Christmas is coming!

So why not join us at Manchester Craft and Design Centre for a little festive shindig? On Saturday 27th November, from 2 til 4, we will be hosting the Launch of our new exhibition, Past Present Perfect and getting in the Christmas spirit with free mulled wine, music from Kathryn Edwards and a Christmas Choir. There will also be a free craft activity, making finger knitted Christmas decorations. How nice! Don't forget to come upstairs and say howdy, the double act of Miss Smith and Miss Blease will be putting in a rare appearance - this is surely not to be missed! xx

Inspired by Fair Isle

Here's a little look at some new ideas I've been working on. I've been thinking about this sort of thing for a while: geometric shapes, symmetry, folk prints and grid structures have been lurking in sketchbooks for some time. I thought I'd put some photos of my design process up too.



Pattern drawn out on graph paper and traced off.




Transfered onto stencil paper and cut out with scalpel.




Red print on white felt. I've printed this design onto aprons and tea towels so far, I'm hoping to make some felt cushions too. Come on down to the studio and take a peek! We're having our Christmas launch at the Craft Centre on Saturday 27th November, why not pop in them for a free drink and a wander about? Any feedback would be much appreciated!

New Signage!

Hurray hurray! Jane and I finally got round to agreeing on signage and putting it up! It was a bit tricky as our logos wouldn't have worked together and we both use different fonts, but Jane worked on a nice, simple design for us and I think it looks very smart! It took us about 3 hours to put it up, but it was well worth it in the end! I'm really glad we've got it up before Christmas, it's taken over a year to sort out. That's the way of self-employment, you gotsta prioritise!



Obviously the ampersand is my favourite bit xx

Ministry of Craft

Hello! Next Saturday I'm running a screenprinting workshop for the Ministry of Craft at Fred Aldous. There are still a few spaces left, so if you fancy giving it a go head over to the Ministry website and book yourself a place! We will be using simple stencil-cutting techniques and screen printing onto fabric. Bring some inspirational images and something to print onto! In past workshops people have printed onto t-shirts, bags, pillow cases and cushion covers. You could even print onto some lovely fabric and frame it, or make a sweet, personalised bunting for a party...Many possibilities! Hope to see you there! x

Beetles and bugs in Blackburn

Here are some photos from the Blackburn Museum's collection of beetles. The colour and variety are amazing, I love the handwritten labels too. I'm going to be focusing more on the Japanese print collection, but we're keeping these as a back up as they're so fascinating!

Celebrating ceramics

As promised, here are some more photos of the ceramics collection at the V&A. I foolishly forgot to write down the names of the makers, if anyone can help, that'd be great! The V&A collections website is a brilliant resource, but I think the most recent items aren't on it.



Ceramic carrots



Glazes - gorgeous colours!



Tile Panel, William de Morgan




Look at the little feet on these guys!




More beautiful colours.



'Trophy' by Clare Twomey. This was originally an installation where visitors were invited to take away their favourite bird. How lovely!

Hello sausage!

'Sausage' by Richard Slee

Yesterday I went for a training day at the Victoria and Albert Museum as part of the Design for Life project. I worked on it last year with Bolton Museum and 2 school groups. This year it's slightly different, with Bolton as the core museum, and Salford Museum and Art Gallery as one associate partner and Blackburn Museum as the other. I'm hoping to work with young carers from Salford and possibly a school group in Blackburn. Exciting stuff! I've never been to Blackburn Museum and am itching to have a good look at their Japanese print collection!

I'll put up a few more snaps I took at the V&A of the ceramics collection as soon as Blogger decides to play nice! I focused on this as we're thinking of taking the Pilkington ceramics collection as a starting point for the workshops in Salford.