THE PUNK FAERY ARTWORKS

This is the work of Somerset artist, Sally Jacob, who trades under the name - 'the punk faery artworks'.  She is a fantasy artist, whose artwork explores the darker/steampunk side of faery.  Her current work focusses on mermaids and faery creatures, exploring fairy tales and the psychology behind them...

She also designs and hand makes unique and bespoke accessories and jewellery in her steampunk style.  They usually contain a combination of vintage components, found objects and her imagination!  Her latest jewellery collection embraces the trend for raw gemstones and pearls mixed with cute woodland themed pieces.

Sally's work is currently for sale in the One Craft Gallery until the end of October - see pics above.

VINTAGE BUTTERFLY

Here is my second design for the Vintage Button Box collection - a butterfly card.  The old chunky lace sets these vintage buttons off, with their subtle worn colours and unusual hexagon shape. This shape can be found in nature  from bees' honeycombs to crystals and the Giants Causeway. Regular hexagons can fit together to form a grid without gaps, making efficient use of space and building materials which, for the bees, means less wax is needed for construction and the honeycombs gain lots of strength under compression.

 Card without the buttons

In the case of the Giant's Causeway in Ireland, there are naturally formed basalt columns - a large mass must cool slowly to form such a polygonal fracture pattern with the tops showing the hexagonal shape.

 Giant's Causeway

When you start looking this shape can be seen everywhere - architects have made use of it,  think of  The Hexagon, a hexagonal theatre in Berkshire or it can be seen in floor tiles, interlocking patterns and even chicken wire!

VINTAGE BUTTON BOX

In September I am organising a Button Bonanza in the One Craft Gallery. Some members of the co-operative are making buttons in their particular craft and I have arranged for a guest artist who makes fabulous wooden ones. As a mixed media artist, I searched for something I could sell that wasn't just an artwork incorporating buttons.  I looked into my button boxes and sorted and washed the vintage ones that were suitable to mount and sell in sets. I had an idea to mount them onto collaged cards in such a way that they could be easily removed for people to use, leaving the design of the card intact.

I am calling my cards 'Vintage Button Box' and have designed a logo with instructions on detaching them to be put on the back of the card.  Here is my first design - collaged flowers, using paper and fabrics with a combination of glueing, hand and machine stitch. It felt appropriate to use fabrics and stitching to show off the buttons.  For once I did not use my paint media for the artwork!

I am making four cards at a time.  I do a background for all four, cut it up and then add the fabric and make up the design for each card. It is then stitched and stuck onto the card stock with double sided tape and then the buttons are sewn through all layers so they can be detached from the inside of the card.  I did a birthday card for a friend at the same time, which can be seen below.  Instead of adding the buttons, I did extra embroidery as she is a textile artist and we studied embroidery together many years ago.