.... and some more!

On our trip up North I was also treated to a visit to RE. I was very well restrained (we only had a little car!) but I couldn't resist these gorgeous wooden letters to add to my collection.

On the way home driving through Penrith, my little magpie eyes spotted a sign for a vintage and second hand emporium, La Brocante. The converted double height barn was full to the ceiling of bric a brac wonders put together by Marianne, passionate about her collection and so friendly. We came away with a few treasures, I think it might have to become a regular stop!

a few of my favourite things...

Seems like ages ago already but we had a lovely trip up North at the weekend.

It was wonderful to go and visit the amazingly talented Sarah Morpeth and discuss with her about her processes and the story behind her gorgeous books. We are absolutely in love with her 'Joan's Book' (seen in the far right corner), do check it out on the website.

I treated myself to a delightful small book, 'Crow', I love how the wings explode out of the book when closed. I'm very inspired to get making!

We also were able to visit the studio of Susan Dobson, an inspirational treat I look forward to every time we go up! Below are a few of her sketches from their most recent trip and one of my favorite images. I just love the blues

 

We are also lucky enough to have one of her beautiful monotype prints in our home. 

I think a Sarah Morpeth hand cut large piece, would definitely add to the collection!

Trip up North

I'm very excited this weekend as Rob is taking me up to Northumberland for an inspirational weekend.

It's the 2011 Art Tour over the next few weeks and I'm lucky enough to go and see one of my favourite book artists, Sarah Morpeth. I'm sure I've blogged about her before but here are a few of her pieces we saw at a recent exhibition at the Exchange theater in Manchester.

I'm very much looking forward to meeting the artist, seeing more of her work and hopefully gaining some tips and ideas. 

I'm also getting a trip to RE, a wonderful converted work shop full of reclaimed and restore home furnishings and also a lovely collection of wooden type! Oooh it's all very exciting, will keep you updated on how it all goes!

Greek Wedding Invitations

I met a lovely couple at the wedding fair in Nottingham last month who loved my designs and were really keen for me to design their wedding invitations. I of course was thrilled and after a couple of lovely consultations over a baileys, with several layout and paper options, to find the right pink to match both Elena's dress and the rustic style of their wedding, I can reveal the final design. (I will post the other options separately)

Evolving from my origami invitations Elena wanted something a little more traditional so we opted for a twist on a pocket fold with an internal pocket and pull out information card, tied together with a ribbon woven into the invitation. It was a fascinating experience producing options in both English and Greek and Elena was lovely to work with.

I am pleased to note they were both extremely pleased with them!

Design et Mobilier industriel

Bonjour mes amis!

I have just returned from a wonderful week in France, relaxing, refueling and being inspired by the delights of the Picardy and Normandy regions. I have lots to write about and also want to blogging more about things and people which inspire and influence me.

On a trip to Rouen we wandered slightly further out from the breathtaking beauties of the center and came across a small contemporary looking shopfront in which we discovered a wonderful showroom full of reclaimed and restored industrial furniture pieces. I fell in love with a long industrial steel and wood table, if only we had a van....! 

I will be following Polychrome on Facebook and coveting their wonderful collection.

Stunning Photography

I'm off to France for a week tomorrow (very excited!) so will be away from the blog, however I just wanted to post a couple of items before I went.

We caught up with our friends the other week and James, who takes amazing photos, had taken some lovely shots at our wedding reception, it was a little while waiting but definitely worth it and its been lovely reminiscing!

 

You can see more at his flicker page here. Thanks James!

Photo Etching

Last weekend I went up to Hot Bed Press to try some photo etching, something I thought I might be able to combine with my letter pressing, creating my own plates from my images. Its still a work in progress but thought I'd show off what I'd been doing!

The original image was a shot from our honeymoon in San Francisco, which I thought would be nice to make a visual memory out of.

 

Inital prints from the plate, the photo film which hadn't been fully cleaned off created interesting patches in the skyline which it was almost a shame to loose!

Once cleaned and the plate bitten in stages the image was starting to become clearer, however I'd lost some of the detail from the bridge and other areas needed more definition. The next step was then to apply more etching techniques, applying aquatints and hard grounds and drawing into the plate.

Although it takes a lot of work its getting there and the image is starting to evolve. I love the painterly effects I've achieved with the magic pencil. Looking forward to getting back and trying out some coloured prints to bring out the image even more.