ness donnelly

shop open

2008-09-22T15:04:00.002+01:00

At long last the shop is open and my new blog is up and running. hope you like the new look and please let me know what you think of the shop, there are only a few items to start with but I will be adding to them over the next few weeks. All the items are one-offs.

shop
blog

moving home and shop opening

2008-09-18T18:20:00.003+01:00

Well I'm almost set to open my online shop, just finalising the images and little details. A link to the shop and my new blog page will appear here in a couple of days, so i hope you will like the new look. I've been very nervous about this, I know its silly, but it feels like a big step and is a bit scary. I'm sure this time next week I'll be wondering what i was worried about and kicking myself for not taking the leap sooner.

I'm starting with a few items to begin with and going to build it up over the next few weeks. I have lots of exciting changes to make and I hope you will see the work starting to evolve pretty quickly. I know it seems like i haven't been up to much but believe me I spent every spare minute I have researching, planning and working on new ideas. Think of it like an iceberg, the majority of it is unseen but still there none the less. It will all start to emerge and make sense over the coming months. See you over at the new blog very soon x

where i'm up to

2008-07-28T12:32:00.008+01:00

Sorry I've been away for so long, but I have been busy doing lots of different things and just have a bit of time to play around with new ideas and research setting up a business. So to start with the new ideas, I've been working with linen and printed cotton fabrics and using applique techniques to make a variety of items. This picture is a bit of a taster of whats to come. I have been dilly-dallying around a bit mainly because I wanted to get everything just right, sometimes I think you have to just go for it and stop thinking too much, so that's what I'm going to do or I'll never get anywhere. I'm moving to a new blog home which I will put a link to when its all up and running and I will have an online shop opening soon. I thought about putting an opening date then so I'll have to stick to it but I'm too much of a coward, it will be the middle of August, honest it WILL be. I feel at bit nervous really but I'm sure there is no need to be.

We are off on our holidays at the end of the week so hence the delay. I'm very excited we are going to the wonderful Outer Hebrides, stopping in Invergarry on the way. I am ashamed to say I have never been to Scotland before, I'm not even sure why. We are camping and taking the dog, so it should be a bit of an adventure. If anyone has been before and can recommend things to do and see that would be great.

We have been working hard at our allotment but i have to say I wish the veggies would grow as well as the weeds. But the past few weeks it has all been worth it, we have been able to eat our home grown produce and it tastes delicious. The redcurrants are great just with ice cream (a tip from a fellow allotmenter) and we made some redcurrant jelly to, next year we want to make redcurrant wine. The potatoes are the best I've ever had, I felt like a child on Christmas morning when we dug our first potatoes up, they were like red jewels in the mud. Last night we had Lincolnshire sausages with mash potatoes, home grown broad beans (yum yum) and redcurrant gravy, it was heavenly.

Now we have the gardening bug we decided to visit Tatton Park Flower show at the weekend, its a smaller version of RHS Chelsea flower show. The sun was shining, the gardens where lovely, we had scones and tea, it really felt like a great British summers day...at long last. I've wanted to grow Lavender for a while and it was everywhere at the show, so we are making a space in the back garden and I will keep you posted. I also feel i love with these beautiful flowers below - Echinacea's, they look prettier in real life.

So i will be back after our holiday with news of the shop opening and blog details, if you are in England get out and enjoy the sun while it lasts ;)

time off

2008-05-21T15:01:00.004+01:00

I've decided to make some changes to make more changes to my blog and also update my flickr. I'm going to open both etsy and dawanda shops, each may have a different selection of items for sale. so please bear with me while I get myself organised and re-vamped and open for business. Because of all these changes i'm not going to post any new blog entries or new photos on flickr until it is all up and running. so see you all soon with the as yet unnamed blog and shop.

I found this gorgeous pincushion on the mogwaii website and just had to share it with all of you, enjoy.

a simple life

2008-05-15T12:04:00.008+01:00

Well its been a while since my last post, so firstly I would like to say thank you to the people that have left comments and I haven't had chance to reply to. I have had a look are your blogs and recommend people to check them out via the links on the comments section. So why the long break? two reasons really, I seem to have been very busy with all sorts of commitments from getting the allotment sorted out to work and catching up with people I haven't seen for a while. Also, I've been doing some quiet thinking about my craft work and what I need to do to move forward. I hope I'm not alone in my feelings of self doubt, it makes for a very unproductive period of time in terms of physically making but more beneficial in terms of thinking about where I am currently and where I want to be in a year, 5 years, 10 years. Can you tell I've been doing a lot of reading on the subject? I'm currently reading start your business week by week and can recommend it for anyone thinking of setting up business, its very easy to follow. I've also read Craft, Inc which is recommended on lots of craft blogs and very useful. I should backtrack slightly, I was supposed to go on a one day craft business workshop in April, but unfortunately it was cancelled due to lack of numbers. I was very disappointed so decided to start doing lots of research myself. I am a bit of a research junkie, I love it and probably explains why I never get anything done but have lots of information on how to do it. So back to where i am now, contemplating the future and where its going to lead. My husband and I are thinking of a big life change brought about firstly by the fact he will be made redundant at the end of June, like so many people in the current economic doom and gloom. so we see this as an opportunity to change our lives completely. I really want to run my own small business be it making crafts or something a little different and possibly in another country, France, Spain and Italy are the main contenders at the moment. So my blog is going to change slightly over the coming months as I document the life changing journey we are about to embark on. the one thing we both agree on is we want to escape the rat race and live a much simpler life in a rural community, hopefully near a mountain ( i love mountains).

So back to my craft work and how I see it progressing. I don't want the work to be about a certain style or trend, its about making objects that come from the heart. One off pieces that stand alone rather than being part of a collection. I am constantly inspired by what I see around me, as my environment changes so does my work and my ideas develop a life of their own. this is what has stopped me opening a online shop in the past, I felt that everything had to match or have a certain look, but I know realise this isn't me and doesn't have to be the way I work. I see the result being an eclectic mix of objects. the idea of producing the same thing over and over again doesn't appeal to me and I think I would get bored. i don't like everything to match perfectly in my life, I love to mix old and new, so I don't know why i thought i couldn't apply this to my work, it is a reflection of me after all. so I will leave you with what I am currently working on and look forward to reading your comments.

I'm also dropping the Folk title, I've discovered a knit wear designer that also uses the name folk and it is already a registered business name. I've been trying to think of a different name but had no luck so far, so I've decided to use my real name instead, ness donnelly.

pin cushions

2008-04-14T20:18:00.005+01:00

Well I've been keeping busy making pin cushions to go with the needle cases for my soon to open etsy shop. I'm also working on a few more bits and pieces and some one off works. I'm planning to open the shop in a week or so, I'm got a week off work and thought this would be a good time to get everything sorted out. Last time I put work up for sale at etsy it was a bit half hearted and the photos weren't very good, so this time I want it to look right. Below are a few images of what I'm working on, trying not to give to much away.

the allotment

2008-04-02T16:30:00.006+01:00

We have recently acquired an allotment to grow our own veggies on. its all very exciting and neither of us have done a lot of gardening so we thought an allotment would be ideal, we can learn from all the other gardeners and there will always be some one to ask if we're not sure. We already made a few friends who are giving us lots of advice, we are quickly learning that everyone has their own way of doing things and they're all different.

above is the allotment before we started work on it. in the top left corner is a redcurrant bush which apparently has lovely redcurrants and in the middle of the back are raspberry stems, so we are hoping to get lots of lovely raspberries in the summer. the weather hasn't been great for gardening recently so we haven't been able to spend as much time as we would have liked there.

Below is the allotment after 3 hours of digging with Andrew and Tess pretending to be working hard :)

we got up nice an early on Saturday were digging by 7.30am and two sore backs, sore legs, blistered hands and 3 hours later we had turned over half of the plot. enough space for our potatoes and onions in one section and new seedlings in the other. We are having a go at growing anything we like to eat to see what actually grows for the first year. so far we have seedlings for courgettes, sweetcorn,broad beans, salad leaves and lots of different herbs. We are also hoping to grow potatoes, onions, peas, peppers, aubergines, carrots and spinach. I'll keep you up to date with our progress.

feeling inspired

2008-04-02T15:54:00.009+01:00

I've been in my make-shift studio sewing away, trying out new ideas and making work to go on sale soon. I've been working on needle cases and pincushions and i also intend to make aprons, bags and purses to start off my shop. I'm still deciding if i should go with the popular etsy shop or try something different like dawana or big cartel. I like the idea of European based web shop so if anyone can recommend somewhere i would be most grateful. so a sneak peek at what I've been doing recently. i will be posting more photos on my flickr page next week.

I'm sure I'm not alone when i say that i can get easily distracted by the Internet. i will go on with every intention of updating my blog, replying to emails and editing my photos when I'm suddenly lured away by the bright lights of surfing other peoples blogs, finding new designers to be inspired by and finding lots of lovely things to buy. this week i stumbled upon blog that i can't believe i haven't found before or read about somewhere else, its heather bailey. Heather is based in America and designs the most scrumptious fabrics and makes wonderful objects with them. her husband is photographer and i assume he takes the fantastic images of her work. here's just a few to tempt you.

this is the nicest tablecloth weight I've seen, it makes me wish it was summer.

And this is her studio, the studio of my dreams,its just like a sweet shop. Their are more equally enticing photos on her flickr site to inspire you.

new look

2008-03-16T12:25:00.002Z

Hope you all like the new look to my blog? i thought is was time for a change and a more up to date look that fits in with my new collection.

busy, busy, busy

2008-03-16T11:00:00.008Z

I've been keeping very busy for the last week working on new ideas for my first collection of pieces. i am still planning to have the new items for sale by the end of this month. I've had a week off my paid job and its been great playing at making things for a living, i don't want to go back to my boring day job. I'm finding that my style may appeal more to children than adults and need to decide if i'm going to concentrate on designing for children or mixing with designs for adults. I love little girls clothes and always say why don't they make clothes like this for grown ups? i would buy them and i'm sure there are other adults that don't just want to wear boring black, brown and grey in plain fabrics. I love oilily children's clothes but the womenswear is no where near as nice.

this is based on sampler motifs and stitched into paper. i've overcome the problem of finding nice gridded paper by printing my own. i can have any colour size and shape as long as its not larger than A4, which is ok with me. I'm thinking of doing more custom orders with children's names on and maybe more for weddings similar to the piece i made for Jenny.

I'm also working on some printed designs possibly for cards or maybe incorporating them with stitch. I'm also working on fabric pieces, using bright printed fabrics, lots of lovely buttons and ribbon and some stitch. i want to keep to the folk theme, its what inspires me to make, both traditional and contemporary folk.

call for makers from all over the world

2008-03-03T16:47:00.002Z

i am going to start a series of regular blog entries on different countries and the wonderful designers from around the world. I am a particular fan of Australian, Portuguese, Argentinean and Scandinavian designers but by doing more research i'm sure i will find more countries to add to my list. If you would like your work featured please send me an email.

new finds 2

2008-03-03T15:47:00.013Z

well i've been busy working on a new collection, well actually its my first collection. i don't usually work in this way, but thought it might be time to start, so we will see how it goes. in between making, updating my blog, walking tess, baking and going to work i love to just browse the web for new and interesting designer makers, so here are a few i discovered this week. i forget how i get to these people most of the time so i'm sorry if i don't credit a particular site for directing me to them.

reform school

ok this is not a particular designer but a shop selling lovely crafty products and i love the website design. its in america looks an amazing treasure chest of goodies, if anyone as been there i would love to hear about it. below is one of my favourite finds in the shop, all the pottery by ayumi horie is just so beautiful and unique.

ayumi horie @ reform school

you can find this lovely ribbon here i really love anything to do with little red riding hood and i'm not sure why, maybe i should do a blog entry on some of the little red riding hood inspired goodies i've found.

dutch door press

I love all the dutch door products, well i just love anything folkie actually, you can find this and more here i think that will do for now but i will continue to update you on anything i find that's interesting.

making a start on the new collection

2008-03-02T15:36:00.003Z

I've decided to work on a collection work based on the sampler motifs, decorative borders and text. I'm also going to combine stitch, print, applique and a a variety of other techniques. I also intend to use paper and fabric in the pieces. They will be for sale in my etsy shop that i will get up and running again. I will be selling printed versions of the stitched pieces at a more reasonable price along with other objects. i want to start using a variety of techniques rather than rely on cross stitch. so this is just the start and i will keep you up to date with my progress and hopefully improve my photography skills along the way.

new finds

2008-02-25T13:22:00.010Z

shim and sons

today i decided to re-organise the lists and links, this is all part of me trying to organise my life better. i've made 3 separate lists of artists and designers i like based on location - europe, australia and the rest of the world. I've also updated all the lists and discovered some of the links no longer work. So if your looking for some inspiration or just want to find out what i've found interesting over the past few months then please investigate the new links. I also plan to start a new list simply called new finds where i will list new discoveries for one month before they are filed into the relevant list. i thought i would tempt you a few images to get you started.

gesine hackenberg

lisa stickley

lalitah

if you follow this link http://www.lalitah.com/ and then click on eine kleine geschichte you get a wonderful little animation.

tamielle

this is part of the handkerchief club by tamielle, its quite an interesting story and the website is beautifully designed.

getting on with my work

2008-02-20T21:37:00.008Z

Well i've found my camera battery charger and started to take photos again, so this is an update on what i've been doing for the past few weeks. I'm playing around with previous ideas but in a slightly different way, i tend to make small progressions in work i'm happy with otherwise its a giant leap to something more different. I'm still working on the sampler motifs and stitching into paper, but looking to combine paper with fabric in the future. the most recent finished piece of work i have done is a commission for Jenny at indie quarter, you can view this at http://www.indiequarter.com/blog/2008/02/15/a-special-commission/ thanks Jenny for asking me to make this piece for you, its one of my favourites and i'm so glad you like it. i've taken a couple of photos of the ideas i'm working on, the later is a sort of logo and my own printed grid paper as i'm finding it difficult to get gridded paper that i like.

i want to keep with the smapler motifs and folk feel to the work but start incorporating new techiques or ones i haven't used for a while. By printing my own paper i am limited to A4 size at the moment but i'm not too concerned. i believe creative work changes and developes with the new challenges we have from such restrictions. the plus side is i can print the grid in any colour and on any paper i like, so with some restrictions come new freedoms.

this is a sort of logo i'm working on, i really like the folk girl and think it represents what i do quite well. i'm very excited about making work and having a focus again. i felt like i was drifting slightly when i first moved back to england, its just taken a while to settle in to a new routine. a main part of my new routine is taking tessie for a walk, tessie is our dog and she loves going for long walks. this time is great for mulling over ideas and coming back to work fresh. tess doesn't really like having her photo taken but i did manage to get a shot of her when out walking the other week.

what a beautiful day

2008-02-13T16:16:00.003Z

firstly i must tell you about a wonderful online shop i found through 6.5sts blog. Linnet is a linen fabric and notions shop in Japan and has the most beautiful fabrics, laces and ribbons, i'm sure i'll be ordering lots soon. the french ribbon pictured above is unfortunately sold out but this gives you an idea of the wonderful treats in store when you visit the shop http://www.lin-net.com/English/shop_linnen.html

Over the last couple of weeks i've been fairly busy, working on a commission for Jenny at Indie Quarter and also doing a lot of research on setting up a craft business. I would love to make a living from creating and making so i've decided to get myself informed and organised and do it instead of plodding along hoping it will all happen eventually. i also managed to find my cmaera battery charger so i've been out taking lots of photos which i will be posting here and on my flickr page.

in between all this and work i've also managed to see my first gig in a while, we went to see angus and julia stone at the ruby lounge in manchester. it was great and i recommend you checking out their myspace if you like acoustic, folky sounds like i do. they are brother and sister and hail from australia http://www.myspace.com/angusandjuliastone

i must not neglect my blog

2008-01-28T12:35:00.000Z

the title for today's post came from a blog i read recently and it really hit home with me, i have been neglecting my blog far to much since i returned yo Manchester. i don't seem to have much time at the moment, which i know is poor excuse we could all do with more time. i've also misplaced my camera battery charger, which is slowly driving me mad trying to find it, so i haven't been able to take any photos. i've told my husband this means its time to get a new camera, he just smiles and says nothing. i really like reading other peoples blogs but sometimes i do feel a bit lazy and just like to look at the pictures ;) so i prefer to post entries with images. my way around this problem at the moment is to use other peoples images to tell help illustrate my tale for the day. I thought i would share a few of the lovely places and shops i've discovered or rediscovered since returning home. So if you visit Manchester i recommend you check them out, if not have a sneak peek at the websites, more about that later.

I thought i should update you on my work to. I haven't been making as much as i would like to, unfortunately i also have to work the boring day job to help pay the bills. but i have reduced my hours so fingers crossed more time in my new studio, well the newly painted spare bedroom, but its a start. I've some new ideas to start work on, more progressions of what i've been doing over the last 6 months. i'm hoping to set up a website and start making and selling work seriously over the next 6 months, so if it sounds like i'm dragging my feet please give me a hurry on, we all need one every now and again. i hope to stat posting samples soon, see if i get that new camera.

I work slap bang in the centre of Manchester so its always good to get out at lunch time and do a bit of shopping or have a nice cuppa in a friendly cafe. my favourite part of Manchester is the Northern Quarter, its a bit arty and relaxed with everything from bars and restaurants to florists and vintage clothes stores. My favourite cafe is love saves the day, its only small but friendly and the food is yummy. there is also a sister cafe on deansgate that does more food and if you can't get there but fancy trying there food out then check out the website, its full of gorgeous recipes to make at home.

love saves the day on deansgate http://www.lovesavestheday.co.uk/siteNorm/home.php

My favourite book shop is magma on oldham street. when i left manchester 3 years ago this book shop was only found in london, i was over the moon to see it in manchester. it specialises in arty books of all descriptions and a few other curiosities. i've always loved book shops, especially small specialist ones, i could happily spend all my money on books. if i had a large house i would love to have a library full of lovely books and cosy chair to snuggle up in, in front of an open fire, i'd probably never leave the house. you can check out magma here http://www.magmabooks.com/

last week i was wandering past when i saw a book in the window, it beckoned me into the shop and before i knew it i was at the counter purchasing knit knit. i don't knit as much as i should, i think i enjoy the act of knitting more than the end product. so i thought this book would inspire me to pick up my needles and get knitting, it as, so much so that i've been looking for a local stitch and bitch group. i've found one that meets at borders, manchester fort on wednesdays but if anyone knows of any others please let me know. i'm hoping to go to the borders one this wednesday for the first time. if anybody knows of any embroidery based groups that meet up locally or wants to help start a group please let me know. well i think i've made up for no existent previous posts in one foul swoop so i want go on much longer. i will not neglect my blog, repeat one hundred times.

Manchester diary

2007-12-11T16:18:00.000Z

I'm starting to settle back into my life in Manchester and finding lots of really interesting places and shops to visit and spend all my hard earned cash. so i thought over the next couple of weeks i would share a few of my favourite finds with you. this will give me a chance to get my camera out and about in town. at the moment i'm sharing a computer so don't have 24 hour access and i can't download my images at the moment, still very disorganised... its no excuse i know, will try harder. we are also in the process of looking for somewhere else to live after Christmas so i feel like i have no time for myself and my work.

I did the Craft market the other sunday which was good although i didn't sell much it was great to meet and chat to other makers. unfortunately the famous Manchester rain decided to pay a visit and kept people away. it was busy on the saturday apparently but i had work commitments preventing me from doing both days. if you would like to read all about it and see some pics, then check out http://www.indiequarter.com/blog/2007/12/10/indie-quarter-christmas-podcast/ you can even download a podcast of me and the other stall holders talking about our work.

Saturday is my day off this week so i'm heading into Manchester with my camera and visiting the wonderful Christmas markets and a few of my other favourite places, no doubt ending in a lovely drinking establishment of some kind.

how time flies

2007-11-26T22:05:00.000Z

I can't believe i've been back in Manchester for a month already. the first two weeks were just settling back in and catching up with friends the last couple of weeks i've been working at the job that pays the bills and not had much time to do anything else. i've missed not updating my blog at least once a week and hope now i can get back into my old routine. i've been busy making work when ever i get a spare moment, so i'll post some new images soon. its the manchester craft mafia market this weekend. i am really looking forward to it but panicking about the amount of work i have, cause all my stuff hasn't arrived from Australia yet. if you are in Manchester on saturday or sunday then pop into Urbis and say hello. i will get the blog up to date this weekend ... i promise.

works in progress

2007-10-19T10:12:00.000+01:00

i've been a busy little bee today getting down ideas for future work, so i thought i would share a few these with you. i quite liked the tags i made yesterday for mitch and charlotte so i had a bit of play around with them again today.

i just love sitting in the garden sewing and today was perfect, the sun was shining but not too hot and the ideas were flowing, this is an idea i have for a needle case cover, but i may use it in other works to. i really like the vibrant pink and blue stitching on the gingham fabric. gingham is one of my favourite fabrics so i tend to use it a lot, probably more than i should.

for this idea i'm actually reworking an old piece, the pink paper and ric rac is from a paper skirt i made about 15 months ago and no longer like. i do still like the ric rac edge and the patterned paper with red stitching so i saved this part and i'm adding the blue stitching now. i think its important not to be too precious about your work and if its not working how you want it to, just rip it up and start again or reuse the parts you like.

i also finished the pressies for mitch and charlotte. the duck cushion is for mitch, his favourite colour is red so red gingham seemed appropriate. the little bag is for charlotte, she loves bags and pink so i'm sure she will love this. there coming for tea tonight so i'm going to give them to them then, hope they like them.

when this you see remember me

2007-10-18T11:18:00.000+01:00

today i've been doing some more work on my market items and also making leaving presents for mitch and charlotte (my nephew and niece). i wanted to make them something to remember me by, so i've made charlotte a little bag, like all most girls she loves bags and shoes. for mitch i've made something a bit different, a cushion with an appliqued duck on it. the story behind this is i have a t-shirt with a big duck on the front and mitch loves it, so i said i would make him a cushion with the duck on. i'll post images of both presents tomorrow. The image above is the tag i going to attache to each gift, the pink one says made for charlotte with lots of love from auntie ness xxx and the green says the same but for mitchell. i know mitch loves to keep things like this.

i love sunday

2007-10-17T13:23:00.001+01:00

i have managed to do some work in between meeting up with friends for leaving drinks and looking after my lovely nephew and niece. i've started work for the manchester craft mafia market in December. i have a rough idea how i want the stall to look but i also want to stay true to my artistic ideas and not just make things i think will sell. i want to make things i would like in my house and i would buy, i wanted to do something different from the bags and purses i have previously made. i also wanted to continue working on the many ideas that came out of the 31 days project. i've tried to make something a little bit unique, i'm not aware of work similar to this anyway. i started stitching into paper over a year ago and really like the crisp look of it. i've always loved paper as much as fabric to and see paper as a type of textile anyway. i wanted to combine my love of vintage embroidery, especially samplers, with the time based diary idea. the sampler lends itself very well to this way of working as samplers were used as a way of documenting time, dates are nearly always included along with text, names and motifs of significance to the stitcher. this is my first piece and i'm really pleased with how its turned out. please let me know what you think. sorry its not a great photo, i always have trouble photographing graph paper, if anyone as any tips i would gladly welcome them.

When i was in Peru i learned that the woven blanket the women make use to carry babies and goods in contain motifs that tell the story of that persons life, you can tell which village the person is from and what type of crops they grow and animals they keep. i also love the Peruvian use of colour. i used to be quite muted with my colours but since visiting south america my colour scheme as completely changed, i feel i'm a bit more adventurous with colour, almost childlike sometimes.

charlie and lola

2007-10-17T13:00:00.000+01:00

I've finished work and thought i would have lots of time to be making but i seem to be busy all the time. on monday i looked after my 5 year old nephew and we did a few crafty things that we found on the internet. Mitch loves the charlie and lola, if you don't know who they are you can check them out at http://www.charlieandlola.com/ or on cbeebies (the BBC young children's site) http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/charlieandlola/ on the cbeebies site there is a colour and make section which is great, you can make paper dolls of charlie and lola and also the clothes, but my favourite is the butterfly gallery, i won't tell you what happens but it is truly magical, we both looked at the screen in amazement, you can find it here http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/charlieandlola/funandgames/butterflygame/

even if you don't have kids i'm sure you will love the illustration and design that goes into charlie and lola.

Nina Katchadourian

2007-10-10T13:22:00.000+01:00

apologies for not posting for over a week, my only excuse is the excitement of seeing all my friends back england again, only 2 weeks to go now. tomorrow is my last day at work - yippee. so i will have no excuse for not posting over the next 2 weeks. i am happy to say that i got accepted by the manchester craft mafia to hold a stall at the december market. so i will be busy for the next few weeks making all manner of things fro the stall. i'll go into more detail about my plans next week. hopefully i will do a bit of housekeeping on the blog to, i need to get into the habit of tagging and organizing posts better. which brings me to the subject of this post, Nina Katchadourian, i've been meaning to write about her for weeks. i can't even remember how i found out about her now. anyway she makes various types of artwork but i really like her sorted book works.

Katchadourian arranges books, from collections and in private homes, in order so make a sentence from the titles on the spines. you can read more about her work on her website http://www.ninakatchadourian.com/languagetranslation/sortedbooks.php

artists i like sunday: two

2007-10-01T08:57:00.000+01:00

ok i know its monday and not sunday, but its a long weekend in western australia so i think i'm allowed to be a day late. since i've packed all my belongings up i have found myself at somewhat of a loss, my hands are itching to get making, so i have turned to the internet for a bit of research instead. its also been lovely weather this weekend so i've been out and about in the garden and meeting friends for coffee. with this extra time on my hands i've been able to find some wonderful sites so this could end up being a long post. i have been looking more at opportunities in the manchester area for when i return home, its less than 4 weeks now. so to start with i'm extremely excited to find out that manchester has a manchester craft mafia and there first craft fair is the weekend after i arrive home, how lucky was that. i often come across the austin craft mafia (the original) and wished there were groups like this that existed outside america, so to find one that is connected to the austin group i my home town was like all my dreams coming true. through this site i've also been introduced to more amazing crafters,i leave you to discover your own favourites http://www.manchestercraftmafia.com/index.htm they also have a flickr group http://www.flickr.com/groups/manchestercraftmafia. an interesting blog that has connections with the manchester mafia called indie quarter with news about all sorts of craft, design and art happenings across the UK. if you want your work to be featured on the blog you can contact indie quarter with your details. check out the site http://www.indiequarter.com/blog/index.php there is also a blog for UK etsy sellers http://uketsysellers.blogspot.com/

tait and style

well know i've got my exciting news out of the way i'll talk about some lovely work i've found while browsing the internet. first up is tait and style, as winter is on its way in the northern hemisphere its time to get a nice new scarf and tait and style make gorgeous knitted accessories. they have been around for a while but sometimes its good to be reminded of more established designers as well as emerging ones http://www.taitandstyle.co.uk/index.htm

skinny laMinx

this purse is made from vintage embroidery and can be found in skinny laMinx's etsy shop, its just so pretty http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5008751 many bloggers are probably familiar with skinny laMinx through other blogs she really does make some beautiful things.

lotta jansdotter

lotta jansdotter makes hand screen printed bags, toys, aprons and other household items. the designs are simple and eye catching. i love scandinavian design both traditional and modern and lotta combines her swedish and finnish heritage to make beautiful modern designs. see more of her work http://www.jansdotter.com/index.php

lu summers makes colourful and interesting collages using a variety of materials and techniques, her work is for sale on etsy and she also has a blog http://blu-shed.blogspot.com/ the work above is a particular favourite of mine.

well i think that might be enough for today, but i will probably post more exciting finds throughout october as i'm less able to be making at the moment. tomorrow i'm off to see thomas the tank engine live with my very excited nephew, hes made a book of drawings for thomas which is excellent.

finally, an update on an earlier post. last weekend i visited the artists carboot sale in Perth and was impressed with the work of future shelter, i bought the badges and would of loved to buy a painting to. Adam and Jane from future shelter have been in touch and told me about there other project little design horse which is definitely worth checking out http://www.littledesignhorse.com/ jane has produced designs for habitat and worked for peagreen studio in london. the couple are now based in Perth, western australia.