Today's post is brought to you by the letter R

In June I will be taking part in the de-junk, re-junk! exhibition of art made from... junk, of course! The exhibition brings together a variety of work from Merseyside based artists and this year it is at the Willliamson Art Gallery in Birkenhead.

The exhibitors are busy making new signs for the exhibition and I have been allocated the letter 'r'. I have to make 2 'r's, one 'subtle' one, and one 'bright' one; there is not much time left so this weekend I decided I really needed to get on with them.

This morning I took my first r out of the kiln...

It is made from strips cut from a stack of old picture frame glass and I'm really rather pleased with the way it has come out; it was worth all the cleaning!  Glass has to be scrupulously clean when it goes into the kiln and using old glass which has been knocking around in someone's loft or garage for a while does mean an awful lot of cleaning.  Now I just need to figure out how I am going to attach it to a backing board...

So that's my 'subtle' r; this afternoon I made a start on my 'bright' r using plastic carrier bag strips.

It's a bit further on now but it will certainly be keeping me occupied for the next few evenings!

Catch up

Oh I have been away a long time...  lots to tell you, I'll probably forget most of it...

The De-Junk, Re-Junk exhibition was very well received with lots of lovely visitors who all seemed to enjoy themselves.  I sold some of my new upcycled bottle vases and some eco daisies too, and lots of my seashore art cards.  I was chuffed!  I have some bottle vases left over but some of them will probably be going out to a couple of lovely local shops, I'll let you know when it's confirmed.  I've made a couple of new ones and listed this one in my etsy shop, more to follow when I have more stock.

Straight after the exhibition finished we dashed away for a few days over in Scarborough.  We had glorious weather, in fact, it was really too hot, something I never thought I'd say about a holiday in Scarborough!

Now I need to get my head down and sort out my natural dyed fabric experiments which are going to be part of the annual TX creative textiles exhibition at Castle Park Arts Centre in Frodsham.
Just a few sneak peeks for you here...

Blue

At last I have a moment to sit down and play with the beautiful new blue ribbon that has been waiting for me for a week or so...  it's a gorgeous periwinkle blue which I know is going to make lovely flowers.

I do think the colour is going to be tricky to photograph though, I've had to tweak this picture to get it looking right.  At least it's not as difficult as purple, that defeats my camera every time.

In other news, the De-Junk, Re-Junk exhibition is now open for visitors at Birkenhead park Visitor Centre, see my Events page for details.  I will be 'minding' the exhibition this coming Sunday and Monday afternoons, and Sunday morning next weekend.  I'd love to see you if you can pop along, it's well worth a visit.

And on to the next thing, I am preparing my piece for the annual TX creative textiles exhibition at Castle Park Arts Centre in Frodsham, details to follow soon.

Oh, and in my spare time(!) I have been setting up a new Facebook page for me as an artist and maker, in addition to the page I already have for my ffflowers.  It is somewhere where I will be able to collect photographs of my glass and collagraph prints etc. and post details of events I am taking part in.  I'd love it if you would take a look and maybe 'like' what you see!

Busy busy busy!

Upcycling

Like it says over there → in my profile, I really don't like to throw stuff away without trying to make it into something new.  So recently I've been using my newly learned skills to make these

from the likes of these (we did finish the contents first...)

And then of course, vases need flowers so I made these

out of these...

This is all in preparation for the 2012 DeJunk ReJunk exhibition, by a group of Merseyside based artists creating art and craft from 'junk'.  The exhibition is on from 2nd - 20th July at Birkenhead Park Visitor Centre, see my Events page for more details.