The Bowerbird

salvaged roadside finds

2012-02-07T01:03:00.000-08:00

Rescued old kitchen cupboard from the side of the road with fabulous lino on the shelves

The Jolly cat checks out the mysterious piece of furniture

The old kitchen cupboard is now at home in my studio

A couple of weekends ago I spied a couple of old 1950's / 1960's kitchen cupboards my neighbours had put out on the street as hard rubbish..... they didn't last long on the side of the road before me and Mr B whisked them into our garden for a clean up.

The first one we cleaned up is this very long cupboard with two shelves and three sliding glass doors. It has the most amazing retro floral lino on the shelves which came up a treat after a good wash (I think the cupboards had sat in the neighbours garden shed for sometime!)

The Jolly cat was most interested in the new addition and gave everything a good sniff to check it out!

We never had 'hard rubbish' in England. I can remember a few months after we moved here, we started to notice piles and piles of furniture, random house objects, garden things and general rubbish piling up on the street outside peoples houses. We had no idea what was going on and were very confused! Now we are very accustomed to hard rubbish - and it has actually become one of my favourite Australian sports ;-)

The rescued cupboard has found its way into my studio and is perfect for storing some of my bits and pieces - thanks neighbours!

Envelope patterns

2012-01-30T02:10:00.000-08:00

Illustration by Clemens Habicht

My ever expanding bag of recycled envelopes and papers

Assortment of collected envelopes featuring different patterns

Some of my experimental illustrations below, featuring envelope pattern detail on the

coffee pot and cup & saucer. With these I've scanned in the envelopes and

changed the colour to suit the artwork.

Below are some examples of experimenting with the Gocco printer by printing

directly onto the envelopes.

In the weekend papers a few weeks ago I spotted this collage illustration using the patterns found on the inside of envelopes, created by the very talented Clemens Habicht. I too am an avid collector of envelopes, so I thought I'd share some of my envelope patterns.

There is surprisingly quite an array of different patterns, textures and colours to be found on the inside of envelopes - and I always love opening an envelope to find a new pattern waiting patiently to be discovered on the inside. (It actually makes opening bills a bit more interesting). Mr B know's never to throw away an envelope before I've given it the once over!

The patterns on the envelopes remind me of Japanese patterns with their miniature scale, perfect repetition and symmetry. I use the envelopes for collages, printing with lino prints or gocco prints, and for experimental sketches and illustrations - I've included a few examples above.

So next time you get a boring bill through the post, remember to look inside the envelope to see what patterns you might find.

Clipper Tea Packaging

2012-01-23T14:49:00.000-08:00

When I first started writing this little blog I did a post about some fabulous packaging for Clipper Tea. I had originally bought the tea when I was in England because I loved the packaging, but I have since become a big fan of the range of teas they produce, as well as their continuing lovely packaging design. I love the simple but slightly quirky graphic imagery, and of course the teapot and teacup theme is a bit of a favourite subject for me!

I bought some more of the teas when I was in England recently to sip in the cold weather - and bought the empty packaging home with me (does anyone else bring empty packaging home with them after a holiday?!...) I have previously bought some of the Clipper Tea from Prahran Market, but they don't stock the full range so it was nice to try sample some new flavours whilst back in Blighty.

The Clipper Tea team have great ethics with their tea production and are Fair Trade affiliated, and they have a pretty cute website too!

New christmas ceramic goodies!

2012-01-18T17:18:00.000-08:00

Ceramic Kofti pot (above) by Kathie Winkle c.1967

Japanese coffee set (above) & decorative mugs (below)

I got quite a selection of vintage ceramic goodies for Christmas this year from Mr B - he certainly knows the way to my heart!

The Kofti pot by Kathie Winkle (manufactured by James Broadhurst & Sons) is actually a mix of a coffee pot and a tea pot - clever! Designed in 1967 it has a fabulous retro pattern and I love the tall modern shape to the pot. I have quite a few plates with designs by Kathie Winkle as I love all the classic retro patterns she produced in such a recognisable style.

I also got this rather amazing Japanese coffee set with coffee pot, jug and little mugs - very cute! The set features an embossed circular geometric pattern which I'm guessing dates from about the 1970's. The Kathie Winkle Kofti pot and this Japanese coffee set now sit happily on my shelves amongst the rest of my assorted cups, saucers, jugs and coffee pots.

Mr B also managed to find some more Japanese mugs with different patterns to add to my rapidly expanding collection!

Sneak peak....

2012-01-14T02:28:00.000-08:00

It's been a busy start to the year which has seen me working on some new watercolour illustrations. Here is a little sneak peak of the artwork!....

Happy Christmas!

2011-12-20T15:11:00.000-08:00

'Happy Christmas' tableware exclusive to David Jones (designed by me!)

Original artwork and design concepts by Lucy King Design

I was doing some Christmas shopping last week, when I came across a display in David Jones of a range of ceramics that I designed last year! It's always exciting to unexpectedly stumble across designs I've worked on and to see them as finished products.

The 'Happy Christmas' range of ceramic and tabletop items were designed exclusively for David Jones, and created as simple, graphic motifs - rather than my usual hand-painted artwork. The design features traditional Christmas motifs assembled in a fun layout with a bold colour scheme. Cute!

Wishing everyone many happy festivities and lots of seasonal cheer! Merry Christmas!!

Japanese mugs - update!

2011-12-16T20:34:00.000-08:00

I have two new additions to my little Japanese mug collection. How super-cute are these two green mugs - and the best part about these new additions is they were sent to me by a lovely lady who spotted them in her local op-shop!

I already have a similar mug to the one on the left, but not with the fab scalloped handle this one has. I've never seen this style of handle before so its great to add to my collection.

It was so thoughtful and generous of the lady who posted them to me....although Mr B is a little worried that other people are sending me cute second-hand ceramics to fill the house up! Sending out a big 'thank you' as I love them - and don't worry I can always find room for cute little patterned ceramic lovelies!

Avoca Handweavers, Ireland

2011-12-10T01:27:00.000-08:00

When I was in Ireland recently I visited the historic Avoca hand weaving mill, situated in the beautiful rural village of Avoca, County Wexford. Established in 1723 Avoca is the oldest working woollen mill in Ireland and apparently Ireland's oldest surviving business.

The mill was originally set up as a co-operative where farmers could spin and weave their wool, before being turned into tweeds and blankets.   Initially the wool was collected from the local sheep of the surrounding hills and valleys and through a process of carding, spinning, dyeing and weaving it was transformed into clothing and blankets.

In 1760 a Fly Shuttle Loom, capable of weaving up to 20 metres of cloth a day arrived, and workers concerned about possible unemployment resorted to burning some looms.

It was great to walk through the working mill and view the weaving process first hand. Whilst some of it is now mechanised, there are still several original fly shuttle looms being operated. The mill is surprisingly noisy with all the machinery - but I loved seeing the different processes involved with the weaving, and all the bright coloured wools and yarns being turned into exquisite fabrics.

Avoca has a gorgeous shop selling a range of their beautiful woven textile products - I treated myself to a lovely red woven jacket whilst I was there! You can shop at Avoca online too.

Goodies from England

2011-12-03T02:48:00.000-08:00

I've just recently got back from a big trip to England and Ireland, where we took little baby Jasper to meet his grandparents. Sadly, travelling with a baby means not a lot of spare luggage allowance for hunting down British second-hand ceramic goodies. However, I did manage to squeeze this very cute china jug and bowl in my suitcase - somewhere in between babygrows and nappies!

I don't know who the original manufacturer is, as unfortunately there's no backstamp only a 'Made in England' stamp on the bottom. I loved the classic retro pattern, colours and the use of dots for texture. Super-cute!

Here's the little guy in England, just catching up on current British news and reading about the Euro crisis!

Lark

2011-11-24T14:14:00.000-08:00

Old fashioned English style and vintage nostalgia at Lark

Bright coloured melamine and party ware

Cute stationery, books, stickers, tins and baking goodies

Fab door covered in old Ladybird children's book jackets (I recognise a lot of these as I used to read them as a child!)

The Lark Christmas catalogue - featuring my vintage tea themed melamine plates!

A few weekends ago I was in Daylesford to visit the super-cute shop Lark. Lark is brimming with old fashioned English style, vintage nostalgia, brightly coloured party ware and all things seriously cute!

Lark stocks a mix of hand selected children's designs, adorable homewares and accessories, designer products such as the Cath Kidston range, as well as a range of products from local designers (including me!) It's a gorgeous shop perfect for buying gifts, with any presents expertly wrapped in pretty papers, coloured ribbons and sweet patterned tape.

The Lark Christmas catalogue is out now and I'm very thrilled that it includes two of my vintage tea-themed melamine plates!

You can visit the Lark online shop here, pop over to the blog, or browse the Christmas catalogue - or you could be really retro and actually visit the shop in person!

Lark - 4A Duke Street, Daylesford, Victoria.

Olle Eksell

2011-11-10T08:31:00.000-08:00

This is a fabulous book featuring the work of Swedish graphic designer Olle Eksell - and I've been meaning to blog about the book for a while. Olle Eksell was an influential graphic designer working in the 1950's and worked across diverse design disciplines including illustration, packaging design, branding, fabric and textile designs.

I love the naiive and quirky style of Olle's work, with many of his designs having a sense of humour and whimsy to them. As with many of the designers I admire, he was working at a time of pre-computerisation so his illustrations and designs posess all the quirks and flair of his hand created artwork.

Olle Eksell Swedish Graphic Designer is available from the rather fabulous Pie Books.

100 years of East London style

2011-11-03T08:28:00.000-07:00

Following on from the previous London themed post, I spotted this video on by b and e and thought it was worth sharing!

The video celebrates 100 years of East London fashion in 100 seconds, from 1911 - 2011. I love all the fabulous vintage clothing and the gorgeous hats! It makes me want to change out of my boring jeans and converse shoes, and put on a cute 1940's dress for the afternoon.

Watch it with the sound on....again...and again... it's quite addictive!

I Love London

2011-11-01T00:36:00.000-07:00

I bought this wrapping paper from Lark the other day as I just loved the quirky illustrations depicting London with classic black cabs, the big red bus and snooty business people!

The illustrations on the wrapping paper reminded me of the 'London Collection' hand screen printed wallpaper designs by British designer Lizzie Allen.

Lizzie has a fabulous quirky illustrative style, and I love these designs with their sketchy collage images of iconic London scenes and business people going about their busy daily lives. I love the 'London City Gents' reading the newspaper, the 'red buses and black cabs' - and also the classic black umbrella which is a necessity when living in England!

Japanese mugs

2011-10-25T20:35:00.000-07:00

Cute patterned Japanese mugs from Gleaners Inc

Last week I blogged about the super-cute shop Gleaners Inc. As usual, I couldn't visit a shop selling second-hand kitchenalia without making a small purchase! I came away with these very gorgeous Japanese mugs with the most amazing pattern details.

I love that the mugs are in three colours and the patterns are all different - with a mix of geometric and floral motifs. I already have a small collection of these style of Japanese mugs - but I'd never before come across any quite so intricate or patterned!

The above mugs are ones I already had and which have featured in some of my illustrations and sketches, so the new patterned ones will be a great addition to my growing collection.

Some sketches featuring my Japanese mugs

Home Beautiful

2011-10-20T15:08:00.000-07:00

I was really thrilled to see two of my melamine plates featured in the latest Home Beautiful magazine!

High Tea & Tea Party were included in the 'We Love' section as favourite finds by stylist Sami Simper. The theme for the favourite finds was 'graceful and delicately-hued designs with a handcrafted feel' so I was really pleased my vintage melamine plates were included.

Also in this latest November issue of Home Beautiful was fellow textile designer and illustrator Natalie Ryan. Natalie has a lovely blog featuring her own illustrations and textile designs - and her blog was mentioned in the 'love at first site' column. Natalie used to design for Linen House where she created some beautiful children's bed linen ranges, and like myself she loves to create hand-painted illustrations. You can check out Natalie's blog here!

Gleaners Inc

2011-10-15T21:21:00.000-07:00

Uh-oh..... There's a new cute shop in Brunswick selling lots of things that I like!.....

Cute details outside the ecclectic 'Gleaners Inc'

Lots of second hand, vintage and retro goodies!

Betty Jo's famous recycled lino brooches and clocks - and wall plates by Me Old China!

Fab owls revamped from old kitchen utensils and found objects from Focus on Art - love, love, love!

Succulents planted in metallic blue teapots, one of my Me Old China cut-out wall plates and ceramic brooches by Septembre Vintage Ceramics

Betty Jo's studio space and workshop on-site at Gleaners Inc

Upcycled vintage fabric bags and pouches by Curlypops

Gleaners Inc is a new shop run by the very lovely Liz Jones of Betty Jo fame. The cute little shop is based in an old 1950's Perruci Shirts factory and has lots of second hand, vintage, recycled, retro and kitsh treasures (very dangerous for my pocket money!) It also stocks recycled work by local designers, including Betty Jo, Curlypops, Focus on Art, Septembre Vintage Ceramics and my collection of my Me Old China wall plates.

The shop space also occupies the workshop for Liz to make her revamped brooches, clocks and jewellery from old lino. I'm super jealous as I'd love to have a studio and retail space in a 1950's factory!!

Gleaners Inc is at 2 Ballarat Street, Brunswick (just around the corner from the Mariana Hardwick building in Sparta Place, just off Sydney Road)

Old Winkle and the Seagulls

2011-10-12T02:05:00.000-07:00

I found this fabulous children's book at a second-hand shop recently and just fell in love with the lively and quirky illustrations! There's a great mix of black ink illustrations and bright coloured painterly artwork throughout the book, all created in a fun and whimsical style.

Old Winkle feeding the seagulls

Hmmm - this cat looks a bit like my fat Jolly cat!

Old Winkle and the Seagulls was originally published in 1960 and it tells the story about Old Winkle, a lonely fisherman with an old fashioned boat, who loves to feed the seagulls. The other fishermen, with their shiny new boats, laugh at him for wasting his time feeding the gulls and this makes Old Winkle sad.

Then, a sudden shortage of fish shuts down the town and soon all the fishermen are out of work. With no fish the effects trickle down from the fishermen, to the girls in the market who have nothing to do but knit and gossip all day, to the lorry driver who sits drinking endless cups of tea at the cafe - all the way down to the fishmonger’s cat, who grows very thin.

Old Winkle’s kindness to the seagulls pays off however, and the grateful gulls lead him to a huge shoal of fish near the great buoy. Winkle in turn tells the other fishermen and soon the town is back in business and Old Winkle is a bit of a hero!

Old Winkle gains the respect of the other fishermen, and he's no longer lonely feeding the seagulls on his own anymore.

'Pretty Plates' - H&G magazine!

2011-10-08T22:58:00.000-07:00

I was very excited to open the pages of the latest House & Garden magazine and see one of my melamine plates included in a 'Pretty Plates' feature!

The plate featured is 'Audrey' which is one of my hand painted floral designs. A big "Thank You" to House & Garden magazine!

Vintage dress fabric from the states

2011-09-24T21:21:00.000-07:00

Florals

checks

dots

stripes

1930'3

novelty

I've been meaning to blog about this fabulous book I received for my birthday a few months ago. Vintage dress fabric from the states is from the excellent Pie Books publishers in Japan, and as the title suggestes the book is full of hundreds of colour images of vintage fabric patterns - gorgeous!

All the vintage fabrics have been collected in New York, with many of the designs being still relevant for today. It's a fabulous inspiration book, with images divided into themes covering floral, check, dots, 1930's, geometrical and novelty etc.

You can buy the book at Amazon, or direct from Pie Books - I'd highly recommend it for anyone who's interested in vintage fabric, textiles and patterns!

Melamine Plates - Australian Gift Guide

2011-09-22T21:13:00.000-07:00

A big 'thank you' to The Australian Gift Guide for writing about my newly launched melamine plate range! It's always exciting when people want to write about my designs and products, and lovely to get such positve feedback about the new design collection.

You can see the story here:

'Fantasia' canvas prints

2011-09-10T02:01:00.000-07:00

'Spotted Dick'

'Chubby Checker'

'Fish 1'

'Fish 2'

'Sylvester'

My dad recently sent me these gorgeous canvas prints that he'd created, which are just perfect for Jasper's nursery! I stretched the canvas over simple wooden frames and hung the designs as a collection.

The four bright coloured prints (the two birds and the two fish) are part of a series called the 'Fantasia' collection. Whilst the designs are very graphic in nature, they are painted by hand rather than being created digitally on a computer, meaning the images highlight the painted brush strokes and layers of colour - rather than flat blocks of colour associated with a computer illustration.

Designed to be 'patterns within patterns', the images form a kaleidoscope of bold and bright coloured shapes, with the bird and fish icons emerging from the heavily patterned background.

'Sylvester' is also a graphic hand-drawn design, but a black and white design based on my parents cat Sylvester. The design came about when Sylvester was walking over black and white floor tiles, and he became part of the monochromatic tile pattern as his black and white body seemed to appear and disappear over the geometric tiles.

The artworks were all printed onto canvas at Spoonflower digital printers - which are great for printing short runs of digitally printed designs onto fabrics. You can seem more of my dads illustrations and designs via his blog, or online shop!

It feels like spring....

2011-08-27T23:19:00.000-07:00

With the lovely sunshine and mild weather we've had recently I've been fooling myself that it's spring already! My plants are also thinking spring has arrived, with lovely colourful flowers and new growth appearing.

I treated myself to a new camera several weeks ago (although I wish I'd got round to doing this before the end of the tax year!) so I decided to take some practise shots in the garden and capture the wonderful colours nature so perfectly creates.

A big thank you must go to Jess from Skip Town for her fab online camera tips - very handy! You can see her recommendations for choosing the right camera here. (The camera I bought was a Lumix DMC LX5)

New melamine plate photo's

2011-08-18T03:19:00.000-07:00

'Alice'

'Audrey'

'Grace'

'Mabel' (spearmint colourway)

'Suzie' (mint colourway)

'Fancy a Cuppa'

'Tea Party'

A few days before making our unexpected trip to the hospital (!) I organised some photographs for my new melamine plate collection. It was fun buying lots of different treats as props for the plates and experimenting with how they photograph. Of course the best part was having a cup of tea and nibbling on the cakes after the shoot was finished!

The plates can be found at my online shop here!

New life.....

2011-08-08T18:40:00.000-07:00

Little baby Jasper

Johnson Bros 'Playtime' ceramic cup and saucer set

We welcomed little baby Jasper into the world two weeks ago! He decided to arrive quite unexpected a few days early, and was pretty keen to get out-and-about into the world. So, here starts a new life for a little person and the start of a new and different life for me and Mr B.

Amongst the beautiful gifts we received for our little man was this vintage children's ceramic cup and plate set from two very special friends. Its an English Johnson Brothers design called 'Playtime' and features very cute and quirky animal illustrations. It's lovely Jasper can get to start his own collection of ceramics!

Lost & Found in East Brunswick!

2011-07-17T19:57:00.000-07:00

Fabulous furniture and found items at the new Lost & Found market in East Brunswick

My friends daughter was captivated by this very funky purple bike!

Various kitsch accessories

I loved the little red dress above - very cute indeed!

This retro enamel cooking pot came home with me!

I headed along to the new Lost & Found market in East Brunswick over the weekend. It was the opening weekend for the market, which is a an addition to the other Lost & Found market in Collingwood (which I've purchased from many times before!)

The new market is on Lygon Street, East Brunswick - and I'm very scared that it's so close to home. This could be very dangerous for my little wallet! As with the other market, Lost & Found is full of retro and vintage furniture, second-hand clothing, random found items and fabulous kitsch accessories. Perfect.

Of course I couldn't resist a little purchase on my maiden visit, and found a very cute and fun enamel cooking pot. Maybe I'll see you there on my next visit....

Piccallili by Edith Farmiole

2011-07-11T18:31:00.000-07:00

Buying the grapes

A friendly bite

Carriage Folk

King of the castle

A tragedy on the wall

Jack selling his boats

A sea picnic

Daylight robbery

I received this very unusual and scarce book for my birthday to add to my small collection of old children's books. The book is called 'Piccallili' and is written and illustrated by Edith Farmiole.  The book is very old, published in 1900 by Grant Richards, London, and is a first edition.

Piccallili is full of charming lithograph illustrations by Edith Farmiole, with short stories to accompany each illustration. All the stories and illustrations focus on children she observed playing in the streets or at the beach, and there is also quite a multi-cultural aspect to the stories and children she captured - with definite reference to Italian children and stories, possibly Spanish children, as well as quintessential old-fashioned English children.

There appears to be very little information available about Edith Farmiole, but I did find a snippet of background information below from the BibliOdyssey blog;

Mrs. Farmiloe is the second daughter of Colonel the Hon. Arthur Parnell, a retired officer of the Royal Engineers and a second cousin of the late Irish leader, Charles Stewart Parnell. She has four sisters and four brothers, and a talent for humorous drawing runs in the family. Her husband, the Rev. William D. Farmiloe, is Vicar of St. Peter's in Soho. The parish, lying chiefly between Rupert Street and Great Windmill Street, is thronged with children of all nationalities, and Mrs. Farmiloe never tires of watching the youngsters play when school is over.

I love the simple linear illustrations capturing the children at play, and the naive quality to the games. No iphones, ipads, video consoles necessary to amuse these children, who are happy building sandcastles at the beach, scribbling on walls and playing with dolls and sailing boats!

Home-made, recycled baby bunting

2011-07-06T18:03:00.000-07:00

Some of the second-hand children's clothing bought from the Salvo's for the bunting

Pinning the paper triangle template onto the washed fabrics and cutting out the shapes. A very interested Jolly cat comes to investigate the crafty activity

All the fabric triangles pinned face-to-face ready for sewing. Jolly cat 'helps' by pressing the triangle pieces so they are nice and flat!

After sewing the sides together the fabric triangles are turned inside out - so the front of the fabric is now on the outside

The fabric triangles are stitched to the tape mixing up the colours and patterns

And here is the finished bunting suspended from each corner of the ceiling - very cute!

I've also made a few toys recycled from gloves and socks below (the monkeys rather fabulous jumper is an old pair of my thermal leggins!!) I used the book Sock and Glove - Creating Charming Soft Friends from Cast-off Socks and Gloves by the very clever Miyako Kanamori. There is a link here with some images of people who've made much better toys than me!

Well, things are getting ever closer here in preparation for the baby! So, I've been busy making a few things for the baby's room. I recently made some bunting recycled from second-hand children's clothes, some old pyjamas of mine, and some offcuts of fabric.

It's been fun to make the bunting, and I love the mix of all the different coloured and patterned fabrics! I've used different fabric on each side of the bunting, and as we don't know what 'flavour' baby we're having I wanted to make something suitable for a boy or girl - and using the children's clothing has been perfect to get some cute patterns and colours for either.

The bunting was really very easy to make, and just requires a sewing machine and some time. You could use any old or second-hand fabrics for different looks - vintage fabrics and teatowels would be cute, or un-used clothing and bedding for example.

Here's what I did:

1. Firstly I washed all the second-hand clothing (and pressed any particularly wrinkly fabrics so they were nice and flat), and made myself a paper triangle template. Because I decided to have different fabric on either side, I made sure my triangle was about 1cm larger than I wanted the finished pieces to be, to allow for stitching the pieces together.

2. Then, I pinned my paper triangle template onto the different fabrics and carefully cut out the triangle shapes. I made sure I had lots of triangular pieces of fabric in different colours and patterns - including some plain colours.

3. When the triangular fabric shapes were cut I pressed them to make sure they were all nice and flat, and then started to pair them up, making sure there were different colours and patterns on each side.

4. I then pinned each pair of fabric triangles face-to-face (i.e. so the front of each piece of fabric faces each other) and using the sewing machine stitched along the two sides of the triangles only - leaving the top unstitched and open. The stitched pieces are then turned inside out - so the front of the fabric is now on the outside.

5. When all the triangles have been stitched and turned inside out, press them again so they form nice flat and neat little triangles!

6. Organise the tape you want to hang the triangles from, I went for a natural coloured twill tape - but there are lots of different coloured and patterned tapes depending on the theme of your bunting. I made sure the tape was quite wide (about 2cm) and thick enough to support the weight of all the fabric pieces. Measure the length you need the tape to be depending on your room size (or wherever it's to be hung) and make sure you include extra to allow the bunting to drape.

7. Then pin each triangle onto the tape, making sure you get a mix of different colours and patterns dispersed along the tape length. To do this I placed the top (open) part of the triangle halfway up the width of the tape and then folded the tape over, this way you should have an even amount of tape on either side of the fabric triangle (about 1cm each side) and when pinned the triangle should be firmly attached to the tape. I also left about 10cm of tape at each end free of triangles to allow for hanging.

8. All you need to do now is to stitch the tape to the triangles using the sewing machine. Et Voila! Your own bunting is completed!

Website & logo update

2011-07-03T18:18:00.000-07:00

My updated website and new logo!

'Portfolio' section with individual galleries to showcase the different work and design projects I'm involved with. Including....

Children's textile designs - boys and girls

Illustration examples

Repeat pattern textile designs and bedlinen designs

Tableware designs

Images from my studio and personal sketchbooks

Me Old China

And the online shop for my new melamine plate collection

I've been a bit behind in announcing my website and logo update.... It was about a year ago that I posted about changing and updating my logo (wow - where has that year gone?!) and after much consideration I did finally decide to go ahead and change my logo. The logo essentially follows the same format as previously, with 'Lucy King Design' falling underneath each other and the graduation of colour from black to light grey. The main change is I've updated the font to Jeanne Moderno which is a bit stronger and bolder than the previous font, and I love this fonts mix of modern and vintage appeal.

I've also been working on giving my website a bit of an overhaul and updating the content. I've worked on so many different freelance projects over the last few years, covering textile design, tableware design and illustration, plus then my own side project with Me Old China and most recently developing the melamine tableware range. Phew! So, I needed to update the content of my website and organise a proper gallery to showcase some of the work I've been involved with.

And here it is! If you get a chance do pop over and have a look to see what designs I've been working on over the last few years. A big 'Thank You' to the guys at Bonsai Media for helping put the website together and for their patience with my questions and requests for changes!

You can visit the website at: http://www.lucykingdesign.com/

Lucy King Design on Print & Pattern blog!

2011-06-28T04:16:00.000-07:00

I am hugely excited to be featured on the very fabulous Print & Pattern blog!

Print & Pattern has been offering visual stimulation and inspiration for a number of years - and is a much loved blog for designers. Daily posts of various new products, upcoming designers, high street store images and generally anything print and pattern related - phew!

So I'm delighted to have my new range of melamine plates included on such a fantastic blog.

A big 'Thank You' to Print & Pattern - you put a big smile on my face :)

(P.S Print & Pattern also has a fab book with the same name. I have the book and it's a great image resource and source of inspiration. It features a range of different designers and illustrators - including local talent Lara Cameron and Lark. You can buy the book here)

Orange op-shop finds

2011-06-26T19:20:00.000-07:00

Staffordshire Potteries cup and Broadhust saucer with stylised floral patterns in orange, ochre & black

Myott plate with rose pattern in orange and yellow

Retro salad bowl and servers

Orange and yellow floral tin with matching flour mill

I think I've posted before about randomly finding and buying objects in similar colours. I've had another experience of this recently with some second-hand finds that all ended up being in the orange colour palette!

Firstly I picked up the retro Staffordshire Potteries cup and the Broadhurst saucer from the Daylesford Mill Market, and loved the mix-match patterns in orange, ochre and black - the cup in particular has a fabulous graphic floral pattern.

Then I found the Myott plate with the rose pattern in yellow and orange. I love the hand-sketched feel to the rose pattern, and the orange and yellow colours help to prevent the plate being too 'pretty' or granny-ish! The plate also has a quite beautiful scalloped edge detail.

I also found the very cute tin with bright orange and yellow flower patterns at the Daylesford Mill Market. The tin matches an old flour mill that I already have - perfect!

And lastly I found this adorable salad bowl and servers from Stockroom in Kyneton! Whilst I'm not really a butterfly person, the bold style of the butterfly and flower pattern on the bowl, combined with the strong orange and black colours stops the design being too sweet and girly. Love it!!

Lucy King Design melamine plate collection & online shop!

2011-06-22T18:00:00.000-07:00

Watercolour floral plates (clockwise from top left) Audrey, Alice, Grace & polka-dot design Suzie in cherry colourway

Suzie detail

Vintage tableware designs (clockwise from top left) High Tea, Tea Party & Fancy a Cuppa

Retro graphic florals Mabel in spearmint colourway (left) Mabel in candy colourway (right) and polka-dot design Suzie in mint colourway

Mabel in candy colourway with Suzie in mint colourway, detail

I'm very excited to be able to officially launch my first collection of melamine plate designs, and to finally have my new online shop up and running!

I've launched the collection with 10 different designs - created to mix and match with each other and to encourage a 'this-goes-with-that' approach. The range consists of three hand-painted watercolour floral designs (Audrey, Grace and Alice), three vintage ceramic designs (High Tea, Fancy a Cuppa and Tea Party), two retro graphic florals (Mabel in candy colourway or spearmint colourway) and two 1950s-esque polka-dot designs which coordinate with the whole collection.

The plates are proudly Made in England in small quantities, and are designed to be used and enjoyed for sharing sweet or savoury treats with friends! Perfect for picnics, bbq's, camping and garden parties etc...... a shame the weather here in Melbourne isn't quite geared up for any of those activities yet!!

You can visit the online shop here: Lucy King Design shop.

Birthday prints

2011-06-19T19:34:00.000-07:00

Willow teacups print by Paula Mills of Sweet William

X-Ray Fish print by Marc Martin

X-Ray Fish detail

I was very spoilt for my birthday a few weeks ago and received these two gorgeous art prints.

The first was the rather lovely Willow Teacups print by illustrator Paula Mills of Sweet William. Being a collector of old Willow plates and teacups, and of course making pendants from second-hand Willow plates for Me Old China, the print is just perfect for my studio or kitchen.

Paula has a beautiful illustrative style, drawing in inks in a lovely freehand style and produces her own illustrations and prints as well as working as a commercial artist. Like me she loves collecting old things - as well as drinking tea! Gotta love that!!

Paula has an illustration blog and a website, as well as a blog and an online shop for Sweet William.

The second print is X-Ray Fish by illustrator and designer Marc Martin. A very different style print, the artwork is much more graphic in style - but still with a hand-painted feel to it. Marc has an amazing signature style and I love how he manages to incorporate both the graphic and the hand-created aspect to his illustrations and designs.

His new collection of Illustrations are 'The Curious Explorers Illustrated Pocket Companion to Exotic Animals' where my X-Ray Fish print comes from. So many fab quirky animal illustrations to chose from, and the illustrations are also available as a whole collection in a book. Cute!

Marc has a fabulous website and an online shop to purchase his illustrations and the Illustrated Pocket Companion to Exotic Animals book!

New old furniture finds

2011-06-16T16:42:00.000-07:00

Ooops - look what I happened to buy! I've been after a large unit to store books and knick-knacks for a while, and spotted this one in Kyneton a few weeks ago. It's a fab 1960's unit with plenty of storeage space - perfect for books and magazines etc. I'm sure it won't stay this empty for long!

I also found this cute little chair (1960's / 1970's??) at our local Salvo's. The orange colour is perfect, and I love the splayed out legs - like a space ship!

I think I might have to stay home for a while and stop visiting second-hand shops, as our little house is beginning to get full up! Somehow I always manage to find room for things though.....

Gift cards Studio Tomas King

2011-06-12T20:03:00.000-07:00

Anemones (watercolour)

The Terrace (oil)

Lemon tea (oil)

La Chaise Rouge (oil)

Les Cerises (oil) - my favourite card!

I love sending out cards to people......maybe I'm a bit old fashioned, but for a special thank you, thinking of you, birthday, anniversary etc cards are so much more personal than sending an e-mail or e-card, so I like to have a few cards at home in case anything pops up.

I recently got these lovely set of cards from Studio Tomas King, with all the cards translated from Tom's original paintings. OK, so you might have figured there's a family connection here. Tomas King is my rather talented father who specialises in painting in oil and watercolour, and has adapted some of his paintings into several ranges of hand-made gift cards.

This sweet little pochette of cards contains 10 cards (with 2 cards of 5 mixed designs) on beautiful matt stock paper. The pochette (wallet) is hand-made and perfect for keeping the cards all-together, or to make a lovely little gift. I selfishly got these for myself :-)

You can see the range of cards, along with some of Tom's giclee prints at his online shop. You can see more of his paintings on his blog too!

Pretty vintage florals

2011-06-07T18:09:00.000-07:00

Pyrex stacking bowls with pretty vintage roses

James Foley Old Kent teacup and saucer with rose pattern

Johnson Australia ceramic plate with vintage floral pattern

I've been without any e-mail or internet for a few days - its been horrible and I feel like I've lost an arm!! I think I've had withdrawal symptoms.....although I have found I've got a lot more work done without any interruptions or distractions from hopping online!!

I hadn't been out on a second-hand jaunt for a while, but last Friday I was out-and-about and popped into a vinnies store I was passing - and found these lovely collection of pretty vintage floral ceramics.

The two stacking bowls are pyrex, made in England by JAJ (J.A.Joblings). Pyrex is no longer 'in favour' for kitchens - but I love the old designs you can find on pyrex dishes. Click here to read a little about the history of pyrex manufacturing in the UK.

The little bone china cup and saucer set (which don't match!) are also from England, made by James Kent. James Kent (Ltd.), Old Foley Pottery was established in Staffordshire, England in 1897 and was in business until c.1989.

And lastly, the very pretty vintage floral plate in an Australian produced plate by Johnson / Sovereign Pottery. After the second world war Johnson Bros needed larger and more modern facilities to keep up with increased productivity, and plants were purchased in Canada and Australia to aid production. 1957 Johnsons opened a tableware factory at Croydon, Queensland, Australia, which was run through a firm also known as Sovereign Pottery Ltd.

Its such a shame these production facilities in England and Australia don't exist anymore, but its great to have examples of their fine wares still in fabulous condition today. I wonder if some of our current modern products so cheaply available will still be sought after, collected, admired for their decorative qualities and be in perfect condition in 50, 60, 70 years time?....

Lottie Loves.....

2011-05-31T18:21:00.000-07:00

Oooh I'm very excited today to be featured on the fabulous Lottie Loves blog!

Lottie Loves is written by the very talented Charlotte Rivers - you may not think you've heard of her, but I'm sure most people will know the book 'Reinventing Letterpress' which was written by Charlotte, and was enormously popular! Charlotte has also written a number of other books from magazine design and packaging, to logo and poster design.

Each week Lottie Loves profiles and interviews various creative people - and this week it's me! You can head over to read about my creative background, workspace and daily inspiration etc. Please excuse the not-so-hot pictures of me working..... must remember to brush my hair in future for photographs!! See the interview here:

A big thank you to Charlotte for including me and my work in her interview series, I'm very flattered indeed :)

Charlotte also has a website, and another very cute blog called Little Lottie Loves charting her own pregnancy and journey into motherhood, as well as featuring some very cute design orientated products for little people!

Birthday weekend

2011-05-30T23:04:00.000-07:00

My big stash of reference books and some of the latest UK and Australian magazines!

Fab patterns on the inside of envelopes from Kikki K

Lovely floral patterned wrapping paper from The Wrapping Paper Co.

'Acanthus' by William Morris and William De Morgan c.1876

'Seaweed' by John Henry Dearle c.1901

'The Merchant's Daughter' by Edward Burne-Jones c.1864

It was my birthday over the weekend and I had a lovely time catching up with friends and being very spoilt. I received a big pile of art and design reference books, as well as a stash of UK and Australian home and interior magazines! I always love having a pile of books and magazines to flick through, so these should keep me busy for a while!

I had some gifts wrapped in this fab wrapping paper from The Wrapping Paper Co, and I'm also loving the patterned inside of envelopes from Kikki K - so much fun to open up a plain envelope and find such happy colours and patterns on the inside! Very cute.

And how lovely are these stamps from Royal Mail. The stamps are from a collection called Morris & Company - and feature some of William Morris' designs, as well as some of the most significant designers who worked with the company, founded in 1861. I was much inspired by William Morris whilst studying Textile Design - his designs are timeless, he created the most amazing intricate repeat patterns, and his design philosophy 'Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful' is a good one to live by!

Designers in Britain - 1947

2011-05-22T21:42:00.000-07:00

Advertising posters

Some things don't change after 60 years; posters advertising the benefits of eating vegetables daily for good health, and a current topic about growing your own food rather than shipping in overseas produce.

Packaging design - I love the stylish simplicity of the graphics used for the butter and biscuit packaging (no nasty product images, primary colours or gimmicky advertising slogans!)

Beautiful script, fonts and embellishments used in these advertisements for women's shoes and apparel shops

Decorative fonts

Fabulous examples of current domestic furniture!

Some time ago I picked up two old English design books from a second hand shop . The books were part of a series about Designers in Britain, compiled by the Society of Industrial Arts in order to review the commercial and industrial design being produced in Britain at the time.

This first book showcases the commercial and industrial design from post-war Britain in 1947 and is divided into themes covering posters, advertising and the media, book illustration and cover jackets, packaging, illustration for publicity, lettering and domestic furniture etc. It's fascinating to look at the designs and graphic arts from this period - not only for the style of the designs and illustrations, but also what was being advertised and publicised at this particular time.

I'm also captivated by the hand-drawn aesthetic across all sectors of design. This was a time before the use of digital photography and desk-top publishing, so pretty much everything was created by hand from scratch. The majority of posters and advertising material, book jackets and illustrations were all created as hand-drawn artworks. No CAD technology or digital equipment to speed up the process - but painstakingly created with pen and ink. However, far from being naive or simplistic, I think the designs created in this style are beautifully decorative and often quite sophisticated in comparison to some of today's commercial design.

Space designs

2011-05-17T19:09:00.000-07:00

I'm sick :( I've caught a cold and now developed bronchitis so I'm moping around feeling very sorry for myself. The good thing is its given me the chance to clear out some of my files and have some time to get organised! Whilst sorting out some of my files I came across this space design I created a while back.  The design is for a boys bedlinen range with a space theme, with the final product being a mix of printed fabric and applique details.

The design was created on the computer, but I deliberately kept a 'hand-drawn' feel to the design rather than wanting it to look too computer generated.  It was a really fun design to work on with robots, space monsters, rockets, planets and coordinating star motifs, and the images above show some of the designs in development.

Well, I'm off to make myself a hot lemon and honey and back to bed I think!

Fruity sketches

2011-05-14T14:28:00.000-07:00

Strawberries painted with inks and watercolours, with the inside of a bank envelope and map pages to also create a collaged strawberry!

More map pages to create collaged apples along with the letraset transfers.

I've been playing around with some 'experimental' sketches and combining watercolour, inks and collage elements into the sketching process. It's been really fun to let go and not think too much about what I'm drawing, but just to let my hand do the talking so to speak!

None of these sketches were mapped out first or roughly sketched in pencil - I simply dived straight in with paintbrush and paints, and started quickly drawing what I saw in front of me. I was trying not to spend too much time drawing or perfecting the fruity props, but to just quickly layer inks and watercolours and keep things simple.

For the collage elements I used a mix of old map pages, the insides of envelopes and any scrap patterened papers or fabrics that suited the subject matter. I also bought some letraset letter transfers, and used these to add the names of the fruit - I like the combination of 'formal' and structured lettering against the washy fluid sketches.

Happy sketching!

My first mothers day!

2011-05-09T20:53:00.000-07:00

Card and envelope from Kikki K

'Modern Vintage Style' by Emily Chalmers

Wow, I've just had my very first mothers day! Whilst not yet officially a mum, at nearly 7 months pregnant I don't have long to go before I will be one!! 2011 is turning out to be a big year for me, I celebrated 10 years of living in Australia a few months ago, then me and Mr B celebrated our 14 year anniversary last week, and in a few months I'll be a brand spanking new mum - eek!

No doubt lots of big changes ahead (one of them being to make my house a little more baby friendly) and its quite overwhelming to think of the responsibility of being a mum, without the support of family around me. Anyway, I received a lovely card and book to celebrate my first (almost) mothers day!!

The card is from Kikki K - how cute is the graphic retro inspired kitchen theme, with a coordinating patterned envelope to boot! And I got a great book called 'Modern Vintage Style' by UK stylist Emily Chalmers (owner of the fabulous London boutique Caravan) - full of inspiration images, style ideas, and gorgeous house shots of people living with modern vintage style. It shows great examples of how to mix modern pieces with vintage elements, with lots of colour, pattern and personality. I love it :)

A brighter start to the week

2011-05-01T16:10:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling a little brighter and more positive about the start of this week. I've finally received some very overdue payments, and I'm making progress with the faulty melamine plate design which should be being re-made this week. I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed it can be re-made without the fault, and I'll have it in my hot little hands soon!

In light of this good news I set up a photo-shoot session last week to photograph the plates in preperation for organising a website and on-line shop. Here is a sneak preview of the hand-painted floral plates. Best of all I get to eat the left-over props :-)

Easter highs and lows

2011-04-26T23:22:00.000-07:00

Hello! I hope everyone had a lovely Easter break and enjoyed the glorious sunshine - how beautiful was it for the long weekend! It seems a very long time since I last did a blog post - I've had a few ups-and-downs over the last few weeks with work and things, which has left me feeling a bit fed up with everything. Humph.

Firstly, I've been having problems getting paid for a lot of freelance work I've undertaken, and I always resent having to chase payment. It really ruins a working relationship, and as a freelancer you have to trust that people will honour payment as you are always doing the work up-front. Any suggestions for how to overcome this??.... I'm sure it's a common problem for freelancers - its a fine line of trusting people / companies whilst also ensuring you aren't left out of pocket and will receive payment.

Secondly, I've been working hard towards getting my own range of melamine plates produced (you might remember I posted a while ago about the samples and different designs I'd been working on). I selected 10 designs to launch a new range, and ordered multiples of each design to be shipped to me from the UK where they are being produced. I was really excited when I received my first shipment of goods a few weeks ago - but this quickly turned to disappointment when I realised one of the designs had a fault. Of course I assumed the fault would be rectified straight away given it was a production issue, and I had paid in full for the goods to be produced and shipped half way round the world. Sadly this doesn't appear to be the case, and is resulting in e-mails not being returned and long periods without communication. Its such a frustrating situation, and makes you question the relationship and trust you have worked hard to build up.

On a brighter note I've been badly neglecting my Me Old China Etsy shop due to feelance work and developing the melamine plate range - but I finally got round to listing some new designs at last! I have lots more designs that have been cut from plates, but I still need to get round to sanding these and transforming them into the pendants.

These two designs are part of a collection made from this very cute English retro plate called 'South Pacific' - they would have been perfect for the summer if I'd got round to listing them in time!

These two rather funky designs are also from an old English retro plate with a pattern name 'Tyrol'. They are a little more 1970's in feel - and very bold with the red and yellow florals on the black background!
And this shows the plate after it has been cut with the pendant shapes. More designs available over at Etsy!

And I also had my 'Knife & Fork' cut-out plate featured over at Kaboodle as part of an Etsy round-up of designs for Earth day. Thanks Etsy and Kaboodle - this helped to cheer me up!

Re-Nest

2011-04-17T17:02:00.000-07:00

I was super thrilled to see two of my projects featured on the fabulous Re-Nest blog over the last couple of weeks! Re-nest is part of the equally excellent Apartment Therapy site, but it focuses more on green design and all things eco and recycled. There's some great ideas and projects featured, as well as interesting homes, gardens and product design.

My garden planting in teapots and various kitchen paraphernalia was featured in the repurposed planters round-up, and more recently my Me Old China cut-out wall plates were also featured in their own segment! (Although the only person who has commented so far doesn't seem to keen on the wall plates as you can't use them as plates anymore!)

I was actually out and about in the garden this weekend, making the most of the beautiful autumn sunshine and giving the garden a bit of a clean up. With all the rain we had over summer my little garden went crazy, with everything growing madly..... sadly including the weeds. Vines have now been pruned and cut back, leaves swept up, snails disposed and weeds pulled. The marigolds planted in the teapots for summer had all died, so these have now been replaced with various succulents so they'll still look pretty over winter!

You can see the posts here: repurposed planters & wall plates. A big thank-you to re-nest for including my little projects, I'm very chuffed indeed :)

Studio spring (or rather autumn) clean!

2011-04-13T21:28:00.000-07:00

Tidy, clean and organised - I have desk space again!

Some of my ceramic tableware designs and new melamine designs

I'd forgotten there was a pattern on my desk it's been buried in artwork for so long

Some of my endless reference folders with magazine tears and swatches of inspiration material - finally organised into categories!

As usual the Jolly cat is never far away.... here she is sitting in my letter tray hoping it's nearly tea-time!

Over the last couple of weeks I've been giving the studio a bit of a spring clean and tidying things up. I'm not a really messy person (I can't cope working in mess and chaos!) but with freelance projects and other things on the go, paper just piles up, things don't get put away, artwork get buried and gradually a cluttered feeling takes hold. So, I decided it was time to clear things up a little and get organised again. I currently don't recognise the studio its looking so tidy - and I have space again. Yay! I know it won't last long, but for now I feel like I'm working in a new space and it will get me through the next six months until it needs doing again.

I've also been organising my inspirtion folders into categories - finally! I have heaps of folders full of inspiration material - from contemporary floral to retro and childrens reference. I'm forever scouring magazines for source material and tearing out swatches of paper, and for a long time these were all jumbled up into folders. I've gradually been going through all this material that I've been collating over years - and they are now all in specific reference folders. Sooo much easier for finding images, I don't know why it took me so long to do it!!

Me Old China in Inside Out!

2011-04-10T17:38:00.000-07:00

Inside Out magazine - May-June 2011

Illustrated 'Vintage Tableware' side plate

'Polly Put the Kettle On' cut-out wall plate

I was really excited to get the latest copy of Inside Out magazine over the weekend - and see two of my plates featured!

One of my Me Old China 'Polly Put the Kettle On' cut-out wall plates was featured, along with one of my Lucy King Design illustrated 'Vintage Tableware' plates, both used as props in an article about cutlery. It's great to see your own work featured in such an inspiring and design orientated magazine, so I'm sending a big thank you to Inside Out for including my designs in the lovely styled shots!

Long weekend in Noosa

2011-04-06T18:05:00.000-07:00

Ahhh, feeling very relaxed and revived after a lovely long weekend in Noosa. The sun was out, the sea was warm and just a perfect place to chill out for a few days.

We went for a 'stroll' around the National Park - which ended up being a 9km walk (!) although I did see my first koala in the wild which was exciting. We also took kayaks out along the river for a few hours, so I felt less guilty for sleeping away the afternoon after that!

The funniest thing was seeing some cushions I designed for Target a couple of years ago in the apartment we stayed in!!

Etsy - Earth Day

2011-04-02T22:48:00.000-07:00

I was pretty excited to see my Me Old China repurposed and recycled cut-out 'Dinner' plate and 'Knife & Fork' plate featured on Etsy's April Shopping Guide today!

The plates were part of the 'earth day' round-up on the shopping guide which was e-mailed out to all subscribers. Its always a pleasure to see my work featured by other people and I'm very grateful to be included amongst so many other fabulous products. Thanks Etsy!!

You can see these plates and more of my designs at the Me Old China shop over at Etsy :)

Second hand ceramics

2011-03-28T09:30:00.000-07:00

Anyone who's familiar with me and my blog knows I can't resist snapping up second-hand ceramics and kitchen goodies! I found these little beauties last week on a trip to the other side of the city where I went op-shop exploring for a few hours. The stainless steel teapot (top) I've decided to use as a plant pot as its a perfect size.

The Wade (England) vintage ceramic salad bowl and serving spoons I thought were particularly cute too!

I also bought a mixed selection of little teacups and glasses, with the glasses being perfect for serving strawberries, blueberries and ice-cream. Yum!!

Orla Kiely 'Pattern'

2011-03-21T15:40:00.000-07:00

I'm still trying to plod my way through my Christmas books, and this lovely book by Orla Kiely has been on my list to share for a while. The book is called 'Pattern' and is full of fab images of Orla's colourful and fun graphic prints, fashion ranges and bags. Its also a book I'm enjoying reading, as well as oohing and ahhing over the images.

The book covers the background of how Orla created her own business, the path she took and how she started out. I love reading about how other designers have set up a business, what they have learnt from the process, and the highs and lows of running your own creative enterprise. Its reassuring to know successful brands started out as small businesses, with many of the same problems and hurdles to jump that other small start-ups face.

The book is divided up into chapters on inspiration, colour, print and home etc, and is punctuated with lots of beautiful photography of her products and designs. However, it makes me want to go shopping and spend too much money on gorgeous bags. I LOVE the orange bag above!!

I love that much of Orla Kiely's design and styling has quite a retro look to it - with many pictures used for brochures shot in old 1950's houses and cafes. Her clothing range also has a modern-retro aesthetic, with often very simple pieces in stunning colours and her signature bold prints.

I'm such a big fan of the simplicity and graphic nature of Orla's prints and designs. Yet again I'm drawn to this bold and graphic style of design - which is so different to my own work. There's something about being attracted to a style of design which is opposite to how I naturally work and create designs, and I'm fascinated by the style and strong brand image she has. Oooh envy!

Orla Kiely 'Pattern' published by Conran Octopus, 2010

Lost & Found Market

2011-03-15T22:01:00.000-07:00

After my recent trip to the Lost & Found Market I thought it deserved a post all of its own. Lost & Found Market is based in Smith Street (near Gertrude Street) and is jam packed with funky vintage, retro, second-hand and gloriously kitsch items!

Its quite overwhelming at first as there is so much to see spread over four levels, so you need to allow plenty of time to rummage! There's furniture, bric-a-brac, fashion, kitchen goodies, books, records etc etc....

I can happily lose myself for quite sometime whenever I pop by for a looksy, and it takes some serious will power not to go mad! The only downside is it's cash only - although this can help to curb the spending! Happy shopping - I might see you in there! :)

Latest second-hand finds

2011-03-10T17:01:00.000-08:00

Busy, busy week this week! I've been pretty flat out with some freelance design work, but I did manage to find time to pop into the fabulous Lost & Found market in Smith Street yesturday. Always very dangerous - as I always manage to find things to buy!

I bought this retro tomato ketchup sauce bottle in the shape of a tomato - genious! I've actually wanted one for ages as it really reminds me of visiting old-fashioned cafes in England as a child! Tomato ketchup, Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce and HP sauce - ahh the best of Bristish!!

I also picked up this rather stunning long-length vintage green leather coat! Green is my favourite colour and this leather coat is a beautiful dark British racing green colour. Its in superb condition - the brand is Merivale which was apparantly the first specialty fashion boutique in Melbourne. This quote about Merivale is from The Powerhouse site - which I found via Circa Vintage Clothing;

Established by John and Merivale Hemmes, the landmark House of Merivale and clothing designed by Merivale revolutionised the Australian fashion scene. John and Merivale Hemmes were mavericks in Australian fashion. Modelled on London’s famous concept boutiques and catering to 18-25 year olds, the House of Merivale was the first specialty fashion boutique in Australia.

The House of Merivale was not just a shop; it was a phenomenon that significantly influenced a generation of young Australian’s attitude to shopping and the fashion experience. The House of Merivale was the place to go to for the latest trends in music, fashion and make-up and was the first store in Australia to sell the mini. The popularity of the boutique was such that teenagers would be lined up outside the door.

Town & Country

2011-03-03T15:44:00.000-08:00

I spied this very cute children's book in a second hand bookshop a few weeks ago. Its not a particularly old book (it was first published in 1984) but I really loved the naive style of illustrations and the story about the difference between living in a town or big city, and living in the country.

In a big city, you may live in a furnished room or a town house or a mansion, but most people who live in a really big city live in a block of flats and almost everyone who visits a big city stays in a hotel.

When you are hungry you can go out to eat in a restaurant - any kind of restaurant, an Indian restaurant, a Chinese restaurant,, or a French cafe. There are Kosher restaurants and Fish Bars and Salad Bars and Health-food cafeterias.

A farm in the country is a quiet place with lots of space. Beside your house there are barns and stables and tool sheds and tractor sheds. There are fields and fences and streams and trees.

There are lots of things you grow, like eggs and apples and all kinds of vegetables. Everything tastes so good when its fresh from your garden. Digging, raking, planting and weeding a garden is a lot of work, but it is worth it.

It sums up my dilemma - do I want to live in a city where I can eat at any kind of restaurant, or in the country where I can have a quiet place with lots of space.....

Town & Country by Alice and Martin Provensen.

Coffee pot sketches & collages

2011-02-28T22:35:00.000-08:00

I've been experimenting some more with my ink pen, sketching my tea and coffee pots and also adding in some collage backgrounds and details.

Here I've added some collaged coloured paper to replicate the colourful pattern around the top of the old Studio Meakin coffee pot.

Normally my work is so colourful when painting with watercolours, so I quite like the monotone black and white contrast acheived with the black ink pen. Working with the ink pen also forces me to simplify what I'm drawing, as I can't add all of the shadows and subtle details that I can with paint.

I've also liked using torn newspaper print as a background to draw onto as it reinforces the simple black and white palette, and helps to add some detail and surface interest - whilst keeping the drawn images to a minimum.

Off to put the kettle on now!....

Me Old China at Small Space Jewellery

2011-02-20T17:48:00.000-08:00

Last week I dropped some new Me Old China jewellery designs to the lovely Small Space Jewellery in Fitzroy.

Small Space took a selection of Clarice Cliff pieces and Vintage Floral designs, to add to the Willow 'Fancy a Cuppa' collection they already have.

The range above features pendants cut from a Clarice Cliff dinner plate. I picked up two of these second-hand plates from the local Oxfam shop when I was back in England. The plate pattern is called 'Tonquin' and was designed by Clarice Cliff in about 1954. This particular pattern was originally designed for the American market place and was one of her most popular tableware designs, it depicts a traditional English landscape scene and printed in this unusual pinky-red colour.

The Vintage Floral designs are also taken from a second-hand old English dinner plate. The sweet floral patterns (taken from the centre of the dinner plate) feature alongside sections taken from the rim of the plate! You can see the ribbed texture on the bottom of the jewellery pieces, that ran around the very edge of the plate rim. So as well as adding some textural detail to the pieces, it also helps to reinforce the origins of the jewellery by highlighting their previous use as a domestic dinner plate!

A big 'Thank You' to Small Space Jewellery for their support with Me Old China!

10 years in Australia!!

2011-02-13T18:38:00.000-08:00

Today I celebrate 10 years in Australia!

We arrived in Melbourne 10 years ago, on Valentines Day feeling very, very jet lagged! It was about midnight when we landed - and still about 30C. Our first few days the temperature steadily rose from the high 30's to the low 40's and we were so unaccustomed to the heat - especially given it had been snowing in the UK in the weeks leading up to our departure!!

My partner Mr B had back-packed around Australia before going to uni and always knew he wanted to come back.... I didn't even think I'd get to visit Australia on holiday - let alone end up living here! Australia to me was a very exotic far-away land that I would never in my lifetime see, so to have been living here for 10 years is quite surreal.

I've attached some snapshots of a few of the amazing places we've seen, experiences we've had and things we've done whilst living in this beautiful country......

Hung out in beautiful Melbourne.....

Visited the stunning harbour of Sydney more times than I can remember.....

Did a cycling wine tour of Rutherglen - highly recommended!....

Visited WA to see her gorgeous beaches and visit more wineries in Margaret River.....

Swam at Palm Beach - famous for being the Home & Away beach (very exciting for an English person!!) That's me trying to edge my way into the surf - still haven't mastered how you Aussies just dive in!

Visited Port Douglas in FNQ - there's the rainforest meeting the reef just like the advert promised!

Spent a fair few hours, yawn, driving to Merimbula stuck behind boats and caravans - but very worth the long trip......

Seen in a few New Years Eve's - not all of them in 1970's fancy dress though!......

Took out a boat in Noosa......

Explored Fraser Island which is amazing......

Had the odd Derby day.....

Hiked around the Blue Mountains......

Visited stunning Port Stephens......

Snorkelled with Dolphins at Rottnest Island.......

....And met some of the friendly local Quokka's!.....

Cheered on England (sorry!) at the Boxing Day Test, even in the rain!.......

Snorkelled at The Great Barrier Reef......

Chilled out in Byron Bay......

Re-stumped a house.....

....And renovated it.......

Took a sunrise balloon flight over Melbourne........

Entertained many friends and relatives.......

And had my fair share of Huntsmen visiting my bathroom!...... (Ironic that he was hiding behind the can of insect repellent!!)

Over the last 10 years my hair has changed lots.....but the friends we've made and our joy at living here has remained constant. Thank You Australia for many wonderful years and memories and for allowing us to experience life here :)

Christmas books - Angie Lewin

2011-02-08T16:55:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd feature another one of my christmas books - this time a fabulous Angie Lewin book called Plants & Places I received as a gift from my sister. Anyone who's a regular to my blog will know I'm a big fan of Angie Lewin's gorgeous linocuts and wood engravings - so this book is a lovely addition to my collection of her work.

Preparatory drawing for linocut The Moonlit Cup

The book Plants & Places is a beautiful collection of images showcasing Angie Lewin's work, the inspiration behind many of her prints and themes, and the making process behind the artworks.

Poster for Salthouse on the Scenic North Norfolk Coast and cutting the lino block for the poster above.

Angie Lewin's work mainly focuses on native plants, wild grasses and seedpods found along the English coastline, local woodlands, hedgerows and meadows, and the rivers and lochs of Scotland. Makes me quite homesick!

Alliums

The book also showcases many of Angie's watercolour illustrations - mostly created as initial studies for print designs, but I think they are just beautiful in their own right. Some of my favourites (below and bottom) feature old china and cups from the 40's and 50's, including some ceramic designs by Eric Ravilious for Wedgwood.

Winter Persephone

The 1953 Coronation Mug (Design of mug by Eric Ravillious for Wedgwood)

You can see other posts about Angie Lewin here, here and here!

Funky floral fabrics

2011-02-03T15:17:00.000-08:00

I've found some funky retro floral fabrics and tablecloths at various second hand shops recently....

This cute little seersucker fabric with simplified orange florals was from the local Vinnies.

This gorgeous tablecloth was picked up from the Mornington Antiques Centre closing day sale. I love the overscaled bold flower pattern, and the mustard and olive colours. Its a lovely soft drapey cloth too. I need to find a table now to use it on!

This fabric featuring giant yellow, orange and brown flowers and leaves is also a tablecloth. I love the linear detail with this floral print, and the bold scale keeps it really fun!

Kitchen things

2011-01-30T15:30:00.000-08:00

A few months ago we headed along to the closing down sale at the Mornington Antiques Centre. I was kind of sad the day I discovered it was the day it was closing down - typical!

We picked up this cute little sideboard - I actually think it may have originally been designed or used for a record player and housing records (yep remember those vinyl round things we used to listen to music on!!) because of the tall thin compartments on the right hand side, that don't seem to be suitable for storing anything apart from wine!!

We decided anyway to use it in our kitchen, as its perfect for storing sideplates, teatowels and some of my teapots and kettles - such as this little retro beauty complete with whistling spout!

I also bought this orange patterend enamel dish - which matches the coffee pot I already had. Perfect!

And how about this gorgeous metal tin with fabulous illustrations all the way around. I've no idea of the age or origins of the tin - but I just loved the very cute kitchen themed patterns and colours and for a whole $4 I thought it was a bargain!

If you're interested in all things 'kitchen' you must head over to Liz Jones' (of Betty Jo Designs) new blog You Will Always Find Me...... She has started a blog all about 'kitchen goodness' and like me she has a fondess for all things vintage, retro, colourful and quirky in the kitchen!

It's going to be a fabulous blog and features some images of Liz's own amazing kitchen (see above). You can submit your own kitchen pics too - which I will be doing very soon! The blog has gone straight to my bookmarks poolroom (if you know what I mean!)

Fryerstown Antique Fair

2011-01-25T18:45:00.000-08:00

I went to the Fryerstown Antique Fair on the weekend, it's a bit of an annual pilgrimage for me and I love having a good rummage in all the stalls!

Fryerstown is a small village near Castlemaine in the Goldfields region, and the fair is a mix of antiques, collectables, second hand furniture, books, kitchen items and random bits and pieces. There are heaps of stalls and its pretty impossible to leave without buying something!!

The fair is set up outside amongst the trees and shrubs - which thankfully provide a little shade as it is always very hot, dry and dusty!

I couldn't resist this little old orange enamel coffee pot, or the two vintage linen tea towels featuring a map of the London Underground and a great selection of cocktails!

Exciting new melamine designs!

2011-01-19T23:26:00.000-08:00

I'm very excited about some melamine designs I've been working on arrived in the post this week! I'd started developing a range of designs last year for Lucy King Design, and of course everything got delayed with the sampling due to christmas - but they have all arrived now!

As usual I couldn't decide on one particular range of designs - and so I sampled all of them! It's the worst thing being a designer is having so many ideas - too many ideas most of the time. And having no brief to answer means endless options for design themes and styles......graphic, retro, hand painted, pretty, bold etc etc.

I'd love to be able to create and develop my own range, but apart from having to work out all the manufacturing costs, packaging, retail margins, how to sell the products and if it's actually viable to do (and make a profit myself!) I first need to narrow down the designs to proceed with - and that's the tricky part!!

So, I'm hoping I can ask for some help and feedback from whoever might see this blog post and is kind enough to cast their vote from the designs below. I've divided the designs into themes - so you can either nominate a theme you like, or a specific design, or your top 3 designs!
The design references are all under the pictures.

FLORAL - HAND PAINTED ARTWORK (by me!)

Floral 1

Floral 2

Floral 3

Floral 4

VINTAGE MAPS - PAGES FROM AN OLD ATLASS

Map 1 (Australia East Coast)

Map 2 (Australia)

Map 3 (United Kingdom)

RETRO DESIGNS - WALLPAPERS & FABRICS ETC

Retro 1 (wallpaper)

Retro 2 (fabric)

Retro 3 (wallpaper)

RETRO STYLE FLORAL DESIGNS (by me!)

Retro Floral 1

Retro Floral 2

Retro Floral 3
VINTAGE TABLEWARE ILLUSTRATIONS (by me!)

Vintage 1

Vintage 2

Vintage 3

Vintage 4

Vintage 5

Vintage 6

Any thoughts or comments would be much appreciated - thank you! You can vote anonomously too if you'd rather not leave your name or link to a website / blog.

Me Old China off to Portobello Lane

2011-01-16T18:04:00.000-08:00

I've just sent a package of Me Old China jewellery off to the very lovely Portobello Lane in South Yarra! It's always exciting to package the jewellery pieces up knowing they are going to a good home and will be sitting with other beautiful jewellery creations.

Portobello Lane have selected quite a few pieces from the 'Fancy A Cuppa' collection, including a range of teacup, kettle and teapot brooches (above) and pendants (below)

And also some Willow pieces from the 'High Tea' collection (below). The double pendant featuring the doves is one of my favourite pieces - and I was quite tempted to keep it for myself!

A big thank you to Portobello Lane for their continued support with Me Old China :-)

This is For You - Rob Ryan

2011-01-12T16:05:00.000-08:00

I received some great books for Christmas this year, I always love getting inspiration and reference books as gifts and I normally have a long list of titles that I'm after! This sweet book was a surprise from my lovely partner Mr B, it's called 'This is For You' and its full of the most beautiful paper cut illustrations by Rob Ryan.

I think Rob Ryans work is really quite amazing! On my last two visits to London I've tried to visit his shop in the very cute Columbia Road, but sadly have always been in the area when its closed :(
Whilst the book isn't the same as seeing his work in person, its lovely to see his exceptionally cute and superbly intricate paper cut illustrations narrating thoughts on loneliness and finding love.

I'm amazed at the level of patience you must have to be able to cut such detailed artwork with nothing more than a scalpel blade, keen eye and very steady hands! You wouldn't want to lose concentration or have to answer the phone whilst working on these pieces!!

So very lovely - thank you Mr B! Rob Ryan also has an Etsy shop selling his paper cuts and screen printed designs here!

Me Old China in Green Magazine!

2011-01-09T15:23:00.000-08:00

From plateware designer to designing with plates. Melbourne-based designer and keen vintage collector, Lucy King, has gone full circle, from once designing patterns for tableware company Wedgwood, to utilising cast-off plates to create one-off homeware pieces under the label, Me Old China.

This range is called "Polly Put the Kettle On".

I was very excited to have some of my Me Old China recycled 'Polly Put the Kettle On' cut plates featured in this months edition of Green Magazine! (Issue 17)

I'm a big fan of Green and have been subscribing for several years now. It's full of the most amazing homes, interior spaces and gardens all with a sustainable element - but also with great design aesthetics and always thoroughly inspiring.

I was absolutely delighted my cut out wall plates were featured in Green, and it's a fantastic way to start the year!

Welcome to 2011!

2011-01-04T17:10:00.000-08:00

Well Hello 2011!

I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate the start of a new year than with my fabulous calender courtesy of The Design Files and the very clever illustrators from The Jacky Winter Group.

I'm sure whoever reads The Design Files (OK, pretty much everybody!) will have already seen the calender advertised, but its such a great way to start off the new year with some fab illustrations from local artists that I couldn't resist jumping on the bandwaggon and sharing.

The calender features a selection of local and international neighbourhoods, and all the artwork is beautifully created by a bunch of very talented Australian illustrators including some of my favourites Nery Walker, Webuyyourkids, Kat Macleod and Marcela Restrepo.

You can head over here to The Design Files to find out a little more about all of the contributing artists who took part in the neighbourhoods calender project - and you can also head over to Lamington Drive to purchase the calender for yourself!

Seasons greetings!

2010-12-22T15:21:00.000-08:00

I created these christmas illustrations and designs last year - and they hit the shops in time for christmas this year! A big fat santa, christmas tree, rudolf reindeer, christmas presents and stars - what else do you need for a perfect christmas.

Wishing everyone a very happy christmas and all the best for the new year ahead!! Lucy x

Celestino Piatti's Animal ABC

2010-12-19T16:44:00.000-08:00

I picked up this gorgeous second-hand childrens book a few weeks ago, as I couldn't resist the wonderful bold animal illustrations. It's written and illustrated by Celestino Piatti who was a Swiss Graphic Artist, Painter and Book Designer, and his Animal ABC book was originally published in 1965.

Aren't the illustrations just fabulous - and I'm sure children love them!

Castlemaine Festival of Gardens - part 2

2010-12-13T15:03:00.000-08:00

Here are some more photos from the Castlemaine Festival of Gardens that I visited a few weeks ago. The images were taken at a property called 'Lixouri' which has a beautiful Mediterranean style garden.

I love these sheep and guard dog garden sculptures made from scavenged wood and metal - the sunglasses are a great touch!

Nature never ceases to amaze me with her abundance of shapes, textures and colours - and I love these poppies that look like they're dancing in pink ballerina tutu's!

I love this wire kangaroo sculpture - very cute! The gardens were very inspiring to visit and think I'll allow more time next year to visit a few more.

Gocco Christmas cards

2010-12-08T15:39:00.000-08:00

Well, given Christmas is only a few weeks away I thought it was about time to organise some festive cards!

I decided to use my Gocco printer to create the cards as I certainly need the practise with it! A Gocco printer is a Japanese mini screen printing system, perfect for printing cards and small images. It's a very nifty bit of kit, where you use the one machine to expose the screens and print the image. I got my Gocco printer last year and must admit I've struggled to get suitable results - but these cards have worked out OK I think.....

I hand drew my images (using the special Gocco carbon pen) and like any screen print you need to create seperate images, for seperate colours.

You then need to expose the images onto the mini screens - this is done using flash bulbs as seen above.

Here are the images exposed onto the seperate screens (the paper artwork is still behind the screen)

Then I printed my first image - you can create lots of prints so I made sure I cut and folded all of my cards beforehand. I liked the idea of having different coloured cards, so I used a mix of colours and I also trialled different paper stock (some smooth, some textured etc).

Then I printed the second image over the top to create the final image. Voila! My hand screen printed Christmas cards!

I'm really no expert on Gocco printing and I'm still learning with trial by error!! There is lots of information about Gocco printing on the internet - and I've included some of my favourite links below;

Gocco Flickr Group

Gocco machines and supplies on Etsy - Print Addict Japan

Gocco supplies Australia - Nehoc

Gocco links from Meet Me At Mikes

And lastly one of my favourite Gocco artists - Bridget Farmer. Bridget has a fantastic Gocco print tutorial on her old blog, with a very easy step-by-step process and pictures for each step.

Old Australian stamps

2010-11-30T15:10:00.000-08:00

About 4 years ago I bought several packs of old Australian stamps from an op-shop. I didn't know what to do with them, but I do love all the colours and patterns on stamps so I've been hoarding them ever since!

I finally decided to do something with them - and created a collage style map of Australia! I bought an old Atlass and tore out the Australia map as a background, and then collaged the old stamps in the shape of Australia over the top of the map!

It's a bit kitsch - but quite cute!

More kitchen illustrations & sketches

2010-11-25T18:15:00.000-08:00

I've been messing around with sketching some more of my collection of cups, teapots and kettles!

I've been exploring using different media to acheive different effects, and also incorporating some collage elements into the sketches. I've been working 'blind' by just applying paint direct to paper - without putting down any pencil outlines first! It can be a bit scary at first - but I love the freedom of working so direct and letting the paintbrush dictate the finished outcome.

I've also been inspired by seeing the work of Kat Chadwick on The Design Files recently - and bought myself an ink dipping pen to experiment with!! Ooh - I love new media to experiement with, and this has been lots of fun!

New stockists for Me Old China!

2010-11-22T20:11:00.000-08:00

I'm really excited to announce two new stockists for Me Old China!

The first is a newly opened on-line store called Kindred Gifts. Kindred Gifts beleive in offering an ethical and sustainable alternative to gift purchasing - and you won't find any mass-produced items in this store!

The products featured at Kindred Gifts are created by artisans who hand-make their designs often using vintage, recycled or organic resources and packaging, or, follow fair trade principles and contribute to the safe and fair working conditions of communities where the products are made - gotta love that!

The other new stockist for Me Old China is the gorgeous Portobello Lane in South Yarra. Portobello Lane is an independant boutique jewellery shop stocking hand crafted pieces from local and international designers. They have a diverse range of jewellery from whimsical, cute and quirky pieces to selective elegant and sophisticated ranges.

I'm really thrilled to be able to stock my work with these two lovely stores, and it's great to take the opportunity to show my support and say a big 'thank you' to Kindred Gifts and Portobello Lane. Thanks!

I want this dolls house - for my home!

2010-11-17T15:35:00.000-08:00

I've found my dream home..... sadly it's a dolls house!

I came across this article in the fabulous Frankie magazine about a lady who has a 'secret world of dolls houses' - and I found myself wishing I was one of her dolls as I'd love to live in such a pattern-crazy retro house!!

Just look at this kitchen! O.M.G!! It's perfect with its retro style coloured cupboards, green deluxe fridge and enamel cooking pots. Too cute!!

A perfect example of a 1960's / 70's lounge with brown and orange striped couch cushions and coordinating chairs. Do you think they are a terry-toweling type material - I do hope so!

The level of detail in the dolls house is amazing.....from the patterned wallpapers, vintage and retro furniture, food packaging in the kitchen, posters, to old telephones, tableware, lamps and and glassware etc. The sewing desk complete with folded fabrics, old sewing machine, cutting matt and cup of coffee is adorable!

And lastly, an orange bath and matching toilet - what more could you want!

The scanned pictures don't really do the dolls house much justice or show up all the little cute details - so head out and check out issue #38 of Frankie magazine. I'm off to join the other dolls to do some sewing, stick a record on and plan a dinner party to utilise that fabulous kitchen....