Shadow Play

I made a few more laser cut shapes today. I'm pretty astounded at the level of detail that the lasercutter can manage.

This Chinese lantern skeleton is another of my Tiny Treasure motifs and it's come out so well.

 I'm not sure what all these shapes will become but it's lovely having them around. They have a lot of energy about them! 

 And here are the beginnings of some elderberries. It's so nice to play with the shadows.

Paper and light is one of my favourite things.

Paper treasures

I haven't mentioned on my blog yet that I have bought a laser cutter. I have been outsourcing my cutting for years and years to a wonderful man named Bob all the way down in Cornwall. But Bob is soon going to retire so I thought we would have a go at doing our own.

Here she is. She's massive and very red and we had to rearrange the whole studio to accommodate her!

Bob has always been very helpful when I am excited about trying out new designs and he sends me them in first class post but I have to say it is wonderful having the machine right here in front of me as I can get into a creative flow of experimenting and tweaking as I go. It makes the process much faster and much more fun.

The last few months we have been getting to know each other. There have been fights and falling out (the software is pretty basic and very frustrating and the machine a little glitchy) but slowly slowly we are beginning to understand each other. I often ask too much of it as I want really fine cuts but too thin and it won't hold together so I am beginning to understand and work with it's capabilities.

Today everything held together. Everything behaved and I remembered everything I needed to remember! We worked well together. 

I've been tweaking these little paper treasures for a while and today they all cut well.

I'm not sure where I will go with all of these but it's really good to play. 

I first dreamed of having a laser cutter way back before lamps when I was still making handmade cards but they were SO much money at the time and it was way beyond me. Then I found Bob and decided it was a much better idea to have someone else do the cutting BUT it's lovely to finally have one of my own. A new toy with new possibilities. 

Spring Flowers - Debbie George paints Hannah Madden

I was waiting for a delayed train at Manchester Victoria station when I saw this little painting on Debbie George's Instagram feed. It stopped me in my tracks. Now, I see alot of pictures fly by on Instagram (we all do these days right?) and I LOVE many of them but it is very rare that I actually want to own one but within moments I found myself writing to Debbie asking if it was taken. 

Debbie is famous for her beautiful paintings of flowers in mugs. And the thing that was doubly special about this painting is that the mug made by my friend Hannah Madden. I met Hannah on Instagram many years ago when she was just starting out her hand printed textile business.  Debbie I know from many many years ago as her gallery Sanderson, George & Peach was one of the first places to stock my lamps. To see them collaborating like this was just lovely.

Hannah had posted a picture of one of her new Spring Flower mugs and Debbie commented on how much she liked it (she likes mugs, can you tell?) so Hannah decided to send Debbie a mug in the post. 

In no time at all Debbie had filled it with snowdrops and painted it. 

Debbie shared it on Instagram just when I was waiting for that train. It spoke to me and I bought it! 

I'm always on the look out for lovely objects of interest to use in my wallpaper photos (this is how I justified the sale anyway). I knew this would be just right with my new Paper Meadow colour 'brume' which has been waiting to be photographed properly.

 When I told Hannah I had bought the painting she was so delighted then she gifted me a mug too! So here they are together!

Looking lovely don't you think?