November

November has been an awful month, one of my oldest and dearest friends passed away,my partner faced redundancy from his job and I have had the upheaval of a full central heating installation in my new home.

I have had the chance to make a few new things some of which has featured in exhibition with `Moving Clay`,the art group I belong to. One of these items is a necklace made from the adult comic book `Viz`the contents of Viz could be described as rude,lude and politically incorrect but I find it often hilarious and given the general vibe of November its been good to have a reason to laugh.

This is one of the thoughts behind my work,the notion that although gold and diamonds are undoubtedly valuable in monetary terms the value of a good laugh when down or a map when lost surely is worth so much more.

Artists statement

I have been struggling for the past week to redo my Artists statement.This has been mainly spurred on for an exhibition that I am participating in and the brochure for it needs all the artists exhibiting to provide a statement in 180 words. It has been something that I have needed to do for ages and i guess its something that will need doing again,its not I thought that I cherish.Having said that I do think that some kind of info regarding work is important.I certainly wouldn't want anyone to think that I go mindlessly folding and cutting up books just to be shocking or gimmicky.I found myself writing all weekend and it is surprisingly difficult to condense everything that interests me and inspires me regarding my work into only 180 words that doesn't make me sound pretentious or make me cringe.
I have done it though and it sounds a bit pretentious and the word "juxtaposed" that gets used make me cringe a little but I haven't found a better word yet given the context. Generally I am pleased that I have redone it and hopefully wont need to do it again for a little while,I shall have to re evaluate my statement more often though as it has made me re-evaluate my work and made me think of why I am doing the work I do.
Here it is,comments/suggestions on grammer,spelling etc welcome!

"My work has developed from my love of Sculpture, textiles and Artists Books (the book as an art form in its own right). I am inspired by geometry, growth patterns in nature and repetitive structures and processes. I like to produce work that is small, tactile and portable which is why much of my work is wearable.

Paper and especially books may not seem like the obvious choice as a material for jewellery or sculpture. I am interested in exploring the experience and structure of the book alongside the aspects of the fragility and transience of the material they are made from, juxtaposed against the longevity and value of the content recorded in them. I am interested in exploring the idea that these qualities reflect some aspects of being human. I am also attempting to question the nature of `value` in the society we live in and to remember that the end of the book isn’t necessarily the end of the story."
Liz Hamman
October 18 2009

allthingspaper

I was contacted recently by a really nice lady called Ann Martin who asked me if she could use some images of my work for her blog http://allthingspaper-annmartin.blogspot.com/
As well as some of my own work you can see some wonderful work by lots of other paper artists. Ann who is also is a paper artist does some beautiful work using the technique of quilling(paper filigree).There are also some tutorials to take a look at which looked good,I certainly plan to take a closer look and have ago,thanks Ann!

rizla ring

rizla ring, originally uploaded by effemera.

This image gives an idea of scale.

rizla ring

rizla ring, originally uploaded by effemera.

This is one of the first pieces of work I have managed to complete since moving house.
Its made from the running out slips that are found in Rizla cigarette hand rolling paper packets. You get them to warn that there are only 10 papers left and they can come in different colours these are the blue and red ones.
I was inspired by the slogan that is printed on them that says-
"Rizla + its what you make of it".

Sustainable Jewellery

Popped into my local library the other day and found a great book called `Sustainable Jewellery`by artist Julia Manheim. Its not a `how to` book,there are no projects to make but it is packed with some fabulous work done by her students and other up and coming artists,plus one or two that i was already aware of.
The chapters deal with aspects of sustainable jewellery such as The found object,conceptually recycled,the useful object and ephemeral jewellery.It is a really interesting read that of course deals with the notion of sustainability in jewellery and design in general with some great photos to compliment the text.I would recommend it,very inspirational!

moved

Hooray! I have moved to my new home and am loving it even though everything is in disaray.
I have kept tabs on my tools and materials and have made sure to keep them handy and accessable so all being well I can start `making`again and very soon.

moving house

Its such a shame that I havnt got time to spend on this blog at present.I am packing up to move into a new home and life has got hectic with sorting out my stuff from my present home and my partner making room in his home for me to move in.
Even worse is that i havnt had any time to make which is so frustrating. I am expecting it to be at least a month before I shall be in a position to be creating again.
I am at least hoping that I will have time to surf the net for interesting stuff to inspire me and all being well I shall post to this blog.

Butterfly in my garden

A couple of photos of a butterfly in my garden taking the nectar from my Butterfly bush. I think that it is a Red Admiral or as my daughter used to call them when she was little a `Red Admirable. They are very admirable creatures,it is a good name.

Have just googled the butterfly and it is in fact a Painted lady or (Vanessa cardui).

NMNH Entomology Collections

NMNH Entomology Collections

The U.S. National Entomological Collection ranks as the second largest insect collection in the world with approximately 35 million specimens including over 100,000 holotypes plus hundreds of thousands of additional paratypes and other secondary types.

Old Bess passes over Todmorden

Old Bess passes over Todmorden, originally uploaded by effemera.

I rather liked the idea of the Butterflies having names that related to the landscapes that they have been formed from.This one has a place name of Old bess which I think is a lovely name for a Butterfly although i am not sure that butterflies really can be old.I think of them being ephemeral rather like the paper that this one has been made of.
Old Bess though is as `old as the hills`!!!

I had a thought that maybe i could make a display of them rather like a victorian collection in a cabinet,using map pins to hold them down.

A flutter of butterflies

a flutter of butterflies, originally uploaded by effemera.

Since i have had so many ideas fluttering around my head recently this is what I decided to do. The practice is good and I am not really all that great at origami but I love doing it and as they say practice makes perfect.
Not sure what i shall do with them at the moment.

One & Other

One & Other: "Fourth Plinth
The Fourth Plinth is the name given to the empty plinth in the north-west corner of Trafalgar Square in London. It was originally designed by Sir Charles Barry and built in 1841 to display an equestrian statue. There were not enough funds available at the time to create a statue and so the plinth was sometimes referred to as the 'empty plinth'.
In 1998 the RSA commissioned a series of three works - by Mark Wallinger, Bill Woodrow, and Rachel Whiteread - to be temporarily displayed on the plinth. Ever since, the 'empty plinth' has been home to a number of temporary works of art commissioned from leading national and international artists. The Fourth Plinth project is now managed by the Mayor of London's office, with advice from a special commissioning panel. In 2005, Mark Quinn's sculpture, Alison Lapper Pregnant, attracted a high level of interest from the public and media alike. A portrait of disabled artist Alison Lapper when she was 8 months pregnant, the 3.5m high sculpture was carved out of a single block of white marble.
Thomas Schütte's sculpture Model for a Hotel 2007 has been situated on the Plinth since November 2007. It is built of specially engineered glass in yellow, red and blue which collects the light, reflecting it through the edges.
Antony Gormley's One & Other will replace Model for a Hotel in July 2009, beginning the next chapter in the plinth's history.
www.fourthplinth.co.uk"

One and other again

I have just applied to be on the fourth plinth.The selection is on August 1st for a place in September.Its a random selection with thousands of applicants applying so I probably havnt got much of a chance.If you dont enter there is no chance,rather like winning the lottery.
I am pretty excited even though I am not sure how I am gonna organise myself regarding work and also my house move should I be chosen.

one and other

My friend Jean Westbrook will be appearing on the fouth plinth in Trafalger Square at midnight tonight as part of Anthony Gormleys project `One and Other`.I am hopeing she will be making an appearance with her `Big Cardigan`!
Here is the link to the live webstream.
http://www.oneandother.co.uk/

Klimt02: Paper Jewellery: poor jewellery Milan Italy exhibitions unique custom jewelry custom handmade jewellery exhibitions

Klimt02: Paper Jewellery: poor jewellery Milan Italy exhibitions unique custom jewelry custom handmade jewellery exhibitions

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Some wonderful paper jewellery or as they describe it `Poor jewellery` in an exhibition to be shown in Milan this year.The pieces I think are totaly stunning,the skill of these people is amazing as is the material of paper.

find make wear

find make wear, originally uploaded by effemera.

This is the piece that was included on the V&A site,its a bracelet made from cardboard boxes and wire.

Find, Make, Wear - Victoria and Albert Museum

Find, Make, Wear - Victoria and Albert Museum: "Find, Make, Wear
In September 2008 the Victoria and Albert Museum set up a group on the photo sharing website flickr called Find, Make, Wear in conjunction with artist jeweller Professor Dorothy Hogg MBE who was at the time Artist in Residence at the Sackler Centre for arts education.
For the Find, Make, Wear' flickr group challenge we asked people to add photographs of jewellery pieces made from recycled materials. The group had a fantastic response from the public with hundreds of contributions. This page features a selection of some of the most creative contributions, as selected by Dorothy Hogg.
Find out more about how to join flickr and the Find, Make, Wear group.

I was lucky enough to have a piece of my work selected for inclusion on the site.I was absolutley thrilled as the V&A is one of the best places to visit on the planet!
I could happily spend months there looking at the various collections.

sunflower book sculpture

sunflower book sculpture, originally uploaded by effemera.

Book sunflower,when assembled it was about 2 meters tall and used 23 folded books.The books used were childrens stories mostly from the `Horrible Histories` and `Goosebumps`range.
The flower pot book at the bottom was made from a book about flower arrangeing which seemed appropriate!
I was trying to convey the idea of personal growth through reading,and that from a small seed of an idea other ideas grow and blossom.

Older work

folded book, originally uploaded by effemera.

Older work

folded books, originally uploaded by effemera.

This is some of my older work.

Try Mind Mapping

Try Mind Mapping, originally uploaded by creativeinspiration.

Found these rather nice mind maps on flickr.I quite like the idea that the one above is a mind map about mind maps!

De-Clutter Mind Map

De-Clutter Mind Map, originally uploaded by creativeinspiration.

Really nice mind map found on flickr.

For more info and inspiration take a look at http://www.mindmapinspiration.com/

Too many ideas

At the moment I seem to have too many ideas in my head.I have spent lots of time this week experimenting and doing research and development. Problem is though that one idea always leads to another and one experiment leads to another so nothing seems to be achieved.
I think I probably need to take a break for a little while and let all the ideas percolate and stew.
I do seem to have a butterfly mind which probably doesnt help.

For today while my ideas are brewing I am going mess with this blog and add some links to sites I really like and or belong too.
On the thought of butterfly mind possibly my mind could also be described as an ephemeral one too! it might be a good plan to do some mind mapping in my sketch book. I used to do this when I was at college and it really helped,must get back to doing this.Maybe my ideas would then be remembered and last for more than a brief moment.

Monopoly Brooch

New origami brooch made from Monopoly money.I found a travel monopoly game in my loft,the size of the money was perfect and gave me a great oportunity to experiment with a repeating process (origami) and also a repeating material (money).This is something I have wanted to do for some time as repetition as a method of working interests me and it is suprising difficult to find suitable paper based materials without having to buy lots of stuff that you dont want,e.g sweets,lottery tickets etc.. It also gave me the chance to use money even if it is play money,the concept of value remains the same without literally breaking the bank of me!

Cafe Handmade: Share Cafe Handmade

Cafe Handmade: Share Cafe Handmade

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Have just found this blog that looks pretty interesting especially if like me you create things handmade.

Goldilocks & the Three Bears Bangle

Bangle made using Ladybird book,I love these books as I have very fond memories of them when I was a child. My favourites were The Three Little Pigs which had some pretty scary illustrations especially of the big bad wolf! I also loved The Princess and the Pea, I used to put stuff under my mattress to see if I was a princess..... I wasnt! I also loved Cinderella, the illustrations to all the books were wonderful and certainly gave me a big incentive to read the stories.

New work

I have been thinking about cutting books rather than just folding for some time. I was especially interested if it would be possible to cut the pages yet still keep the book whole,that probably sounds like an oxymoron if that's the correct term.

One of the things about books that really interests me is the spatial properties. Books I think can be thought of as four dimensional objects,that is they have height ,width, depth and the aspect of time is involved in the experience of them. The space they take up can increase quite dramatically once folded There is also the problem that only three sides of paper can be manipulated successfully for folding. It seemed interesting to me to see if the volume could be increased by cutting .

I woke up 7.00 am last Saturday morning with a flash of inspiration and did some experiments with a `sacrificial`book,I always have one on the go as they work as a kind of sketchbook.

After experimenting I had a look at my book collection and found what I think was the perfect book for the job, its a book I have read a few times but a long time ago.

The title is`The Body of God`by D H Lawrence.

flickr favourite

, originally uploaded by silkromero.

One of my favourite flickr finds made by silkromero,her other work is fabulous too.

The Big Cardigan

Hope you find the time to have a look at my very good friends latest art project,its called The Big Cardigan. If you knit she would like you to contribute your pictures for her website ,please follow the link,(pressuming I have done it right!)

moving clay art group

Managed to create a link to the art group I belong too,Yippee! Just isnt were I really wanted it,still pleased it worked though.

Flickr badge

On display at the National Glass Centre,Sunderland

On display at the National Glass Centre,Sunderland

Managed after much searching to find out how to add a flickr badge to this blogg. Hoorah!
This is turning out to be hard going,but hopefully all up hill from here.
Am trying to get a link list going,the titles come up but dont link,I have to highlight them and go there from the drop down menu. Aaahh!! Must persist.

Am now going to try to add some images of work that I currently have on display at the National Glass centre in Sunderland. Here goes.........

Haircut by netamir

Haircut, originally uploaded by netamir.

Amazing crochet by netamir on flickr.

I love crochet and must do some when I get chance, especially wire crochet.

My very favourite crochet artist is Ruth Asawa who crochets wire to make amazing ethereal shapes,crochet that somehow describes space and work almost like drawings in the air.

The remarkable work shown above and below is by artist and designer Neta Amir from Israel.

Haircut by netamir

Haircut, originally uploaded by netamir.

Amazing crochet by netamir on flickr.

lego jewellery

Lego ring by JacQueline Sanchez

I love Lego jewellery,its something that i had actually thought about doing but never did,gave all my lego away to my niece to play with which is really what its for afterall.

Wish I had kept a bit back though!

Recycled Lego Jewelry by Emiko Oye

Monkey_Shine

Monkey_Shine, originally uploaded by dingo1belle.

One of my favourite flickr finds made by dingo1belle.
I wish I had thought of that!

Welcome

Hello and welcome to my blog, postings will no doubt be a little chaotic and random as I am a little chaotic and random. I have also never done the blogging thing before all very new and confusing territory so the layout will probably be a bit strange as a learn the ropes.
Life is ephemeral and made for exploring so here goes.