Recycling

I had such a lovely surprise this morning... I was just wandering out to pick some grassy type weeds to press for my printing plates when I found a package in the porch.  I had to stop and think for a moment because there are times when I order stuff and then immediately forget all about it... which means a nice surprise when it arrives... but no, I definitely hadn't ordered anything.

This is what was inside the package... a lovely pile of what Caro of fabulous etsy supplies shop Overspill called 'junk'.  Some junk!  Lovely ribbons and embroidery threads and lengths of wool and mohair... all neatly wound into little balls.  If this were my 'junk' it would be a tangled mess!  I can definitely feel some weaving coming on.  I will be good and take (most of) the stash to share with the members of the textiles group I belong to.  (Well, some of it anyway...)  This is definitely the sort of recycling I like!

Also in the package were some of Caro's lovely handmade buttons - I am not sure if I can bring myself to share these!  Although there are a couple of people in the group whose work they would suit perfectly, so I might...  More gorgeous handmade buttons are available from Caro's Terracotta Toys etsy shop or on her own website Boutonnerie.com - highly recommended!

Printing

I have been a bad blogger, I know. But, lectures have finished, I've had my assessment, and term ends this week so I have no more excuses!

I have been a little distracted by this...

... my very own printing press!

Today I tried it out for the first time with a couple of collagraph plates I made a while ago.  Here is the very first print made on my very own printing press...

... and a few more... just test pieces, I'm not using my expensive paper yet!

I do think I need a bigger and better drying rack though.  This one is a bit limited in size, it is meant for sweaters and for some reason it only has 3 legs now.  But it will have to do for the time being.

So for the next few days I shall mainly be making printing plates!

UK Handmade magazine

Have you read the summer edition of the excellent UK Handmade online magazine?  I'm very excited because there is a little feature in there all about ME!  As well as loads of other lovely stuff of course - go on, settle down for a good read!

More views

Another beautiful day today so we went for a walk this afternoon.  This time we went up the hill rather than down to the shoreline.  The gorse is all in bloom and the scent is quite overpowering - am I the only one that thinks it smells just like coconut oil suntan lotion?  Even in Spring it really reminds me of summer holidays.

Happy Easter to all my readers - I hope you're enjoying the break, and the weather!

Late afternoon walk

I don't really think that I live 'by the seaside'.  But people do flock here as soon as the sun comes out, so I guess they think it's the seaside!  It was such a lovely day today we braved the crowds and went for a late afternoon walk around the marine lake.  The low sun meant that I couldn't see what I was taking pictures of, but I think they came out pretty well!

ffflowers update

I've been away for a few days looking after my mum (new hip, doing very well thank you!).  So it was a lovely surprise when I got back to find that I am a featured seller on Folksy this fortnight - thank you very much Folksy people!

I've also been working on a couple of new colours of flowers - one in a soft apricot ribbon with a pale yellow button centre

and one in a pretty lilac ribbon with a natural shell button centre.

I do think they look rather good together!  Coming soon to both my Folksy and Etsy ffflowers shops.

A decision?

As you probably know, the degree course I am on requires you to choose a specialism - the choice is Ceramics, Jewellery/Metalwork or Glass.  Very very difficult!  When I started I was fairly sure that I would choose metalwork and go on to combine it with my textile work.

But then I discovered that working in glass can give you all the elements of texture and layering that I love to play with in my textile work, and I was hooked!

This week we have been doing low-relief casting in the kiln, creating moulds by cutting up pieces of fibre blanket to give form and texture.  We layered cut pieces of fibre blanket and sheets of float (window) glass - if the pieces of blanket go right to the edge you can put them between the sheets of glass  to create gaps too.

My design all layered up and nearly ready to go - the edges just need to be trimmed.

In the kiln, surrounded by pieces of kiln shelf to keep it in place.

And this is how it came out!

Now, I didn't have this in mind when I designed the piece, but isn't it perfect?