DIY City Blog

by: lorimarsha

Lark Books - Seeks designers to submit their envelope creations for an upcoming how-to publication, The Envelope, Please, scheduled for release in fall 2009. Deadline for submissions is June 2, 2008.

“We’re looking for all types of one-of-a-kind creative envelopes in a wide range of shapes and sizes. We encourage embellishments, nontraditional materials, and upcycling. Feel free to send accompanying cards but they are not required.”

See all details for contest at Lark Books.

The envelope above was created by one of my favorite designers lorimarsha - I found it while searching through our flickr contacts for handmade envelopes.

Sarah is one of our newest members at DIY City Mag Community. I logged on a few moments ago and I was impressed by her collection of handcut mosaic tiles. Wendy and I were just talking about a DIY project that we wanted to do involving tiles. It’s always great to find crafters selling unique products that you can’t find anywhere else. If you haven’t had a chance to check out the Community, you should come on over and explore. One of the goals we have at DIY City is to highlight eco-friendly suppliers who offer needed supplies for all of our artistic projects. Creating a network of suppliers is a a great way to build sustainability.

So welcome Sarah, we are glad that you are a part of our network.

Stumbling across a new artist is always exciting and when I found Laura Sollis’ work at the Knitting and Stitch Show I new I just had to share my find with you…
Sara: Please tell me a bit about you and your background?

Laura: On graduating university last year I was selected as one of the finalist for the ‘Knitted Textile Student Award 2007′ where I was able to exhibit as part of the ‘Graduate Showcase’ at the Knitting and Stitching shows around the country. Since then (at the age of 21) I have set up ‘Random Button’. ‘Random Button’ came from a demand from friends and family to put my degree to good use and make them all kinds of textile pieces like handbags, purses and clothing. The name comes from the fact that I like to add embellishment to whatever I’m creating and most of the time my pieces feature quite a lot of buttons. Ever since I can remember I have had a love of buttons, I’ve continued to collect them and now I have a huge collection sitting waiting to be attached!

On the website I have an online store where people can purchase my unique pieces and I also take commissions and create bespoke pieces. So feel free to drop me a line at www.randombutton.co.uk!

Sara: How did you get into arts and crafts?

Laura: From childhood I have always been interested in being creative especially when it came to fashion and textiles. I was taught how to knit at a young age by my mother after spending countless hours watching her and my grandmother create. I still to this day have my first attempt to knit still attached to the needle and I’m glad to say that I’ve certainly improved since then! For years I used to churn out the classic knitted scarves and when the collection of scarves became overloaded I thought it was about time I used my creativity to create something a bit different.

Sara: Did you train at college?

Laura: I went to college and took an AVCE Art and Design course in Oxford and then went on to do a BA (Honours) Textiles and Surface design course at Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College where I specialised in Knitted Textiles.

Sara: Where do you find your inspiration?

Laura: My main inspiration comes from looking at vintage fashions and fabrics. I try to find inspiration wherever and whenever I can so I always keep a pen and paper with me to note down any ideas that come along - my bag is full of scraps of fabric and samples of yarn that I’ve collected along the way. Like many other designers I also find inspiration from looking through countless magazines and books. Recently my work has been inspired by Lewis Carroll’s ‘Alice in Wonderland’ story especially the tea party theme where I have incorporated cutlery and crockery into knit to produce both couture fashion pieces and installations.

Sara: Ooooh that sounds wonderful… I will have to take a peek at your store once we’ve finished chatting!

Sara: Tell me a bit more about your latest collection of works.

Laura: My latest collection of pieces includes a range of unique hand knitted handbags and purses. These pieces rely on texture to form the detail on the outside contrasting with the patterned inside. Throughout most of my work I have used my vintage influence and mixed it with a quirky modern touch. With these useable pieces and my work in general I want to try to help hand techniques like knitting and crochet to get away from the stereotype everybody has of the craft.

You can find Laura’s wonderful work at www.randombutton.co.uk

 by: Sara Millis

Photo by Rini Boer in the Flickr group Ideas and Inspirations

Today’s post might not be so obviously about business, but for us creatives it is at the heart of what we do. It is important because it can help keep us focused and on track. It feeds our creative soul. It can show us where we have been and helps to map out where we are going. What I am talking about is our inspiration boards, books and walls. I couldn’t stop thinking about this since Deb and Wendy asked me for a picture of mine. I realized that I had completely neglected my boards and had covered them with my paper patterns. I was just so desperately trying to get the patterns out of the way. I hadn’t realized what was being destroyed in the process. I have since organized my patterns to expose the 5 boards that I hung with the specific purpose of expressing myself. Thank you Deb and Wendy for that.

My inspiration board
In the DIY City Community there is even a group you can belong to called Inspiration Board. Designers that join the group are encouraged to share pictures of their inspirations.

I also want to share a book with you. Maybe you have heard about it, Spilling Open…The Art of Becoming Yourself by Sabrina Ward Harrison. This was the first book she published at age 23. This book, along with 3 others, are published versions of her journals. All of them are full of pages of her inspirations. You can check out her website here.

Please leave a comment about what inspires you and how you express that inspiration. I would love to hear. I bet the rest of the community would too.

Trisha Ginter
Co-founder
www.smashingdarling.com
Leading an Indie Fashion Revolution

Deb & Wendy

(AKA DIYthing)
View all posts by DIYthing
Have you checked out some of the cool new features on Stylehive? Now you can comment on other hiver’s saves - and when you do it will show up in their message box with a picture of the item you commented on. This will make conversations about fav items in the hive even more fun! Check it out. And if you haven’t noticed, Deb and I are blogging regular on the Hive as DIYthing.

Katharina Ludvig is a jewellery artist that I found recently through Bientot Demain blog. Many of her works are about the study of the jewellry’s relationship with the body and how the pieces change when introduced to the elements.

The Organ Bottles
“The human body consists to over 70% out of water. The value of water lies in its necessity for the body and all its functions. The body is our most precious tool and we deal and work with it every day. The water bottles in the shape of inner organs, worn as accessory on the body, let you experience the weight and volume of water and remind you of the importance water has for your body.”

Organ bottles are made of: wool, aluminum drinking cap and silicon drinking pouch. I´d love this project even better if the wool would be organic (or recycled sweaters). But the design is stunning. To me these pieces are a constant reminder on how we should preserve water since our bodies cannot survive with out it. It also proves an another point in crafting, that if you need to make something look comfortable, just cover the whole thing with knit.

Ice jewellery
As a Finn I love ice. It has an organic texture that reflects light beautifully. These pieces made from metal (gold) jewellery chain/ring/earring base and ice. The metal base or chain is submerged in an ice-cube container and frozen. When the piece is worn it melts and therefore changes its shape until it is completely gone. I consider this as the eco-lovers bling! These pieces are a perfect statement on global warming. The design is ingenious and simple DIY-project for home crafters (at least the necklace). And the best part is that it can be remade again and again. Always in a different and unique form.

Pigment shirts
Katharina has designed also tees that have small crumbs of pigment color added to them. Invisible to the eye until you pour water on the garment. A changing fashion art piece that would go perfectly with the ice jewellery!

 by: Outi Pyy

Happy Mother’s Day! The joys of being a mom - I have 2 myself that are not so small anymore (15 and 16) and one on the way!

Have you ever thought about recycling daddy’s shirt into a dress for your little girl? The photo above is just that - luvlug on Etsy does just that. She recycles old men’s button downs into little dresses.

The pocket on the front of the shirt has been repositioned on the left hip of the dress for your little Busy One to fill with all sorts of little goodies.

by: Wendy

Manon Gignoux makes clothes, accessories, jewellry and home decor from pieces of fabric. I think she has a wonderful way to combine (muted) colors and to transform worn down fabric into something comfortable, soft and inviting.

“The origins of my work can be traced back to my last year of study at France’s Duperré School of Applied Arts when I carried out a photographic study of the clothes worn by workers in the early 20th century and explored the “traces of wear and tear” on clothes. Starting with details of a hundred or so photographs taken from books, I filled research notebooks and ended up with four themes: the “carpenter” or the traces of alteration, the “washerwoman” or the imprint of repeated movements, the “inside-out suit” or the dynamics of (de)construction, and the “woman shopkeeper” or the encounter between work clothes and everyday life and the way an object that is worn fits the body.” (from Manon Gignoux website)

“I play on the relationship between clothes and object, I dress objects in order to protect them and to tell their story… damaged coverings, darned, made from accumulation and colours faded by time.”

by: Outi Pyy

Annie Sherburne is a talented textile artist, with a deep passion for eco-friendly and fair-trade textile supplies, processes and techniques.

Annie has run her own business since the early 1980’s and was a founding member of the International Felt Makers Association, and a pioneer of feltmaking. Annie’s felt work has included felt hats examples of which are in the V&A and the Musee Des Modes in the Louvre in Paris.

For the last 10 years Annie has been incorporating environmentally friendly materials into her design work and has won prestigious awards for these designs and pieces. These include The ‘Soft Cobbles’ Rug (felted rare breed and organic wool) which won the textile category of the Peugeot design awards in 2001 and went on to reach the finals of the Elle deco first international design awards, and the classic design awards at the V&A.

More recently, Annie has designed new rugs using a combination of yarns, which represent the best environmentally friendly selection of yarns currently available. These include the landscapes, Moon in a boat series, which have been designed specifically for city loft-style rooms with multi functions, which use extra long pile techniques developed initially for Hussein Chalayan. Of these pieces, ‘White Horse’ has again reached the final of the Homes and Gardens Classic design Awards at the V&A.

Annie’s client portfolio also includes buttons, jewellery, fashion accessories and hats, designed and made for Jean Muir for 18 years.

Other examples of her work may be found in the Whitworth art gallery textile collection, the British Crafts Council collection, Kunstindustrimuseum in Trondheim Norway, The British Council jewellery collection, Lotus software HQ, HM Home office, and many other public, commercial and private collections internationally.
Annie is now completing post-graduate research at Kingston University into environmental textiles from a designer’s perspective, and is developing recycled yarns, which will be available for sale from her shop.

Annie Sherburne

1:10 Oxo Tower Wharf

Bargehouse Street

London

SE1 9PH
(Opening Hours: Tuesday to Saturday from 11.30am to 4.45pm)

To find out more please visit Annie’s website at http://www.anniesherburne.co.uk

DIY with Sara

Sara Millis
Sara’s Texture Crafts

Come and visit me, for craft news, my on-line magazine (blog), events & shopping at Sara’s Texture Crafts
sarastexturecrafts.fusiveweb.co.uk

Meet Belle, the fab milliner from Etsy known as BoringSidney. She makes hats with that have that special wow-effect. With a BA in Apparel Design and a Minor in Costume Design, Belle has had the opportunity to design costumes for some 25 plays or musicals over the last 18 years, several ballets, independent film, and a magic show. It was in the theatre that she learned the art of millinery. With a love for the bizarre and quirky, a solid sense of humor, and a driving need to create, that she started Boring Sidney/Belle Millinery label 9 years ago.

Hats millinery; hand blocking, creating hat blocks, steaming and building buckram frames is almost a lost art, having apprenticed under a master milliner in the theatre she learned old world millinery techniques and acquire vintage hat blocks, trims, and fabrics. Her shop carries 20´s art deco, 40´s pin-up styled hats, headwraps and feather decorated pieces with haircomb fastenings that will transform any dress to movie star status.

I´m so happy Etsy finally featured her on their Featured Seller column since she is one of my favorite Etsy-crafters. Read the full interview HERE. You can find Belle´s shop from BoringSidney.etsy.com. Her designs were featured also in the Spring 2008 issue of Elle Accessories Magazine and in the first issue of DIY City Mag Congrats girl!

by: Outi Pyy of Outsa Pop