My brother's new work

My talented brother has just started selling his work on Folksy. The colourful retro bags would make great Christmas presents.







Please check out his Folksy shop : SeanLawdesigns

Screenprinters in Australia

I found this wonderful blog badskirt and a link to many screenprinters websites through a tweet from Karen Lewis at blueberryathome. I had a nosy through the sites and loved the work by pippijoe. Great designs, simple yet eyecatching.



www.pippijoe.com

Latest from Thailand

So I have been in Thailand for nearly four months and I have not been keeping up with blog writing and sadly not been making any new work. Although I have been trying to keep up with other people blogs and to see what is happening in the art world.

At the moment my boyfriend and I are working in a boarding school in the north of Thailand. The scenery is beautiful, lots of waterfalls and great mountain views. I start teaching properly at the end of the month which I am looking forward to. Hopefully I will get settled enough to start making artwork again. Maybe just drawing will have to do for now.

Here are some photos below of our travels so far:


Sunset at the school we are working at

Omelettes in banana leaf

Beautiful bag stall in Chiang Mai market

Our favourite bar in Chiang Mai

Graffiti in Phuket town

Our bungalow on Koh Phayam Island

Sunset on Koh Phayam Island

Rice bear

Exhibition at Bowery Gallery

So its only just over a week till I leave.... nothing is packed, all important stuff is sorted but there is too much to cram into a week. Anyway I am excited too as I have an exhibition starting next week at the Bowery Gallery in Leeds. It runs for three months and I am hoping to sell some big pieces.
The preview evening is the 8th July. I can also email anyone the invite image if they would like.......

http://www.thebowery.org/home.html

2010 is an exciting year.....

I am really excited about the plans for this year, some of you probably know but in July this year me and my boyfriend will be on our way to Thailand for the start of an exciting adventure. We are going to do our Tefl teaching course in Phuket and then hopefully go on to teach english in the country. We have some high hopes for our plans, starting in Thailand for quite a few months, then hopefully Shanghai and our dream to end up in Japan.

This is where we will be living near whilst doing the Tefl course.... to say im excited is an understatement.........

The Perfect Bangle...

Back in January, Kerry from lovely Pennydog Jewellery used some of my screenprinted fabrics to make a gorgeous bangle for me. I feel very bad as at the time I asked for the some pics in progress to show on my blog and for some reason it completely slipped my mind. So here goes.. better late than never :)

Stage 1.
Cut up pieces to put inside the resin bangle (these are offcuts of my screenprinted fabrics)


Stage 2.
Put on a scary mask, this will help protect your lungs


Stage 3.
Here is the resin, you mix it well with the catalyst and pour into the mould



Stage 4.
Take the resin out of the mould and hey presto you have a bangle! Check for airholes, these can be filled in with a thicker resin.


Stage 5.
Sand the rough edges with medium grade sandpaper until you have a even surface all round. Continue this with finer grades of sandpaper until it becomes clearer.

Stage 6.
Apply a thin coat of lacquer and then polish. And finally when you have the perfect bangle put it on your wrist to add some colour to your outfit :). I love mine and wear it nearly every day!



If you like the piece please get in touch with me or Kerry as we would love to make another one. Hannah of itstimefortea has one of these lovely bangles too! :)

Tag, your're it!

I was tagged by the lovely littleclouds to take part in this photo chain. I found some great photos I hadn't looked out for ages.

So here are the rules:
1. Open your first photo folder
2. Scroll to the tenth photo
3. Post the photo and the story behind it
4. Tag five or more people



This photo was taken in 2005 in Ephesus, Turkey. Me and my friend Jen went on a lovely relaxing holiday to Kusadasi. We ate, lazed by the pool, went to the beach, and drank quite a lot. I remember this day trip. The night before had been a late one and we were woken up by the room phone ringing. Apparently we were very late and were holding the whole coach up, Ive never got up so quick- put the first clothes I could find on and sunglasses to hide our shameful faces. I dont think I took them off, felt sick all day and to top it off we went to a turkish delight shop after (I hate turkish delight!) Apart from that it was a great holiday :D !

So now i am tagging..

Gail from seventyseventyone
Hannah from itstimefortea
Natasha from theblackbirdsings
Helen from memo
Jonathan from mryen

New colours and my latest prints ...

So it was my last day of printing last week, it has been a bit of an effort travelling back to Manchester to print each time but I am really pleased with what I have managed to do. Above are some details of my fabrics that will be made into canvases and others that will be used to make smaller pieces. I have been using some lighter colours but my work still has a similar industrial feel to it. I have recieved my frames in the post today so will be busy making my canvases in the next few weeks. All this work is for a gallery exhibition I have been asked to do in the summer. So for me I am super organised this time :)

Printing so far.....

This week I have finally been able to print again... although it is a bit of a trek, have to go back to Manchester to do it. But it is worth it as I love printing. I have been printing on large pieces of canvas which will be stretched onto wooden frames later to make art pieces. I have an exhibition coming up in the summer and this is the only time I have free to print (as I will be leaving the country soon... eek!) So these pictures show the beginning stages and the print table I use.
Yesterday I was printing next to a twitter friend :) so was nice to finally meet Louise of Lovelittle
She was printing some lovely wrapping paper for some upcoming fairs. Her work is fab!

How did I not see this...

How did I not see this when I opened everything else in the swap. Luckily Lucy told me it was in the package with everything else. The print is fab and deserves a post of its own. The light isn't great on the close up but its so dark in the house at the moment.
Isnt the print lovely, very retro :). Just need to find the perfect frame for it now...

Swap with Peas and Needles

Today was another exciting day for the post :) Here are the lovely pieces I recieved from my swap with Lucy Davidson from Peas and Needles . A handmade headband, a lovely necklace from Indigorocks and some funky magnets . She has also recently started a lovely blog Holy Holy Guacamole which features pics of amazing work which inspires her.

Swaps with brilliant designer makers are definitely the way forward for 2010 :).

Look what the postman bought me...

Today was an exciting day for post. Last week I asked the brilliant Kerry of Pennydog if she could make a custom bangle for me with my screenprinted fabrics inside. I was so happy she said yes and here is the result- I love it. I wore it to work today and have already had people comment about it :). I have also been after some stickers to put on my diary and other notebooks. So this weekend I decided to treat myself and bought some vinyl stickers from Hannah Greenwood (check out her lovely 'Its time for Tea' etsy shop here ) and also Natasha Newton's new Curious She Said etsy shop here . I have already put them on my diary :).

PS. If you like the bangle you see, please contact me or Pennydog if you would like one :)

New Year new brooches

Some new brooches I have been making this week for a shop. I enjoy making my little pieces but cant wait to get printing some larger work again- been missing it lots now I have moved away from Manchester. Fingers crossed I can print again next month!

Valentines

So Christmas is over and already we are thinking of Valentines day. Here are the beginnings of my Valentine card designs, to send to some of my stockists. I hope to make some more today to sell online, just need to buy a some lovely coloured envelopes for them. Let me know what you think...

Inspirational books

Earlier this week I saw a post on a lovely blog that I follow Carina . She was selling several books that she no longer had room for, so I snapped up two books. One by one of my favourite printmakers Lotta Jansdotter and another 'A Year in Japan' by Kate T.Williamson, which has beautiful illustration. I hope these will give me fresh inspiration to start 2010! I also had to take a photo of the paper Carina wrapped them in, lovely repeat pattern. Cheak out Carina's blog she still has some fab books for sale!