open house

It's going to be a busy weekend, I have been getting things together for our open studio event happening this weekend and the next. Prints, products, mishaps and samples for sale. I haven't been very efficient about spreading the word so if you are in the Dulwich area please come!! The details are on the festival website click on Open House for a guide, we are entry no. 134. The downside of running it for two weekends is that I won't be able to get out and see other studios. If I could I would make for Sally Nencini (no.56) my sister Clare Youngs (no. 115) Schneider (no. 100) and Havelock Mews (no.127) for a fine selection of local talent.

twiggy shelves

I found these shelves at our local junk emporium, they were painted a sinister black so I repainted them a spooky white. They are very ecologically made from bits of tree and a couple of old planks. A bit of foraging in the woods and a few nails and you could have some too! I can now waste hours of time arranging suitable displays.

elizabeth and gerald rose

I have a small collection of children's books written in the 60's by Elizabeth Rose with brilliant illustrations by Gerald Rose - what a team! These pages are from the Gingerbread Man, they are so full of life, they always make me smile! I found these in a second hand bookshop a few years ago, they were selling the discontinued contents of a children's library for 30p each! It's almost impossible to find books like these in charity and second hand shops these days - where have they all gone? probably all to abebooks!

more fun with paper

We had a lot of fun with the giant origami at Kids.Modern (the flapping bird was made by a lovely little Japanese boy and rather put our bunnies and boats to shame!) We had some sheets left over so I am experimenting with diy patchwork wallpaper. I love printing onto paper - no baking or stitching required. I will be printing up sets of nine squares ready for our Open House event in May to see how they sell. Open House is part of our local Dulwich Festival and we will be opening up our studio on the weekends of 8/9th and 15/16th of May. More details on their website.

scissors and glue

My sister Clare Youngs has been very busy snipping and gluing and here is her latest book, Stylish Papercraft published by Hamlyn. An inspiring collection of paper projects from simple mobiles and decorations to stunning 3-dimensional objects. Full of ideas and simple step by step instructions to re-use and recycle scraps and ephemera into useful and stylish statements. It is a great celebration of the delights of pattern and endless possibilities in a simple sheet of paper.

odd finds

I found this abandoned dolls pram beside the road in Penge yesterday, in one of the posher parts of Penge I have to say. It has a rather sad feel about it and goes with these other odd boot sale finds, a bracelet of engraved silver four-penny bits, and a little piece of victorian embroidery, is it a sleeve? is it a sampler? is it a place to keep shiny buttons? I'm not really sure.

roddy&ginger go modern

Here we are at Kids.Modern. It was a very sunny day and what with the volcanic ash cloud crisis we are having here in the UK a lot of people must have been a) having a barbecue or b) still on holiday. So there were not as many attending as we could have hoped for. However, it was all good fun. My lovely daughter Lucy was a huge help, an excellent sales person and organizer of giant origami using paper still a bit sticky as we had printed it the night before. I was very lucky to have great neighbours to chat to in my corner of the show, Sally Nencini with her lovely knitted companions and exquisite hand embroidered upholstery, Helen Gordon with her beautifully detailed children's wear and accessories displayed on bespoke chunky oversized dolls house style furniture and Winter's moon with their enviable stash of vintage children's toys, books and furnishings. The restored cupboard made a fine shop fitting and it came home with me, I hadn't the heart to sell it!