Tag: hoop art

Nina – Commission

23 January, 2016 / Katy / 0 Comments

With Christmas embargoes over, I can show you a baby name piece in a new style.

I love a hamsa, I wore one around my neck the entire time I was pregnant with both the weans. I have always liked the idea of protective amulets, rhymes and other practices (while maintaining an irritating inability to believe that they work), and given the brief to use patterns and designs influenced by Nina’s North African and Balkan heritage, I had the perfect opportunity.

It’s very easy to get into a groove with your house style, and stepping outside the confines of a font and being in charge of the black lines was a little daunting.

I’m really pleased with how it turned out, and I’m looking forward to trying some more pattern-making and drawing.

Interestingly, once I’d made the shapes, I could hardly bear to distract from them with exciting embroidery stitches, and did the thread equivalent of carefully colouring within the lines!

Done and Done

18 December, 2015 / Katy / 0 Comments

An unexpected feeling of accomplishment is filling the air.

Hoop back - Misericordia

I’ve finished my last commission (no photos, the usual gift embargo applies until the New Year) and I’m ready to set myself some impossible crafting goals for the holidays.

As an aside, I tried a new method of finishing the back and I can’t decide what I think about it.

Here we have the makings of Little Lion’s Hebrew name embroidery, her name means queen, so I pondering something regal and ornate.

Gold and turquoise embroidery thread - Misericordia

I’ve also promised Dragon some work on his quilt, so here’s hoping for a few quiet moments (and possibly a slightly more seasonal chill in the air) to make good on my promise!

I hope you make it through the last week before the holiday, don’t forget the odd deep breath and solitary outdoor walk may make all the difference.

Commission – Ladybug

27 February, 2015 / Katy / 2 Comments

This commission has a sad story behind it, but I wanted to share it with you.

It’s a memorial piece for a wee girl who recently passed away after battling serious health problems for most of her life.

Her nickname was Ladybug, and while the obvious thing to do was incorporate that into the piece, I wanted to make sure that there was a little more to it than just an illustration.

Once I’d decided that the ladybird should be about to fly away, the rest of the colour choices fell into place.

The leaves are birch, which has symbolic meanings of youth, regeneration and the bridging the gap between this world and the next in several cultures.

Commission – Samuel William

6 February, 2015 / Katy / 0 Comments

Another baby present today, this one turned out as a bit of a surprise, even to me!

I was thinking of Fairisle knitting when I chose the colours (cream, burnt orange, royal blue and emerald green) but in the end it didn’t look anything like knitting.

If the colours don’t show up very brightly in the photo, it’s because I had a window of photographing opportunity between 8.00 and 8.30 one morning to get it shot. I thought I was being super-organised, I set everything up the night before, took a few preview shots and went to bed feeling like I’d cracked this photography thing.

Morning came, there was the usual endless discussion about what toys were or were not going to nursery and by the time I lifted my head from my cup of tea I realised that it was in fact still dark in Edinburgh on a January morning at 8.30! So I stopped right up and hoped for the best… I’m calling it atmospheric!

Commission – Imogen Ann

30 January, 2015 / Katy / 0 Comments

Sometimes I have a very strong idea for a commission, either the fonts, colours or both.

This was a hoop that just fell into place with almost no prevarication. The lady who commissioned it showed me a photo of the mum and baby (I love that, it’s so nice to picture the recipient as I work) and the nursery was a lovely combination of buff, cream and gold.

I’m not very good at sticking to a colour scheme in my own decorating, so it’s nice to be able to play at interior design with someone else’s scheme!

Sarigami – Commission

16 January, 2015 / Katy / 0 Comments

I don’t know if this is universal amongst people who work on commission, but I have a very loose mental wish list of things I want to make.

For instance, I’ve never been commissioned to sew anything rude or sweary (Dragon is very close to starting to read, so if you’ve been pondering any embroidered profanity, please do it soon!) or marriage proposals, both of which I quite fancy.

However, I have now embroidered a logo for a fellow maker, which I’ve been desperate to do for ages.

This rather lovely purple is the logo of a French artist who goes by the same of Sarigami and creates gorgeous origami jewellery and decorative objects. She’s based in Paris and is in the midst of some exciting changes, but do have a look on her website and Facebook page for more information.

Morningside Makers Market this Saturday

31 October, 2014 / Katy / 1 Comment

Someday, Gentle Reader, I will be so organised that I will have time to photograph all of the pieces I’m taking to a craft fair before I do my practice set up.

But, as they say, it is not this day! Even my camera is against me, the batteries died just as I took the first photo for this post…

Perhaps it’s a good way to heighten the excitement (yours, not mine).

At any rate, here are a few sneaky peeks (courtesy of my phone) at what’s coming with me to the Morningside Makers Market this Saturday.

You can see all of my upcoming fairs here, but don’t worry, I’ll keep you posted!

Back to work…