OUR WINDOW WAS HIGHLY COMMENDED!

The Shepton Mallet Snowdrop Festival 2019 has taken place.  It was a great success with the town buzzing!  I was right about the winner of the Best Dressed Window - it was Anna's Attic (see last post).  Incidentally, the trophy, which can be seen in the top left pic, was made by Fran Davies, a local stain glass artist and one of our members at the One Craft Gallery.

We, at the One Craft Gallery had a highly commended certificate - see our window in the previous post, as did the Opticians in the High Street, Christopher Young.  Their window can be seen in the bottom three photographs above...

POOH BEAR AND BEES...

These delightful glass hangings add to the Pooh Bear and bees theme, currently featured in the One Craft Gallery window dressing.  They are for sale and made by Fran Davies, who specialises in stained glass.

ANGELIC ANGELS

Looking through the Christmas decorations I found some angels that I did a few years ago and had forgotten about!  Coincidentally,  I have just been making a new pin board on angels on Pinterest, a new obsession!  There are such lovely examples of handmade angels out there, and if I had more time this year, I would be inspired to make some different ones.

The faces are a collage of small pieces of paper cut from different models' faces in fashion magazines.  I remember it being a very fiddly job to do and they certainly ended up with unique expressions!

I saw this cute hanging glass angel when I went into the One Craft Gallery.  It is made by fellow maker, Fran Davies of Unicorn Glass.  We have regular customers who collect her tree decorations and come in every year to buy more to add to their collections.

FLOWER POWER

It is all about flowers at the moment - the Chelsea Flower Show has just gone and the garden centres are bursting with bedding plants. It made me think about the simplest flower shape. There are some shapes that are iconic, symbolic and instantly recognised throughout the world. The heart shape is an example, as is the flower shape with rounded petals and a centre.  It was particularly used in the 1960s - a version in black and white is the logo for Mary Quant to this day, and hippies and flower-power was a popular cult movement full of simple flower images. With current interest in everything retro it can be seen everywhere - in jewellery, soft furnishings and fashion.

In the above montage, the top brooch is a modern glass brooch made by Fran Davies.  She is a fellow member of the One Craft Gallery. The middle brooch is vintage 60s and the cream flower necklace is also vintage.

It is an easy shape to draw and make into a stamp or stencil, which can be layered up to represent all kinds of flowers.  I have used these simple flower shapes in many of my paintings and also for textile jewellery (see above).

When I wanted some new cushions for the conservatory, I drew several flower shapes and decided  that the simplest would be the most effective. I put together a background patchwork of materials with embroidery - one in shades of pink and red, and one in different black and white patterns.  I then drew a flower template, cut it out and swapped the petal section over. The cushions were then reconstructed using hand and machine embroidery and then put together with a plain black backing with a zip.