Inner Child

A couple of weekends ago we went to the Bristol Harbour festival, it was great fun. In fact I think I reverted to a child as I bought a bubble gun, had my face painted and made little animals out of clay in the tent that was most probably meant for children... It was a make and do extravaganza!

There was an amazing market too and most of the things sold were handmade. This is where my beautiful flower hair garland came from - I have actually been thinking about crafting some kind of permanant daisies to make into a daisy chain head band. Ever since John made me a real one and I thought it suited me in a hippy, flower-child sort of way. So far though, I have only gotten as far as to buy some green silk embroidery thread, so this one should do me for now. Talking of festivals, I'm actually going to V-fest next weekend, and after the lady with the rainbow hair and funky eyes painted onto her eyelids has inspired me, I'm seriously tempted to bring my face paints.

Anyway, I'm off to a work soft-play outing to release my inner child again...

Home is where the heart is...or should be

Whilst staying with my parent's in Wales a couple of months ago, we went to the beach (it's kind of half pebble beach and half sandy beach.) We played a game just looking at the smooth flat pebbles that came in all sorts of size/shape variations and, kind of like that looking in the clouds game tried to find shapes that reminded us of things. We found a bunny rabbit shape which also could have been an axe, a gun...orrrr a penis! (what is this crazy connection between rabbits and phallic symbols?...very disturbing) and a perfect kidney bean shape which my dad painted a smile onto.
I also picked four smooth, similiar sized, circular or oval stones to make lettered stepping stones from, my inspiration being this delightfully shabby chic Laura Ashley sign.


I have now made a little windowsill display comprising of these, my giraffe statue and an oil burner! random, but I like it, and it's these little personal touches that make a house feel like home. Funnily enough though this house doesn't feel nearly as much like home as the house in that beautiful corner of the welsh coast where my parents are - and I've never even lived there! but hey ho! you can't win 'em all and I'm definately working on it.

My Birthday... which was like, 12 days ago now!

I finally got round to celebrating my birthday Saturday, at flying saucers - which by the way is, "like totally the coolest place ever!" I haven't got any pictures as yet because they're all on my sisters camera but I do have a photo of what I made the last time I went;

and an article I wrote about it once on a website called Dooyoo;

"At a loose end of what to do on a Saturday afternoon, my boyfriend and I (well I did anyway) thought it would be fun to try this place, it's a bit different and I really enjoy doing creative activities. So I dragged him along and we both had a really enjoyable afternoon.


Flying saucer's are a pottery cafe - as the name implies, however there was no actual pottery to be done, rather a collection of ready casted 'pieces' for you to choose and then paint, at a table while you sip on a coffee and nibble a muffin.

Flying saucers really stress the point that there really is no creative ability required and it is for all ages from 0-100 so it really is for anyone. Babies can do prints of their hands or feet for a lovely keepsake and the pieces make excellent gifts.


How it works ~

As you walk in you are greeted by the friendly staff of which there was only one or two but it's a small place so thats all they really needed. We were asked 'Are you here to paint?', after answering that yes we were she ran through that there was a standard 'studio fee' of £5, or £4 for children on all items which covered the glazing and firing charges for your finished piece, she then directed us to a large shelving unit for us to choose a ready-to-paint cast, the choice was very good here are some of the things included.

Models of dinosaurs, fairies sitting on toadstools and other various animals (great for kids)
Money boxes and piggy banks
plant pots
plates, mugs and bowls
Vases
Many other household items such as handheld mirror and hairbrushes and even a pasta dish!


All the items were individually priced but the mugs started at £9 and other items went up to about £30 depending on intricacy and size. The average price though for medium sized items was about between about £10-15.

So anyway, back to our experience - I chose a mirror (the mirror piece gets stuck in after firing) and my boyfriend (who was at this point decidedly uninspired) chose a basic shaped and sized mug.

The woman then came back at sat us down at a table and gave us what can only be described as a 'roulette' of ceramic paints (all with a coin of ceramic glued to the top showing you what the finished fired and glazed colour will look like, half the coin with a single coat, the other half with several coats to show you the difference in colour.) In the middle of this roulette were various sizes of brushes of seemingly decent quality from pinpoint thin to spread-on-the-paint thick. She also gave us a testing plate and told us that we could rough out our design in pencil first as this would burn away during firing. She then pointed out that at the front desk were more tools such as stamps, versions of the paint for writing with and an array of pottery design books to give inspiration.

Food ~ Do have lunch or breakfast before you go as what's on offer are really only refreshment such as muffins, hot chocolate, tea and coffee and you will lose track of time as you immerse yourself in your creation before suddenly realising you're starving!


The finished pieces ~ So anyway, we got down to painting the things and were in there for at least two hours but it felt like half an hour. His mug was all different pinks spelling out the name 'BARBARA' as a present for his mum. Mine was a weird patterned fantasy land mirror with my name swirling across the top and funny designs such as ribbons and an eye (don't ask me why.) We had two cups of tea and were very proud of our results.


The end ~
Tired from our hard afternoons work and with stiff necks from looking down at our pieces in deep concentration. We told the lady we'd finished and were then asked to paint our initials on the pieces so they could be quickly identified when we picked up (I didn't need to as my mirror had my name painted across the top of it.) We paid and were told we could collect any time after leaving 48 hours for glazing and firing (although you can arrange for them to post it out to you if for example you are visiting the city and are really unable to pick it up). Well anyway we went back a week later on the following Saturday with our receipt to pick up our masterpieces. I was given the mirror insert for my mirror but had to glue it in myself when I got home and that was that. A great time had by all.


What else do they offer?~

According to their website they also have a branch at certain centre parcs. The shop is also available for children's parties (although this could work out quite expensive and I'm not sure if they offer discounts or not) and even office team-building events or business meetings with a difference! Flying saucers offers a special deal on a tuesday where children can paint 10% off and the accompanying adult gets a free coffee.

Opening times ~

The Bristol branch is open every day from 11 and shuts at 6 except on Sundays when it shuts an hour early - although from my experience if you're already in there finishing up a painting when it shuts they won't kick you out for the sake of an extra 10-15 minutes finishing up time.

All in all I was really happy with the finished piece I got out of the experience which is precious to me and I hope will last for a really long time. I am also really happy with the experience itself as I really enjoyed myself and so did my boyfriend- I think this would be a great thing to do as a first date! "

And on Suuuuuuuuuuuuunday, my amazing friend Adele gave me my birthday present which she'd made herself out of old charity shop plates and candle sticks and I lovelovelove the home-made and recycled nature of it. It's SOOO shabby chic and gorgeous - I cant stop looking at it!

It is technically a cake stand but I'm going to use it for jewellery!

And yes, as you may have spotted in the background... that is one of the beautiful mirrors I was raving about by Fiona Harron, John obviously picked up on my, not-so-subtle hints!

The Running Man, The Fish and the Paintpot

Sounds like a good name for a pub! 

Whilst I'm in Wales nestled cosily in the bosom of my family home. Ha!

I have spotted here and there, a few little things I've made over the years, I did hope to see some of my childhood salt dough creations adorning the christmas tree, but alas! they are no more. Anyway, I thought I'd share some of my past M.A.D's and the story behind them.

The running man

A school art project to convey movement and speed based on the Unique Forms of Continuity in Space sculpture by Umberto Boccioni. I rather think instead of conveying speed, he looks more like he's trudging through a snowstorm in slow motion but there ya go! Underneath all that plaster of paris and black and gold paint is a power ranger bought in a charity shop! Somewhere there are photos of the whole process but their wherabouts eludes me entirely.

The fish

A slightly more traditional creation, made from clay, colour-glazed then fired, I still remember making each individual scale! He's lost a fin or two and been repaired over the years, If you look closely you can see that big crack in his little fishy tail. Here he is a fish out of water beside Mydr (the stream running through my parents garden).

The paintpot

 A little boredom project I remember doing; a glass jar decorated with stained glass window effect paints intended as a paintbrush holder, the idea was not to use the same colours next to each other which is why, despite my efforts to mix new shades, there are quite a lot of blank spaces! I think it adds to the overall effect though...

I'll let you know if I come across any more of my past M.A.D's dotted around my parents home!

Children's face painting

As some of you may remember, I did mention a week or so back about doing more children related crafts, anyway, more recentely than that my old friend and her daughter visited me, cue box of face paints. Here are the results, she asked for a butterfly;



This, my friends, is what I had to contend with...three colours! although for what they lacked in colour choice they most definately made up for in the addition of glitter gel!

Luckily, I was blessed with a subject who was beautifully patient and sat still for nearly forty minutes...you may not be so lucky.
I definately think my butterfly attempt beats the one on the box at least?

Love canvas

It was mine and John's anniversary on September the 16th, and he bought me, a canvas. When I say canvas I mean a blank one, the artist shop kind, sealed in its packet, on it's own. Last of the true romantics...as you can imagine I was a little confused, perhaps it was some kind of profound statement? "Our love is a blank canvas...?" "Yes that's it! that's what I meant!" John hastily agreed.

"So our love is a blank canvas? which I alone need to inject all the colour and life and passion into?"

"Oh actually no...", he says, I didn't mean that"

Basically, he forgot, and his workplace is situated conveniently close to a Gardiner Haskins, which he ran into after work, the night before, and followed this exact thought process;

'Something she'd like.....

Not too expensive....

Tools?....no......

quick,quick.

DIY....no....

Kitchenware....no.

Art!

Oh this'll do, time to go.'

But I had to forgive him in the end, as he did have a BEAUTIFUL big bunch of flowers delivered to my workplace, and I also got champagne (well sparkling wine...) and a lovely meal out.

My flowers:
My 'love' canvas:

I used texture paste to build up the initial heart border (it takes a while to dry).
I then used pearlescent liquid acrylic as an all over wash, using various orange coloured standard acrylics and gold ink to highlight on top.