A Doll and a Daughter

Meet Rosie...

She’s three months old now and discovering new things that she can do each day. I can safely say that Rosie and her big brother are my two best ever creations, even if my body did go through the mill whilst I was pregnant.

We have been showered with many gorgeous gifts and good wishes. We feel so lucky to have such generous friends and family. One of my favourite gifts for Rosie has to be her ‘Curious Clare’ (mummy!) doll commissioned by Jo Cushing from talented local maker, Sally Leigh. Sally is the owner of Folksy shop, Betsy Boo and Gracie Too, where she sells her ‘unique cuddlers for the unique dreamer’.

The doll is beautifully made and perfectly captures Curious Clare’s style, from the tiny bird in her denim jacket to the brightly patterned Desigual skirt. I just love it and I am sure that Rosie will too when she’s old enough to play with her. 

I’m just hoping that Rosie doesn’t stick pins in the doll when she’s a teenager and we’ve had a heated disagreement. Ouch!

And here's the first 'Curious Clare' doll knitted for me by my lovely grandma when I was a little girl. Oh what fun we're going to have playing with these two dollies!

Curious Clare's Handmade Wedding - Part Two

So far this year, Hyperemesis Gravidarum and anaemia have brought normal blogging service grinding to a halt. However, I am feeling slightly more human these days and to celebrate here is a post on our wedding as featured in Handmade Wedding magazine (pages 86-91). The article is written really well and sums up the spirit of our wedding beautifully.

In short, our wedding was a colourful, handmade family affair from the wedding dress and cake to the laser cut invitations, paper pompoms and laser cut birdy bunting. We hired a heritage red London double decker bus to transport the guests (and ourselves) to and from the venue to create an informal, relaxed atmosphere before the ceremony started. The theme was birds and buses - buses to fit in with the transport and birds to reflect my passion for them. I designed, laser cut and hand foiled invitations shaped like buses with a robin riding on the top deck. My son was given the role of bus conductor, collecting the individual tickets that I had made for everyone. The colour theme was hot pink and turquoise, a real feast for the eyes on a rainy day in south Manchester!

My family's creativity ran throughout the wedding - my mum made my tea length baby blue wedding dress out of duchesse satin and lace, we based it on an elegant 1950's Vogue pattern, my grandma made the sugar paste flowers to sit on top of my sister's cupcakes, an old family friend made the bridesmaids dresses and I even trained up my husband (and son) in the art of origami so that he could help make 180 paper flowers for the tables. It had the look of an old fashioned but vibrant English summer fete by the time we had finished complete with hog roast and local English ales.

Tips for other brides-to-be looking to add handmade details to their big day.

Handmade elements really personalised the wedding and ensured that we could have exactly what we wanted. I would thoroughly recommend adding your own touches to the day.

Do gather lots of ideas together from wedding magazines and online sources such as Pinterest (elements of our wedding can be seen here)

Do keep a tight control on the budget, handmade is not necessarily a cheap option

Do involve family members with making details for the wedding. My husband was brilliant at making the origami flowers!

Don’t be afraid to ask family and friends to help out otherwise you will become overwhelmed with the prospect of decorating a whole venue yourself!

Don’t forget to have fun! As the wedding day approaches enjoy the making and planning.

Photographs were taken by the talented Kelly Clarke of Imagesplash.

Upcycled Bottle Top Necklaces

Recently, I have been having lots of fun making and developing new items of ceramic jewellery. As a lover of fine ales, I have long thought that the humble bottle top is a rather beautiful item and reminds me of a pendant setting. 

Developing a new product range

As I have been collecting them for a while (much to my family's amusement!), I decided it was time to use them. Playing around with off cuts of clay and coloured slip resulted in small circular discs which fit neatly inside the bottle tops. Once bisque fired, I glazed the discs and then fired them for a third time with a ceramic decal. After a bit of fiddly and frustrating drilling (the drill bit kept slipping off the curved surface of the metal. Grrr!) and the addition of an ‘O’ ring, I found that I had created a rather lovely upcycled bottle top and ceramic pendant necklace. They’re still at the prototype stage but I hope to stock them in my online shops from January 2014.





Crafty Magazine (Issue 7): Curiouser and Curiouser

I am excited to report that I am featured in the latest edition of the fabulous Crafty Magazine! Crafty Magazine is still in its infancy and was launched earlier this year in March 2013. It is aimed at the modern maker and has a lovely blend of lifestyle articles plus crafty projects to get stuck into. It is a visually appealing magazine that certainly gives other magazines in this genre a run for their money. 

What a cute little felt owl!

My behind-the-scenes article on pages 84 – 86 is entitled ‘Curiouser and Curiouser’ and focuses upon my studio space at Local Creation. Hugh Metcalf and Suzy Wimbourne visited me there at the end of August. Whilst Suzy snapped away, I chatted to Hugh about what I get up to in my studio space. If I’m honest it was a surreal experience and I wasn’t sure if I was worthy enough to be featured at all. However, both Suzy and Hugh were easy to talk to and I am really delighted with the way that the article has been put together.

How did Crafty Magazine know that red spotty washi tape is my favourite?!

If you would like to see this article for yourself, you can subscribe online or buy the magazine in WHSmiths or larger supermarkets (such as Tescos).

A great shot of Local Creation's entrance on Central Way, Altrincham

Thank you Hugh, Suzy and Crafty Magazine!

Great links to my blog too. Thank you Crafty Magazine!

Ted & the no.17 bus

Meet Ted, he is the driver of the no. 17 bus. He's a quiet yet friendly chap. He dreams of retiring and working on his allotment all day. He reads seed catalogues in his break and makes plans for entering his peas into the regional vegetable competition.

Size - 20cm height, width 15cm, depth 11cm

Ted is a papier mâché bird character. His clothes and accessories are made from found materials such as vintage silk handkerchiefs, scraps of tweed, leather, old buttons & even an abandoned sock. Can you work out what his beak and claws are made from?* 

Ted's leather bag contains miniature vintage style seed packets

The surface of his head and hands is decorated with extracts of a letter sent to me by my grandad that I have then printed onto tissue paper. I chose to do this as ‘Ted’ is loosely based on my grandad in terms of his dress sense and keen gardening interests. I have mentioned in a previous post that he has written to me every week since I went to university and I have decided to begin to capture our personal history in my art work. 

Grandad tends to his garden almost every day

*If you haven’t guessed yet, Ted’s beak and claws are made from acrylic nails that I have cut and shaped!

Ted's cap is made from scraps of tweed and linen. I loved making it!

Washi tape came in very handy when making the paper pattern for his shirt 

 

Here's 'Ted' in his posh greenhouse Unit Twelve. He's being very well looked after in the Contemporary Craft Open. If you'd like to meet Ted, the exhibition runs from 5th Dec 2013 to 1st March 2014. It is well worth a visit as it showcases the best in contemporary craft, both amateur and professional. Work has been selected by Little Northern Contemporary Craft Fairs, Yellowstone Art Boutique and Print Garage.

Off to Market

On Sunday 15th September I hired my first ever stall at Altrincham Vintage, Handmade & Producers' Market. It was a cold, wet and blustery day although the heavy rain held off until the afternoon.

In all honesty, having a market stall was completely out of my comfort zone. The thought of it made me feel exposed and vulnerable (whereas 30 hormonal teenagers in a classroom doesn’t – strange!). However, I knew that it was important to reach a wider audience and so with trepidation I set off with my creations packed into my little car.

My work can also be found on Etsy, Folksy & What I Always Wanted

Once I was at the market and had my stall set up, I started to relax and found that I was actually enjoying myself. It was really good fun and I had a great time. I loved the friendliness of the other stall holders and appreciated their advice. I also enjoyed chatting with people visiting the market and talking about my work.

1. Ox Eye Daisy 2. Lanna Yo 3. Goodnight Boutique 4. Flour Water Salt 5. Beagle N Thread      6. For England & St George 7 Philippa Lightburn 8. Parrot in the Pantry

Things I learnt:

1. I am not a good business woman as I spent all my takings on other stalls. Although, this is a good thing for the local economy! There is a lot of fantastic talent out there in my local community.

2. I need more height in future stall displays so that the eye is led across the various items, plus objects at different heights make the stall look more attractive.

3. Upcycled items are very popular, as are small items. People seem to enjoy rummaging through boxes and baskets for treasure.

4. People were browsing for Christmas and lots of business cards were taken with this in mind.

5. In future, I would like to have a greater variety of products on sale that show a wider range of my skills. I did not have any ceramic items or illustrations on sale. However, I can’t be too hard on myself as there’s only so much time to produce art when I have a full time job!

All in all, it was great fun and I thoroughly recommend selling at a market or fair.