And the Winner is.....

...the wonderful Darryl Joel Berger from red-handed! Congratulations! Do send me your address and I'll send it. Thanks so much for everyone who commented, I'll have to do more of these...

200th Etsy sale Giveaway!

Yippee! Today I hit my 200th Etsy sale, and to celebrate I'll be giving away one of my unique paper collages. They're made from mostly vintage paper cut into diamond shapes and mounted onto fresh white card measuring 8x10". To enter leave a comment below and I'll draw the winner on Monday at noon UK time. Good luck! And thanks to all of you who've bought from my little shop over the past couple of years, it's truly appreciated.

Last-minute panic

The degree show is just around the corner and the fear is starting to set in. Faced with a rather large hole in my exhibition, I've been working on a new (or rather old) article from a winter edition of Elle Deco from Lucie's impressive archives. This was a bit of a new challenge as the article required three illustrations, and was quite light-hearted and called for something decorative. I certainly enjoyed it though, getting back into cutting paper. What do you think?

Flowerpress Brooch Swap

I'm taking part in Flowerpress' brooch swap so I've been seeking inspiration and putting together some clues for the person making a brooch for me. I've got til 21st June to come up with something, how exciting! Are any of you lovely lot involved?

Anonymous no more

This week I worked on an article about the internet and the increasing likelihood that we will be identifiable by the sites we visit.

I've started to notice it myself lately. I once went on the Habitat website to look at sofas and rugs and for a few months now an advert for a particular rug I looked at has appeared repeatedly in sponsored advert panes in third party websites. Does that seem strange? 

In other exciting news, I'm having a website of my own made this week! But, I won't try and steal your identity or anything if you visit it. I promise.

It's the future!

This afternoon I finished this editorial about 3-D printing, which is the craziest thing I've ever heard of. 

In a few years time, according to some, we will all be able to download and manufacture anything from clothes to body parts on 3-D "additive manufacturing" machines - just like using a home printer. The machines work by building layer upon layer of atoms of a certain material according to a minutely-detailed design. It sounds a little far-fetched but imagine the possibilities! I wonder what it will mean for sites like Etsy, and for the future of "handmade"! Exciting stuff.

PS - Do you like my box kite?

PPS - I just realised how girly the colours are in my illustration, which is for a GQ article. Whoops. Do I change it?

Bacteria... yum.

This week I've been working on a really tricky article about "Bioleaching", an increasingly used method of extracting rare earth metals from low-grade ore with the use of rock-eating bacteria. Delicious.

I really struggled with this one and for some reason I can't get the colours to pop on blogger like they do in the original, but trust me it's a much livelier orange and turquoise combo. Now, on to an article about 3-D printing. Erk.