The candle covers are coming BACK!

A couple of years back I made some really sweet little candle shades that sat over a tea light in a clear glass votive. They were really popular BUT I had trouble with them. They were pretty small, just 7cm high and there was a lot of pressure in the cylinder and when they got hot sometimes the laminate would crack. It was so annoying and I lost confidence in them as a product and stopped making them. I was hung up on them being small and didn't think they were as sweet when they were bigger. Well something just happened. The Hello Soul, Hello Business course has been about ideas and innovation this week and my brain has been wildly fired up with possibilities...not about candle covers funnily enough, about lots of other stuff, but it must have just got the synapses firing in the right way because the middle of the week, without any kind of fuss I just made a bigger one and it is perfect. Still sweet but lots more space for hot air to circulate.

So all those lovely people who have asked me for personalised candle covers for the centres of their wedding tables. You're on. Now I can say YES!

Me and my dear old Dad

My Dad just emailed me this photo of us. This is what we looked like 32 years ago (I'm sure I didn't always look like a complete loon). Little did he know then that all these years later that he would be helping out his daughter with her business making lamps and posting them all over the world.  It's funny, all my life I have watched my Dad post parcels all over the world. He collected and sold records, rock and roll and jazz mainly, and he is the KING of parcel wrapping. Neat, crisp, brown paper packages with the neatest handwriting, FRAGILE written in big red capitals and all complete with a blue air mail sticker. If you ever buy a lamp and get a parcel fitting this description (and with possibly too much parcel tape...how DARE I criticise the King himself) then the chances are it was wrapped on a Thursday by my dear old Dad!

Hello Soul and a walk in the woods

photo by Sarah Mason

   I went for a lovely walk with my friend Sarah this afternoon. We walked to Jack Bridge and it was     sooooo beautiful. Sarah is a photographer who loves being in the woods like me, so we took our cameras        out to see what we could see and on the way chatted about life and business and everything.

You see these past couple of weeks have been very very interesting indeed as I have been doing the inaugural Hello Soul Hello Business e course. It is brilliant and as we are in the 'dreaming' phase of the course I have been staring into space a lot and sitting in my armchair with my notebook scribbling. 

So it was nice to get out in the fresh air, get some perspective and talk a few things through with another creative business person. As Sarah put it so well, our businesses are precious to us and it's important to look after them.

photo by Sarah Mason

Beth Nicholls and Kelly Rae Roberts who put the whole thing together are truly inspirational and have delved into the bottom of their hearts and souls to bring together some wonderfully rich content to help us get underneath the why's, who's, how's, and what's of our businesses.

  

There has been lots of dreaming about where my path might take me...

photo by Sarah Mason

There has been lots of looking very very closely, even though it's a bit uncomfortable...

photo by Sarah Mason

there's been lots of untangling....

lots of beauty...

new friends... (This little guy came galloping to meet us on the top ridge below Heptonstall.) 

...and through the trees is a sunny blue blue sky!

I know this is all a bit poetic but that's all I can say for now. I'm deep in the process. xxx

On a cold and frosty morning

Rachel Hazell my lovely bookbinding friend (who I went to Skye with) has been to stay for a long weekend while she did a book binding workshop here in Hebden Bridge at Fionas house. And didn't she pick the perfect weekend? Clear crispy blue skies the whole time and thick thick frost.

We went out for an early morning walk each and everyday (as only you can when you have a friend nudging you to get up and ready early) and we have seen such beauty! We have seen the sunrise each morning and enjoyed the frost accentuating every little, plant, leaf, wall, tree, stem...even cabbage on the allotment..

I love the sunrise reflected in the windows in this picture and the frozen Rosebay Willow Herb stems.

We were very excitable with something or other taking our breath away at every turn. How lucky we are!

Please will you vote for my boy?

Now if you're on Twitter you might have already heard me chirping on about Euans 'String of Angels' tune which has been entered into the finals of a competition on Soundware. Now the voting closes today and he is so close to winning. His tune is really lovely and (I think) he deserves to win. Would you take a second to vote for him today?

I admit to being a little obsessed about this. I wouldn't do this much shouting about a competition I was in but it's worth one last shout here on the blog as, at this moment in time he only needs another 7 votes to win. More importantly (honest) I hope you enjoy his beautiful track.

The Book Of Leaves

Carrying on from my current book obsession I just bought 'The Book Of Leaves' by Allen J Coombs which is a gorgeous and very chunky guide to 600 of the worlds greatest trees. It was a lucky find. I saw a book review whilst flicking through a gardening magazine at Birmingham New Street station whilst on the way to meet Rachel and Bobs new baby (gorgeous little guy) and the cover jumped out at me instantly.

It has life size pictures of all the leaves. There are about 75 different types of oak in there! I didn't even know there were that many.

I'm looking at leaves at the moment for my new work. You may think it's not the right time of year to start looking at leaves as the trees are bare but there are actually so many still about. I keep noticing crispy frozen ones on the forest floor and lone leaves still clinging on to bare branches despite the recent high winds.

 I've been playing with engraved beech leaves...

and oak leaves (English Oak to be precise).

Anyway, I recommend the Book of Leaves. It's a really lovely reference to have on the book shelf.

Jenny Wren

Little Jenny Wren is coming along. It's going to be quite a simple design with her swaying on a piece of grass. I love how little birds can do that. I have to simplify the birds down as much as possible, just to one or two shapes that the laser can cut out.

Was just wondering why she is called Jenny? Anybody know?

I'm in the Etsy Lookbook

Open publication - Free publishing - More 2012

Every season Etsy put together a beautiful Lookbook to showcase products and shops. My personalised fairy lights are in here...page one hundred and forty something....but have a flick through because it is beautifully done and there are many gorgeous products to enjoy.

And listen to this, straight from the mouth of Etsy. 'Etsy is the world's handmade marketplace. Our mission in to empower people to change the way the global economy works. We see a world in which very very small businesses have much much more sway in shaping the economy, local living economies are thriving everywhere, and people value authorship and provenance as much as price and convenience. We are bringing heart to commerce and making the world more fair, more sustainable and more fun!'

Inspiring! Glad to be a part of it!

Bird brain

My new years resolution to get absorbed in doing some new work has got off to a good start and I have been doing some birds. They have got in my head. I even see bird shapes when I close my eyes at night! I've been doing lots of drawing and cutting and tweaking and this is the first one to take flight. A little Coal Tit. He hasn't got any feet at the moment because I don't know where I want him to sit just yet. You see the beech leaves? Well I have been experimenting with laser engraving. It is pricey as it takes the machine a long time, but it's such a nice effect that I have to use it somehow. The laser takes just the top layer of the paper away allowing the light to shine through just a little bit. Tomorrow morning the next batch of samples arrives. More beech leaves and coal tits to play with, oak leaves and a teeny tiny Jenny Wren. Can't wait to see....

Waking up!

Snowdrop lamp

I've had a lovely Christmas break. I could have done with a little longer to be honest...a bit more time off but without a head full of cold or without it raining constantly, but still, there has been time for chilling out with the family, getting lost in my pile of books and generally going slow. Now it's time to wake up again. I have spent the afternoon rousing my websites from their hibernation and having a little spring clean of my Etsy shop.  I have also just made a Hannah Nunn page on Facebook so if you like me come and like me!!

Happy New Year!