On your up-cycle bicycle!

July has crept up on me. Suddenly I'm getting married this month! Eek! Am I ready? I think so. It feels like we've been thinking, planning, saving, living for this day for the past 18 months and now it is finally upon us! Hurry up! I'm ready now. 

The big task was designing and making my own wedding dress. It was something I really wanted to do and I'm pleased to say it's been a success. Can't wait to share it with you VERY soon!

Somehow, amongst the mad bunting making and endless adjustments to my dress, I've managed to create some new pieces. They are all created from existing materials I had around the home; broken jewellery, vintage fabrics, printed transfers, resins, maps and papers.

Cut & Paste

Hey this is my 50th post! I'm impressed! This blog has now been going for 2 years. 2 years of awesomeness - am I right!? (high five) 

Yeah, so anyway...I've been working on several different projects at once lately, also organising a wedding, oh and trying to hold down a 9-5, so perhaps that is the reason my mind feels loud lately. I'm trying to take my work in a more positive direction, as I have a tenancy to lean to the dark side. Yes I did just do that. I've been looking at places again and how they effect people. I've been looking at my home where I grew up, Jon and his home, and the place we will join together as one. Awww spew, I know. But its good for the soul.

Here are some of the preliminary collages before printing. Collaging itself was really nice and I've gone off on a jewellery tangent lately, mixing paper, stitch and fabrics. But thats a different post. 

This series is called Me, You, Together. Working on creating digital prints on textiles. Cushions for Christmas anyone?!

Collagraph Angel

Here she is, the blessed damozel.

Ok so the bar isn't gold and the lilies are more like massive daisies but you get the idea! The angel may or may not have had purple hair. I'm taking artist liberties here!

My aim was to create an emotional print, using cool blue tones to show the sorrow implied in the poem. Drapery is ever present in Pre-Raphaelite works, and I wanted to capture those textures of flowing fabric. How better to do this then by using actual fabric? Working in textiles has it's perks! Collagraph was my chosen print process as this enabled me to create a plate to print directly from these materials.

The print size and shape were mainly inspired by William Morris' Red House and his stain glass windows. But more on that later..


The figure is hand drawn like a dry point into the card, to create soft painterly line.

Peek inside my sketchbook..

So what inspired me whilst chilling at the V & A? Well, I'll let you into a little secret - I'm a HUGE Pre-Raphaelite fan, in particular Dante Gabriel Rossetti. He's so dreamy with his romantic style. I find myself getting lost in dramatic flowing fabrics and serene scenes of medieval chivalry.


























Inspiration hit me in the face after learning the painting 'The Day Dream' was inspired by a poem he wrote. Oh yes, he wrote poetry! (For me). I really liked this idea, and researched more into Rossetti’s poems. I found myself day dreaming over a romantic poem called ‘The Blessed Damozel’ about an angel outside heaven, pining for her lover back on earth. Alas they cannot be together! The imagery in the poem inspired the imagery in my print, such as ‘The Blessed Damozel lean'd out 
From the gold bar of Heaven; She had three lilies in her hand,’ ‘And laid her face between her hands,
 And wept’. After several preliminary sketches, I confirmed my composition.



Pictures of the prints to come..

Stitched Collagraphs - 'On The Mend'

This is a series of collagraphs I've been working on lately, using a lacey (and racey)  upcycled negligee, ripped up, torn apart then printed. As you do.

The prints were based around feelings of anxiety and negative thought patterns. Feelings such as these can sometimes leave us feeling torn or broken, however, with time, we can be mended. But you are never the same again. I liked the idea of using a personal item, such as undies, and printing them for all to see! Laying it bare. I found this quite hard to do as it is so personal, making me feel quite self conscious. So of course, it makes loads of sense I go post it on the world wide web.

Check out the detail picked up in the lace! The print also has a beautiful slight emboss.

Collagraph plate in prep stage.

The monoprint which started the idea for a collagraph.

Ripped and stitched back together with text.

This went a bit wrong! The paper got stuck to the plate.
I managed to pull off some of the print and put it back together.
 I quite liked the print in the end. The detail in the lace is still so crisp.

Stitched Birthday love

January is such a skint month, straight after Christmas my bank account has been rinsed. Yet, there seems to be more birthdays in this month than any other! It doesn't bode well for the detox either.

Enter the handmade card. I do love a hand stitched item and taking the time to make cards for loved ones shows you love them the most! Not that you're too poor to buy cards at all...

Here's one I stitched earlier. 

hand stitched appliqué card.

Deck the Halls!

With the nights drawing in, I've been enjoying cosying up on the couch, crafting the long evenings away.

Actually it's dark about 4pm, so the evenings feel like most of the day too.



But hey, that's more of a reason to enjoy the warmth of the twinkling fairy lights from the tree.




Each year I like to make an addition for the tree collections of my family. This year its Bells! And what better way to collage a bell than with sheet music.





I covered with a layer of straw hat varnish and added bows and ribbon for loops.

They are best displayed in pairs I think!

Carving the Lino for Christmas

I find Britain quite different from New Zealand at this time of year. Firstly, it's freezing cold! I arrive into work with a red nose and rosy cheeks.

Christmas is such a bigger deal here and it the build up starts on November 1st! The Brits do it well though, department stores competing for the best snow scene window displays, German markets on the Thames, mulled wine and roasted chestnuts, lanterns strung up lining the cobbled lanes. It's all terribly romantic and like something out of Dickens.

Full of inspiration, I've designed and carved out my Christmas cards for this year.

Choosing to try a lino print, I've been loving experimenting with one, two and three colour prints. Layering and layering. It takes ages!
But worth it.

Mixing up colours change the feel of the print, from cold snow scene to dark starry night sky.