Weekend print workshop

Over the weekend I took part in a Dry Point Etching workshop in Daylesford with Bridget Farmer.  Bridget specialises in various forms of printmaking, but it was the Dry Point Etching I was most interested in learning.  Myself and fellow local designer Fran Pidgeon headed to Bridgets fabulous studio armed with rubber gloves, aprons and itchy fingers ready to print!             

Bridget has dedicated 2013 to 'The Year of the Finch' and has been drawing and creating prints specifically on this little bird.  Above is one of her very cute dry point etchings of said Finch. 

The etching workshop took place on Saturday and Sunday, and it was so lovely to have a creative weekend for completely personal enjoyment - no brief to work to, no commercial limitations, (no toddler around) just me, Fran, Bridget, some 1930's music, choc-chip cookies, cups of tea, and lots of chatting.  Fabulous! 

I love being in other peoples studios and workspaces, seeing how creative people work, what inspires them, are they neat, messy, organised etc.  Most studio's house a lovely mix of random bits and pieces (I like to think of it as studio flotsam and jetsam) that have been found and gathered to serve as useful equipment or inspiration.      

I decided to take some of 'my girls' (vintage teacups) to use as a basis for my etching prints. I started off roughly sketching the teacups, before engraving my illustration onto the plate.  We were using acetate as a plate, which makes it a really easy substance to engrave and allowed us to work very quickly as no acid is necessary to eat into the more traditional copper plate.   

We started off printing our etchings with single colour prints, before progressing to applying several colours to the plate.  This is called 'a la poupee' (multiple colours applied directly to the plate) and Bridget has a tutorial about this technique on her website.    Above you can see Fran's very intricate and detailed beautiful bird print (left) and my sketchy-style teacup print and inked acetate plate (right). 

A big thanks to Bridget and Fran for a wonderful weekend! 

Cute vintage children's memory game

How adorable is this children's memory game!  I picked this up recently at the Daylesford Mill Markets, it was only a few dollars as the cardboard box housing the cards was a bit old and battered.  The sweet little cards (measuring 5 x 5cm) are in great condition and I just love all the different pictures and illustrations.  There are 54 pairs of cards in total, with the idea being to spread the cards out picture side down, gradually turning the cards over to reveral the pictures, and to try and remember where all the matching pairs are. 

The game was manufacturerd by John Sands in Australia, 1966, and some of the pictures in the game are taken from 'House of Cards' by Charles Eames - which explains why I love the images so much.

Lark

 

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.

Orange op-shop finds

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!!

Daylesford day-trip

I had a day-trip to lovely Daylesford on Sunday and finally visited the fabulous Mill Markets which has been on my must-visit list for a while!  The Mill Market is full of vintage and retro second-hand treasures covering everything from furniture, crockery, clothing and books.  It's a great place to spend a few hours rummaging and I can highly recommend a visit! 

 

I also discovered another great second-hand and antiques place called 'Daylesford Temple Antiques'.  I picked up a few bits and pieces from here - including a $10 box of china plates!  I was pretty pleased with myself as there was a great selection of plates inside....

I loved the old backstamps on the plates too.  The backstamps really form part of the appeal of the old plates for me - I love how they were so decorative and represent the year of manufacture.  You sadly don't get this level of detail or decoration on new plates which is a real shame I think.   

 

Lastly I visited the gorgeous shop Lark.  Such a cute little shop and full of beautiful patterned vintage-esque inspired products.  I couldn't resist the vintage plates wrapping paper (see above) but sadly they'd sold the last roll of the vintage coffee pot wrapping paper.  Ho-hum - I'll just have to go back another time to buy it!  Lark has a very cute blog here. 

If you're planning a trip to Daylesford there is a list of second-hand and antiques shops here.  Daylesford also has a regular makers market on Saturdays.