Making waves

Oh dear, it has been such a long time since my last post I think the only thing I can do is to show you in pictures what I have been up to...with a brief explanation underneath. It will take me a week to write otherwise!!

"Making Waves"

I decided to piece all my odd bits of blue driftwood together to give an impression of waves, so this piece is quite deep. I particularly like the curvy piece at the very front.

This chunky boat is basically one piece of wood which was the end of a huge hunk of wood. Most of it was burnt, but I could see it could still be salvaged. A found weight has been used for a buoy...and I mananged to bend a bit of an old chisel around the mast to make a flag.

"Herman The Whale" - as soon as he is properly finished, he will be going into my shop.

Almshouses with postbox....now living in sunnier climes in Australia!

Customers are always telling me I need to include some knickers on my washing lines.....!!

A large free-standing piece ready to go off to an exhibition here

"Houses on the Lake"

These farm buildings have rusty tin roofs....the smaller one is actually an old hinge.

A custom-made key rack for a lovely customer!

Cottages in rich, autumnal colours

Tiny welsh cottages

Houses on a jetty

And finally!! That dreaded word again.......*whispers* Christmas

Q: When is a plasterboard screw not a plasterboard screw?

A: When it's a Christmas tree!!

And this postbox is actually a floorboard nail with a lick of red paint...and a dusting of "snow" on the top!

Both of the above designs are available as printed Christmas cards on my website.

Phew! If you have reached the end of this marathon post, then well done, and thank you for reading my ramblings!!

Best wishes to you all.

10 days to go!

Just checking in with a quick post, I am still beavering away making for the fair!

Plenty of red, white and blue....appropriately enough for this lovely long Jubilee weekend!

 

This jaunty lighthouse is made from driftwood and reclaimed nuts and is loosely based on the one on Plymouth Hoe...

 

More experimenting with text. The colour of the roofs above remind me of the orangey ones in St Ives, so I stamped "As I was going to St Ives" along the bottom....and given the piece some gorgeous blue "sea"

This little row is made from a leftover piece of oak beam we used above our fireplace...

...as was the one above. I have added a new detail: a little birdhouse!

...made from tiny bits of driftwood and a small rusty tack.

Lots of cottages and washing!

Another slightly bigger birdhouse with rusty metal roof.

Plus I have been pricing up stock, tying labels on bags and ordering postcards. I am delighted with these latest ones from moo.com

Well thats all for now. My next post will probably be after the fair, so I will make sure I take plenty of photos of my stand!

TTFN!

Tenby collage

Well done to Melanie Wickham for guessing Tenby!

I love the colours of the buildings here, they remind me of Neopolitan ice-cream!

We have had a few lovely days of sunshine here in Cornwall this week, and with the days drawing out and daffodils blooming, it really feels as though spring is well and truly on its way!
This makes me very happy!

We headed down to the beach looking for "treasure" yesterday....

....and we were not disappointed! (Poor Steve, you cant really see from the picture, but he has 2 industrial sized buckets filled with little bits of driftwood over his shoulders, as well as the longer planks he is carrying - what a star!)

We found this big chunk of hardwood (maybe oak?) which is really heavy and quite an irregular shape. Steve wanted to keep it as a bookend....but then I had other ideas!

December Already!

It just doesn't seem possible, does it? I am counting down the days now until the boys break up from school, because that will coincide with my last posting date....and then a well-earned break!
Thankfully, both the fairs I took part in have come and gone, and I feel as though the pressure has lifted somewhat - or maybe it's just that there is a light at the end of the tunnel!
Sales were disappointing at both events - but actually I am quite glad in retrospect, because orders are still coming in thick and fast, and at least I'm not having to make loads more stock (always look on the bright side, me!)
Anyway, Ill show you some photos of recent work....

Check out the gorgeous ochre-y tones on this piece of driftwood - it just reminded me of the rooftops in St Ives.

I find alot of wedge-shaped pieces of driftwood, and usually cast them aside. But I sliced the top edge off, hammered in some nail 'chimneys' - and look! A quirky free-standing town house!

I love this piece of wood (above). It's quite unusual to find driftwood with yellow paint on, so I thought I would keep it simple, added an iron rod for a mast with a single blue flag.

Some chunky driftwood cottages with slate roofs.

I find alot of tiny blocks on the beach - and have finally found a use for them! The biggest of these cottages is only 6cm x 5cm. Like a model village!

Had a little bit of press this week, in the festive issue of My Cornwall.

And finally, I thought I would share this special order with you. It was commissioned by a very good friend of mine, who wanted a butterfly for her mum's birthday present. It pushed me out of my comfort zone....but that's no bad thing, right?!

I was quite pleased with the way it turned out!

Well, that's enough for one post I think! If you got this far, then thanks for reading!!
Catch up soon xxx

Fisherman's cottage with lighthouse

A piece I've made this afternoon. I found the striped bit of wood ages ago, and knew it would make the perfect lighthouse, it's just taken me a while to get other bits together!

I've used a washer to represent the lightbeam.

The cottage was a lovely bit of ply with flaky white paint on one side: I've scratched the paint off at the top to make the 'roof' - and added my trademark nail 'chimneys'! The piece of driftwood along the bottom had paint along one edge, so I've turned that into a sea wall - the paint then becomes the sea!
I'm planning on taking this one to Homespun Fair (Easter Monday - soon be here!), but if anyone is interested in buying it, you can always e-mail me!

There wasn't much wood to be found this weekend - seems alot of it has been used for beach barbeques/fires lately (one drawback to the beautiful weather we've had) but I did find this cute piece (above). Isn't the shape perfect? And in the prettiest shade of blue!

This one is for sale in my Folksy shop!
Hope you're enjoying the Easter holidays so far! xx

It's been a productive week...

...for us in the Sixty One A household!

I've been putting the decorative touches to some of the boats we started last weekend....

I've also been experimenting with placing some of my pieces in box frames...

The cottages are sold, but the boat is available in my Folksy shop...

My latest batch of Moo postcards arrived a couple of days ago...

...this one is my favourite!

and I picked up 2 of my collages from the framers...
The small one of St Ives is available in my shop: the Portscatho picture will be coming with me to Homespun Fair!
Steve's been busy too!

He made me a little desk caddy from a chunky piece of driftwood...


...and this cool composter (also from wood found on the beach!)

Speaking of which - I didn't show you a photo of what we came across on the beach a couple of weeks ago - the back end of a boat! We're going to transform it into a garden bench - I'll keep you posted on that one!

Another fab acquisiton which we've been storing for about 12 months - a huge cable reel!
I originally wanted the whole thing as a table in the boys room, but it was just too big, so Steve's just taken the top for now and put some legs on. Remember the upcycled pallet chairs he made a while back? Well, he's got 3 more to make now! Then hopefully this gorgeous weather will continue and we can start eating outside soon!

And finally, all this crafting seems to be rubbing off on the kids! How do you like this rather primitive dog that Buddy knocked together yesterday?!
Phew! That seemed like a long post! Have a good week, folks!