MMMMmmacarons

Apparently macarons – yes, they’re macarons if we’re going for Frenchly-named-fancies and not-a-coconutty-mess-macaroons – are PRETty tricky to make and thats why they cost about two quid each.  Hmmmmm.  Having mastered bechamel sauce and become a veritable yoghurt factory of late,  my kitchen was in need of a new challenge, and luckily I had two foody friends well up for giving them a go.

One lo-o-o-ng Thursday afternoon, copious amounts of tea, one Swede dancing round this kitchen singing ‘it looks like poop!’ and three bouts of uncontrollable giggles later we managed to produce these bad boys:

Petra and I each had macarons for breakfast. One of THE best perks of being a grown-up.

Sophie’s Slippers

I got a bit of shock the other day when a friend texted me through a photo of his new baby daughter – I didn’t even know his wife was expecting!

Anyway, great excuse to get into some felting.  I’ve got this bag of gorgeous pink and mauve marled fleece that’s been crying out from its box under the printer, and thought I’d put it out of its misery in the form of some baby slippers/shoes.

 

 

Since she’s a winter baby, I’m guessing that she’ll be just about starting to walk next autumn and added a pair of soft suede soles to prevent her from slipping

 

 

If this should result in an expensive lifelong handmade shoes habit, sorry dad…

SPARK Illustrations

A wee while back I was contacted by Slaves of the Extraordinary, to produce a series of illustrations for the SPARK event last Friday in aid of the Mayamiko Trust.  Illustration, fair trade fashion and putting on a theatrical show?? Triple whammy!!

I’m doing a limited edition of 10 prints and going to open my reinvented Etsy shop with them, with a 15% proceeds going to the charity – will keep you posted…

 

Meanwhile, anyone doing this year’s Sketchbook Project?

Do what you love…

The last year has been a blur of head down, get ‘er done career-wise and as such I’ve had little time or inclination to do much in the way of fun crafty stuff just for fun.  A few weeks ago, Amy asked a very simple question – ‘do you still enjoy making things?’

Um…

That the answer was perilously close to ‘no’ was enough of a kick in the butt to get my priorities straight. Who says New Years resolutions have to happen at New Year??

Another Sketchbook finished!

I know I seemed to drop of the planet for a while there, but like Tricia, I took up Amy’s challenge and added the Sketchbook Project Limited Edition to an already interminable to-do list.  If you want something done, ask a busy person, I guess…

I’ve been wanting to get back into drawing for a while (remember the pop-up shop back before Christmas?).  I’ve had a notion for a while to do a series of portraits of snapshots of ordinary people in my ordinary life doing..well..whatever it is they do. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to let loose and try it out without worrying too much about making something perfect and polished.

I allowed myself to start with some found images of interesting people I don’t know, since it’s wa-a-ay easier to self-criticise when you’re not getting a likeness of a face you’ve know and loved for years.

A few got ditched along the way (one shot of my mother with my as a baby kept making her look Asian and/or psychopathic) (my mother is neither), a few took for-EVER and I thought I might never make the deadline.

Creeping back to my comfort zone, I interspersed the drawings with fabrics which I plan to combine somehow with the digital offspring of these ones to make proper, finished mixed media illustrations.  So much for letting loose with gay abandon…!

Pop-Up Design Show!

Hmm…so who knew that 2 months without drawing means it’s reeeallly hard to produce stuff that’s public worthy?  Add to that some work that came up recently and I’m afraid illustrations/cards are shelved for a wee while.

This was going to be one of a series I’ve had in my head for a while.  I haven’t completely abandoned the idea, but for this particular event, I decided it was more prudent (thanks Mr Bennett) to put all my (precious) energy into the headpieces instead. Photoshop keeps crashing my computer at the moment but hold tight and I’ll post some pics of the finished pieces soon as it lets me…

Meanwhile, if you’re about London this weekend, you can see them live at the Pop-Up Shop at Le Garage in Dulwich…opening tonight!!

wish us luck! x

I’ve decided to get an early start on the New Year’s Resolutions and pay a little bit more attention to posting rather than just soaking up  inspiration from my favourite bloggers.  Put to shame by Amy’s unwavering flow of creativity, I’m taking part in a pop-up shop in Brixton in a couple of weeks.  My contribution is some illustrations (as yet a twinkle in this illustrator’s eye..) and some hand crafted headpieces, which, any of you who know me well, I’ve been toying with for some time.  Well, the time is now….

Here’s a quick peek at what I’ve got so far

 

 

 

the beginning of some headpiece flowers

They’re all made from a combination of remnant, waste and vintage fabrics, many of them silk and cotton I dyed myself.  I use old plastic bottles as supports/stiffener.. works well and leaves the earth happy! Eagle eyes will spot a felted dreadlock in one below.. a wee trial to see how people like it

a few I made earlier...

More details on where and when the pop-up is happening, plus a look at some illustration, to follow….

 

 

 

 

The Carte Blanche Project

 

I’m close to the end of my Masters in Textiles and we need to raise money for our end of year show.  To this end, I came up with The Carte Blanche Project in which 22 of us reclaimed 14 identical white dresses from a Traid charity shop, upcycled them, and exhibited the results on Thursday in the university.  We sold some of them, but there are still a few to go….

Mine and Tytania's work in progress

Finished product!

Ours was the first to sell!

Tomorrow is the move into our final project studio and the beginning of the final stretch…