Each month this past year I’ve ecoprinted on paper, I will tell you more about that in January. Just now I am filling my shop with lovely eco friendly wall art. I’m keeping a few for myself too as I think it’s time for some new pictures once the house is finished.
I find putting a mount on a print really brings it to life, as does a frame. I am low on frames just now, and just like my new oven and wooden floor the frames are out of stock and no one knows when they will arrive.
I hope you enjoy looking at these ecoprints as much as I do making them, I’m always fascinated at the results when I open a bundle.
Hello, I thought I should let everyone know that although the house renovations are taking a lot longer than expected and I’ve not been able to do much making I still have new stock going into my shop regularly as I kept some work back for pre Christmas listing on Etsy. It’s something I do every year as it saves me having a mad rush making stock in November and December.
Click on the images if you would like to see more information.
There are some gorgeous acer leaf pieces including ecoprinted silk scarves, this one is in gorgeous muted shades.
Also acer leaf prints on paper, both framed, or to frame yourself. I’m always conscious of the price of posting so I like to have some lightweight gifts available.
There are some smaller ceramic gift ideas as well including snowdrop hearts which are usually sold out at this time of year. I made twice as many last January and held some back for the run up to Christmas.
There are a couple of ceramic soap dishes left but I have some waiting for a glaze firing so hopefully I might get them done this week.
I need to get a raku firing done as well as my hanging leaves are selling fast.
Mackerel are still available and small fish too, but these sell out really quickly.
There are days I wish there were more hours, I’m still decorating and waiting for the kitchen and floors to be finished, hopefully the house will be finished for Christmas. Maybe Santa will find my oven and oak flooring on the container ship and bring me a surprise delivery soon 🙂
As you know, if you read my blog regularly a lot of what I do is seasonal. I like to use plant material in much of my work.
Autumn has sneakily crept up on me rather quickly this year, I have fallen behind with so much going on at home. Also it’s a bit of a paradox as I have been waiting patiently for the leaves to fall in order to get some bare tree photos to use in an artwork, but also I need to collect leaves before they are all gone.
If you read my last post about my walk in Dubbs Moss looking for inspiration here is the finished piece. I have another one to make inspired by another walk and a rather special (to me) tree so I can hang them as a pair.
On the other face of the paradox I am rushing about collecting leaves for ecoprinting before they are all gone.
I have managed to get some ecoprinted silk scarves made and into my shop before the Christmas rush.
Hopefully the rain will stop soon and I can get out with my camera and get that bare tree photo to finish the diptich, and collect some fallen leaves along the way.
Sometimes you just have to get out amongst the trees but I would say the trees hug us as much as we might want to hug them.
Shinrin yoku is the Japanese term for forest bathing, who doesn’t feel the power of nature when walking in the woods. Even with wet feet and being covered in mud I enjoyed the feeling of being totally immersed in nature, well having slipped in a boggy area I was immersed in the place 🙂 .
I have recently read Overstory by Richard Powers which has added to my appreciation for trees. I could imagine the trees whispering to each other ” Here she comes”.
I love the overgrown places where brambles make an impenetrable tangle where only animals make tracks through the undergrowth, there were deer prints in the mud too.
I am going to spend today working on a couple of collage pieces based on my photos. I have been patiently waiting for the leaves to drop in order to collect images of bare branches for my art projects.
I hope you have a relaxing Sunday whatever you are doing.
We are still in the process of updating our house, unfortunately we don’t know when it will be finished as the oven and oak flooring are stuck on the high seas somewhere.
Making stock is pretty much on hold as I can barely get a foot in the studio but I am able to keep Flat Bottles UK up and running as I can access my kilns.
All of this has got me thinking that maybe shopping early for Christmas is probably wise. I will be looking for UK based handmade gifts that are in stock to avoid any complications.
I am adding stock to my shop as I had things made already but when it has gone my virtual shelves will be pretty empty. Unless I can get the studio up and running again, I do intend to have a raku firing soon as I had planned for it.
Here’s some of my latest additions to Kiln Fired Art on Etsy.
A shoal of small raku glazed fish, as well as larger ones like mackerel, or flat fish.
Other ceramic wall art includes raku leaves, and moon gazing hares and plant tiles.
There are botanical prints ready to frame, a few silk scarves and paper packs for crafting your own work of art.
Also recycled wine bottles which are always popular as gifts. There are bottle dishes and spoon rests which are going like hot cakes just now.
Hopefully I will be back in the the studio soon, I never thought back in June that things would take this long.
I’ve had the trail camera out in the top of the garden, Spikey has started building a nest for the winter in the new hedgehog box. Also there are a couple of surprise visitors so watch to the end.
I wish I was putting the finishing touches to our home and feeling cozy but we are still living on a building site, by next weekend I should have a working kitchen again so it’s making progress.
We decided to take a break from the home improvements that have been ongoing since June to head off to the Yorkshire Dales for a week walking in “God’s Own Country” as Yorkshire folks describe the Yorkshire Dales.
This is a short post, I’m sharing some photos which are an inspiration to me and I hope to use them in some art projects later on.
Mary Lou if you are reading this, I was thinking of you and your love of our stone walls. Swaledale in Yorkshire is stone wall heaven, it also has lots of wonderful stone barns.
The history behind the barns that are all over Swaledale.
A patchwork of stone walls around Muker in Swaledale.
Yorkshire has some beautiful waterfalls too, this is Hardraw Force and below is Aysgill Force.
I found so much peace and beauty which I intend to use as inspiration for some artwork. Well that’s the plan 🙂
I haven’t been around much this summer so craft making and blogging have been quite scarce, I’m now doing some home improvements, painting and renovating our home.
I have a couple of Stressless chairs which have damage to the leather, cracks, the top is off the leather in places, and even a hole in the seat. I got a 4 figure quote to have them done professionally and then a Facebook friend told me about Furniture Clinic leather repair kit which she had used to mend a hole in a sofa. I watched the videos and decided to have a go myself .
Here’s some photos showing the leather damage.
Firstly I used their cleaner to get rid of dirt and grease on the leather, then used the hole repair kit to close the tear.
Then I used the filler in the kit to fill the hole and cracks, when dry this was sanded and refilled until the surface was built up.
The next job was to go over these areas with the ‘paint’ which was quite a close match to the colour of my chairs but not quite perfect.
The kit does include primary colours and black so in theory I should have been able to mix the perfect shade but I just couldn’t get it right. I spent 2 days trying.
I decided to buy the leather colourant to do the whole chair, it can transform a leather sofa from one colour to another according to the videos on the website. When it came the colour was really close to my chair colour.
I applied 3 thin coats over the entire back, arms and seat of the chair but seeing the colour was such a good match I decided not to do the sides of the chair because of the woodwork and metalwork.
Then I applied a clear topcoat in several layers to protect the finish, I chose the satin finish but it’s shinier than I would have liked so I might get the matt one and go over them again.
Here’s some before and after photos.
I am absolutely delighted with how my chairs turned out, and it cost less than £100 to do them myself. They look like new again.
Last Autumn the grass verge outside my house was dug up to lay a pipe, they didn’t seed it very well so as we look after it we decided to sow wildflower seeds. We chose a seed mix from Boston Seeds for bees and butterflies.
At first we thought the seeds weren’t germinating, we had a lot of heavy rain so we thought they had been washed away. We bought more seeds and sowed again, this time I scattered some of the seed and put some seed in trays of compost then pricked out into plugs as a back up plan.
One day I went to see how the plants were doing on the verge and much to my surprise a lot had germinated , the transplanted plug plants have been slow to grow since they were put in. I put some in planters so I can harvest the seeds and add them to the border later in the year.
The most prolific plant is borage, the bees absolutely love it.
Now the poppies and cornflowers are out, and there are some lovely grass seed heads too. The first corn cockle is flowering today.
Yesterday I spotted a lady with a camera taking photos and a couple complimented me on the border. I went out to see how it was looking and I could see what the fuss was all about. I hope other people in my village turn their verges over to wildflowers and wildlife, just imagine how that would look.
It seems a long time ago since I bisque fired the stoneware ceramic air plant pebbles and air plant wall pockets, but life sometimes gets in the way. This week I got some stain and glazes on them and finally got them finished and in my shop.
The air plant pebbles were lovely to make, I love the feel of the clay in my hands. I have given them a granite look glaze, and as they are stoneware clay they could have moss or a tiny plant inside instead of air plants.
I have only just gotten into air plants, why didn’t I buy some sooner? They are my kind of houseplant as they don’t mind a bit of neglect. I just spray them with water when I remember which is about once a week.
I must hang some air plant wall pockets in my new kitchen when it’s finished, but they will look great in any room of the house, they are living wall sculpture.
The hanging air plant holders were also hand built and textured with tree bark, inspired by a tree just up the road when I was out on a walk. Where branches had been cut off the bark had grown forming a little niche where a fern had seeded itself, nature is always an inspiration.
I have double pockets for two plants.
A couple of different designs of single plant pockets.
Each wall pocket will be unique, I think a group on the wall will make a great impact, or just one or two on a small wall would look equally as good. Now we can all have our own hanging garden.
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