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Friday 28 August 2009

Embroidered Vintage Envelope


This is my latest addition to my uni summer work, an embroidered vintage envelope. On Tuesday I went to a weekly flea market in Newcastle - under - Lyme and spent a good few hours rummaging through boxes of postcards, letters, envelopes, photographs and who knows what else!
As my daughter says 'those places are full of treasures' and I love discovering them. I had to keep my budget low as the summers aren't kind to us skint students, but I managed to get 14 postcards and 7 envelopes as well as some lovely vintage fabrics that I couldn't resist. Let me know what you think of the piece......Its always nice to know what people think!

Friday 21 August 2009

Craft Mafia Website Design


Wow! 3 posts in one day, you guys are lucky! Latest news from Gemma Latimer is that her new design for the banner of the Nottingham Craft Mafia is now up for us all to see!
Visit the website at http://www.nottinghamcraftmafia.com to see what its all about.....but don't forget to see what else Gems been up too at http://gemmalatimer.blogspot.com

Hodge Podge Arts


As I searched through my Flickr groups (a daily occurrence at the moment) I came across these little beauties by Karen of Hodge Podge Arts. I did a little digging and found her website : www.hodgepodgearts.co.uk investigate both the Ceramics and Sculpture galleries to see some real treats.....

Mr X Stitch's Birthday Give Away!


On the 27th August Mr X Stitch is 1yr old! To celebrate their having an amazing giveaway of loads of stitchy stuff including a piece done by the Birthday Boy himself as well as adding new things to the blog.......take a peek at http://www.mrxstitch.com to see whats going on!

Thursday 20 August 2009

Introducing Oliver Holden


I thought it was about time I showed you some of the awesome work created by my good friend Oliver Holden, who's currently studying at Plymouth University.
His work is "Concerned with process and material properties. Exploration and furthering of ideas to the point of exhaustion. Challenging 'what counts as' in the expanded fields of Painting, Sculpture, Sound and Drawing".
This is just a small teaser of what Oli creates, his paintings are absolutely magical so I suggest you take a good look at his website http://www.oliverholdenartist.co.uk to see more of his work.

Monday 17 August 2009

Embroidered Vintage Postcards


Over time I've collected loads of Vintage Postcards especially ones with text on which I then hand stitch over, this one is french dated from the 1940's. I've just finished this piece this morning and was dying to share it with you.....let me know what you think.

Friday 14 August 2009

Beccy Ridsdel


I stumbled across some amazing Ceramics by Beccy Ridsdel. This piece is from a installation set as a lab experiment in progress, based on the art/craft debate. I love her use of transfers and the inclusion of laboratory equipment in the work. To see more of Beccys work to go: www.beccyridsdel.co.uk

Wednesday 12 August 2009

New Embroidery


This is my latest creation I call him my Mohawk boy, as its my favorite thing about him. I got the Image from a 1950's National Geographic Magazine bought from Oxfam for 79p! Check my Flickr link to see more images and don't hesitate to let me know what you think......

Tuesday 11 August 2009

Embroiderd Beetles


Ive just uploaded a lovely selection of photos to my Flickr page showing my 'Beetles' Collection, which were produced for my final project in my 2nd year at Uni.
I was able to study, sketch and photograph the collections of Beetles held by The Natural History Museum in London, and used my drawings directly for the printed images used in the pieces. Papyrus Papers and Vintage Egyptian Maps represent the history and mythology linked to Beetles and Scarabs.
Hope you like them.........Let me know what you think!

Thursday 6 August 2009

Concept Furniture; Alessandro Bêda's Untitled Chair



I love this new idea for a chair. It looks incredibly comfortable!
Check out Alessandro Bêda's Untitled Chair, and his portfolio; on the Behance Network
http://www.behance.net/falabeda

Wednesday 5 August 2009

My Little Paper People


Say hello to "Gra and Lai" my little paper people, they feature in a family project I'm currently working on. I was asked by my brother and his fiancee to design invitations for their wedding in March 2010, so I created these characters of them.
Gra took very little time to make, I love his wonky Top Hat! Lai, in the way of many women, went through many dresses before finally settling on this one. My favourite features are Gra's wonky Top Hat and Lai's Bouquet which is made from dried flowers, tell me what you think.....

Tuesday 4 August 2009

Practice Makes Perfect!



I've been practicing my embroidery stitches, using patterns created from my own sketches. This one is from a 1960's fold up map of Warwick I brought from a charity shop for 60p!
I've kept the stitch to a simple straight stitch, attempting to kept the stitch length consistent, which is a bit of an issue I tend to have when doing hand embroidery.
I'm working on a new piece at the moment which is quite detailed so it's taking longer than I thought!

Sunday 2 August 2009

Hens Teeth


Here is a lovely piece by Hens Teeth. I've known of her work for a few years and i'm always amazed by the detail and mix of found papers, print and embroidery. I think Viv makes the most gorgeous pieces!

Saturday 1 August 2009

How to Stitch Your Own Photograph


I found this cool pattern creator, you can upload your own photgraphs and this nifty site will turn your pictures into precise stitch charts! I'm yet to give it a try so let me know if you find it useful!

Good Luck Gem!



Here's a sneak preview of some cards produced by illustrator Gemma Latimer for the card company new msg, Gem will be pitching these designs to Urban Outfitters in the next few weeks so good luck to her!

Globe Trotters


Paper shoes by Jennifer Collier. Check out more of her work at http://jennifercollier.co.uk.