Happy Christmas

Wishing you all a peaceful, happy and cosy Christmas! See you in the New Year!

Hannah x

The art of Papercutting

I sometimes forget that I could call myself a 'papercutter', as I get wrapped up in 'lamp maker' or the more general term 'designer/maker'. I just came upon this marvellous papercutting blog 'the heart of papercutting' run by papercutting artist Elsa Mora.Theres all sorts on there including a list of papercutters from around the globe. There is some AMAZING work going on out there...all these little artists doing such intricate work with an exacto blade leaning over their cutting mat. I am not alone....

The image above is byUK designer and illustrator Emily Hogarth.

The Eucalyptus pods are opening...

One of the Eucalyptus flowers has opened halfway....full flower tomorrow perhaps?? They smell really strong. Good for keeping colds at bay??? Helps you breathe more easily!!

Winner of the Mistletoe Competition

Lee Davies from Essex is the winner of the prize draw that I had on my website. She has won this Mistletoe lamp. She says she is 'absolutley delighted'. How nice!

Weird Pods

These are the strangest things! I saw them in the flower shop yesterday when I was buying some Mistletoe. The pods have a kind of lid on which opens and out springs a yellow flower. I'm watching them so I don't miss the grand opening! I went back to the flower shop today to ask what they were and they are Eucalyptus flowers. Wow! I'd never seen them before. They are great shapes for drawing although Ffion says they just look like sticks with snails crawling all over them. OOOh!

Designer/maker blogs

This whole blogging business actually kept me awake last night. I've been right in the flow, blogging here and for Radiance, reading artist blogs and design blogs and seeing the potential of the whole thing, linking people together and discovering amazing things. Last night it was in my dreams and I'd wake up thinking about it uanble to sleep! Doh!

There are so many beautiful design blogs out there and I find that most of them that I have found easily are based in the U.S. I was wondering if there were equivalents in the U.K and if I could read other designer maker blogs from this country. Well I just Googled 'designer/maker blogs' and ran straight into Indie Quarter based in Manchester! Oh so local to me and what a brilliant site. They do a slot called 'A Day in the Life of' where designers and makers write about their daily goings on. It's lovely. I'm going to have a good root around there now after I have started compiling my list of interesting blogs....

A whole day of design...

I've been working on my Magnolia tree today and it is taking shape. It's going to grow up over three wall panels and become a vertical triptych. I have started with the bottom panel and will work upwards. On the next one up the flowers will open. I have been working on the buds today....flowers as soon as I can.

Magnolia Tree

With all the Christmas hubbub going on and keeping me busy busy busy (THANKYOU all for all the orders!) I haven't made any development time for my wall panel project. My exhibition at the Appleyard Gallery is only hmmmm 8 weeks away so it's time to be getting on with it again. I contacted an artist, Cleo Mussi the other day about some work for the shop and she said she couldn't do any before the end of the year as she was working on two exhibitions. Wow, i respected that but couldn't imagine saying it myself!!!...something to work on!

Anyway there is a small Magolia tree that I pass on the way to the workshop each day. At the moment obviously there are no leaves or flowers but the bare wintry branches are talking to me everytime I pass! I'm going to do something with it today. I think it will make a lovely vertical tryptich. I will add the leaves and flowers myself...from my imagination...and perhaps Flickr!

My cats like this tree too. They follow me to work each day, all bouncy and excited and jump up on the wall to rub their noses on it's branches....

Bouf

'Bouf' invited me to submit some products to their lovely site. It represents 'pioneering homeware and gift designers'. There is some LOVELY stuff on there. Have a look....

Craft & Design Magazine Selected Awards

It's nearly time to vote for your favourite designer/maker on the Craft & Design Magazine Selected Awards. If you're not familiar, this is a magazine/website where you can find out about designer/makers, Craft Events and Exhibitions, Galleries, Supplies, courses,workshops and more. They have an online gallery of selected makers from all disciplines. From January the 1st anyone can cast their vote. If you are a maker yourself you can apply now to be on the website and you can be entered too.