Pixies & Sprites

Loving this new museum backing board.

This 1914 France map, prepared just as the First World War broke out was incredibly fragile. Made from incredibly light weight, almost parchment like paper, with areas of damage and tears.

Even without the history bound up within this one, there is something intriguing about French maps. They tend to use lots of intricate details for their topography which can create almost marbling effects that you see in the vintage Michelin map series.

This one is very reminiscent of the time, showing the topography but in a very functional manner; lots of pencil hatching which gives an attractive depth.

There’s also some pencil marks added to the map, underlining Colmar and also some dotted pencils dashes in what looks like two clear arcs. The pencil dashes align with road and rail crossing points and may have been used by someone to record the war developments and so form part of the maps back-story.

It’s been in our collection for almost a year. Too fragile to fold but I’ve also been reluctant to put it through the strain of adhering to a strong mountboard. This new lighter weight museum board is just the right medium to stabilise, strengthen and allow this map to hang vertically.

Just needs the remaining mounts and framing to become a finished piece.

Same concept, same double hexagon.

Yet 3 very different genres and ultimately they will create 3 very different pieces.

All bespoke orders, will be framed and ready for despatch/ collection next week.

Running a small business is never easy, but it helps when you love what you create 😊

Our next event sees us exhibiting again with Cooper Events at Chester Racecpurse for the Decorative, Antiques & Art Fair.

So we really wanted to bring a statement piece. Fingers crossed this piece will hit the mark.

It’s a real technical one, made from 288 folded tricorne origami modules. It’s made from the four quadrant OS maps of the Lake District. The maps are joined to remove any overlap, so no duplication just a seamless knit together of the four maps. The finished piece is on an A0 mountboard, so it’s substantial.

An interesting piece to construct, since the colour hues change as the piece progressed. Whist it’s a lovely muted tonal palette, there’s a lot of competing colours and detail.

Our pieces are 3D and until the piece is framed up and viewed vertically, it’s difficult to get a real sense of how the piece will sit with people.

We know people interact with our pieces in very different ways. Some need the whole view first, others dive straight in for the details, with every variation In between.

We’ve not tried anything this size before and so will the massive step up in the number of modules change how the piece is viewed?

So many questions, so can’t wait to get it framed up(not easy for a piece this big) and see it on the stand (again not easy for a piece this size 🤭)

Oh and it’s going in a lovely black open grain obeche moulding which gives a lovely textured finish rather than a smoother moulding; works well with our paper pieces.

Another project-in-waiting.

I’ve had this gorgeous canvas Middle Thames OS map from 1929 for a couple of years now.

I’ve been trying to work out the best way of making this piece sparkle again since it is such a gorgeous piece, with huge potential.

I’ve resisted folding it since the material and particularly the top layer is incredibly soft; with little rigidity left. This means it’s likely to crumble and could split if folded.

But it’s a dissected map, so constructed in panels.

To flat-mount requires a complete rebuild, trimming and butting up each panel together, repairing as I go. That in itself can be a 1-2 day task, hence why it keeps getting pushed to the back of the pile.

I’ve been recently experimenting with museum grade backing boards, a slightly thinner material to conservation mountboard.

These are also less rigid which can help deal with the stresses of the drying out process - that tug of war between layers as the water evaporates.

So this one is back in the mix.

There’s a whole chapter of driving social history associated with this one. A simple look at the road descriptions (still no road numbers yet), provides an insight into the massive changes our road network was about to go through.

Cars could now do 35-50mph, yet the speed limit was 20 and never really enforced.

The descriptor of ‘fields without fences’ can only be a reference to animals and livestock hazards.

But an insight into to a very different world.

So I did a big thing for me this weekend, just as I thought I’ve had more than my share of learning and self-growth over these last few months, the universe was not done with me yet.

Small in the sense of real world problems I accept, but significant nonetheless for the business.

Last weekend on our stand at Holt Sunday Market I had my first signed piece on display. I didn’t draw attention to it, discuss it with any customers etc, I just spent the day trying it out to see how I felt; a road-test of sorts.

Having survived that process, I can do the full unveiling and explanation.

So no artist signature, that didn’t feel right; instead an artists mark.

Our company logo is a Dandelion seed head. Not because I love yellow (I cannot stress strongly enough how I don’t do yellow), yet there is just something magical about the flower. It transforms from this really gaudy yellow flower into this structural wonder of a seed head, before it then disperses with the wind. Hence the fit with the paper transformation from something functional etc, into something decorative and structural.

An artist mark needs to be something that takes a few minutes to add to a piece, not a half hour plus. I tried and couldn’t get it to work in a way I liked, no matter how simple I kept it.

The 3D Tricorne shapes I make are visually a series of Benzene rings, an aromatic hydrocarbon which forms the building blocks for Organic Chemistry. Think anything from longchain polymers - the fancy plastics of modern day, to the amazing biochemistry of enzymes that makes the human body what it is.

But just using the short-hand shape, made the symbol look more like a balloon than a seed head. The answer was a hydrid of the two. Using C for Carbon, the building block of pretty much everything and also the same Initial as my surname seemed an obvious choice. Throw in a couple of double bonds and we’re away.

Carbon is also that magical element, brittle as a pencil lead, a fuel in the form of coal but under pressure we get that magical diamond. Couldn’t have asked for a stronger tie-in to the transformational nature of the artwork.

So a simplistic ‘chemistry flower head’ and my initials as a little pencil addition to all of our statement makes. First signed commission is being parcelled up today with another 2 due to be posted out next week.

Cute, whimsical, quirky & different; yet totally on brand.

Finally converted the concept layout of the Footie programme I’ve been mulling over for months into an actual piece 👏👏👏

It made its debut at the fab Holt Sunday Market & certainly got a lot of attention.

We’ll be adding these to our list of commission items.

Prices will vary depending on the base cost of your programme. Less so if you’re happy for a vintage piece, but specific years or games can become pricey so just a heads-up.

If you’ve got your own programmes tucked in a drawer or hiding in a box in the loft, then this is a great way of using them & preserving the memory.

Our Christmas order books are open; thank-you to all those organised people who have got their orders in already 😊

If you’re interested in a piece like this then your order will need to be in this month to ensure it’s wrapped & under the tree. 🎄🎄

Can’t beat living in rural Norfolk.

Feet up on sofa, enjoying a well deserved cuppa after Holt Market.

But never a dull moment. Emerging from clouds of dust, it does a rather neat turn at the end of each run 🤭🤭

All set-up at Holt Sunday Market!

Gorgeous morning and off to natter to stall holders 🥰🥰

We’ve been sourcing lots of antique and vintage books to upcycle into our ‘page plus’ range.

From Penguin classics with iconic covers through to period novels such as Pride & Prejudice. They’ve been selling well and we’ve been trying out different things.

Along the way we’ve picked up some lovely ‘coming of age’ books.

We came across this pair of poor condition Pansy Series novels.

‘What Katy Did’ was an 1872 children’s novel written by Susan Coolidge, detailing the adventures of a 12yr old girl in the 1860’s in the US.

Couldn’t resist the pretty colours and wondered if they could be salvaged into something decorative to be enjoyed for a few more years.

Lovely dedication dated 1899, which ties in with the Pansy series covers.

The books were incredibly grubby. So first task was to remove some of that surface muck. Years of dirt, smoke and soot.

It’s revealed a lovely deep green book cover underneath. Unfortunately the spine is too badly marked and faded. I don’t restore the colours and detail, so the cleaning stops there; any more risks drawing out that none-fast ink on the cover.

The internal text plates and adverts are gorgeous as well, so will try and incorporate those into other pieces.

It’ll take a month or so to work through this piece, but I really think that cover would look amazing in a lovely white frame.

First Sunday of October tomorrow 👏👏👏👏👏

Brings us back to our favourite market.

We’ll be at Holt Sunday Market just down by The Feathers.

The weather is looking good and we’ll have some great new pieces

It seems like ages since we’ve been or maybe just that autumnal shift.

Holt Sunday Market