A Year of Wonder

Happy New Year

Welcome to 2014

I feel this is going to be a year of wonder for me both personally (especially artistically) and for my business (my shop Indigo Moon)  

My blog will evolve over the next few weeks, i'm still working out it's content (i've been ill all over Christmas and New Year and am not quite back to 100%).  I'll be showing and talking about the ongoing projects i'm working on, the inspiration and thoughts behind each piece and what happens to the finished article and I'll be sharing some of the other projects i work on for my shop Indigo Moon, these artistic adventures are different from what i call my personal art. 

Throughout the year I'll be introducing you to some other artists/bloggers that i have been profoundly inspired by in one way or another, this will not be in the form of interviews, just a 'mid-week' post about them and their work to keep things flowing and interesting.  Finally, I'll be showing my beautiful home as i work through it and get it in order under the title of "Corners of my Home".  Of course there will be other things introduced as i formulate plans and ideas throughout the year.

I have an exhibition planned for the first week of August here in Montgomery (the Old Bell Museum) and have decided to stick to my theme of "The Home" - Unfortunately i had to cancel it last year.

So...starting off

here are some pieces i'm currently working on...

Tiny paper houses made from old legal mortgage envelopes

...painted and a vintage button sewn on. I've placed a little word from an old poetry book above each door and then backed it onto old legal mortgage ephemera...

These tiny pieces of art were made to fit these beautiful also tiny hanging glass frames (of which i ordered 36).  I just have to put something on the back and add a little gold leaf and they're ready to go, they measure 5cm x 5cm

These will be in my Etsy Shop very soon £7.99 plus P&P (Possibly Monday, I'm just awaiting delivery of the frames)

Here are some paper collages i'm working on, these are larger pieces.  I sit on the floor surrounded by boxes of vintage ephemera and play about positioning the pieces and adding some fabric which i then photograph.  I then sew around the individual pieces and reassemble them (using the photo...but sometimes i change them).  Then the fun (and some frustration) begins as i free machine embroidery them, picking out interesting graphics, words etc.  

 

All i need to add is a painting which will be of a house for these, some hand stitching and gold leaf...something like this...

This is a different collage.

I'm hoping to get hold of some of these glass hanging frames too, they are larger than the ones above.

Despite being ill, i did enjoy Christmas and even managed to get out and celebrate the new year.  In that respect Montgomery is a very special place, we have a very quirky event at Midnight every new years eve whereby almost all of Montgomery and visitors to the town appear in the square, under the clock and the Town Crier shouts her "O Yay, O'Yay" and cries in the new year.  Then everyone links arms in one huge "hokey kokey type of thing" to sing Auld Lang Syne!!!  Gav, myself and friends spent the evening between the Dragon Hotel where they'd organised "cocktails by the pool" and then to the Checkers to sit around their fire with a bottle of wine - then to our surprise and absolute delight at about 11.45pm they issued everyone with party pea shooters and foam balls!  It was then out and out 'war' between staff and customers - thoroughly enjoyable, especially as my daughter works there and we were on opposing sides! Really good fun.

For 2014:

"Enjoy yourself, 

it's later than you think..."

it's what i plan to do
xox

Paper and stitch and watercolour and wax

Building Series

These are some of the smaller pieces of work i did for my exhibition in August (cancelled).  Watercolour on old legal mortgage papers, with stitched edging backed onto watercolour paper and vintage fabric and ephemera added.

 I love the subtle matt translucency of the paint onto the old paper, it soaks up the paint changing the colours slighhtly

 These pieces are signed, backed with mount board and wrapped in clear cellophane for protection.  

 Waxing Lyrical

Various beautiful vintage ephemera dipped in wax and stitched, painted and embellished with fabric and gold leaf

These pieces are placed on hand made paper and backed with mountboard and wrapped in clear cellophane for protection.

I'm hoping to update my etsy shop on a more regular basis (as well as my blog) and am hoping to have these in my shop very soon.

Doll House Crazy

I now have three.  This one was given to be by a very kind lady, it's modern but has so much potential.  I recently bought another older one from a flea market and am looking into making all the furniture and fittings for the three of them.

Please check out my Etsy shop in a few days when i hope to have all recent work for sale

XOXO

My latest finds...

gorgeous french fabric, french cottons and french buttons

 So beautiful and tactile, irresistible even.  I made these fabric hearts from a piece of the pale green ticking and packaged them for the shop, even sold one today to a friend when she saw them on the kitchen table!!  

 I can't believe how much fun i'm having with my new sewing machine.  After a few hiccups i'm starting to get the hang of it and trying all sorts of designs.

these are paper and stitch collages on hand made paper, with modern liberty fabrics, vintage fabric, buttons and ledger paper from the 1850's.

 free motion sewing to hold it all together

...and a work in progress, i love the sewn flower, can't decide whether to paint it or leave it as it is and i can't wait to see this one framed

 ...and last but not least, the winged heart i showed yesterday embellished, again, with another sewn appliqued flower.  

xoxo

A Dolls House...

...A feeling something like opening a brand new empty notebook or sketchbook or journal, faced with a blank empty page to fill...

...where a world of opportunities await your imagination...

... the page waiting for new opportunities, ideas or perhaps even old ones...

...a world of meant to be's or could've beens...

Gav purchased this old dolls house for me at a sale recently, i fell in love with it the minute i saw it, standing alone, unloved, all played out (that's the house not me!), sitting atop an old battered suitcase that probably came from the same attic.  My heart did somersaults when he picked it up for a mere six pounds!

It's been so lovingly hand made, a simple construction of wood and other things from a time when making do and re-using odds and ends really mattered - perhaps it's the work of an adoring father or a grandfather even.  

I want to know who the little girl was that played with this dolls house, see the look on her face when she was given it, how she played with it, what was her world like?  I'd like to know where are the pieces of furniture are and the dolls that went with it, were they hand made too? - i would so love to see them, this house has a story to tell.

...the peeling wallpaper, the fact that it has no internal doors or stairs, that the outside doors are falling off their hinges and that the front door is missing - what colour was it i wonder?  ...the little flowerpots on the front of the house and the remains of what were once hand painted flowers.  I love it, i love it just as it is in all it's glory of dereliction and decay ...it's natural beauty - it was a happy home, played with and loved and maybe still is in it's own way!

In the mean time....  

these french calling cards are adorable, the tiniest of envelopes containing tiny calling cards, the most exquisite handwriting on them - my problem is that i can't bring myself to untie the pink ribbon (i know i'll never get it to look the same again), so i've not actually looked at all the contents yet!!

I've not got many makes to show you as i've been cooped up in my studio practicing free motion sewing on my new sewing machine.   There have a been a few a lot of tantrums and throwing of things, especially cottons that kept snapping, and the odd desire to fling the machine through the window, but eventually i did achieve a "winged heart" ...

 ...sewn together with three layers of an old Edwardian bed cover....

...and...errrm... apart from putting the wings on upside down... i'm quite pleased with it

I painted it with watercolours and am looking forward to embellishing it at some point.

This is what i've been re-packaging this week for the shop.  I have a huge vintage Birds toffee tin brimming with buttons which i sell for 10p each.  However, as i seem to spend a lot of time helping customers find six of the same buttons, i decided it would be more helpful to pack them up into sets of six.  

With little hand made tags on them and threaded with string i chucked them all back in the tin.  Unfortunately, i think the attraction for customers is running their fingers through them and people aren't looking at them now!!!

Gav and i are off to Attingham Park Oswestry today for a walk around and some fresh air.

xoxo