Shop Talk - Folksy Blog

Look! It's me! On the Folksy Blog...pretending to sound all knowledgeable...

Plus, I've finally listed a few more things...

Jurianne Matter

Via the ever-fabulous Jane Foster, these delicious paper flowers, lanterns and boats by Jurianne Matter. How very pleasing they are.

Letters and Glass Houses

Just listed a new made-to-order item over in the Shop...a superhero-style initial in bright juicy colours. This panel was commissioned back in December, and I had almost forgotten all about it. But when I (finally) got my camera film back from the chemists the other day, there it was, in all it's stripy glory. Blogger is being it's usual incompetent self where the colour red is concerned...visit the shop if you want to see it in focus

We visited Bicton Park Botanical Gardens recently. I loved visiting the palm house the most (I've had serious Kew Gardens withdrawal symptons since we left London).


Nelly was having a bit of an Alice in Wonderland moment there...

About

I have been working with stained glass for over 14 years.

After 2 years learning the craft (1996 – 1998) at The City Lit and Kensington & Chelsea College, I worked at The Stained Glass Guild in Wandsworth, eventually becoming head painter. Using traditional kiln-fired paints, much of the work involved designing and painting the highly detailed and decorative glass roundels typical of the Victorian era.

I left after 4 years there, moving to Bridport, Dorset, where I still live with Mike and our 2 crazy little girls.

Since 2004 I have run my own stained glass business - recent commissions have included a window for The Bull Hotel, Bridport and front and rear entrances for an orthodontist practice in Dorchester.

In the last 2 years, I've concentrated on making contemporary decorative stained glass items in bold colours with a strong graphic aesthetic, which I sell online (Folksy and Etsy) and in select shops and galleries.

Look, I'm a Printer!

I've been wanting to experiment with printing on glass for a while now...and this commission I'm working on for The Bull Hotel has provided the perfect opportunity. I went to see an excellent talk by Dorset-based printmaker Peter Ursem a couple of months back and it fuelled a deep longing to try it.


By Peter Ursem

For this window, I want to try and create the effect of a wood-block paisley print on the border. I'm using a rubber stamp (I would have loved to have carved my own, but will save that for another time when I have more, er, time) and am using a blend of clove and olive oil to mix my paint up (seems to give it a nice slow drying time and good viscosity). I'm also using this book as my bible.


Early samples are looking pretty good. There seems to be a fine line between pressing firmly enough to make sure the pattern prints properly, but not so hard that the rubber stamp "pulls" the paint away again when you take it off.

But mainly, I just really love using that little roller.

Fun and Games

I have discovered that Mike's phone takes a half decent picture, so will do as a temporary measure while I decide which kind of camera to get (read: have more than 27 and a half pence in bank account)

We've been enjoying these board games (found in my local emporium of dead-old-lady-stuff) as an after dinner treat.

You may wish to hurl cries of "Owwww, Board games are Borrrrriiingggg" at this point. I know we did as kids. But strangely, Snakes and Ladders has somehow become a white knuckle roller coaster ride of thrill in my old age. Perhaps it's the anticipation of small children throwing almighty tantrums if they lose that gives it the extra frisson.

Finally, by popular request....

Words but no pictures

Because on top of having loads of work to do, a mountain of washing that resembles the back room at Sue Ryder and a tax return that keeps leering at me, my camera has finally conked out. After 2 months of having to gently tease the lens out when I turn it on, it is now refusing to come out at all. Like a very stubborn snail (only without the slime and that whole, weird googly-eye thing going on). I've had to resort to taking pictures on my old film camera, which now seems faintly hilarious every time the kids run up to see the picture on the back, only for me to tell them "sorry guys, mummy has to take the camera to the chemist and then in about 4 days you'll be able to see the pictures" (hey, I'm a cheapskate, I'm not forking out for 24-hour!)

Instinctively, I want to put a picture up at this point in the post, but I'm not sure a scan of my Post Office receipts is really going to do it for you (although I know some of you are partial to a picture of a tax-return), so that's it for now.

Weedy

Of all the summer weeds, these are my favourite. Hoary Plantain. Great name, and I just love the 1950s "atomic" aesthetic of them.

Just taken on two (two!) commissions - the first for The Bull Hotel for one of the new rooms they are renovating which is to be in a contemporary Indian design. The second is for some more windows for this place. Going to be keeping me a bit busy for the next few weeks, so I'm afraid blog posts may be fairly thin on the ground. See you on the other side!