...for their feet are dusted with spices from a million flowers.

Well it's up and running! And how beautiful it all looks.

Had a marvellous time at the Bees & Weeds private view at the Old Fire Station on Friday night with everyone. Such a great atmosphere, and a lovely way to be able to take a step back and actually see our work away from the hectic rush of trying to get everything done and looking fab! 

The bike-seat covers in the window are brilliant fun and I noticed they are really getting the attention they deserve from passers by.

It's great to know how much has already been sold (although that means more hard work on our end!), and lovely to hear the positive comments and interest from everyone so far.

I want to say a big well done to everyone who's managed to put work in. I've seen how hard everyone has been working in the recent weeks to get to this point, and how much pressure everyone's been under, and trying to juggle everything, but it's definitely paid off! I genuinely cannot wait to see what you produce and do with yourselves in the coming years! And a big thank you Pale Blue Dot (Jane and Neil) for making this all possible, doing the footwork and being a great support (and of course taking lovely photo's! Haha).

If you get the chance, do pop along to the Old Fire Station shop in Oxford. It's a gorgeous little shop full of handmade treasures, contemporary pieces and unique gifts. Something for everyone.

There is history within us all.

Ready and waiting! Having been so overwhelmed with the amount of work I'm doing for my final year recently, I've finally found the time to post my finished banner! Now I'm just trying to find the time to take it down to Milton Kenes! 

I can't believe how much I enjoyed this project. On paper, no one would have put the two of us together, but I've thoroughly enjoyed the process and making! I feel like that is what this year is all about for me, exploring new ideas and stepping out my comfort zone to really push myself.

I just can't wait to see it up now!!

I just thought it was magical, having to glide across ice.

So I've been inspired lately by the Winter Olympics, which I have well and truly become adicted to. I don't know wether it's that the sports are more interesting to me, or the fact there's so much white (and I love simplicity). Anyway I've found so many inspirational lines - especially when it comes to figure skating - that I've just had to do something about it, have an outlet. So here is my outlet...they're only first trials, and of course I can find so many faults in them but I'm so inspired, I think I'll just keep going until I feel they're right.

Every artist was first an amateur.

 

So as I've been having plenty of spare time recently, I decided to try and teach myself something new.

I've always really wanted to be able to crochet as it looked fun (and more modern than knitting), and my mom had tried once to no avail, so I thought out of the hundreds of crochet videos on youtube, one of them had to work for me!

So after watching a few videos, and reading a couple of intro's to 'beginners crochet' books, I just couldn't tell if I was doing it right or not. I mean something was happening...I just didn't know if it was crochet!?

Then I found the one! It was an American guy (without the patronizing/overly excited voice that the others seemed to have) who seems to do videos for a couple of channels ('GoodKnitKisses' and 'The Crochet Crowd'), that were sooooooooooo simple to understand, I got hooked on just watching them all, and started to practice, and finally got it!

So I attempted to do the octagonal motif in one of the books, although it looked a tad different in the pictures in the book, so something wasn't quite right.

So I thought I'd try something a little more difficult, and I noticed it had a stitch in it that I hadn't learnt, so I tried to find the same guy on youtube doing it, but couldn't, so I went to the next best looking video (videojugartscrafts), who right at the beginning mentioned this was the UK stitch, and said what to look up if you wanted the US version.

So I ended up re-learning the names of each stitch (which wasn't so bad as I hardly knew to start), but thankfully all the stitches were the same, just called different things. So I crocheted this rose :)

FINALLY! I think I got it. Now, just got to practice till it's perfect.

Art in Action 2013

So on Thursday I took my first visit to Art in Action in Oxford.

I'd heard about it from a few of the makers I'd met at the Contemporary Craft Festival in Bovey Tracey, so decided to go along seeing as it was fairly close and the weather was going to be scorching!

Boy am I glad I went! Definitely one to write in the diary for next year. It was full to the brim of inspiration and such inspiring people, and the atmosphere was glorious.

 I absolutely fell in love with Simon Griffiths Sculptures - of owls especially - when I was there, and thought they were so beautiful and realistic! (www.simongriffithssculpture.co.uk)

In fact I seemed to be attracted to watching a fair few of the sculptures in action whilst I was there, I think a really magical thing to watch coming alive.

I don't know how I'd feel doing art live, maybe something to build up to!

Exhibition Take-Down

So on Friday the end of year exhibition at OCVC Banbury, where my Telephone Box has been hanging for the last week, started to be taken down.

My reservations about hanging the fairly heavy telephone box from the hollow ceiling for 2 weeks, now gone. Originally I thought I was going to hate it being hung, but after hours of balancing and sewing fishing wire throughout it, it finally looked the part (even if it did get bashed about by the bustle of people at the incredibly busy Private View a couple of weeks ago).

I don't know what I'm going to do with my Telephone Box now, as it's quite big and takes up a fair bit of space, but I feel it deserves more than being shoved in the corner of a room for years to come. It was one thing trusting the strength of the college ceilings to hang it, but trusting my own at home I feel is a complete nightmare waiting to happen.

Maybe it will become my 5 month old niece, and 34 month nephew's safe place, like everyone who talked to me about it wanted it to be for them, haha :)

Up And Running

In what feels like no time my degree has come to an end! I can't believe the end is now here, after feeling like a million miles away right up until hand in.

As you can see my final piece was this cushdy K6 telephone box, and although there's a good few things I would have done differently if I could (and the worst problems came within the last 24 hours of hand in, and my God was that a long 24 hours!), I am really proud of the final outcome :) and find it's really quite similar to a few older pieces I once did. It is a representation of a small village I know.

Whilst I'm looking forward to the next year of no degree deadlines, I'm also terrified of not being in education for the first time in my life! Although I'm also really excited to be able to start making my own work finally, and the hope is to make, make, make for the next year before I fully get into craft fairs and the like for more of an income. I guess I'll also have to start looking for a little job to keep me going! Lets just hope the motivation keeps on going!!!

In a years time I'm hoping to be accepted to do the top-up course to add to my degree at the same place I did my diploma and degree. But in the mean time I would like to keep my toes in the water by doing evening or short courses to fund my knowledge further within the textiles and fine art world.

Bring it on!

FMP Books

So my plan for my books has changed again. So many people said they like the texture and look of the stitch in front of you that I've gone with stitching onto paper and leaving the rough thread loose.

Now I've finally got some 95% complete in front of me, I love them, and can't wait to see them completely finished and all together.

I wanted to do a couple of different designs for them, but now think I won't have enough time sadly, although if I do find a couple of hours spare I would like to get a couple made just to see.

I can't wait until next weekend and being at BA.B.E. and seeing everyone's books and feeling the atmosphere, although trying to find the time to get as many books completed as possible before then, feels like a bit of a challenge!