Christmas Shopping

I have a shop on Etsy, a great place to sell handmade goodies and to sweeten the deal over Christmas I'm offering free shipping within the UK...want to take up this offer then you'll need the coupon code GRACEINKCHRISTMAS11. I'm adding pieces all the time, if there's something you want to buy which is missing, please get in touch and I'll try and list it as soon as possible!

Papa Stour takes Editor's Choice

As I mentioned in my last posting some of my textiles were making their way to the Country Living Fair in Glasgow courtesy of the lovely people at Papa Stour. As well as displaying and selling around 40 designer-makers across Scotland they also went home with the Editor's Choice award for their amazing stand display as well as for the quality of products and the great work they are doing for Scottish Designer-makers, thanks guys and well done!

Papa Stour at The Country Living Fair

My Indian Slipper Cushions and Chinese Junk Table Runners are going on a trip without me next weekend to the Country Living Fair taking place in Glasgow. Papa Stour an amazing online boutique for scottish craft and design will be taking a stand at the event and I promise you that you'll find some amazing gift ideas at the event so why not take a trip (check out the Papa Stour website for how to get cheaper tickets to the event). If you can't make it to Glasgow that weekend then you should have a look at the Papa Stour website, I promise you won't be disappointed!

Birdcage Tape

The newest designer item to GraceInk's collection is this fantastic birdcage tape, use it for wrapping your Christmas pressies in style, sending parcels to the far flung corners of the world, making notecards and gift tags or for jazzing up anything that's just boring! Want to buy a roll then check out my Etsy Shop where I currently have it for sale. I'll be stocking the shop with lots of goodies over the Christmas period so be sure to make your purchases when I do...

Over the coming weeks and months I'll be posting lots of different ideas for the tape...have an idea then why not leave a comment and I'll give it a go!

Art Market Update

A couple of quick pics from a Sunday spent in Holmfirth...The Art Market is also taking place next Sunday with a whole bunch of new creative types...well worth a visit as the work on sale is top notch! This was my stand and as you can probably tell, display wise, I'm getting alot better...helped by some handy display items lent to me by great friends. My new tape (which I will blog about in the coming week) went down a storm which is really satisfying.This is a friends modelling her Juti (it's the Hindi work for Inidan Slippers) bag I made for her last Christmas, I really love the riot of colour going on. Thanks to everyone that turned out, it was great to see some familiar faces among the crowds and I hope there are few new fans of GraceInk out there. Also had a great chat with Ruth Pullan who makes Harris Tweed goodies (and did some swapsies), check out her website here.

Art Market...this Sunday!

The Art Market in Holmfirth will be taking place this Sunday (November 6th) and I will be gracing a stand there along with some other great talents...it will be the second outing for me to this wonderful event which I really enjoyed back in June but it will be the first outing for a new product to my line...pop along to find out what or pop back soon to find out more! Exciting!

Christmas comes early...

GraceInk HQ has been looking somewhat like I would imagine Father Christmas's grotto would look like if he was into screen-printing as much as me. The elf (that'll be me then) has been busy printing and bejewelling Christmas cards all week for shops and my next upcoming fair, the Art Market in Holmfirth. And today the envelopes arrived in silvers and golds to finish off the cards a treat...looking forward to selling a few when the festive season starts! In true GraceInk style the images are a festive take on birdcages and russian dolls and have been waiting all year to take a bow...

WASPS Open Studio Update

Finally (I can hear you all sigh), I'm updating on the WASPS open studio which happened a couple of weeks ago now. I have a good excuse in the fact that I took a little break away straight after the event and since coming back have been a busy bee producing Christmas stock! So here is some images from the event, the first two aren't my own doing (as you can probably tell from the quality and that I appear in one of them!), a lovely lady called Christine popped along with her very glam camera and I asked if she could pass the photos onto me, which she kindly did. All these very talented people. The one below is the lead into my little space, I had screens, squeegees and portfolios on show so people could see how my textiles are made.

The weekend was very much a success; I chatted, I ate (far too much yummy home-baked goods), I listened to brilliant music and I even sold some work...which I guess is the whole goal of the show! Thanks to everyone who turned out and took part in the fun and frolics. There was live music throughout the weekend and this year Selkirk WASPS was supporting Children 1st with their charity wall.

And, check out the cool cards that were produced on the craft table by the kids, teenagers and adults of the Borders...the man with moustache makes me smile everytime I see him...amazing!

Selkirk WASPS Open Studio...This Weekend!!

This weekend (1st & 2nd October) sees the annual WASPS open studios, where the nosy among us get the chance to have a peek inside a working artist's studio. I'm highlighting the one I'm involved with in Selkirk, tucked away in the Scottish Borders, but you'll find them across the country (Scotland). Why not join us for yummy cakes, live music, arts and crafts to make and the chance to buy directly from the artist themselves. This year we are supporting Children 1st with our special charity wall.

Crossing Borders Art Trail

As I mentioned in my last post the weekend just past was the Crossing Borders Art Trail, it's an opportunity for Visual Artists and Designer-Makers to open their doors across the Scottish Borders and let the general public see where they work and what they make and hopefully sell a few goodies along the way! (I'll be taking part in the WASPS Open Studios in October and that is why I took part at someone elses studio)

Just thought you might like to see a few pics from the event, top one is of Julia and I outside her house with our sheep. Everyone that takes part gets a sheep to decorate to entice people through the door, Julia's sheep was all fluffy and due to are 'brilliant' climate had to be kept inside (you can see Woolamina in the window) and mine was a little more hardy ( sadly we never named mine...opps!)

We took over Julia's dining room for the event (I wasn't allowed to be left in the house by myself as I seriously would have done tours of the house while she was away...it's so beautiful...she has a very keen eye). Julia up-cycles locally sourced tweeds & fabrics and you should know by now that I'm a screen-printing extraordinaire, check out the pics above and below to see our pop up shop, Julia did a great job of getting the place set up and making it really accessible for everyone, we are now thinking of turning it into a shop for real...only joking!

Thanks to everyone that came out to support us, it was a great weekend with about 150 people through the doors over the three days with many sales, cups of tea and chocolates eaten. Stayed tuned for more exciting joint ventures in the future.

Art Trail...Last Day Sunday 11th September

It's the Crossing Borders Art Trail this weekend, it also happens to be Saturday already so this is a little late to be letting you know about it, but I thought you might forgive me if I posted a few pictures taken of my screen-printing demonstration/s; what started out as one demo at 1pm turned into 3 demos throughout the day as lots of people were very interested and I do like to please!

I have set up my temporary studio in Julia Cunningham's kitchen, a textile buddy who let me camp out at her fabulous abode over the weekends activities. And I managed not to get dye everywhere...very pleased with myself!

Thanks to everyone who has made it along so far and hopefully see some of you there tomorrow...

Hoorah! Russian Dolls finally make it to print...

It's been a long time coming but the first of my new Russian Doll pattern has been printed onto canvas bags in a pretty purple colour, just got to decide what colour ribbon to accessorise with. They'll be making their debut at next weekends Crossing Borders Art Trail, where artists and crafts people in my local area (Scottish Borders) open their doors so you can see where the magic happens! I'll be taking residence at a friend's house for the duration as a few weeks later my studio will be opening its doors for the WASPS open studio weekend extravaganza.

Long time...No See

It has been a while since my last update, about a month and a half, however this hasn't been because I haven't been doing anything worth writing home about but more that I've been so busy I haven't had time to update you on what GraceInk has been doing! So a quick update, I did my stint at The West End Fair in Edinburgh at the beginning of August (what a busy run up to that one) which was with a couple of textile friends (we're named the Borders Textile Trio if you're wondering) and then I ran a workshop at the Fringe Conference in Doncaster last week. See picture above to catch some screen-printing action!

And then I had myself a little holiday back in my home town, which was great. I got the chance to catch up with friends and family and not do any work, which was just what the Doctor ordered after a very hectic 2 months. (I also squished in an appearance at the craft fair at Harestanes and the Morningside Makers Market since last we talked). Check out above for a cool stencil one of my lovely participants created at my workshop in Doncaster. And I promise that it won't be as long again until next we talk...

Paxton House & Crossing Borders

This is Paxton House which is a Scottish Palladian Mansion built in 1758 by John and James Adam and is situated on the banks of the River Tweed. And this is also where I will be finding myself one day a month until October, looking after the permanent exhibition presented by Crossing Borders members, of which I am one.

Crossing Borders is an arts organisation representing creative talent across the eastern border of England and Scotland. At the exhibition you'll find an array of hand-made merchandise including wood-work, ceramics, textiles, framed prints and fine art including a few pieces of mine for sale.

My first opportunity to spend the day looking after the goods on sale came back in June, I managed to sell a couple of pieces by other artisans and only had a handful of people through the door which I thought was pretty impressive. Because it was quiet (it wasn't quite the school holidays yet), I managed to draw this picture above of a friends and fellow crafter's house. We are doing some bartering at the moment! This will eventually be printed and framed (& I hope take pride of place in her home)!

Anyway, why am I telling you all this, it's just to let you know that I will be there this Wednesday (July 13th) for another day, so if you happen to be passing by this part of the world then I would really recommend a visit. It is a hidden gem, I took another friend for a bit of birthday crochet (they also have a putting green and woodland walk) the other week and won extra brownie points because they have lots of highland cows hanging about...amazing creatures and my friends favourite animal.

Creative Residency 2011

I've been away all week teaching screen-printing to a wonderful group of fifth year students in Oban. The picture above is just to give you an idea of how beautiful and sedate the area is that I was lucky enough to find myself working in. (it has to be said that all things sedate pretty much ended there...but what great fun was to be had)!

The group of students I had produced some amazing work throughout the week, pictures of which you can see above and below. My first year of leading a course during the Creative Residency was last year, where I had a fantastic week and thought it couldn't be beaten. However when I was asked to run the course again this year, I couldn't have said YES fast enough and I had just as much fun, if not alittle more sprikled on top.

The first couple of days the weather was rather pitiful and meant we were cooped up inside trying our best not to spill dyes onto the beautiful clean floors or burst any screens by accidently standing on them. By the third day the sun came out...whoop...and we moved outside sharpish where we could make as much mess and chaos as we wanted. Check out the screen-printing taking place above. (and the t-shirt being worn by my assistant, designed by me for the event. If you have a look in the blog archives you can see the one I did for last year too).

Here is one of the students painting onto a screen to be printed later. If you check out the washing line picture above you can see some of the finished t-shirts and fabrics that the students printed. A selection of the work is presented at a wonderful exhibition which will be taking place in early 2012, which I'm really looking forward to seeing and also the opportunity to catch up with my wonderful group.

Here's a sketchbook being created, on day one/two we headed down to the harbour where the students had an opportunity to do some first hand drawing. It was important to get the students out of their comfort zone, they didn't have months to make finished pieces of work, they had days (which happens all the time in Industry and at University). The 'days' aspect was the first hurdle to get over, we started them off doing some pretty unusual ways of drawing making sure we collated as much interesting and unusual information as possible and hopefully instilling in them possibilities and ways of working for the future.

Here is a finished sketchbook page, it was great to watch the students 'get it' as the week went on and produce some superb work. I hope to lay my fingers on some images of the finished pieces of work and hopefully let you all have a look sometime soon. I'm now back home and have spent much of the weekend recovering from a full on week, I had such a wonderful time and look forward to maybe going back next year!

The Art Market...another one bites the dust

The weekend past was The Art Market which took place in Holmfirth (if you're not familiar with the place, it's in Yorkshire and where Last of Summer Wine was set when it was on our tellies). I had a fantastic time, it was difficult to get up at 5.30am (nearly as bad as the 4.30am start when I did the Selvedge Fair back in April) however the birds were singing and the day looked promising weather wise (this sadly was not the case by the end of the day). It was so much fun meeting new people, I didn't stop chatting all day. And there was even some familiar faces which is always nice. Here is me (above) serving a customer (who happens to be my cunningly disguised friend...the general public aren't too fond of being photographed when making a purchase which I can understand!)

I managed a fair amount of selling in between all the chatting too, it was great to have sooooo much space and be able to show off pictures of me in printing action and my portfolio on top of all the goodies for sale.

As promised a picture of the butterflies that adorned my stand, the theme for the entire event was gardens so I pulled out all the stops and had fake grass matting, plant pots with birdhouse plant markers and plenty of floating butterflies to make you feel outside when you were inside (well kinda...)

Here's what it looked like downstairs from above, I was busy all day so only managed a mad dash round the venue and all the lovely stalls right at the end of the day...pretty much as everyone was packing away...boo! But I suppose that shows how busy it was, I even only managed half my sandwich which just goes to show (& I really like my food). I did manage a quick swap at the end of the day with Faye Power, for one of her birdy themed jugs...so beautiful (she got a birdcage tote bag in exchange).

And last but certainly not least, here is a picture of my lovingly hand drawn chalk board which I carted along with me. The picture was taken by Mike Oakes, the professional photographer for the event. He saw it and thought it was great and happily emailed me the pic staight after the event. I spent so long decorating it that I can't bring myself to erase it, so I guess I'll probably end up buying another to decorate for next time.

The Art Market, Holmfirth...This Sunday!

Just a quick reminder about The Art Market which is happening this Sunday (12th June) in Holmfirth, GraceInk will be there with 49 extremely talented designer-makers from across the UK...very exciting!

As a quick sneek-peek, the theme for the event is gardens and so I've printed up some pretty butterflies to adorn my stand in an array of colours plus plant pots and fake grass. If you can't manage to make it along then be sure to check into my blog next week to see the finished results!

WASPS Spring Exhibition...it came...it went!

Wow! What a weekend. The Selkirk WASPS open studio was the weekend just past and was an amazing event, really happy that so many people came to support the group of artists and designers and many sales were made which is an added bonus! The Private View on the Friday night was buzzing, just a shame that we were all so busy having a good time that we forgot to take some photos...opps. Above is Saturday during the day, a really nice feel as people chatted and viewed the stunning artwork on show. Find out more about the individual artists here.

This is my pile of well lit cushions in the corner, thanks must go to Rob for sorting out the lighting for me as they looked really good and stood out with the light on them.

And here is the rest of my stand, I tried to go for an artwork hanging on the wall approach again to try and keep it within the style of the event, however I've been given a couple of good ideas for next time which I might try. I spent the weekend replacing the Tea-towels and Canvas Bags as they sold which I suppose can only be a good thing! Also I had a couple of framed prints which was a little different than usual.

And here is the other goodies that were for sale, plenty of cards for those (like me) that can't afford the artwork! Such a good idea as you can easily frame them and have your own mini artwork at home. I believe the next open will be in October and that one is nationwide so looking forward to that...keep checking the WASPS site for more information.

WASPS Spring Exhibition

WASPS (workshop and studio provision scotland) in Selkirk will be holding an exhibition of their members work between Friday May 20th to Sunday May 22nd. That includes me (!) and a whole host of other very talented practitioners from the Scottish Borders region. Hope to see some of you there...get in contact if you would like anymore information.

The Art Market, Holmfirth

I will be taking part in The Art Market, Holmfirth, on June 12th. I'll remind you all nearer the time about the fair but in the meantime point you in the direction of their blog where they are publishing question and answer sessions with many of the Crafts-people and Artists who will be exhibiting at this amazing fair on either June 5th or the same day as me (June 12th if you've already forgotten)! To read my Q&A then just click here.

Blombos Cave Offer

Just a quick highlight of a Blombos Cave offer in association with GraceInk, throughout April they are offering an extra 15% off all their jewellery and handbags, all you've got to do is type in graceink15 at the checkout to partake of this opportunity!

You might want to splash out on these lovely 'Coast' cufflinks by Hannah Lamb which I think are just stunning and also made to order based on a coastline of your choosing.

My personal favourite has to be Compass Alba's 'Map Brooches', you can select what part of the UK you would like to adorn this wonderful creation...you'll never get lost again!