I'm delighted to have been asked to assist with a wedding of two great friends, looking after the decor side of things. It's a great project for me, and we're at the stage of deciding on all the different elements of decorations needed, moving into testing some things.I'm going to be giving this Crepe and Watercolour flower tutorial a bash. How great would huge, huge paper flowers look, suspended up high, along with some of these giant balloons I found over atJust found from my 'balloon research' how it's simple to make two toned balloons.And if you were ever interested in how balloons are made, like I am. There you go!The above is another installation, this time made with what looks like loadsa different shaped and sizes balloons. The artist is Piraja Maharaja and the blogger is Lauren Ann Lane. It's brill and has sparked off lots of ideas for balloon decor at this wedding.What did we do before Pinterest ay? It's been so useful to collaborate with people over that in really defining what kind of decor is wanted at this wedding, testing our ideas and tutorials, pinning different colour palettes and texture inspiration. You can follow me on pinterest if you like. My favourite board is the 'Things I Could Be Doing Instead of Sitting Here' board. Never fails to inspire me to get off my bum and MAKE.Did you know that my sister is a wedding photographer? She lives all the way in New Zealand but is looking for weddings to photograph here in England. She's such a pro at it, so is her man - they're a husband and wife photo team. And finally, here's a blog I wrote two years back about another wedding I helped coordinate the decor for. This was for a lovely family who I used to nanny for.
This started as me making a 'creative tutorial' for the Light Box blog, but turns out that I didn't feel very excited nor energised about making a step-by-step tutorial and wanted more of a chance to experiment and have fun with it.So away I went, not worrying about an end-point, not worried about photographing every little step. There is this thing (all over Pinterest and craft blogs) where you can melt down old ends of oil pastels, combine with crayons to help solidify and bind, then cook for just 10 minutes in the oven at 100 degrees, and you can make a whole new crayon/oil pastels out of whichever colours you like.But I like what I made more then that - more of an object (plus it's crap to use as a crayon!) reminds me of using resin, makes me want to take this further and try to set objects within the melted down waxes. Could I float little objects in grey pastels, so it's barely visible, like smog? What about just using wax? Those are notes to self!I did take some pictures. The slicing of the oil pastels was a wonderful experience. An unusual texture - very satisfying.
A beautiful new book, bought in the bookshop attached to the wonderful MACBA - Barcelona's Museum of Contemporary Art. It's a notebook with HEXAGON PAPER. That's right, tiny little hexagons just waiting to be coloured in or for a story to be written, a word in each hexagon. It's made by 'Paperways'. I'm excited about the book, and I hear that my delightful friend and fellow creative Angela Chick is using hers now too. We had a little hiatus because the books are so beautiful - you know when you put off using them because they're so nice.The notebooks can be bought on Amazon here or here on the InkThistle website - you can see the other lovely Paperways products here too.Here's what I have done so far. I seriosly need to get better at colouring within the lines. But those hexagons are very small you see. Drawing with my trusty Pilot 0.4, a very sharp pencil and my 'Zig Kurecolor’ graphic pens which was given to me as the best Christmas present ever. More about those pens right here.
Hexagon
Hexagon 7
Hexagon 6
Hexagon 4
Hexagon 3
Hexagon
Hexagon 2
Hexagon 3
Working out which pens I can use and which I can't. Some of them bleed too much into the paper you see. I wanted to use light and subtle colours only.
Love Chief. Making a stencil with sticky lettering, using the most beautiful map ever for a back drop. The map is so creased though, I'm not sure I can iron it out... and unsure about weather or not to cut it down to size of have map boarder.
A recent trip to Bristol Aquarium got me excited about colour again. It also interests me because these creatures are the perfect mixture of disgusting and beautiful. What do they feel like? Can you eat them? ? Sea Star Fish Eating Anenome Crazy thing. I feel like I made this and snuck it down thereBit of research on the old google images, and I found these beauties: Fish Eating Urticina Pink Sea Star
You'd like to give out exciting Christmas gifts, correct? I'd love to have the money and time to buy everyone something which will be special to them for Christmas. Something they'll use, or that will excite or inspire them, or simply make them laugh. It's tough at Christmas, gifts become thrown to the back of my mind and at the last minute I'm worrying. Or forgetting people. Or getting resentful that my family is so big.I usually make things, which I enjoy and keeps it cheap. BUT I know I'll be searching for those few special presents for those special people, so here's some things I've come across recently which I think would make brilliant gifts, and maybe you will too.Banter Banner believe we should celebrate the everyday. "no longer only for holidays, but for the everyday. As art. As design. As inspiration"'Good Times' banner. Loads more sayings available: Joie De Vivre // Sweet Dreams // Celebrate The Everyday$10Buy it here at BanterBanner.com.'Wild At Heart' Rosette. Hot pink ribbon with gold text: 'Wild At Heart' A quote from Lula, in Lynch's 1990 Wild at Heart: "This whole world's wild at heart and weird on top."$16Buy it here at BanterBanner.com.Fake PooMakes for a brilliant present. Nearly everyone ever finds this funny "This pile of brown doggie doo looks so realistic you can almost smell it."Cheap from Amazon/Ebay/Jokeshops.'Coast' by Marco Suarez: "These photos capture the beauty of Northern Ireland. Framing this photo in a circle creates an awesome composition that is sure to be a highlight in any room. The circle has a diameter of 13" and is printed on Somerset Velvet watercolor paper with archival inks. This photo is part of a limited run of 50 and each print is individually signed and numbered."$60Buy this print and others at Marco's Etsy shop.Hand painted geometric pendant. Painted on wood with a silver chain. By Vickygonart$24Buy this and other jewellery at Vicky's Etsy shop.'Crap' Text Artwork. Shamelsss plug here! I made this. Each piece is completely unique, with the fine lines drawn freehand and each letter individually hand-cut.£23No Etsy shop at present, but email me if you want to buy this- hello@lucybarfoot.co.ukMountain Δ Triangle Necklace by Adrienne Wroath. (made-to-order with love and care.) Adrienne makes handcrafted precious metal Jewellery. Her inspiration for is drawn from simple lines and shapes found within her environment, often focusing on geometric forms.$42You can buy this and other pieces from Adrienne's Etsy shop. And here is her blog
What a surprise I got driving past Eastville roundabout. The best place to find poppies in Bristol. Hundreds and hundreds of poppy plants. I did ten minutes of picking, took them home and filled half of the Sunday paper and an hour of my time lining them up to be pressed for the 3 months they need before they turn beautifully translucent.
Another batch for my poppy collection, part of my ongoing poppy project. I have been doing this for 5 years now and have thousands. Soon, it'll become something but for now I am happy with the collecting and meticulous pressing (each petal needs to be completely flat and intact).
I have been doing some drawing in parks, on pavements and at the harbour. Using this lovely ink - Encre Sennelier: "shellac based ink with a transparent satin finish". bought on the Graphotism website, which i really recommend for any kind of art material.
They have lovely color-wheels to help you select color. I use a squeezy pen - a caricature artist at a wedding gave this pen to me after I enquired about his pen - kind chap. It has a long pointed brush which fills with more ink when you squeeze the pen.
The cartridge is filled with black ink, but I dipped the end in the yellow ink, allowing the black to seep through a little.
I made this a good 4 years ago now, little man heat-pressed onto cotton. I would love a heat-press machine! The special paper transfers its colour onto paper or fabric and has makes these lovely faded colours
Barfoot and Duggan have been busy creating an attractive shop front hoarding to use to board up the disused shops in Union Street, Broadmead, Bristol.Here are some of my sketchy designs:
I found those pics of the boxes in THE MOST AMAZING BOOK IN THE WORLD, Tactile:High Touch Visuals by Klanten, Ehmann and Hubner. Published by Dgv in November 2007. It's only £26.80 in Amazon, and I found it in Urban Outfitters for £25. The rrp is £40!Everything in the book is so delicious, I am so inspired. There is also 'Tangible', which is next on my list!
So the box pics are titled 'De Designpolite' made by students at the Utrecht School of Art in 2004.
Today I have been mostly making these friendly hill monsters. They are to be put in my oven tonight to harden (made out of Fimo) and given out as little Christmas presents. Arrrr
