Making clocks

Recently I have really enjoyed making record clocks. I was making record bowls for a while (where you make it all wobbly in the oven) and I thought it would be fun to make it into a clock. I was asked to be part of a wonderful project called ’20 Crafty Makes’ which is a new book filled to the brim with craft projects to get stuck into. They are a bargain  £5 each and 100% of the proceeds go to the Stroke Association!

If you’re around in Nottingham this Thursday, come along to the launch party to pick up your copy, but if you can’t make it, you can buy it online. I am very excited to be involved!

Christmas presents!

I think in order to get back into making things, a good place to start will be to make my own Christmas presents. Every year I make the decision that this years the year I’m going to hand make all my gifts (and I never do!). This year I have lots of ideas and a few projects I have already tried and tested. I made these for my friends birthday:

For Gem, A phone frame/pin board that can be regularly updated:

For Amy, an ear ring organiser:

I imagine I will still fall into the Christmas present buying trap (I love buying presents!) but not before I have made the majority of them. Me and Al have been enjoying cooking more than usual, so maybe some edible presents will be in there too!

 

A new kind of Monday feeling!

So, I have changed my working hours and I now have Monday’s off! This has been my first one at home and I have thoroughly appreciated having this time. The only slight dampener is I have a rotten cold, but that has not ruined the day. The cats have been supportive too, especially when I was faced with the task of sorting through hundreds of discarded furniture photos.

And the streets were lined with furniture

I was shocked, in a very good way, when I walked down the road our apartment was on and saw a discarded sofa in pieces! I still had my suitcase in my hand, and couldn’t believe my luck. I thought to myself, that this was probably a one off situation/a happy coincidence but no! I saw the following sights on my travel:

Incredible furniture finds!

My friend Simon seriously made my day when he came back from his travels in Thailand with some fantastic furniture finds! (Thank you!) It is extremely exciting to see discarded furniture from other places around the world.

These ones were found in Bangkok near Khao San Road:

This one was spotted in Ayutthaya.

And last but certainty not least, is this wonderful overgrown sofa found on Ko Chang in a place called Lonely Beach.

I wonder which countries would  never dream of leaving a sofa outside on the street…

 

Data Protection

I am working on a project at the moment where I take templates or existing spreadsheets and I remove all the information. I think spreadsheets can be very attractive, and as someone who works as an analyst as a day job, I use spreadsheets on a day to day basis. I think the colours/lines used are important to the over all meaning of a spreadsheet (and in some cases can be distracting too!). I want to create images that are abstract and no longer provide the viewer with data, but instead only visual information. This is my first one:

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Here is a section of it:

Not only am I enjoying the process for the final image created, but I find it extremely therapeutic to take away all of the words, numbers, explanation and simplify it. I think people might imagine what it was previously used for when looking at it and wonder why there are certain colours/lines used.

I love the video!

Whilst exploring New York, there were some moments that I wanted to document by video. Here are my favourites:

Goodbye Central Park

We have just done our last walk around Central Park in the sunshine. It is so beautiful and I wonder if such a great setting inspires people to walk and exercise more. Seeing couples on the lake is lovely and funny to see so many people in one place taking photographs. It would be incredible to see a montage of them all!

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Cloud City

Beautifully disorientating was the sculpture by Tomas Saraceno, located in the roof garden of the Met museum. You booked timed tickets and you could then walk up and around it. There were perspex floors that flexed under foot and mirrors and gaps everywhere. You were not allowed to take photos as people had got distracted.

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