Thank you for visiting!

Thank you to everyone who came to visit me at Open Studios, I've met some lovely people over the weekend!

New additions!

Some new additions- cover button Bookmarks! These are a quirky take on the traditional Bookmark, handmade using small cover buttons with a giant paper clip base. They are made using Harris Tweed off-cuts and knitted pieces, embellished with recycled fabric "sequins."

These will be available to buy at Open Studios and I will be adding them to my Etsy shop soon!

New pieces for Open Studios

I'm working outside in the lovely sun today and I'm using some new findings. I'm working on new style rings and also bookmarks, pendant necklaces and bangles. These will all be available to buy during the Open Studios weekend, plus many more unique handmade pieces. Look forward to meeting you there!

Back to my roots

I'm currently looking through images of my work right through from when I graduated nearly five years ago, up to today (can't believe it's been five years!). I want to create a photo timeline with them for the Open Studios weekend to show the journey of my work so far. To be honest it's as much for my own reference as my visitors- I want to look back to my roots and re-affirm the philosophies of my work!

So this is where it all started! For my graduate collection I made three knitted hangings (each about three metres long) based on the theme of Make Do and Mend, combining knit with unexpected recycled materials, including glass, meat hooks, plastic food packaging and household paint, to name just a few. My aim was to utilise these unwanted materials and re-purpose them into something beautiful, and this is a philosophy I still work to now.

Knitted hanging embellished with recycled materials

This may look familiar- I embellished one hanging with strings of knit covered beads
embellished with recycled materials. I took this idea forward and developed my first collection of necklaces!

I collected glass bowls, jugs etc from charity shops and broke them into pieces with a hammer 

(very therapeutic!) I attached washers and wool and then hooked these onto my knitting machine, actually knitting them into the piece 

I'll share more images from my creative journey with you as I continue in my retrospective endeavor! 

Open Studios time!

I'm currently getting ready for Open Studios weekend at Cuckoo Farm Studios on the 7th and 8th September. There will be around thirty of us Opening our doors for the weekend and it's a great opportunity to see how Artists of varying disciplines work and to buy or commission unique pieces of art and craft work. There will also be exhibitions and events taking place in the grounds and the all important tea and cake stall! Find out more here. Hope to see you there!

Latest exhibition- The Minories, Colchester

To co-inside with Open Studios, The Minories Gallery in Colchester has an exhibition show casing a selection of participating artists, and I am very excited that my work is part of the exhibition! Lots of visitors to my studio over the weekend had said how uniquely it was presented, and today I popped into the Minories to have a look! It's always intriguing to see how other people present your work and this particular presentation has definitely inspired me for when I'm setting up displays myself in the future.

The Exhibition is in the lovely Garden Room at The Minories

If you're in the area I can recommend a visit to The Minories, as well as the variety of exhibitions and shop, the beautiful Georgian building and gardens are lovely to see in themselves. There is also a great Bistro so you can really make a day of it! Visit theminories.co.uk for details of how to get there

Open Studios

Cuckoo Farm Studios Open Studios event is taking place this weekend 11-6pm- there are thirty artists in all, including me, and it's always a great weekend. Come along and enjoy a look inside the studios and have a chat with the artists, and maybe even buy yourself some artwork or something beautifully hand crafted and lovely! The weather is promising to be very Summery (fingers crossed!) so make a day of it, bring a picnic or take advantage of our tea, cake and sandwich stall! (I'll definitely be doing a bit of that myself!)

There will also be an exhibition in the studios gallery (The Benham Gallery) entitled "Documenting Memories," which celebrates the 20th anniversary of Cuckoo Farm Studios and gives a great insight into how it all began and how CFS has grown throughout the years.

Hope to see you there!

Here is a little look at what you can expect to see over the weekend

Some of my brooches and rings in progress

Artist Amy Turnbull's piece for the "Outside" exhibition

Artist Jean Muir's piece for the "Outside" exhibition. We  have a unique setting within our  beautiful grounds at CFS
and the Outside exhibition highlights this very well

Please visit cuckoofarmstudios.org.uk for details on how to find us