ArtShades

Bespoke Half-Shades from Reclaimed Maps

Sometimes special commissions are more trouble than they are worth and on completion I vow never to say 'yes' to such a request again.  On other occasions however, the challenge turns out to be a worthwhile exercise that develops into a new product.

 

Having seen my work at the Malvern Spring Garden Show last month, a customer emailed to ask if I would make one of my half-lamps using a map of Shrewsbury.  Until then (for technical reasons) I had only used maps for drum shades.

At first I felt it was rather a waste of a map to only cut and use its centre, but on completion I realised that very often it is only a small area of a map that has personal significance.  We are often familiar with a radius of 20 or so miles from our home and the outer areas don't mean so much to us. 

This lamp was commissioned as a 25th anniversary present for a sister and brother-in-law, and the lovely 1960s OS map features the house in which they live.  This one has brass fittings and a cherry wood base, I can also make them with chrome-plated fittings and oak bases.

 

An illuminated globe of your own place in the world!

Edited 14 August: For other shapes and sizes of map lampshade click on the 'Map Lampshades' link to your right.  Thank you!

Another successful day in Ledbury

I was manning our show in Ledbury yesterday with the lovely ceramicist Sophia Binney.  We had a very busy day and sold well for everyone in the group. 

As pieces sell we re-arrange the displays - I do love this arrangement.  The dragonfly wings echo the shapes of the seed-heads in my lamp so beautifully.

 

If you haven't visited yet don't worry, we are open for another week and are bringing in new stock all the time.  Sophia has been busy making more bells and heart decorations - etching her wonderful robins into the slip during the show yesterday ready for glazing during the evening and firing overnight!

 

Sophia has her studio at the Jinney Ring Craft centre in Hanbury, near Bromsgrove and is trying to replenish stock in both places.

As well as dragonflies, crickets and robins, Sophia's slip-ware features simple rosebuds

With Sophia's ceramics, my table lamps, Jenny Pearce's baskets, Marie-Therese King's batiks and Jocelyn Perry's needle-woven beadwork jewellery there really is something for everyone to enjoy.

Church Lane is the cobbled street that leads from the Market House (on stilts) in the centre of Ledbury to St Michael and All Angels Church.

The gallery is right next door to the Prince of Wales pub.

We are open from 10am until 5.30 pm each day until Sunday 20 December.
 
 
 

Gallery lampshades delivered

I was due to deliver the collection of map shades to the Gallery today and thankfully it was a bright morning which enabled me to take a few photos before I packed them into boxes.

 

These three shades were made using an old map which was mounted on cloth.  It was quite stiff which meant I couldn't roll the edges over the frame as I usually do.  So I used a gingham binding on two of the shades,

 
 
but on the third I experimented by stitching a sheet of plant-fibre paper across the entire surface of the map and then cutting out 'windows' (a technique known as reverse applique that I use to create patterns in my non-map shades).  The vertical lines reinforce and hide the folds of the map and the horizontals allowed me a hem to roll over the frame.

 

These shades have an aged look which is particularly appealing when illuminated.  I think they'd look great in a study.

For those customers who are map enthusiasts (or buying them as a present for someone who is) I have made little swing tags with details of the map I've used.

I also took along a table lamp with a more contemporary feel

and a few ceiling pendant shades

with rolled edges

I'm happy to work to commission if you'd like a lampshade made from a map of your local area.  Feel free to email me. 
 
 
 
 
  

Bluebell Lamp

You meet some great people during Herefordshire Art Week open studios and last year I chatted with a lovely couple who offered me some real English bluebell bulbs as I'd explained that my garden was over run with Spanish invaders.

 

This week I was looking back through photos of my garden for design inspiration and this stylised bluebell pattern evolved.

 

My children immediately asked if we were keeping it for our 'blue room'. 

 

If it doesn't sell next week I just might....

International Photography Show at Kew

I said that the outdoor exhibition of photography we discovered at Kew Gardens warranted its own post..... 

There were so many fabulous images, but I snapped my top five favourites.

 

Garden Tiger Moth (taken in Amersham, Bucks) by Paul Keene (finalist)

 

Fieldfare in the Snow (taken in Brackley, Northamptonshire) by Craig Churchill (finalist)

 

Summer Stripes (gazania and hoverfly taken in her garden in South Lanarkshire) by Sarah-Fiona Helme (finalist)

 

Gulls on Glasshouse Roof (taken at Kew) by John Penberthy (third place)

 

and the winner, Deborah Casso's Lone Lily Pad (taken at Washington Park Arboretum, Seattle)

I think you'll agree they look pretty amazing just as my snapshots; the quality of the reproductions on display was stunning.

There was a large panel of judges, including one of my favourite gardening TV presenters, Chris Beardshaw.

 

 

The exhibition of the International Garden Photographer of the Year runs until 13 September 2009 and is well worth seeking out if you are near Kew over the summer.

Enjoy!