Take your pixels - How to DIY Orla Kiely's pixellated galleon designand Topshop's geometric jewellery

90s retro pixel designs, graph paper... you do the math.

Always Fashion, never ordinary. (clipped to polyvore.com)

Orla Kiely sweater (see more button back sweaters)

Left image: Asos.com

You will need

Graph paper ( with 5mm x 5mm squares)

For the jewellery

Fimo clay

Fluorescent nail polishes (available in a pack of 4, costing £2 from Primark)

Scalpel

Pencil

Clear car body lacquer (£3.99 at Elliots)

For the Galleon top

Black cardigan

Pins and a sewing machine (for taking in the sides)

Neon yellow and white jersey (in my case, cut off old clothes)

Scalpel

Sharp thread scissors

Pencil

Iron and ironing board

Time

About an hour for each one, not including baking time in the case of the jewellery.

Difficulty

Pretty Easy

Modelling the clay for the jewellery takes quite a bit of patience but thankfully it's not technically taxing. Just take your time.

To make the jewellery...

Draw your shapes onto your graph paper using the grid-like layout as a guide to get your jagged, pixellated edges.

Use your scalpel to cut out your shapes, zigzagging along the edges and using the sharp edge to gouge out the middle once you have cut an outline.

Bake your clay shapes in the oven closely following the instructions provided (if it's Fimo, it will probably be half an hour on a low heat but don't take my word for it, refer closely to the specifications on the packaging!). Paint your nail polish onto both sides and glaze your pieces with an all-over spray of clear lacquer.

Glue in place any attachments and fastenings for your jewellery, whether they be for brooches, earrings or pendants.

For the top...

Using your graph paper as a guide, draw out your ship design, which includes the yellow backdrop. Cut all your pieces out with a scalpel.

Glue them to your bondaweb and iron it onto your clothes.

Cut out your bondaweb and fabric pieces with your sharp thread scissors.

Peel away your bondaweb backing (the paper stuff on the back) and iron your pieces in place.

For Your Inspiration: Digital Love

A new year's resolution - ahem! - I mean, blog feature I'm setting out to do for my midweek update is a trend and inspiration collage of all the potential projects I see in on-trend items. This 90s-rich, retro-digital trend of pixels and neons was quite a sentimental one for me, reminding me of the technology of the decade, the games, the colours (can we bring back neon slap bracelets? Scrunchies can stay behind) and the colour separation, as is the case in the Catherine Malandrino dress on the left. Genuinely, that reminded me of doing chromatography in chemistry class, for which I dangled strips of coloured coffee filter paper in water, watched as the dyes separated and thought "If DIY fashion bloggers dared do the same..." Okay, the last point was a more creative, less accurate take on my memories but if they come into fruition, you know where you'll hear it first...