Made on the Left Market this Sunday 28th July

Apologies for the lack of contact of late - it's been a frantic year in many ways and I've rather ignored my blog and mailing list - sorry! If you follow my Facebook page, you'll have seen more regular updates from me, and seen that I've moved studios amongst other things. There are a couple more events on the horizon which I'll let you know about as they happen. The first event is this Sunday from 11am - 5pm. I'll be at Made on the Left which is held at the State Theatre of WA on cnr of Roe St & William St,Northbridge. My stall should be easy to find in the foyer on the ground floor. Entry is free and there will be food and a bar on site. Above is the fabulous poster, plus a pic of some of my new Spirograph thread necklaces. These hang from an adjustable silk cord so you can wear them at a variety of lengths. To see some previews of other new pieces, pop over to my Facebook page (anyone can see it, even if you're not on Facebook). As usual, I will also have a selection of my cut and etched designs plus cross stitch jewellery kits for the DIY inclined. Stay tuned for some exciting developments for osmosis that are in the pipeline for later in 2013 Online shop included! sign up to my mailing list on the right ------------------------------- Osmosis Facebook here

You can blame a house & partial studio move for the gap between postings, but I'm back  with a new  product - yay! For ages I've wanted to put my designs onto some trinket boxes & here are samples of my 1st ever batch. Aren't they cute?!
These ones have a three of my most popular designs cut out from the self hinged lid. There is one more, but you'll have to wait for that one! They are cut from bamboo ply which is such a lovely warm colour, as well as being strong & sustainably supplied... a win, win, win situation!

Osmosis has a couple of places where you'll be able to get these in the next 6 weeks. Firstly the WA State Theatre, the fabulous new venue for the Made on the Left Market on Sunday 29th July. Then at the next Montage Collective Pop-Up Shop at 224A William St, Northbridge from 6th August - 2nd September.

Etsy

For so long now I've been meaning to get to grips with my Etsy shop & in the past few days I've been gradually adding some of my cross stitch items such as the blank heart(above) ready for you to stitch...
Once all the cross stitch items are uploaded, I'll begin to add my other jewellery and set up different shop sections to make it all easier to find
I've set myself a goal of adding an item a day (well, most days!!!) , so watch this space for more news...

Cross Words

So here is my latest idea... I'm calling them Cross Words!

I've created a selection of cross stitch blank tiles & designed a cross stitch typeface to fit each letter. Once stitched they make great jewellery elements which can be joined using jump rings from the corner holes.

I'll be selling them for the 1st time ever at next weekend's Perth Upmarket - Sunday 4th March.
There will be a selection of ready made jewellery pieces, such as the YES necklace above, or you can order your own word to be stitched by yours truly. It's up to you - a name, initials, love, lol... whatever you want, I can stitch!
Alternatively, you can buy the blank elements to stitch your own & I'll have some starter packs with patterns, thread & needle. All you need to provide is a comfy chair, a nice cuppa & you're all set up for an hour or 2 of crafty fun!

So come and have a browse at my stall on the outside verandah near the pond, next weekend at UWA

Whoops!

My goodness, I've been lax with my social networking lately!

To make up for it, tomorrow you will get an exclusive preview of the latest development with my cross stitch designs which will be launched at the next Perth Upmarket on Sunday March 4th...

I hope that wetted your appetite?!!!

A Christmas Montage Pop-Up !!!

We found a venue - yay!!! It's a fabulous space right next door to the New Edition Bookshop - very cool! More details coming soon...

Pretty Gift Guide

Need to get going on that Christmas gift list? A good place to start is the I Love Pretty Things gift guide, featuring lots of Perth loveliness - yes, including Osmosis :D

Do your bit this Christmas & buy local!

Pussies Galore!

After many customer requests, I have designed not one, but two cats for my range. Each version comes in 2 sizes of brooch (pictured) and pendants, plus smaller earrings to match.

Purrrrfect gifts for your feline loving friends.

Cross Stitch Christmas

I have just uploaded some festive cross stitch patterns to my flickr group page so you have plenty of time to make some decorations in time for Christmas. Four designs in all, including my Rudolph, above. Who in their right mind can resist a Red Nosed Reindeer?!!
Click here to see all 4 designs - this one, a snowflake, Christmas heart & an owl in a Santa hat!
They were each designed to fit either my large round or large oval laser cut blanks available in my online etsy shop - here also at the markets mentioned in my last post - ie Upmarket & Bazaar.
They are going to be featured in the West Australian Habitat liftout soon, along with other Chrissy craft projects by local Perth crafters. I'll no doubt post a pic here when it's out! Silly me forgot to photograph my samples before I sent them to the paper for their photo shoot.

Phew!

Well, Montage has been closed for a week and I'm just about recovered! It was a truly fantastic run and many thanks to all the fabulous customers who came through our doors.The feedback was simply awesome! We are underway trying to find a venue for our next venture - hopefully pre Christmas. If, by any chance, you have any leads to vacant shop spaces, we'd be really grateful if you let us know. Thanks :D

In the mean time, my next scheduled appearance will be at the always fabulous Perth Upmarket on 27th November. That will be followed by the Fremantle Arts Centre Bazaar the following weekend 2nd, 3rd & 4th Dec, so you'll have a couple of great opportunities to get your locally produced Christmas shopping done!

I'm busy pumping up production & working on new designs & ideas ready for the end of the month... goodness me, where has this year gone?!!!

The End is Nigh....

Already, it's the last week of Montage Collective pop-up shop in the City!!! Where did the time go?? We close our doors at the end of trade next Sunday 23rd, so get in quick for a dose of locally made goodness!!
Recent additions to the Osmosis range have been some cool nerdy tie clips, greetings cards & the much requested cat design pendants & brooches.
Only 8 days to go....

Half way Already!

Who'd have guessed that we're over half way through our Montage 3 shop already! You'd better get in quick before the next 4 weeks are over! We close on 23rd October - and won't we miss it!
As you can see, there is a lot of handmade goodness on offer by 15 of Perth's finest.

Montage 3

OK, I admit it... my blogging routine is shocking and I am way behind in keeping you up to date with Osmosis news... Sorry

My excuse, however, is very good indeed... I've been too busy with the opening of Montage 3 which is located in the wonderful heritage shopfront in the middle of this photo. It's on the corner of William St & Wellington St in the City and right opposite the horseshoe bridge and the bus station. What a wonderful spot we have this time & it's all thanks to the people of 140 William ( the big tower behind us) who own our building.
Even better news is that we are open now for 7 days a week right up until 23rd October - our longest pop-up to date.

Opening hours - Mon-Thurs - 10am-6pm, Fri - 10am - 8pm, Sat 10-5 & Sun 11 - 5
Visit our Facebook page here

Fibres West

As some of you know, one of my other passions is textile art, focusing on freehand machine embroidery. The image above is of one of my pieces, called Resonance, that was created usung some of the techniques I shall be teaching.
I am afraid I have been very lax in promoting that I have been asked to teach at a 5 day residential workshop, Fibres West this October, down in Bunbury. I am very honoured to have been asked as I'll be teaching along with some international experts in other textile fields.
There are still places available in many of the workshops, including mine which is

Expressionist Threads - Painterly Techniques in Applique and Machine Embroidery
Full workshop description is here and you can follow the links to the other workshops and brochure.

http://www.fibreswest.com.au/Annie.htm

It is a fully residential programme held at Bunbury Cathedral Grammar School and the full 5 days, including workshop and full accomodation & food is $865 per person.

I'm in a Video!

On Wednesday Anna, Nicole & I were interviewed at the Montage shop by the West Australian about what I do & about the next Made on the Left Market this Sunday 10th. Here is the result - fame at last!!

Market this Sunday

The wonderful Made on the Left markets are on again this Sunday 10th July and they have a new market venue in the City. We'll all be upstairs (with lift & escalator access) of 140 William St by the new train station entrance. Click here for a map
It's a much larger venue, so there will be even more yummy crafty stalls to peruse. The MOTL rule of goods having to be made by the stallholder themselves is being strictly upheld, so that's more locally made goodies to choose from.

While you're in town, you'll also be able to pop by our Montage pop-up shop on the other side of the railway at 244 William St!
I'll be will be having a clearance section on the Osmosis stall, making room for some new stock to be launched later in the year, so come down and see what's on offer!

Montage 2 is on it's way

It's been such a busy time round here that I'd forgotten I hadn't mentioned that Montage is about to open again in it's second incarnation. Same concept, most of the same people plus some news designers and a new venue!
The day after Perth Upmarket, we start setting up and will open on Friday 1st until 31st July at 224 William St, Northbridge - a few doors up from New Edition Bookshop & over the road from the Brass Monkey Pub.
We're really excited about this new venue. It's in a great position and is situated in a cute, if slightly run down old shop with wooden floorboards and pressed tin ceiling. We'll be transforming it into an Aladin's cave of hand made local goodness and it's gonna be just great!

I'll be reporting on it here on the blog and will introduce you to the rest of the designers too.
click on the image to read the info

Beau Est Mien!

I'm going to bring you occasional posts about some of my creative friends & introduce you to some of the amazing skills they have.
I'll start today with Magali Dincher, who you've heard me talk about before as we had a joint exhibition last month.

Magali is a printmaker & by that, I don't mean she uses her inkjet printer! She works in a variety of traditional printmaking techniques using a true printing press. These include collagraph, etching, linocut etc , and each brings a different quality to her unique and delightful visual style.

We became close friends when she also had a studio space where I work in Fremantle and we just clicked. We share similar tastes in design as well as enjoying a frequent chat and long macchiato!

She is from N.E. France and somehow this shows in her work, even that based on local WA themes - they have an air of light-heartedness and joie de vivre that can't fail to put a smile on your face. Her business name Beau est Mien says it all!

You will find Magali on the stall next to mine at the next Perth Upmarket, this Sunday 26th June at UWA.
More info at www.beauestmien.com.au
above image is a collagraph called Paris II

Papercuts at Upmarket

The next outing for my papercuts will be at the next Perth Upmarket on Sunday 26th June.
Each design is framed in such as way to make the papercut float above the backing, creating beautiful shadowplay. They are being limited to an edition of 15 so new designs can be added as one sells out. Some will be ready for taking on the day and after, that I'll take orders to be picked up when framed and ready.
I'm currently busy creating some other paper cut items, but you'll just have to come and visit my stall to see what they are. Mean, ain't I!!!

Of course, the usual range of laser cut & etched jewellery will also be available

See you there!

A Perennial Favourite Blog

One, of many lifelong fascinations for me has been patterns. This image is of one of my 1st attempts at making a repeat pattern on the computer and it has been used as a basis for a couple of my jewellery pieces.

I have early memories of drawing 'walking the dog' type patterns and colouring each bit in a carefully chosen colour. I'd also spend ages looking at the patterns on wallpaper, carpet, lino & curtains - tracing the elements with my eyes and working out where the repeats began & ended. It turned into a sort of meditation. You can take yourself away to another place by simply entering the pattern and letting it lead you to another place.
Is it any wonder then, that one of the 1st blogs I ever read on a regular basis was the fabulous Print & Pattern, by Bowie Style. As it says on the profile it "... is a website that celebrates the world of surface pattern design" She posts nearly every day about current design trends & reporting what is in the shops now. Based in the UK, it is a great way to keep abreast of what is happening over there in my old home country! What's more, she also does research trips around the world (currently Italy) and posts about many international designers. She has even posted about Perth's very own Little Design Horse (now known as Future Shelter)
If, like me, you love being mesmerise by patterns, go check it out & I challenge you not to spend waaaaay too long looking at the variety & following all her links. If I were you, I'd put a couple of hours aside!