Seoul Ssamzie-gil Craft and Art shopping centre

Recently on another #FolksyHour on Twitter we shared our inspiring holidays. I wanted to show you a little more behind the photo I shared of Ssamzie-gil a mini craft and art shopping centre in the heart of Seoul. It was an amazing building full of beautiful independent shops and stalls. There was a wide path that sloped in circles around the whole complex through all the floor. Giant plastic flowers climbed up stairwells, walls were covered with art and grafftii, at the top was a pretty tea garden. All in all a very inspiring place to be! This was where the idea of craft as a business first seeded itself in my brain - although it took many years for me to start myself. I talk about being there in my Made in Bristol Blog feature.

 This looks down into the centre of the open air building.

 

Left: Awesome little shop that sold cute porcelain items including wind chimes you can see in the window and necklaces with happy trees! Right: Giant flowers. 

Left: Giant flowers. Centre: A corridor with clocks, cupboards and lights all around. Right: Graffiti and post it note tree (which I added my name too)

Left: Cute shop full of bright and beautiful items. Top right: Handmade cork creatures sold on a stall. Bottom right: Spinning disc wall with cartoon artwork.

Plastic curtain covered in glittery creatures.

View of the little capsule shops , I love how each one was so different, wouldn't this be a great thing to do over here? Just imagine it in somewhere like Bristol full of small arty crafty groups!

I went to Seoul as a small stop over on the way to Japan. I really didn't know what to expect but I loved it! Two days here had a big impact and I'd love to go  back. I will show you more of my holiday pics as they make me happy and inspire my work.

Have you been to South Korea, what did you think of Soeul? Did you go to the Ssamzie-gil centre? Have you been inspired by a place you have traveled to?

My desk

Tuesdays #folksyhour on twitter we shared our desks and talked about what we surrounded ourselves with while we worked.
This photo is cutting out all the draws, shelves and tools that surround my desk but you get a better look at the pretty stuff. I never understand how people in craft people in magazine shoots / on pinterest get by with just a mac computer and a vase of flowers! It was good to see many other people from folksy have the same messy desk equals creative mind approach. I just need everything to hand. I get restless and jump from one task to the next so it helps to have everything i need within reach.

As my computer is on my desk where I work I can't help but be distracted by the internet somtime- but it the main tool for developing my designs and it's where I listen to music so I won't ever switch it of... maybe i should have just a quiet time dedicated to just drawing.

On my desk you can see my latest screen design of a moon bear drawn in pen and ink. This is part of a new project i am working on, more news coming soon!

Made in Bristol

I have my work in the made in Bristol pop up shop 'Paper Scissors Stone' and I'm working the odd shift their too. At the moment I just have my jewellery stocked there but I'm going to make some more different items in the next few weeks too.

What used to be a changing room is no the Kingdom of Jess Quinn! Lot's of lovely art and handmade plushie creatures.

Working there is really difficult as I'm tempted to buy things.. and I have caved with this adorable cactus print by Pigeon - this will look great on my wall with my Andy Warhol prints of the same colours! As you may remember I have a bit of thing with Cacti at the mo...and smiley face on inanimate objects is always a win.

The Boutique Christmas Market & Colston Hall Made in Bristol

 Ahhhh! So excited, this weekend I'll be holding my first ever Boutique Market. That's why I havn't been posting much here rescently, alot of work goes into organizing a art and craft market.
This will be on Dec 1st Monmouth shire hall, 11-3! We're raising money for the charity SANDS (Stillbirth and neonatal death charity)

You'll also find lot of lovely stall setup ideas and be introduced to loads of lovely artists and makers from in and around the Wye valley and welsh marches!

Read more here: The Boutique Market

This weekend I'll also be at Colston Hall Bristol, which I can't wait for! See you then? x

Snake Print

The next print in my rainbow animals set of lino prints. This design was nice to carve with the flowing simple lines. The more I printed the design the more mottled the yellow colour became, which looked great; like scales. I think I'll have to highlight something on the snake in black thought as it looks flat right now. maybe eyes and a tongue?

The next design is for the colour red. This lobster will be a bit more difficult to carve I think, there is a lot more detail and a small image too. Can't wait to see it done though, so that will be my motivation to get it done today hopefully!

Paint your own egg cups

Inspired at last to paint some of my egg cups.The pens work really well! I had to break the designs up into sections as the paint took a couple of days to dry. I went with faces as a motif as the egg cup shape lends its self to being a little person. I'm going to do more! It's quite addictive to sketch characters once I got the format sorted.

Bat Brooch

Bats are regarded as auspicious creatures in the Chinese culture. The Chinese name of bat is bian fu -- fu being a homophone for good fortune. They also appear in Japanese art and design. I think they make a great motif with their flowing angular shapes and dark colour. I love catching a rare glimpse of bats, they remind me of late summer evenings sitting in the garden at my old house.
With a nod to Halloween I've made a glittery black bat brooch. It's hand cut from plastic and covered in fine black glitter then resin, finished of with little black plastic diamond eyes. It dose kind of look like the batman symbol, but I've tried to avoid that with the more Art Nouveau lines.
Happy Halloween!

Illustration