Featured Maker at Folksy.com

This week it's my great honour to be Featured Maker at Folksy.com and to celebrate I'm offering a discount of 20% off all sales in my Folksy store. I've got some new products too, including this Notebook Set and a set of Landscape Art Cards. There are new prints in the range too so please stop by for a look. To get the discount you'll need code Springsong16.

Me! Click the photo!

Spring notebook set

Sketch. Write. Create.

Landscape Card Set

Towards Dawn

Revealing Craft

When India Hobson came to take pictures of my studio for a Folksy publication called 'Revealing Craft', the culmination of the project seemed a long way off!  Now it's nearly here I am so excited to be one of the 13 makers chosen to be a part of this beautiful publication designed by dust. There is only one hiccup...before the 'print' button can be pressed, there need to be some backers (minimum pledge is £17 and you get a copy).  Through raising funds via Kickstarter, hopefully the publication will become a reality. It really will be something to treasure and will include this picture of my greenhouse!

credit: India Hobson

Winter dreaming

Back in the summer I started a series of small works using up the detritus of my studio!  Because I use book pages in my work the board book backs start to make piles, all in lovely muted colours.  The end pages find their way into my larger pieces but small offcuts find themselves stock piled for another day. Beautifully worded inscriptions are pinned to boards or tucked in to sketchbooks and I was determined to give these snippets their own glory.  And so this year's Christmas card designs were born.

Christmas cards available on 'Folksy'

I have a robin who lives in our garden and inspires me with his resilience.  His forebears lived here before him and the card 'Earnest Robin' celebrates him.  The inscription that I'd salvaged from an old book seemed just the greeting my little robin would utter.

'Earnest Robin'

It's at this time of year I long to hibernate so 'Christmas House' allowed me to dream about the cabin in the woods I would hibernate to.  Who or what would you take to your secret cabin?  I'd be sat in front of a log fire with the cat on my feet, listening to Stan Getz and knitting.  Oh Winter is such a dreamy time!

'Christmas House'

Folksy shop

I've updated my folksy shop and these pieces are now available as limited edition prints.

My Essential Kit

The lovely Emily at Folksy has featured me this week for the My Essential Kit feature.  Have a look!

Helen Hallows creates original artwork using ink, collage and stitch, “I aim to capture fleeting moments that catch my eye”. Helens collection includes artwork, coasters, bunting, greetings cards, and porcelain homewares. With such a range of products what on earth is in her essential tool kit?

1. Stretching tape. I work on watercolour or pastel papers with ink washes so I always use stretching tape to keep the paper flat.

Inks. I love the little bottles of pure colour lined up in my studio. They give an intense, permanent colour.

2. I apply the inks with a brush or Chinese calligraphy bamboo pen.

3. I collect vintage papers: old book pages, endpapers and book jackets, sheet music, vintage wrapping paper and wallpaper. I supplement these with book binding papers, scrapbooking papers and paper that I’ve painted or drawn on myself.

4. My trusty Elna sewing machine. Called a ‘Quilter’s Dream’ it suffers me forcing it to sew through paper and stitch freely. I’ve had it for fifteen years and it’s never caused me any trouble. (Of course, I’ve just given it the kiss of death!)

5. Cottons. Something else for me to search out when I’m in junk shops and at carboot sales. I have hundreds of them and love the gradations of hue and shade. I have them in an old set of tool drawers with a drawer for each colour.

My letterpress H stamp. I finish each piece with my makers’ mark, a HH stamped with this letterpress letter. I have only one and it sometimes goes astray which fills me with panic.

6. My ‘Helen Hallows’ stamp. This features on the back of all my original artworks and as a transfer onto the bottom of my ceramics. I stamp my bags with it at fairs, and it’s on my blog, website, business card and all correspondence. I’m even thinking of getting it tattooed!!

You can have a right old nosey around Helens Folksy shop here Helen Hallows. She is also exhibiting at The Sock Galleryin Loughborough from 30th November – 15th January 2012.

If you have an essential crafting kit you’d like to share please send it tofrankly@folksy.co.uk.

Kit photograph ©Lyndsey James Photography 2011.

Now available

My new range of art cards are now available in my Folksy shop. Taken from my British Landscapes series, they are beautifully printed on high quality textured card with a lovely crisp white envelope.  Available as this set of six and this set of four.

New work

Bowl.  Ink, collage , stitch.  12x17cm

Collection. Ink, collage, stitch.  12x17cm

Orchid. Ink, collage,stitch. 12x17cm

Three Pears. Ink, collage, stitch.  12x17cm

Here are four new pieces that I've finished for Holmfirth Art Market on Sunday.  It was refreshing to create some still life pieces, and I feel I've come full circle featuring ceramics in my artwork.  In my work I work in a responsive way, often from memory, attempting to capture an atmosphere or a passing moment.  This series of artwork is inspired by mid 20th century printmakers and Japanese zen rituals, and the ideas of wabi sabi.

These pieces are part of an ongoing series I have in mind, and will be available to buy, unframed in my folksy shop.  

I've lots of lists posted around the studio, of things I need to take with me to Holmfirth.  I'm just hoping for a couple of good nights sleep first!

New for Summer

This year's Holmfirth Art Market has a garden theme so I've added to my Leaf range of ceramics to create a tea set that's perfect for afternoon tea on the lawn.

I'll be exhibiting at Holmfirth on Sunday June 12th.....pop it in your diary!  Can't make it?  Come and see me in Long Eaton during the Derbyshire Open Arts weekend over the May Bank Holiday.  Hope to see you there!

Platters back in stock

I've just put these platters, still hot from the kiln, in my Folksy shop.  My ceramics are currently featured here and here and my work has been written about here.

Feeling the love

I've listed these coasters in my Folksy shop......hope you are feeling the love. xxxx

Special Offer

I'm now offering free P+P if you buy four coasters from my Folksy shop.  Any four, not just these.  What are you waiting for?!!!

Update......my coasters have been featured here and here.

Folksy

Sun Ray coaster

One of my ceramic coaster tiles has been featured on the Folksy blog!  I've also been featured for Folksy Friday here.

Sun coaster tile

How exciting!

Derbyshire is covered in a lovely blanket of snow.  School is closed and we've been out with a flask of soup and a good old fashioned toboggan to see the deer at Wollaton Park.

Whilst I was out I nearly sold out of coasters in my Folksy shop!  It's going to take me a week to make some more.....so please be patient.

Hope it's snowy and beautiful where you are.  We've just lit the stove and have a bag of chestnuts to roast.  The boys are playing with lego and looking forward to snuggling up with books and a hot chocolate.  I've just got the box of winter books out that I store in the cupboard the rest of the year. 'Poppy Cat's Snowy Day' and 'Oliver's Red Toboggan' are favourites.  Sometimes the world of Soulemama seems a million miles from the chaotic roller coaster of our daily lives, but right now I could give her a run for her money!

Something I wanted to share was this.  Such beautiful piano music....perfect for watching the snow fall.

Welcome to the winter!

Leaf range

Chrysanthemum cup and saucer

Tree of Life ceramic coaster

My full range of ceramics is now available in my Folksy shop. I hope you find something you like. x

Birthdays!

As part of my campaign against over priced and over packaged plastic toys, I've been making these bags for boys' presents (always so much harder to buy for I find).  The boys are always a bit non-plussed by a bag, then realise it's their bag, start filling it with all their other presents, or things they want to keep away from their siblings and suddenly, it is the most useful gift in all the world! Great for the holidays, I pack one for the car for each of the boys with things-to-do and I'm currently filling one ready for the summer holidays.  I've just put them up for sale in my Folksy shop, and with only two weeks until the kids break up, you'd better get you orders in!

ps. They come giftwrapped in a co-ordinating spotty bag with a sticker and tag. x

Cup of tea?

These started life as ideas for Christmas presents and as they were so well received they have now found their way into my folksy shop.  Two themes, sun and moon, sold as a set or separately and bound to bring harmony and spiritual contemplation to your tea ceremony.

oOooh!

oOooh! I'm so pleased with myself!  I've managed to put together a card pack.  Based on the four seasons, they are hand-printed with the rubber stamps I've been making and then collaged with all my bits of vintage papers.  I've packaged them up so you get one of each season and they can be given as a gift or used as amazingly-good-value-unique-works-of-art.  They are now available to buy at folksy and soon to be gracing the shelves of retail outlets of distinction across the Midlands.