Sunday 13 April 2014

Edin-brah with Gill



Finally made it to Edinburgh! My friend Gill came to visit me so we took the train up for two days- it was great because neither of us had been before so everything was new for both of us and we sure made the most of it.

Ice-cream & pug
Haggis & Guinness 
bookshops with outdated books
silly self-timer shots
 We were so lucky with the weather, apparently they were the only two sunny days of the week! We even managed to meet my high school friend Michelle who's a native and taught us how to correctly pronounce things and gave us tips where to visit next. So without her we wouldn't have discovered The Elephant House, the cafe where JK Rowling came to read the first Harry Potter book- both Gill and I being big HP nerds very much appreciated that. Mischief managed!



Gill is the best. Now she has to go back home to Australia so it was a wee bit emotional saying good-bye (for now!). So glad we got to do this trip just the two of us, so much love for this girl! Here she is in all her bear beauty.







Everyone around was so friendly, we were slightly disappointed by the lack of the proper Scottish accent in the city though, there seemed to be too many tourists around. We did overhear it a few times and had slight trouble understanding it, which made us rather giggly.
Edinburgh does seem like a great sized city to live in, not too big, it's got so many green bits and even the beach! Also it's got lots of stuff happening all the time, cute little cafes and bakeries everywhere AND it's absolutely gorgeous. So overall, not too shabby.









Monday 7 April 2014

uni- behind the scenes.

It's our big deadline tomorrow, which means I've spent most of my time at uni and really cannot wait for a break away from the place. No more grumpy technicians who answer 'guess' to 'how are you' and people stealing your masking tape in the screen printing studio!

Here are a few photos from the last few days, all from uni- surprise surprise. Can't wait to share some from a short trip to Edinburgh this week and then to Prague for Easter. About time!

Almost ready for hand-in!
Patterns I bought for the fashion show.
Printmaking studio- I'm honoured to have my cabbage on the wall!
Printmaking studio fancy letterpress machines.
Screenprinting studio- my own blueberry trousers.
First final piece for the fashion show- blueberry shirt!
Uni on the left- crazy evening light on the right.
Could we have sunshine tomorrow after a week of clouds? Yes please!

Thursday 3 April 2014

Stinky Wee wallpaper


Happy April everyone! I hope you've been enjoying the slightly nicer weather wherever you are. Apart from the much anticipated lighter evenings, for me April also means that my exhibition at the lovely Warehouse Cafe in Birmingham has finally opened! It involved some slightly stressful preparation, which meant getting frames and naturally breaking them afterwards but it was so worth it.
It really pushed me to do lots of work and now I have the experience of organizing my own show, which is something nobody can take away from me. I also made little products like cards, envelopes, sketchbooks, aprons and woolen pouches to sell on the side so we'll see how they do. Here's a few snapshots so you can get an idea - apparently asparagus together with mushrooms is a hit, who knew!




I wallpapered one part of a wall with my asparagus design as you can see below and the lovely staff want to commission me to install it permanently and extend it to the corners too (right now it's not aligning properly so the plant's helping a bit. Or is it?). They also asked me to make a matching lampshade, which is amazing news. I just have to learn how to make lampshades so if anyone has any tips, don't be shy to share them! One of the guys who works in the building saw the wallpaper and said: "Can I name it? It should be called stinky wee." So here's your Stinky Wee limited edition wallpaper:



These are my big cabbage linocuts, or as some say brains, extraterrestrial space or a path. Also I've heard that my blueberries look like monkeys in coconuts, don't know what could top that. Below are sunflower seeds, I guess they don't resemble many other things, luckily.




Here is an example of some of the amazing food they serve at the Cafe, this was a bulgur salad with grilled halloumi with halloumi 'fish and chips' in the background. So glad I have excuse to go eat there more often now! So if you're ever in Birmingham, make sure to pay them a visit.