The Country Child

Wow, it's been a while since I posted! Christmas and the New Year have been really busy. Since October I have been working 7 days & 2 evenings a week (on non-design jobs!) and finally it's getting back to a more manageable pace. I was working on design projects when I could so it's meant alot of very late nights, but I think it's all part of the job! Why else do all designers seem to live on coffee?! I also had limited internet access for a while which in this day and age is disasterous!

So my last post showed early developments of Alison Uttley's 'The Country Child'. Derby Theatre are holding a week long event this summer celebrating her life and books, with a produced version of The Country Child as the main event.

It's been a long time spent working on the poster - Uttley has written some beautiful books (she has been unofficially dubbed as Derbyshire's Beatrix Potter) and undoubtably her writings have touched many people. For these reasons, something delicate and with alot of love put into it is needed to represent her.

So, here are some of the final(ish) images, needs a bit more work on selective contrast etc, and of course poster text to be added, but I am pretty pleased with it. What I love most is that it is totally handmade, the paper sculpture of the girl, my own textures, hand painted type... I found some lovely old wallpaper that I scanned in and messed with for the flowers...

Poster - made to look like a bookpage come to life!

Theatre (Studio) Leaflet version

The web banner version of the poster

Anyway, best get back to work!

x

My new jewellery storage!

I have been busy the last few weeks. Alot of sitting working on the laptop which is good but at the same time, I need to have regular breaks and be doing stuff! Anyway I have been painting and doing a few random bits around the flat, and I finally got around to doing a job I have had in mind for a while; I transformed a picture frame into a jewellery storage/display piece. I have seen it done a few times, and you can even buy some nice enough ones from eBay and whatnot, but anyone who knows me knows that I like to get my hands dirty and crafty head on!

I love the fact that I live near a few different charity shops as I am always finding super cool, super cheap (and often vintage) bargains! A while back I found a HUGE wooden picture frame which I bought for next to nothing, so last night I removed the back and the glass (which I recycled!). I sanded and whitewashed the wooden frame, then using a staple gun attached on the reverse some very fine black mesh material that i got from the market. I then backed it with a sheeny pink type paper and hey presto! It looks great I am happy with it - I can finally see my shiny things! Oh, I also used some pink cotton ties to hang it with.

Full shot of the frame

Mesh and whitewash detail

Jewellery in all it's glory!

It's actually not even finished, I want to do a bit more work distressing the frame (which you'll see I love to do when I upload more DIY project pics) and also the backing paper is temporary - I'd like to find some really nice fabric and use that instead.

My sister has just moved out of home and in with her boyfriend, and she has a birthday coming up. I am thinking of making a smaller one for earrings, it would be a fab gift for her!

Finally - another cheap and cool piece of DIY: Ages and ages ago I picked up some tiny square 3D frames (again at the charity shop) 75p for 3! I just very quickly sanded and washed the frames as I did for the project above, although this time I kept the frame back and stapled some left over vintage rose fabric to it (left over from a chair I re-upholstered (using an apron - but that's another story!)) They look really cute (but upon showing them to Hans, I don't think they were to his taste! A bit too girly :) I added them to another second-hand find (a small shelf) that I had distressed. They are sitting pretty now on my bedroom wall along with a dried rose - I kept the rose from the flowers Hans gave me on our first date, so it's nice and sentimental for me too!

The little shelf and rose

A closer look at the fabric frames (I love the fabric!)

An even closer close-up! You can see the lovely 'shabby chic'
effect you get from distressing the painted wood.

So, anyway - very happy with those little bits of DIY, and it's been good to get away from the screen occasionally. I intend on refurbishing my desk soon as it has a huge ink stain on top - so when I get around to it I'm going to do a proper 'how to' with before and after and everything, so watch this space!