafeteria and ate lunch.
I thought this little vehicle was pretty sweet, nothing like anything I've ever seen! The cars here look a lot more like American cars than any of the other countries we've been to (aside from the steering wheel being on the right), but you still get a few funky ones here and there.

After both of the museums we headed over to St. Paul’s Cathedral. We couldn’t take any pictures inside but it was beautiful. Princess Diana was married there which I thought was cool.

We hiked up to the top of the dome and got a sweet view of London. On the inside of the dome there’s a whispering gallery. You can whisper into the wall and somehow it travels all the way around, so someone on the other side of the dome can hear you. It was way cool!!! After that we were free and Amanda and I headed home. We got on one of the wrong trains in the tube and had to get off at the next station and turn around though. It actually ended up being a good thing though because on the next train we met the sweetest Irish guy with the hottest accent in the world and he talked to us the whole time. It totally made our day! We haven’t been hit on by attractive guys for a while you see…haha. He was really nice. It was fun. He gave us some tips and stuff about London too so that was good. When we got out of the tube we stopped at a Tesco (they’re little mini grocery stores) to pick up some milk and goodies and after that we felt super rejuvenated and were in the best mood. We tried to make spaghetti and meat sauce for dinner and it was so hard! Haha. Our stove takes literally an hour to heat up so we eventually just tried to do it in the microwave. Also, we share a kitchen with twelve other people so it was just craziness. It turned out pretty good though, surprisingly. I guess that’s all that matters. Later tonight (before it got dark) Amanda and I went running. It felt SO good! We found the coolest park at the end of the street and we found a Buddhist shrine thing that we did a stair workout on and stretched at the top. It was way sweet. We kinda got lost trying to find our way out of the park so we ended up running longer than planned but it was good. We have to leave at 5:30 in the morning tomorrow :( so hopefully we can go to bed early

Day 19-July 20

Today we started off with going to the V&A museum. It was actually really cool, probably one of my favorites that I’ve been to. That’s saying a lot because I’ve been to gazillions of museums in the last few weeks and I’m starting to get museumed out. We were supposed to do an assignment while going through and we got put into groups of five or so to go around with. We just had to look at things for inspiration and try to make patterns out of them, so we'd sit down and sketch stuff every once in awhile. It was kinda fun but it's actually way hard for me. My mind is not creative and does not do well with abstractions. The museum had pretty much everything in it that you can imagine...clothes, jewelry, ancient artifacts, furniture, musical instruments. It was awesome! I had PB&J on our lunch break and then we headed over to the Tate museum of modern art. On the way over we crossed the Tower Bridge, hit London City Hall, and passed by the globe theater.
London City Hall, designed by Norman Foster

Tower Bridge


The Globe Theater-where shakespeare plays began

By the time we got to the Tate museum I was SO tired so I didn't really feel like looking at anything. We just kind of walked through. I really need to start getting more sleep because I feel bad that we're not really enjoying stuff as much as we should be anymore. It's still cool, there's just no energy to be excited or care very much. We crossed the Millenium Bridge and rode the metro back to our housing.

Millenium Bridge-only bridge in London that's only for walking


Classic warning when getting off and on the tube (metro). I think the metros here are so much nicer and cleaner than the other countries we've been in but they're so much more confusing because trains going on different lines pass through the same area so you worry about getting on the wrong train.

We cooked up a frozen pizza for dinner and it was pretty good. Our oven is crazy though! It's such an ancient tiny little thing and the dial has no markings on it so you just have to guess on the temperature and watch everything really good so it doesn't burn. After eating really fast we went to the theater to see Harry Potter. It was so amazing!!! It was the coolest movie theater I've ever been in...super huge and fancy. It totally fit the occasion. It was just way fun to because in the opening scenes the death eaters come to destroy London and it showed all the places we had just been walking a few hours before. It cost us thirteen pounds to see it, which is a TON but it was kind of a one in a lifetime experience so I guess that's ok.