Following on from the first part yesterday, today brings part two of the ceci n’est pas une porte series:
Archive for June, 2011
Ceci n’est pas une porte … partie deux
Posted in General craftiness, tagged ceci n'est pas une porte, door, door handle, keyhole, notebook, sculpture on June 29, 2011| 1 Comment »
Ceci n’est pas une porte
Posted in General craftiness, tagged ceci n'est pas une porte, door, door handle, notebook, sculpture on June 28, 2011| 2 Comments »
My old studio was a beautiful place, situated on an island that was crammed with quirky features. One of those features was this door:
Photography by Katherine Palmer
I loved that door, and always thought I’d like to do something inspired by it. Well… today I finally did. It’s part sculptural piece and part useful book, and it’s the first part of my Ceci n’est pas une porte series.
This is not a book
Posted in General craftiness, tagged leather, notebook on June 27, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Hot town, summer in the city…
Posted in General craftiness, tagged city, london, map, notebooks on June 27, 2011| Leave a Comment »
The promised heatwave hit London yesterday and persisted into today – by 10am it was 28 degrees in the shade and still rising, finally topping out at about 32 degrees at lunchtime.
I love living in the city, but in the summer it’s a mixed blessing. The mass of hard surfaces – tarmac, concrete, brick, slate, stone – both absorbs the heat and reflects it back, and on a clear day when the temperature is high you can see the heat haze. On a day like today it makes the city seem, from a distance, blurry and out of focus.
Which was the perfect inspiration for the books I made today. I used a fabric which is printed with a slightly blurry map of London:
It’s a lovely fabric, and I actually like that you can’t see the fine detail – it gives the books a Monet-like effect: they look fabulous from a distance, but a little messy close up. I’ve got enough of the fabric left to make a third book, which I may well do tomorrow if the heatwave continues.
A spot of gardening…
Posted in General craftiness, tagged gardening, notebooks on June 26, 2011| Leave a Comment »
I don’t often make gardening themed books, which is perhaps a little odd for someone who works as a gardener! I had the urge to rectify that on Friday, and whipped up a few books with a vintage gardening theme.
More to follow this week, I think. I’m temporarily on house arrest as my van is currently at the garage in need of a new fuel tank…
Kensal Flea – photos
Posted in Publicity & Articles, tagged flea market, kensal flea, paradise by way of kensal green on June 26, 2011| 3 Comments »
Just a little update on yesterday’s events. The Flea Market at the Paradise went rather well. I had a cushy spot on the roof terrace (although I was opposite La Dinette, which meant that I spent much of the day catching glimpses of their tempting produce…), and although the weather was grey and overcast most of the day it did stay dry – hooray!
I was really pleased with my stall as I’ve finally come up with an effective way of displaying my notebooks. In the past I’ve just arranged them directly on the table (take a peek here to see what I mean), which has been a nightmare as it tended to look like a jumble sale after a few customers had a rummage through.
About a month ago I came into possession of some vintage drawers (I was actually offered the whole desk, but didn’t have room for it!), and I hit upon the brainwave of using those to house my books. They’re attractive in and of themselves, they allow customers to flick through the books (much as you’d flick through DVDs or CDs in a shop), and they make the transportation of my stock and the setting up of my stall really quick and easy, as I can arrange all the books at home and then just transport them in the drawers themselves. Perfect!
It was a successful day out (many thanks to Juliet Kinsman who organised it), and I’m looking forward to the next one which will be on 9th July at Queens Park Community School.
London calling… (Part 2)
Posted in General craftiness, tagged drawing, ink, london, london underground, sepia, sketching, the city, westminster bridge on June 24, 2011| Leave a Comment »
I returned to the pen and ink drawings over Wednesday and Thursday evening, and I’m glad that I did. I think the sepia ink works better with a more simple style. Just the outlines have been inked in, and (to my eyes at least!) I think it looks good:
Here’s the first version I did on Tuesday:
See, I do think the simple version works better, what do you think? I also had a go at a view of the London Underground:
I haven’t a clue what I’m going to do with these yet. So far they’re just experiments so I may do a few more and then decide whether they’re good enough to do some print of…
