Ticking Stripes

Anyone wondering who won the Christmas bauble giveaway? You'll have to scan to the bottom of the post!

Earlier this year Niobe and I went over to Dublin for a few days and we accepted an invitation to meet up with Elaine (Jaboopee) who lives over there. Elaine was the first blogger I had met and we shared a lovely couple of hours drinking coffee and eating cake and chatting about all sort of things as if we'd known each other for years.

She shared with me what was still a secret at that stage - that she had won a commission to do a large mosaic for a school and that it would take several months to do it. Well, it's now installed and showing right now on her blog - link in my side bar. Just click and have a look - it's absolutely stunning!

I wanted to share with you a couple of artists I met last week at the Harley Gallery before Igot stuck in the car park. Magie Hollingworth was,I thought,a paper artist whose papier mache I love - see these kitchen implements...



and, if you prefer less colour, the black version



So why do you have a jelly mould half full of shredded fivers Wend?



Well that's because Magie uses them to make little pots which she calls "Made of money". I was intrigued as to how she got the shreddings. She explained the convoluted procedure she had to go through to get them from the Royal Mint, not to mention the security with people either side of her as she walked through the corridors of the Mint to collect her shreddings. Anyway my interest earned me a bag of the lovely stuff! (I have more in peach - made from £10 notes).Apparently it's pretty indestructible - how many fivers have you put through the washing machine?



What I hadn't realised was that Magie is also a designer for Ehrman tapestries - so for button lovers check this out!



She explained her process for designing these - apparently the company send her the wool that she needs - she has a rough idea of what she wants to do and stitches it and then sends it off to Ehrman. She doesn't even get to keep the prototype! Not sure I'd be happy with that deal!

I also fell for the work of Ros Roberts a 2010 "New designer" who makes these amazing lamps and lampbases out of discarded books and twisted and bent willow branches. These were stuuning and use very tiny bulbs for safety.



Apologies for the delay in sorting the giveaway. The winner is Cathy over at Menopausal Musing. Cathy,please let me have your address - my e-mail is on my sidebar - and I'll pop them in the post to you. Thank you to everyone who entered - I included everyone who commented on either blog. Hope you have a good week lined up!