easily distracted by shiny things…
Posted in inspiration, shoes, shopping on Feb 25th, 2011
Aren’t these felted slippers absolutely magical? If I accidentally found my way through the back of a wardrobe and ended up in a mythical land where it was always winter and never Christmas, these are exactly what I’d want to keep my feet warm while I was there. They’re hand made in Lithunania by ing00te, [...]
Posted in inspiration, shoes on Feb 2nd, 2011
Image © Koronya Oh. My. Goodness. Aren’t these shoes simply gorgeous? The uppers are made from a single piece of leather, and I adore the delicate little detail on the toes. They’re handmade in Budapest by Koronya, who writes a blog about making shoes by hand. It’s been really interesting to read the posts about the [...]
Posted in embroidery, inspiration, sewing on Jan 27th, 2011
The trouble with buying men’s shirts is that the sleeves are always too long. I buy them because it’s quite difficult to find women’s shirts that fasten with cufflinks, unless you can afford to shop at somewhere like Thomas Pink. Then it can be difficult to find pretty or interesting cufflinks, but fortunately it’s extremely easy [...]
Posted in inspiration, knickers!, sewing on Jan 8th, 2011
Today I went shopping to buy some sketchbooks, which is something that I do at the beginning of every year. While I was in the art shop I spotted a little magazine I hadn’t seen before, called Cloth. I had a quick flip through, and spotted some instructions for making a pair of knickers. They [...]
Posted in culture, exhibitions, inspiration on Oct 23rd, 2010
Yesterday I went to the Old Operating Theatre and Herb Garret, where I arrived just in time for a talk. I was glad of that, because the museum would have made a lot less sense without it. It’s mostly three hundred years of medical history (including bit of bodies in jars) without a great deal of [...]
Posted in costume, inspiration, sewing on Oct 2nd, 2010
Last night I watched Brotherhood of the Wolf, and now I find myself wishing that I had a masquerade to go to, so that I had an excuse to make a couple of really exciting 18th century costumes. Simplicity 3637 would be an ideal starting point – although it might be rather an expensive one. [...]
Posted in culture, exhibitions, inspiration, music on Sep 26th, 2010
This is a little picture of “Shaharazad”, a mechanical organ owned by Boz Oram. Today we went to Crofton Beam Engines with the Aldbrickham Clog & Step Dancers, to dance at their end of season gala. There were some vintage cars, a few different steam engines and this mechanical organ. (And the enormous beam engines, [...]
Posted in crafty things, design, inspiration, jewellery on Aug 15th, 2010
The final two days of my Art Week were spent at a silversmithing course. I’ve been meaning to get around to going on a silversmithing course for more than ten years, and now I’m really cross with myself that I didn’t do it sooner. Silversmithing is brilliant! On the first day we made silver rings [...]
Posted in crafty things, inspiration on Aug 13th, 2010
This week I’ve been at my local school, taking part in various art courses. The first one was “Create With Clay”, and above you can see the first thing that I’ve created in clay for approximately seventeen years. It’s a slightly wonky thumb or pinch pot, with coils added to the top. This is a [...]
Posted in crafty things, culture, inspiration on Aug 1st, 2010
Photo © Polly Morgan The other day I went to see an exhibition of artwork by Polly Morgan at the Haunch of Venison. The exhibition is called “Psychopomps”, after the mythical creatures that conduct souls into the after-life. This piece is “Atrial Flutter”, and it’s a human ribcage and spine, suspended from balloons. Photo © Polly [...]