The Evolution Of Otters

Experiments in felt have proved a pleasant diversion from reality . . . and as mentioned previously, I've been trying to capture the essential otteriness of my current favourite animal.  Why?  WHO KNOWS.  Will anyone want to buy one?  WHO KNOWS.  Have I enjoyed it?  HELL, YEAH.

I've been working without any kind of 'official' pattern or guide, just making my own templates from drawings I've done from photos.  The results have been variously bad, hilarious, dinosaur-esque, wonky and cute but ultimately pleasing - so much so that I thought I'd put together some 'evolution diagrams'.

Fig. I

Fig. II

Fig. III

The choice of felt colours has been limited though - I'd love some of that more handmade-looking, subtly-coloured textured felt.  I will have to look in a few more specialist shops, which is possibly an excuse to go to London. And spend money.

If you wish to own a fine example of 'OTTER PERFECTION', click here!

10% off!

After some social network jiggery pokery, I can offer you - yes, YOU - a 10% discount off any purchase from online retail website Giftwrapped and Gorgeous.  Just quote the code PWC6GM2.

If you go down to the woods today . . .

'Into The Woods' was a runner-up for the best Open House in 2010 and it reopened again this year at 8, Grantham Road - a little shop in Fiveways.  Expertly curated by the very talented Mia Underwood, the shop is staying open throughout June and July and features a range of gorgeous stuff, mostly inspired by birds and animals, so I'm thrilled to have been invited to show there too.

I'm really loving the work of Mique Moriuchi who illustrates and makes beautiful cute felt animals.

INTO THE WOODS, 8 Grantham Road, Brighton open daily 11am-5pm

Giftwrapped & Gorgeous

I'm delighted that retail website Giftwrapped & Gorgeous have featured one of my bird brooches as their main header for the 'Brooches And Corsages' section.

Next Event

I will be having a stall at this event on Saturday 4th June.  It is being held to raise money to save Saltdean Lido - a beautiful Art Deco structure on the seafront just outside Brighton.

 

(Oh, and the Quebec Street Art House was the runner up for best Open House)

Exciting Things To Be Excited About

EXCITING THING 1: OPEN HOUSES

I made cakes too - raspberry & coffee

The Open Houses are going well and I will be interested to get the final sales totals from all three at the end of the month and see which one went the best.  All of them are great though - there was a fab PV at Florence Road on the second Friday, where the owner Kate Lulham had made some utterly delicious food and lots of my lovely friends turned up - some from as far away as Tobago and Qatar! (I don't think they came specially, though).  It turned out to be quite a party.

With Lynn & Geo Parkin, Paul Cemmick and Rory Walker

The Quebec Street Art House, where I am also showing, is one of three houses to be shortlisted for best house in the Festival, which is great news.  The outcome will be revealed on Friday 27th May.

EXCITING THING 2: SELECTIONS
Other nice May things include being one of fifty designers selected for UK Handmade's Summer Showcase and one of forty for We Make London's pop-up shop in Hampstead, London.  This takes place during the first week of July and I'm really excited about debuting my work in London.

EXCITING THING 3: OTTERS
I'm determined to turn my profound love (who said obsession?!) with otters into a creative format, and so have been playing with felt and embroidery threads.  I have lots of ideas but have only managed to do these so far.

It's hard not to make them look like teddy bears!  To tie them in with the things I am already making, I made some owls as well.  I'm still not completely sure what stitching to use around the outside, but these are my favourites so far.

I've put them into the Florence Road Open House to see how they go.  I was trying to make some things that I could sell more cheaply, but true to form, I seem to have opted for a time-consuming approach, which makes that difficult to achieve. 



EXCITING THING 4: ADAM & JOE
Also, I am stupidly excited to have been name checked on the Adam & Joe podcast from BBC6 Music after sending them a couple of silly badges I made inspired by a feature on their show.  I only just found out (thanks, Katie!) and as I'm such a fan, I find listening to it rather surreal (it's around the 43rd minute mark for those who care to wade through it).


So, just having a little lie-down right now . . .

Brighton Festival is here!

Brighton Festival is upon us again and with it come the fabulous Artists' Open Houses, now in their 30th year.  For those who don't know, this is an opportunity for artists to use their homes as galleries and display their own work, as well as those of others, every weekend during the Festival.

Shark Alley is showing in no less than THREE this year, and they are:

Delicious Delights @ 60, Florence Road (Fiveways Artists' Group)
The Quebec Art House @ 20 Quebec Street (Hanover Trail) and
56, Tivoli Crescent (Dyke Road Arts)

(Details of these and all the other houses can be found at http://www.aoh.org.uk)

So last week there was much dragging of huge bags of jewellery and display materials up hills to 'hang' each show, then the Private Views (ooooh, all that free wine - how terrible) and invigilation - all in all, it has been a very tiring few days!  The shows look great, though, so it's worth all the hard work.

Quebec Art House - 19 artists PLUS cream teas

Shark Alley @ Delicious Delights - 60 Florence Road