BRISTOL VINTAGE WEDDING FAIR

For those Vintage lovers out there - The Bristol Vintage Wedding Fair is coming soon! 20th March 2011 - at the Pavillion, Bristol Zoo Gardens. For more details click HERE.

MARY QUITE CONTRARY

I love the work of Mary of 'Mary Quite Contrary'. With her scalpel and a pile of papers she creates fantastic cards. I am really impressed with how neatly she uses the scalpel. For the amount of work that goes into each card I think her prices are very good. If you are looking for something different I really recommend her cards. You can buy her cards and artwork from either of her shops by clicking here:

ETSY/SHOP/QUITECONTRARY or FOLKSY/SHOP/QUITECONTRARYCRAFTS

JEMIMA LUMLEY

I love the use here of recycling and it has been done with such a beautiful way. Jemima Lumley who is a silversmith also makes fantastic jewellery out of old watch parts. The combination of of the inside mechanisms of the watches and her silver smith work gives the pieces a wonderfully fresh contemporary feel.

Jemima part owns a shop called Fig on Gloucester Road, Bristol where you can buy her work, or you can buy from her website by clicking HERE. Her particular clock pieces will will on display at the Clifton Rocks during October 2010

DALTON GHETTI

I am amazed at the talent of Dalton Ghetti, a 49-year old carpenter from Bridgeport, Connecticut. Dalton has been carving the most incredible miniature sculptures for over 25 years without the aid of a magnifying glass. His canvas? The tiny tip of a lead pencil.

Dalton started carving tree bark when he was a child and experimented with everything from soap to chalk before settling on graphite. It’s second nature now, and for 90 percent of his work, all he needs is a sewing needle, a razor blade, a sculpting knife and a carpenter’s or No. 2 pencil.

“The pencil tip is great; it’s like a pure, very homogenous material,” he said. “It cuts in the same direction, not like wood, which has a grain. But when I tell people how long it takes, that’s when they don’t believe it. That’s what amazes people more, the patience. Because everything nowadays has to be fast, fast, fast.”

Mr. Ghetti often takes years to complete pieces, especially since pencil carving is only a hobby. A standard figure will take several months however the alphabet carvings below took about 2.5 years!

BAN ON PLASTIC BAGS

San Francisco is debating whether to extend the ban to cancel plastic bags to include all retailers, including bookshops, clothes shops and department stores, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

The California Legislature currently is debating a statewide barring of disposable plastic bags and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has expressed his support of the bill.

Current San Francisco law requires large supermarkets, such as Safeway, and chemist chains, such as Walgreens, to give customers only three types of bags at checkout: compostable plastic bags, recyclable paper bags and reusable bags. Single-use disposable bags are banned completely.

MELANIE PORTER

I am loving the work of Melanie Porter. Creator of a stunning collection of contemporary & unique knitted chairs. This knitwear designer has turned her expertise to furniture, creating one-off contemporary designs from chairs sourced from auctions and markets across the UK. The chair is painstakingly stripped back to the frame, before being restored and reupholstered using traditional techniques. This blank canvas is then covered with a series of hand-knitted panels, especially created by Melanie for each chair. To see more of Melanie's work have a look at her website HERE.

BRUCE MUNRO

'CD SEA' by Bruce Monro

This is the most beautiful use of CD recycling I have ever seen!

If you have unwanted CD's on your shelf gathering dust, then please donate them to Bruce Munro.

For his next project he needs 1 million CDs to make his new installation, 'CD Sea.'

Send unwanted CDs Bruce Munro Ltd, Long Knoll Barns, Corkers Lane, Kllmington, BA12 7HU

Below are some stunning images of another one of Bruce Munro's projects, Light Installation:

'The Field of Light' Eden Project

GREEN POEMS FOR A BLUE PLANET

Green Poems for a Blue Planet is a new book of green poetry

written by Martin Kiszko and illustrated by four time Oscar winner Nick Park (of Wallace & Gromit fame here in the UK). The book is aimed at children aged 8 - 13 years, but having just returned from a listening to Martin reading them out I think it will appeal to a much wider age range!

Martin's poetry really makes you think seriously about green issues and at some points it is also very funny. Nick's illustrations are just lovely and really compliment the poetry, plus they will really appeal to children of all ages. This is a wonderful book for any parent and a fantastic resource for any teacher.

The book is to be published in June/July 2010, by Redcliffe Press Ltd and can be pre ordered via Amazon. To order a copy: CLICK HERE .

Check out their website GREEN POEMS FOR A BLUE PLANET

OONA PATTERSON

Oona Patterson is a artist who specializes in miniture sculptures.

Her work in influenced by old fashioned children's tales.

Above: 'Digging Words' was commissioned to be shown in a library. Some of the figures, little more than 2cm tall, toil at digging deep down into the book they stand on. Others rest beside minute buckets and spades whilst dust and debris scatters across the pages.

To see more of Oona's work click HERE

5,500 YEAR OLD SHOE

Archaeologists have discovered what they say is the world’s oldest known leather shoe, 5,500 years old!

Perfectly preserved under layers of sheep dung, the shoe, made of cowhide and tanned with oil from a

plant is estimated to be about 5,500 years old. Leather laces crisscross through numerous leather eyelets and it would have probably been worn by a woman with roughly size 5 (uk) feet.

The shoe was discovered by scientists excavating in a huge cave in Armenia.

Along with the shoe, the cave has also yielded evidence of an ancient winemaking operation, and caches of what may be the oldest known intentionally dried fruits: apricots, grapes & prunes. The scientists also found skulls of three adolescents in ceramic vessels, suggesting ritualistic or religious practice.

RECYCLED PAPERS

THINK BEFORE YOU THROW AWAY PACKAGING!

If you can't find a way to creatively use it, then make sure you recycle it.

Did you know that you can use old placemats, beakers, etc and cover them in old papers.

Cover with a gloss or PVA. Use old maps, newspapers, magazines, comics, letters, fabric, the possibilities are endless!

The average household throws away 13,000 separate pieces of paper each year. Most is packaging and junk mail.

Recycled papers no longer look different. You can now find recycled content papers with the same whiteness and brightness as virgin papers.

CLOTHES, CAMERAS & COFFEE

Now I maybe bias as I actually know this girl, but at the age of 15 years I think she has such a passion that I want to share it with you.

Roz Peters (Clothes, Cameras & Coffee) is a 15 year old who loves fashion and photography. Her BLOG is full of photographs of her modeling vintage finds. If you are interested in fashion or photography, then I suggest you check out her blog today.

Here is what she said about the above photos:

"This gorgeous dress is Betty Barclay - another wonderful British brand I've accidently started collecting. I bought it at a vintage fair in Bath. If I had more money, then oh the things I would have bought from that stall! However among all the bold colours and fur coats, I noticed this nestled away.

I like the fact it is one part Scarlett O'Hara, one part Covent Garden flower girl (from My Fair Lady.) It has this great row of buttons up the front, which although laborious to do up, look perfect once finished. It also came with the original fabric covered belt, a detail I always appreciate.

I put an underskirt underneath to get the volume..

The sun hat is vintage Laura Ashley I bought from a charity shop and the little black vanity case was from my grandma. My mum bought the shoes today from a charity shop for £1! I leapt on them the minute I saw them. Funnily enough, I used to hate wedges and have suddenly had a change of heart and embraced them. And for five or so inch heels, these are surprisingly comfortable".

HAVE A COKE

I was particularly interested in the use of discarded coke cans, bottles and bottle tops, as so many of these items are thrown away each day! I managed to find some wonderful pieces.

Clifton Suspension Bridge out of coke cans by Stuart Murdoch

This dress is fantastic, I only wish I knew the name of the artist.

Big Ben out of coke cans by Robert Bradford

Big Ben out of coke cans by Robert Bradford

Coke Bottle Tops Fish Sculptures by John T. Unger

RECYCLING FACT:

An aluminum can that is thrown away will still be a can 500 years from now!

THINK BEFORE YOU THROW

A typical family consumes 26 gallons of bottled water, 182 gallons of canned drinks, 104 gallons of milk a year!

We can recycle these items (as we should), but if we think about it we could also make things out of them.

Before you throw away just think!

Have a look here at these people that have put these containers to good creative use.

I also am a HUGE fan of Elbow Grease Designs (two images above). Everything on her site has been designed and; hand sewn in the San Francisco Bay Area from discarded vinyl signs and banners. Originally printed for local trade shows, conventions, municipal or private advertising, these ENORMOUS banners would otherwise end up in the landfill. Jenny Say's "It is our goal to make beautiful and practical items out of what has been discarded".

Harriete Estel Berman Makes wonderful teacups, pots, jewellery, sculptues all out used food packaging. The cups above were constructed from recycled tin cans.

I love the look of this Fishing tackle by Tedd McDonanah. I actually think they would also make great keyrings!

I even love the above artwork created by Children out of food packaging.

ALEXANDER KORZER-ROBINSON

I first saw Alexander Korzer-Robinson's work at the RWA, Bristol at the 'Celebration of Paper' exhibition and really loved what he had done.

Alexander Korzer-Robinson is an artist from Berlin now living in Bristol. He draws from a background in psychology. “my 
art practice focuses on the notion of the inner landscape. Using generally discarded 
materials, I make objects as an invitation to the viewer to engage her/his own inner life in 
order to assign meaning to the artwork”.

The cut book art has been made by working through the books, page by page, cutting around 
some of the illustrations while removing others. The images seen in the finished work, are 
left standing in the place where they would appear in the complete book. As a final step the 
book is sealed around the cut, and can no longer be opened.

Taken on my iphone

SOCK MONKEY

When is a sock not a sock? When it's a Monkey!

Recycling ideas for your old (and hopefully clean) socks.

image above taken from Sock Money Dreams.

I have been fancinated by this craze for Sock Monkeys and have recently been sent sock monkey related items from various people (living all over the world). The victorians were making sock monkeys when the craze for imitation stuffed animals swept from Europe into North America & met the burgeoning Arts & Craft Movement.

image above taken from Sock Money Dreams.

Images from Gingerdead & Friends.

Image above taken from Monkey a Day.

How to make a Sock Monkey

Sock Monkey Wine Bottle Cover. Photo taken by my niece Lucie a store in Los Angeles, USA.

I just love these 'Spock Monkeys' from Craziest Gadgets

And last, but not least... A Hindu Goddess Sock Monkey!

Image taken from Visual Streak