'Sunny Days' cyanotype exhibition June 2023

This June I've taken part in the Highams Park Arts Trail and have displayed my cyanotype (sun-prints) in the Hale End library. Last year I also displayed cyanotypes - prints in tapestry hoops and lampshades - but this year I added some larger pieces. For these pieces the organic cotton was stretched across wooden frames (made by my husband) and then hung on the wall. They make a very striking display and each one is unique. I've called the exhibition 'Sunny Days', not only becuase you need sunny days to make cyanotypes, but because the botanicals and florals, captured by the sun, remind me of sunny days.

I first made a large cyanotype (over a 1 metre long) for my kitchen last year, so it was this that inspired me to do some other large pieces of the exhibition. In the image below you can see the plants all laid out on fabric that has been treated with cyanotype and is ready to be exposed in the sun. 

Once the fabric was dry, I scanned each leaf and used Adobe Illustrator to clean the images up. The file was huge and my computer really creaked and crashed! It’s probably a Photoshop job but I love how Illustrator pulls out all the different colours so I’ll continue to use it!

Once I had digitised the cyanotype print, I changed the colour. Cyanotype is only ever blue but by digitising the print I could change the colour and used my Swatchos to help my customer choose the colour she wanted. Once the colour was sorted I arranged the leaves and used a layered design to add depth and shadows to the print. Then it was off to the printers for a sample. It’s slightly nerve wracking, waiting to see what the print is like. We chose Melino Linen for the fabric, which has a nice texture to it and was just as I hoped it would be. So after the sample, the main fabric was ordered. 

 This range consists of three pouches of different sizes (mini, small and rectangular), lavender bags, hair bows and notebooks (A5 & A6).  All the fabric products are handmade by me and the fabric is organic cotton, while the covers of the notebooks are recycled card. There are three different designs on the fabrics - bees, Daffodils and then a bees and daffodils! The lavender bags have one side that was designed just for the bag - which is filled with Yorkshire lavender - and features a large bee surrounded by flowers. I do tend to add things to my ranges - I like the idea of reusable face wipes in this fabric - so maybe that's next. 

May 20th is World Bee Day. A day that aims to raise awareness about the role bees have as pollinators with such an important part to play in our ecosystem. On this day in 1734 the pioneer of bee-keeping Anton Jansa was born in Slovenia, and it's a day that has been celebrated for the last four years. This year the theme is 'Bee engaged: Build back better for bees'. This year I've bought some 'Bee Bombs' to scatter around the garden, in the hope we'll have lots of wildflowers to help the bees. And I'm donating 50p from every product sold in this range to the Bee Friendly Trust, as they also have happy bees!

While out running one morning I thought it would make a cute personalised Easter egg hunt bag (lots of ideas seem to come while I'm running!), so I designed it as a pattern placement - so like a little scene - and then a repeating pattern. I originally made it in two colourways, yellow and pink, but after asking my followers on social media, added a light green. When thinking about developing an Easter collection I hadn't actually looked at when Easter was, and it was only after sending off for samples did I realise that I really didn't have much time! As soon as the samples came back I made up the egg hunt bag, little scrunchies with ears and lavender bags and asked if anyone wanted to buy any. I got a lovely response, and then sent off the order for the actual fabric. Once the fabric was back I made up the orders, and added a little sheet of rabbit stickers with every Easter Egg bag order, and off the orders went! 

While I thought about the bags being good for Easter, they aren't just for then, and would make cute little party bags or toy bags. Made from untreated organic cotton, they aren't as vibrant as designs that have been printed onto treated fabric and have an almost vintage colour about them. I really want to use organic cotton where I can and happy with how these came out. The repeat design would look good in other products, such as hair accessories and purses and I'll make some soon (I seem to always say that and then never quite get around to it!). I'm also wondering about making more of the lavender bags with the little scenes on - the hedgehogs and foxes I painted last year would look cute! As always, I'm open to ideas so just let me know if you'd like to see something made in this fabric. 

No more getting up and leaving the house at 7am to commute for 1.15 - 1.30 minutes into Central London and then race back to make sure I wasn't fined by the school for picking up later than 6pm from teatime club. Kids activities stopped and we had movie nights! One other thing that I found time to learn to paint. I'd had a set of watercolours but really am an amateur! Earlier this year I painted the images for my Christmas Advent Calendar, but had always wanted to be shown how to paint flowers and botancials. Last year I was due to do a botanicals drawing session at the William Morris Gallery but sadly the teacher never turned up. So when I saw that the very talented Natasha Gulliford (Flowergirl Studios) was holding a watercolour bootcamp on her Facebook group I knew I wanted to take part, and I signed up along with my daughter. Sunday's became our day for following the tutorials and learning to paint. Each time I would carefully follow Natasha's tutorials, who made it look so easy that within a few strokes her image looked like a delicate flower, yet my 'exact' same strokes didn't look like a flower and always lacked depth! Week after week we painted and enjoyed it (with some frustrations). By the end I had a pile of paintings, none of the same calibre as others taking part, but enough that I was happy with that by scanning in a number and mixing them up, I was able to design my Summer Bliss fabric. 

When I design I scan my images into Illustrator, it picks up every stroke and small mark. I often wonder if I should do it in Photoshop but I can only afford one programme at the moment and I have invested time in learning this one - plus I can make images bigger without losing definition and make fabric swatches. With this design each brush stroke shows and I love that! On the smaller products you can't necessarily tell its a flower and I wanted that effect, although I wil be printing it onto fabric slightly smaller so the flowers are more visible for those that prefer. All in all, this is currently my new favourite (I'm not sure I'll ever replace my Blue Chive as my favourite - also because it was my first design) and would also make lovely girl's dresses and bedding.

Last summer I visited Portugal and fell in love with the tiles - they are beautiful and often intricate. Whole front of buildings are covered in them and old historic buildings have handmade tiles, each slightly different. I had taken lino and tools with me so carved a quarter of a tile, with the hope that all the four quarters when put together it would look like a whole tile. I didn't take into account that one side has to reflect the other, so I cut a new quarter when I got home. Once I was happy with it I made it into a digital pattern in three colourways - yellow, terracotta and blue and white. I also designed a complementary fabric for the yellow and terrcacotta and made the blue and white into a smaller tile.  

Cotterell Cottage is the name of my new design that is based on some old wallpaper. I first saw this wallpaper when I visited a friend for a night. My friend and her family live in a house that is hundreds of years old and is slowly being renovated. One of the oldest rooms has been stripped back to the original stonework, although one wall has been left with some old wallpaper that looks like it comes from Victorian times. It has no colour but reminded me of a William Morris pattern and I got my friend to send some photos after we’d left as I thought it would make an interesting new design.  I have no idea what the plants are in the picture! I would have loved to have seen it in it’s original state.

Somerset Blooms is a collaboration between my Mum and me, although a collab is probably over stating it a bit as my Mum had already painted the four watercolour pictures and I asked if I could use them. I scanned the images into the printer and then played around with them until I was happy with the design. There are two different designs - one that has all the flowers on and features a large cluster of flowers and another with just little buds. The two work well together and were also perfect for the dress I made my daughter for a family wedding. Seeing her wearing the dress with my Mum's design on was both lovely for myself and my Mum.

This year I worked them into a design on the computer and now have flip flop fabric and am making it into lots of items. Its different to my other fabrics – and not a flower in sight – but it does have similar strong colours. I made a complementary fabric for linings and after a mistake in the size of my image now have flip flops in two different sizes and three different colours. The larger size is good for bags.