Baby lights!

I've made baby lights.. and they are so tiny!

They are battery operated LED's and made from paper that I screen printed.

It's been a crazy time as I'm busy getting ready to try my luck at Greenwich Market next week.

They are a 'very limited edition' of just a few sets and a bargain at £12.50...so hurry up in time for Christmas! There will also be Christmas cards...

 bigger lantern strings...

table lamps... 

and hanging pendant lamps...

You can find me at Greenwich Craft Market next Tuesday 4th December...freezing my socks off no doubt!

Leaves

I had a walk around the park one morning this week and got completely engrossed with the leaves...

and more and more into a bit of re-arranging..

I'm more and more drawn towards pattern and repetition .... I think these might be the starting point for some drawings and fabric designs. 

Watch this space!

Burgh House Sale

Sadly, this weekend saw the close of the sale I've been doing with some very interesting and exciting designer makers in Hampsted.

It was in a beautiful little gallery, in the midst of the hustle and bustle of Burgh House.

These tea-towels (far too nice to use!) are hand made by print-maker Mary Ottoway of Ottalina,

who also turns her hand to sweet-smelling lavender bags, cards and beautiful lino cuts....some of which have become fabric designs too. 

The lovely Elizabeth Cook making adjustments to her delicate stitch drawings, cushions and tea-cosies lovingly up-cycled from vintage blankets, jumpers and the odd splash of 1960's orange flowers!

 The attention to detail in liz's work is so considered. I particularly love the way her edges are cut, the ever so slightly wobbly lines of stitching and the evidence of former life in her work- blanket seams or the edge of what was once a cuff. 

These scarves from Dancing Wolf have such beautiful, subtle colour printed layer apon layer...with glimpes of old lace, leaves and petals...

and Jackie's wonderfully textural, knitted and felted bags and wrist warmers in really rich, soft colours. 

They are definitely the most beautiful wrist warmers...

I love the Colour House's very pretty, very retro-feeling prints and georgous 'mucky' yellow and soft grey colour!

The berry wall paper is exquisite.. and drawn birds, stars and horse shoes are lovely.

Diana Stoker makes  beautiful note books bound with hand printed fabrics, photographic prints and cards from her travels, but nicest of all, I think, is her jewellery...

Stunning knitted scarves made from hand framed lambswool with woven wool boucle, by  

 Jo Thompson ...

and also the loveiest stripey gloves in really pretty colours!

...oh and some of my new table lamps and fairy lights!

Thank you to everyone  for a very enjoyable couple of days!

fairy lights

Here are some of my new fairy lights that I've been making for Christmas.

I screen printed them on hand dyed cotton lawn. The colours remind me of Refreshers...which I used to eat a lot of!

These are printed using a heat press with disperse dyes, onto slipper satin. This is a process I really enjoy. It's very immediate and has lots of scope for experimenting with texture and layering of different colours. I mix my own dyes and play around with creating different textures with the liquid dyes on paper. Then I cut the dried papers up and literally sandwich them between the fabric like a kind of collage and the heat of the press draws the dye into the fibres of the fabric. I keep building layer apon layer. 

and some of my old favourites....

I love hunting around for vintage fabrics and have quite a big collection of lovely bits and bobs. These lights are made mostly from silk scarves which have a lovely translucency when they are lit up. 

Some shots from my over-flowing studio.

My studio is getting to the point where I can't get through the door, for all the towering stacks of fairy light shades waiting to be made and put into their boxes. 

I've also been experimenting with making hanging pendant lamps too, though the conical ones above haven't made it passed the 'mucking around I wonder if this will work stage' yet and need some tweaking to figure out how they will hang...shame as they are quite dinky I think!

I'm really pleased with these, though. They will have a long length of lovely, twisted, fabric- covered flex and a switch and plug; the idea being that they'll hang from a hook on the edge of a shelf or  even the ceiling, and any surplus cable can be looped up loosely. I'll post some photos soon or come to my sale at Burgh House next week to see them! 

Sale coming up...

I have been feverishly working away for a sale that I am part of next month at a beautiful venue called Burgh House in Hampstead. 

There will be a number of other designer/makers exhibiting  hand-made, lovely things....and although I hate to mention the 'c' word already, it is true that 'it' is hurtling towards us!

Come along and have a glass of wine and get those presents early...I promise there will not be a sniff of a mince pie but the cafe there does the best cheese scones ever!

Brian Cooke

I recently came across the work of illustrator Brian Cooke in this beautiful little book full of paintings of the British landscape. He illustrated a series of guides published by the Batsford press in the 1930's - 1950's.

His work ranged massively, from quite pared-down, subtley coloured English villages to wildly vivid views of evening light hitting the hills, with some of the most amazing colour!

My favourite is this view of a castle looking out over a Scottish loch - the purple and orange is fantastic! I have been trying to use these colours together ever since I first saw this painting and it's really difficult to not go off the scale and make something horrid! Very clever and very lovely I think.