A little taste of THE SHOP

Hello again,

Has anyone in the UK got snow????  We haven't got it on our part of the South Coast of England......Booo!

It was bitterly cold yesterday when Chris and I went to Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth to do a photo shoot of some of the bags we have handmade, and which we plan to put in our online shop which is opening at the end of this month  Isn't if funny how some people give you the weirdest looks just cos you're taking a few photo's.  Doesn't everbody spend their Sunday afternoon on their knees on a freezing cold pavement taking shots of bags hung on masts and bollards??????

Anyway, here is a little peek at one of the messanger bag which will be in the shop soon (photos are not edited yet)

Just got to get a photo of Diana our mannequin modelling the bag and we're ready to go.......

Chris says this bag is her favourite...........do you think that's a hint!!!

Well, Happy New Year everybody and may all of your dreams and wishes come to fruition in 2013!

Another year gone..............it went so quickly that I think I missed most of it.  We were very busy with a lot of shows in 2012.  This was an experiment really to see which shows were worth doing and which, if any, were a waste of time.  I don't think any of them were a waste of time really, but we came to the conclusion that the bigger, more expensive to enter shows, were the most profitable.  So we will continue with them this year.  We will also continue to take part in the Handmade in Havant fairs which, as well as being local to us, are committed to supporting all that is handmade in the area, which has got to be a good thing.  Details about these fairs can be found at 

https://www.facebook.com/HandmadeInHavant.

For Christmas I received an electric Teppanyaki grill.......mmmm nice you might think......well yes it was, because I didn't want it for cooking on as such, I wanted one to warm my encaustic waxes on as I delve into the exciting world of encaustic painting.

 

 I have been researching encaustic painting for quite some time now, and once I had my hotplate there was no stopping me.  I could have bought ready made encaustic medium, but never one to make things easy for myself, I thought I would make my own because it was cheaper!!!

The beeswax and damar resin (tree resin) was ordered and once it turned up, I needed to melt it and mix together to form a much harder and shinier wax than beeswax can manage on its own. I used a ratio of 10:1 beeswax to resin.

 Look at the yummy melted wax..........the debris in the bottom of the container is bits of tree etc from the damar resin, it is captured in the resin and needs to be sieved out when melted or scraped off once the wax has set.

And, after ensconcing myself in my craft room for many hours, here is my first real encaustic painting.  This is done on a 6 inch square ceramic tile and will eventually be mounted into a box frame.  The painting is loosely based on the colour, motifs, and patterns of the Maasai tribes of East Africa.

I think me and my hotplate will be very happy together.

Eileen

Blast from the past!

A few weeks ago my brother Frank cleared out his 3 bedroomed house, as he had sold it and was moving into a smaller one bed place.  It stands to reason that a lot of "stuff" had to go, and as I was helping with the removal I was on hand to say "don't throw that away, I can use that".  I'm one for reusing, recycling and upcyling where possible.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, Frank was on the verge of getting rid of some old Beano and Dandy comic books that he had kept for years, so you can guess who claimed them!!!

At the moment I am into making bags. Tote bags in particular at this time, and I got to thinking how I could incorporate the comics books into the bags.

The result is this

An original Mothership Makes (a division of Decima Designs) tote with a pvc covered panel holding a page from a 1992 Beano comic book.  I think it looks pretty good!  On sale soon!!

Well, who would have guessed???

Well, would you credit it?  It's August Bank Holiday weekend here in the UK, we are attending a Craft and Garden Show at the National Trust Propery of Kingston Lacy near Wimborne Minster in Dorset over the 3 days and guess what.............................it's raining!!!!!

Good old British weather,  just after we arrived at Kingston Lacy today to set up it started to rain a little, then it got harder, then it poured.  Getting our products from the van into the marquee in the rain was not much fun.  Luckily we have just invested in a range of lidded plastic boxes to store our stock in, so nothing got wet (except for Chris who was unloading the van).  Me......I just stood inside the marquee and took the boxes from her!!!

It's difficult to decide what to put out at some of these shows, as this one is termed as "Craft and Garden" we thought we would hedge our bets and put a wide(ish) selection, some garden stuff and some craft.  You just never know.

Anyhow, this is how our stand looked before we left it overnight in the marquee, hope its not too windy tonight! 

More new kids

Well, what do you know!  Playing around and experimenting with fabric is great.  I sorted out my fabric stash this week. I got it all organized, measured and cataloged, but then just HAD to do something with it.  Some time ago I had seen some lovely little fabric brooches somewhere, so I thought I would try doing my own variation on them.  Here is the result.

Once this was done, I moved onto bags.  I have been wanting to try making a reversible tote bag for some time now.  Well now I've done it!

This comes with its own removable embellishment/brooch

Here is the lovely Diana modelling

These may very well be going onto our new Etsy shop in the very near future!!!

The beginnings of a new range!

Quite excited about this one!!!  The 'Beachcomber' Range.

Chris and I often walk along the shores of The Solent which is quite close to where we live in Fareham, Hants.  Some of our favourite haunts are Hill Head, Lee-on-the-Solent, Portchester, Hayling Island and Milford-on-Sea.  We have even been known to go out to Selsey at times.

As artists we are always on the lookout for inspirational finds, and over the years have picked up many a pretty piece of pottery, or "must have" pieces of driftwood.  As the collection grows, and I look through the finds, I often wonder what we can do with them. 

As with most of my "good ideas" this one came to me in the shower.  Why not upcycle them into useful or decorative items.  So that is what we are doing.

The jewellery pieces are carefully ground to remove sharp edges, while keeping as close to the original found shape as possible, they have a hole drilled through (carefully) and thoroughly cleaned before adding a ring and chain to complete.

The wooden pieces are from found wood.  This had obviously not been around long enough for the sea to round the edges, but enough to make it look rugged. After drying it out we painted and distressed the wood some more, before printing onto it and sealing with a polyurethane varnish suitable for indoor or outdoor use.

We quite like the results. What do you think?

Stansted Garden Show

Hello all,

This weekend we are taking part in the prestigious Stansted Garden Show in Rowlands Castle, Hampshire.  Open from 10am - 5pm 15/16/17 June.  A great day out for all the family. Lots to see and buy for the garden and home, along with speciality foods and children's entertainment.

The Decima Design stall at The Stansted Garden Show