How cool

Are these? They're vintage reel tape cases of about 5" square and are perfect for storing loose CDs and DVDs. I picked them up at a local refuge/thrift shop outside Cambridge for a pound. I love the graphic style and typography and the colours are amazing! Seriously I could look at these all day but I won't, as we're off to Jacob's parents' for a few days then I'm spending Christmas with my family so a little blog break is due. 

Have a great Christmas everyone, and see you soon! xxx

Don't tell....

...but this is what I've made my sister for Christmas! She's just moved into a new house with a  friend and I thought it would make a nice housewarming pressie. It's basically a collage, framed, with cup hooks screwed into the bottom so you hang your keys up! I've attached mirror plates to the sides so it can be securely hung. I'm quite chuffed with it! I wonder if people would buy this sort of thing on etsy...maybe I'd have to use perspex instead of glass for safety of shipping. Hmm, something to think about in the New Year anyway.

Tea and cake

Not much to report today, got all my prints bound into a book, but ran out of time to photograph it before it had to be handed in! 

I bought this lovely tea set yesterday for £5 from Cancer Research (Christmas present to myself...) and am so in love with it! It's late 50's/early 60's Midwinter and seems to be a fairly rare pattern, so a bit of a bargain. We just had tea and Jacob's birthday cake ( which I made! - I'm rubbish at cakes but it was pretty good!) using the set, so that was very nice! :)

Pages printed!

These are my "journey" book pages which I'll be binding over the weekend. They were all printed with lino and oil-based inks in the albion press.  The images were made for a Print and Process project based on Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. You would never know it, but they said to just run with whatever line took your fancy. i chose part of a line that said "Even if I were to walk from here to India..." so started thinking about a journey on foot.

I'm pretty happy with them as a set. Using small lino blocks like hand stamps, the suns, arrows and houses break up the flow of the book and make it a bit more playful. It's taken me ages to do and is only just dry but I feel like a weight has been lifted now it's all done! I'll be binding them in a hardback cover which will be covered in a white oilcloth with maybe a grey leather spine. I'm still a bit undecided on that so any ideas...?

Finished kit

Ta da! Here is my finished kit to make a paper ball as pictured in my previous post. It was a really interesting crit today seeing what other "batches of five" people had come up with for under a tenner. Someone had made pants with Noel Fielding (from the Mighty Boosh)'s face on!!! My idea seemed quite nerdy in comparison but hey ho, I'm chuffed with how they look!

Update - You can now buy one here!!

Batch of five

This is the paper ball that you'd be able to make from one of the kits I'm working on for this "Batch of Five" project. We first saw structures like this at the Science Museum and thought they were really cool (especially as they appeared in the "History of Computing" section). Recreating them has taken me days - I know, they are more complicated than they look - but I'm really pleased with the result. Will show you a pic of the finished kit when it's done...

Double whammy

Firstly, a sample print from my book about a journey. I'm quite chuffed with it and think it could look lovely in other colours. It still needs its little coloured houses but I quite like the abstracty look at the moment.

Secondly one of my collages was featured in a lovely treasury by Sarah and Jon of  Pocketstudio which is exciting. The other work featured is gorgeous I feel mine looks quite out of place! 

Anyway, time to go and do research, I have to think of a "batch of five" identical things I can produce, buy or compile that could potentially be mass-made, by Tuesday...erk.

Any ideas more than welcome!