bonbah » textiles

UK Inspiration: Lil3Birdy & Naughty Dog

admin — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 22:09:43 +0000

A couple of talented UK based surface designers to get me back into the swing of things.

1. Lil3Birdy (London) beautiful, intricate designs with birds & geometric patterns.

Bird Gift Tags, Illustrated Art Designs, Turquoise Blue Grey

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Cute Bird & Flower Gift Tags, Illustrated Art Designs, Blue Green Pink

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Owl Gift Tags, Ink Drawing Designs, Brown Black White

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2. Naughty Dog (Hartlepool) really lovely cushions with line drawings of dogs, shoes, butterflies…

Appliqued Dog Cushion

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Shoe Cushion

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Dog Cushion

UK Inspiration Caroline Cowen & Robin and Mould

admin — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 20:50:53 +0000

Finally some time to find some more UK based inspiration. Another random search on Etsy brings up some lovely silver jewelry and beautiful hand screenprinted home textiles.

1. Caroline Cowen (from Hertfordshire) – beautiful handmade jewelry in quirky, pretty designs.

sterling silver and cold enamel retro flower necklace

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gerbera daisy earrings

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sterling silver and purple felt bow necklace

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2.Robin and Mould (from Devises, Wiltshire) – beautiful handmade and hand screenprinted home textiles.

hand screen printed sleepy dog in teal

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hand screenprinted owl toy in yellow

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hand screen printed dream big cushion in teal

It pays to do Folksy Friday!

admin — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 16:19:25 +0000

Hooray my brother, sister-in-law & nephew bought me the bag I posted on my birthday Folksy Friday! Will have to do that every year. The bag is really beautiful in person. So well made. I have sewing envy! It would take me weeks to make this bag and then it would be all wonky and crooked. This bag is perfect.

Russian Dolls Satchel from Jenny Gale

UK Inspiration – Summersville & Ruth Robinson Ceramics

admin — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 22:05:31 +0000

I’ve been doing Folksy Friday for a while now and I really like Folksy and what it is growing into. I’ve also started getting involved with UK Handmade which is very exciting and very inspiring. There’s nothing more motivating that meeting and building relationships with people with like interests. Especially when you’re a work-from-home mum like me. Sometimes it can feel a bit like I inhabit my own little universe. Etsy UK seems to be stepping up a bit of late which is great as although I love Etsy and have for ages, recently I’ve been feeling like it’s a bit too US based. There are alot of very talented artists, designers and craftspeople in the UK, but the public opinion of ‘craft’ definitely needs changing. There are still a lot of old-fashioned WI style things around (and I probably have an outdated vision of the WI!) if you’re looking but there are also many hand-crafted products that could match and outdo any commercially made product for ingenuity, craftsmanship and uniqueness. Looking back, for the most part I have been focusing on UK makers, but going forward I’m going to make a stronger effort to find inspiration from the UK.

So here are a couple of wonderful designers I had never heard of but found by doing a couple of random searches on Etsy:

1: Summersville (from Suffolk): Beautiful screenprinted prints, notebooks & fabric

totem – hand screenprinted fabricsdfaf

scandi hand screenprinted fabric

twist hand screenprinted fabric

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2: Ruth Robinson Ceramics (from Cheshire): Gorgeous ceramic buttons and hairclips

Handmade blue porcelain owl hairclips

Handmade green porcelain buttons

Handmade grey porcelain buttons

mini inspiration: Lucienne Day

admin — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 09:31:55 +0000

I’m starting a new weekly post: mini inspiration. Just a very quick visual look at someone or something I find inspiring. Who better to start with than my favourite textile designer Lucienne Day:

Folksy Friday – Kitty Kat

admin — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 21:37:29 +0000

This week’s Folksy Friday is dedicated to the Kitty Kat as we’ve decided, although we are probably a tad delusional, that these are our baby’s first words. It is true that he makes the same noises that sound very vaguely like ‘kitty kat’ everytime he sees one of our cats. I’ll have to show him this post and see what he says!

Cadbury the Cat from ToadyBobbins

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Bells on Cats from The ReWorkd Workshop

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Linen Cat in Ellie Flower Print Dress by The Linen Cat

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Roly Poly Rainbow Cats by Quernus Crafts

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Lady and the Cat by The Beespoke

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Folksy Friday – George

admin — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 10:24:41 +0000

Nine months ago today, the very best moment of my life happened at 2.47 in the afternoon. So this week for Folksy Friday it’s all about George:

George and the Dragons from Hole in My Pocket

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King George by Alice Gabb

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George from The Snail Emporium

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George, Hand Embroidered Brooch from Bird & Bridge

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George Bear Plushie from Dotty Daisies

little steps

admin — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 10:32:55 +0000

I’m not the most patient person so it’s been quite hard telling myself that building up a business from scratch is not going to happen overnight. The biggest problem being that when I set up as a freelance graphic designer, it did literally happen overnight. There were a few dry spots, but for the most part since the day I left my permanent job I was pretty much set for work. I never really had to do any marketing or self-promotion, pretty much all my clients came through word of mouth, ex-colleagues etc.

But this is something new, something more creative, something more flexible, something that not many people know I can do. Most importantly something that will exist with and around my family. There will still be late nights and short deadlines but these will have to happen around playground visits and the (actually quite loud) pitter patter of little feet. I’ve been doing a few stationery designs here and there when I have time, but everything has been feeling a bit all over the place. So over the past couple of days I’ve been having a good think about what I will create, who would be interested and what it will hopefully mean to them. I’ve had a few good chats with a very good friend who is in pretty much the same place as me and that has left me feeling very inspired. Yesterday my head was buzzing with all the things I want to do, but I was feeling pretty tired. I told myself if it was earlier than 9.30pm then I’d start creating something. It was 9.24pm so two hours later and I’d finished my first little steps:

I dragged out my favourite thing, my sewing machine. As much as I love my Mac and all my pencils and paper, there’s something much more satisfying about my sewing machine. I know I don’t use it how you’re really supposed to. I probably sew more paper than cloth, my lines are never straight, my tension is all over the place, I’m more of a sketch sewer than a fine artist, but the results end up feeling really ‘me’. So the little steps I started last night are the beginning of a new ‘little bulldog’ shop banner. A couple need redoing, in fact I’ll probably redo all of them, but it’s a start and it’s a huge step away from the client-led retail designer I’ve been for the past few years. It feels right, so we’ll see.

co•her•ence

joanne — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 15:22:05 +0000

n. – The quality or state of cohering, especially a logical, orderly, and aesthetically consistent relationship of parts.

Yes I need some of this. This is what’s missing, it’s so obvious when I look at the collections of designers who have it. Here’s who’s inspiring me to be more coherent:

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Charlotte Macey Textiles:

Beautiful linen homewares with line drawing embroidery. A simple but strong and recognisable style.

oatmeal ‘coffeeee’ cosy

navy beach huts tea towel

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Isak:

I love everything from Isak. I’d deck out the whole house in all their things if I could. Instantly recognisable, bit retro, very Scandinavian. They make me want to move to Sweden.

blue penguin wallpaper

lovebirds tray and mug

123 wall decoration

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The Linen Cat:

Beautifully made, simple, timeless. All created by one of those incredible full-time mums who still manage to create wonderful things and run successful businesses.

Linen Cat in Pink Russian Doll Print Dress

Ellie Floral Bunny Lavendar Bag

Folksy Friday – Hungry

joanne — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 16:14:39 +0000

I’m hoping to keep up with this every week. This is my second one so that’s a roll for me. This week’s theme is ‘hungry’ because I’m hungry:g

Hungry Bear Plate from James Ward

Chocolate Cake Coin Purse from Dinky Daisy

Alice in Wonderland ‘Eat Me’ Cake Toppers by Crafty Pagan Designs

Apple and Pear Card from Little Bird Too

Cream Egg Cosy from Charlotte Macey Textiles

Now I’m even more hungry.