Saturday 31 July 2010

Loot 2010 Exhibition New York



I have been invited to show my work at this exhibition,I am excited and still cant quite believe it!

Friday 30 July 2010

3 childrens books


3 childrens books, originally uploaded by effemera.

The necklace is made up of, ( anti clockwise starting from the left )Rapunzle,Dr Daisy and The Gingerbread Man ( run, run as fast as you can!)he was very foolish!

3 little pigs bangle


3 little pigs bangle, originally uploaded by effemera.

I have vivid memories of this Ladybird book,the Big bad wolf pictures terrified me.
I actually feel sorry for him now and find the pig with the brick house rather too smug !

Great cities of the North (and Midlands) ,urban brooches

This is the complete set of Brooches,four of the most amazing cities of the UK, there is much more to the UK than just London.So much talent has come from the North of England and the Midlands.
I could just do with finding a map of Newcastle upon Tyne!

Liverpool brooch.


Liverpool brooch., originally uploaded by effemera.

This Brooch is made from a 1969 Ordnance survey map of Liverpool.Although I was born in Manchester I spent much of my childhood with my Grandparents who lived about 10 miles away.Many of their sisters and Brothers lived arround the Liverpool area although I think one of them was actually virtualy dissowned for marrying a proper Liverpudlian! My Uncle Albert like many other people who live in the area claimed to have seen the Beatles popping into a house on the street where he lived !
I would have been 7 when this map was published and have many happy memories of staying with my Grandparents on their farm. It was a beautiful map showing many familiar places and giving me some good memories.I have saved the bit that shows my Grandparents farm so i will use that for a brooch for myself.
This brooch has been made for an exhibition to be shown as part of a set with the other city brooches.

Friday 16 July 2010

how to cut your fabric in one piece

how to cut your fabric in one piece 2

This works for paper too for getting a long length for paper yarn.you do get nonbbles though were one cut end finishes and the next cut starts,this gives an interesting texture though which I like.

newspaper necklace detail


newspaper necklace detail, originally uploaded by effemera.

Crochet done with news paper yarn.

Newspaper yarn

An article on how to make yarn from newspaper.I have tried this myself but not using a drop spindle.I spent ages twisting the paper by hand and I also tried using an old fashioned hand drill and a clamp to hold the other end of the paper.This did work to some extent but I only managed to get a maximum of about 2 feet in length.It was just about enough to crochet some small beads for a necklace that I made a couple of years ago,will post a pic from my flickr photo stream. When I get chance I will have another go as i was pleased with the result.Incase the title doesnt connect to the link here is the address.
http://greenupgrader.com/2138/handspun-recycled-newspaper-yarn/

Thursday 8 July 2010

Book necklace


Book necklace, originally uploaded by effemera.

I felt it was fair to give credit to the original author,illustrator and publisher of this childrens book by using the Isbn number from the back of the book to form part of the closure.Hopefully if someone buys the necklace they will have the fun of looking up the isbn,buy the book and then read it to their children or grandchildren etc.
The necklace has been made for the Loot exhibition in New York in October.
The necklace is made from a complete book strung in page order and as it would be read i.e.from left to right. It took a long time to do and is made up of around 7000 circles.

combustion bangle


combustion bangle, originally uploaded by effemera.

Combustion Bangle, AA book of the car,burnt.
Kind of a complete mini history of the development of man all in a bangle !