Tag Archives: Landscape

Is it too early to get excited?

Porcelain ink wells made with found materials and polished

The last 12 months has been so difficult for all of us. I have tried to keep going by trialling new work and by doing lots of experiments. I have done online courses, I have gone back to previous work, I have gone way off on tangents and finally some of this is bearing fruit.

In June 2020 I became involved in the setting up of a regional group of Design Nation members in Cornwall and Devon. This has been something of a saviour for me. Firm friendships have been formed and we have been working together with the Royal Cornwall Museum to create a very special exhibition reflecting on what we have all been going through: the loss; the isolation; the loss of income and also reflecting on the places which we have spent time in: the value that we place on our environment and on the simple pleasures of seeing friends.

a square of 100 tiny porcelain boxes. Representing repetition of days.

I have revisited earlier work and explored new ideas.

This work is now beginning to come together and I am so excited! I just hope that we are allowed to show everyone what we have been doing.

There will be much more about this in the coming weeks but I could not wait any longer to tell people what is afoot!

It’s a Wrap!

I have become increasingly concerned about the type of packaging that I use: getting through bubble wrap by the mile since I started selling my work.  In a recent accountability workshop for like minded creatives we talked about this and someone mentioned paper bubble wrap

I decided to trial it at the Contemporary Craft Fair in Bovey Tracey, Devon last week.  I bought the Rajapack EX MINI system which comes on a cardboard dispenser and also provides tissue paper to interleave with the packaging.  I also bought a big roll of string and some brown recycled paper bags.  The cardboard dispenser and was easy to set up.  It’s quite a small thing to transport, but as you pull  it from the dispenser the ‘bubble wrap’ cleverly expands into a honeycomb structure.

IMG_20190607_125257_710 The verdict?  The first couple of pieces that I pulled off the roll didn’t quite go according to plan – maybe the piece was too big; maybe trying to use the dispenser while it was on the floor, under a table, hidden by fabric impeded things; maybe it is always difficult until the dispenser is a little less full – but I was delighted to have found an alternative to plastic which works brilliantly to protect smaller pieces and the environment.  It looks good too and there is a weird satisfaction in the way it comes off the roll!  I think the jury is still out for larger works which I was less confident were adequately protected.

Given that my work is about the fragility of our landscape, it is vital for me to find a satisfactory solution to the wrapping of my work.  Not sure I’m all the way there yet but I am certainly feeling much happier.  And let’s face it, if we all do something isn’t that better than a few good people doing it perfectly?