Monthly Archives: August 2009
Look what I’ve had made for me!
I had spent ages eyeing up the gorgeous recycled gifts made by Kaz of Kazzells Crafts, and finally decided to ask her to make me one of her ‘exploding boxes’. Here is the result, which will be greatly treasured!
From the above hexagon shaped box, opening out to this…….
The design literally ‘explodes’ out into your hand, and its packed full of photos, meaningful words, and decorated with embellishments – all carefully and brilliantly handmade, it must have taken ages.
It was a present to Dave for our anniversary and he absolutely loved it, even after being scared that something was going to jump out at him at first! It’s such a great idea for a unique and personalised gift. Kaz can make these boxes in all sorts of colours, sizes etc, as well as many other fab recycled gifts. One of my other favourites are her recycled tea bag boxes, which is where I fell in love with the colour scheme for my exploding box. I’m already planning my next gift for Kaz to make for an xmas pressent.
In return I made this ceramic wall plaque for Kaz’s den, which is where she creates all of her wonderful things. Click here to read what Kaz thought of it and to see an image of the plaque hanging up on her workshop.
I’ve also made this plaque for someone else – a request for another workspace sign, which are proven to be popular at the moment. I took this photo during the inbetween stage, the outcome will be themed green as requested.
In the meantime I have been busy with fairs, deciding where to go on holiday next year, and sorting out my new car which is currently being made in production as we speak! So excited to see it all shiny and new!I’m on the Front Page!
I was delighted to see that my ‘Electric Drips’ vase had been featured on the front page of Folksy today. I’ve never noticed any of my items on the front page before, so it was very exciting! (see top right image). To view details of this vase and for more images click here.
Contemporary Craft Shopping Experience
I’m really looking forward to this!
My last craft fair of 2009 will finish this year off nicely at the Contemporary Craft Shopping Experience, being held at the Warwickshire Exhibition Centre near Leamington Spa on Sunday 22nd November.
There will be approx 200 stalls and all items for sale will be handmade only. This is an ideal opportunity to explore stacks of talent and purchase unique handmade gifts for every occasion, that you won’t find on the high street. What a great place to come and do your Christmas shopping! Visit the website using the link above to view a list of exhibitors who will be selling their work on the day.
There are still spaces available, if you would like to be an exhibitor at this event please contact Claire who is co-organising this event at mail@ladyluckjewellery.co.uk
The Work of Exhibitors I met
I had to share the work of these crafts people with you, its all stunning! The following work was created by some of the exhibitors I met at the Bristol Balloon Fiesta last weekend.
First is Richard Clatworthy, creator of beautiful boxes. Richard was my neighbour at the craft village, and kindly let me borrow one of his much needed fans during the hot weather! He makes a range of wooden items including hinged nests, boxes with lift-off lids, bookends and tealight holders. This special multi-compartment box above was carved from a single piece of yew, amazing! Check out Richard’s website here to view more fabulous examples of his work, as well as a section about yew. Richard and his wife Di also rent out luxury self-catering barn conversions in rural Devon, see more details on the website.
Next, here’s the work of ‘Creative Thorp‘ – Mary and Steve Thorp from Banbury, Oxfordshire. After many years working as sensible professionals, Mary and Steve have decided to indulge their creative compulsions on a permanent basis and are now the Creative Thorp’s! Mary’s images appear in a range of beautifully made cards and art card boxes that are mini works of art themselves. Many of the images are also available as mounted photographic prints and canvases. Meanwhile Steve writes simple, direct and visual poems which are available in poetry boxes and pamphlets. Check out Mary’s beautiful collection of images here, which include trees, marsh, grass, sea, still evenings, sunsets, sky, surf and more.
I also met the lovely couple Maureen and Michael Hutton of Pol Amber. Together they have developed a fabulous collection of unique jewellery, each piece containing amber – an ancient gem formed from fossilised pine resin found in forests. My favourites are their prehistoric insect pieces, where you can see the forest debris and insects trapped inside the amber.
Finally, meet Mary Thorpe (yep, another one!). This Mary specialises in hand painted silk laminates, and is passionate about surface design. Mary was our camping neighbour at Bristol!
Her work is created by trapping sheets of brightly coloured painted silks between sheets of acrylic, achieveing really eye catching results. Mary makes sets of coasters and placemats, wall block panels, jewellery, splash backs, paintings, and also new to her range are guitar scratchplates. She creates pieces to order in any colour and style you can imagine! Here’s a peek inside Mary’s workshop where she gets her creative juices flowing…
Feeling inspired? I am!
Bristol Balloon Fiesta 4 Day Event
I’ve just got back from the International Balloon Fiesta in Bristol after a 4 day event at the Ashton Court Estate (6th – 9th August). I think it was the best event I’ve ever been to, I enjoyed every minute of it, met loads of lovely people, saw some amazing things and sold lots of ceramics! The weather was absolutely goegeous which was an added bonus.
I couldn’t choose a favourite photo out of the hundreds I took of the balloons, but here are a few. My favourite balloon was the Churchill Dog, he was always one of the first to be blown up and seemed to be watching all the others with his cheeky grin.
I had been to my local balloon festival in Northampton a couple of years ago, but with the Bristol Fiesta being an international event, I really can’t describe how so much more amazing it was. There were hundreds of balloons taking off during the mass balloon launches and I got this strange happy feeling when they all took off together! It was a beautiful sight seeing them all up in the air over the city in different shapes, sizes and colours.
I couldn’t believe how many people were there on the Saturday. During the afternoon the marquee where I had my stall was literally packed, people could hardly move! A lot of stall holders usually complain about the lack of people at some fairs and events, but I bet they would have also complained about there being too many last weekend, it was that packed!
I was pleased with my stall layout, I had 3 tables displayed in a zig zag which I had never done before. It was nice to have a little cubby hole space for people to walk into, with my board of plaques on the corner. I found that my sets of coasters were one of my most popular items, and people were really interested in the melted glass in the bottom of my dishes. I had a couple buy a vase and then come back to buy a set of coasters and ask me to sign one of my cards because they think I will be famous soon! I also had the usual comments such as “unusual, very different, beautiful, lovely.” Oh and “cute” was a new one!
I will be showing some of the items from some of the other talented exhibitors I met at the show in my next post, so watch this space for that!
Towards the end of the first day of the show it rained a bit and the weather got a bit chilly. Just before the night glow started, there was a gorgeous pink sky, which I think means “pink sky at night, shepherds delight”. Well it sure was a delight for the next 3 days as the weather was constantly hot and sunny, with the air being still enough for the balloons to fly.
We had fun camping at the top of a hill in a quiet corner. Well it was quiet until the early hours of each morning when we were woken by the sound of the fire blowing up into the balloons flying low over the tent! I heard someone say there was a dragon in the woods! We were lucky to have a great view from the top of the hill, with lots of wild deer about.
Seeing the night glows was a such a stunning experience, I loved how each balloon lit up in time with the music being played, it was so clever.
Finally heres a photo of the Red Arrows, the world famous aerobatic team who performed loops, rolls, bends and twists in a beautiful air display of high speed stunts. Again I had difficulty choosing which photo to show, they are all fab. It was amazing how they displayed each formation perfectly, I don’t know how they do it! Sometimes the commentator would let everyone hear what the pilots were saying to each other… as well as hearing their instructions and commands, we could hear “woohooooo!!” when they came flying over the trees across the site!
This has definitely been an event with lots of great memories. I hope you’ve enjoyed looking at my photos and reading my experience, as much as I’ve enjoyed writing it.
Dave’s Bowl
Don’t you just love this handmade “Bits and Bobs Bowl” that Dave made? Considering he hadn’t ever really made anything ceramic before, he did really well making this. Especially keeping it all joined together without it breaking or cracking. I love the way the light shines through the gaps, creating a pattern on the surface. The colours work really well together too.
This is my attempt at a hanging basket I put together a couple of weeks ago. I think it was a bit late in the year to plant the flowers but they seem to be growing happily in there. I would have liked a wider mixture of colours but a pink selection had to do, as the garden centre didn’t have many left.
Meanwhile I’ve been preparing for my 4 day show at the Bristol Balloon Fiesta this weekend. I’m really excited, I’ve been busy making lots of new stock, leaflets, cleaning up my workshop, preparing food, packing and organising. The car is going to be absolutely packed, I could do with a van!! We are leaving tomorrow morning to set everythig up early and explore the grounds. We’ll be camping there for 4 nights, I just hope the weather brightens up for it!
