Better Late Than Never!

Sorry my posts have been thin on the ground of late. I had a period of ill health and I'm just starting to recover.

I'm currently busy working on 3 commissions. All 3 are to make baby gifts for expectant mothers. My nephew is due to become a father for the THIRD time and my niece is expecting her first child. The other commission is for the daughter of a very close family friend. I will post some of the gifts in the next few weeks.

But in the meantime I thought I'd share one of my favourite pieces of my artwork. This was created as a gift for a very close friend. She was actually responsible for unleashing my creative side and inspired me to embark on my creative courses. She is a phenomenally gifted artist. A talented stained glass maker, painter and surface designer, her talent knows no bounds.

This embroidered and beaded panel was inspired by imagery from several of her stained glass pieces. I worked on it over a considerable period of time while I was studying at university. The only problem with working on it in fits and starts was that I kept changing my mind about things I'd already completed.

For instance, I originally embroidered blonde hair to match the golden veins of the fairy wings. I later decided however that the hair needed to be much more of a contrast and unpicked it all and replaced it with the beautiful fiery red embroidery thread. The original embroidery on the skirt panel was also much different. I decided to change that too but later wished I hadn't. It worked out well in the end though as my friend absolutely loved it. I hope you do too!

Until next time,

Cheers Then!

Exciting New Design Commission

I was recently commissioned to design and make the girls costumes for a production of the musical Godspell. I couldn't be happier as not only is it a great design commission but I absolutely love the film version and the fantastic costumes.

I was given just a skeleton brief for this commission. All I was asked was to make the costumes as much as possible from recycled fabrics (perfect for me as they called me 'Recycle Michael' at college!) and that they be 'bright, wacky and fun.' I was also asked to keep the essence of the costume designs by the wonderful Susan Tsu for the original stage production (later adapted by Sherrie Sucher for the 1973 film version).

I decided to use the 1975 Wrap & Go Skirt pattern a friend found for me recently as the template for most of the girls skirts. Of course each will be very individual. I have however decided that as well as keeping consistency in the costumes on the basis of colour palette, each costume will also have a fabric or motif from another character's costume to make all the costume very coherent.

So far I've been working on the wrap skirt for the character portrayed in the 1973 film version of Godspell by the fantastic Gilmer McCormick Reinhardt. Embellishments on this skirt include embroidery stitches, individually hand-stitiched beadwork and hand-dyed crotched lace as well as hand-dyed cotton lace.

Below are some shots of what I've completed so far. I hope you like it. Look out for posts of the other costumes over the coming weeks. Feedback, as ever, would be greatly appreciated.

Until next time,

Cheers Then!

Keep Calm ... And Carrie On!

My sister and I are big horror fans and the 1976 shocker 'Carrie' is one of our favourites. Years ago a DJ did a dance song based around the classic line delivered by actress Piper Laurie ... 'They're all gonna laugh at you.' The song was called 'Carrie On House (They're All Gonna Laugh At You)' and it was truly terrible. (It's actually on YouTube if you want to hear it!) I can't remember whether it was my sister's idea or mine to use the 'Keep Calm & Carry On' tagline but it was my sister who asked me to design her something Carrie related for a screensaver. This is the result. It was designed ages ago, when I was still at university. Just thought I'd post it for fun! She absolutely loved it. I'm actually going to get it printed onto a t-shirt for her too.