winter wishes

Christmas time is perfect occasion for getting your creative hats on.. and unlike uni, you can get away with doing 4 or 5 versions of something without making it look like you just couldn’t decide. It also gives me the perfect opportunity to work on things for ‘the milk tree’ (strictly all small case of course). the milk tree grew out of presents i make for friends all with a sort of cute and homey with a slight traditional touch i guess.. so this christmas im continuing the tradition… it seems to be a tiny bit scandinavian this year..

you might remember my post a while back about the 3 jars i brought. well i ended up making 6 batches of gingerbreadish cookies (http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/speculaasbiscuitstra_90641.shtml). i edited the recipe replacing candied peel (ick) with dried cranberries. originally the recipy suggested using 100g of flour… if you cook. you’ll know thats really nothing.. so by the time i was asked to roll out the dough all i had was a goopey paste… also substituted about 25g of butter for a table spoon of honey.. first batch wasn’t quite sweet enough..

then packaged them all lovely.. with a little typewritten card and wannabe snowflake button.. finally found a use for those little buggers..

a mini showcase of my more festive ribbons

1- duo strip ribbon: stitched ribbons from mumbles, wales and liberty, london

2- mini baubled ribbon: poundshop, hammersmith

3- strippy ribbon: paperchase

4-stiched ribbons from bookbinders, holborn and poundshop hammersmith.

5- narrow duo colour ribbon: creativity, bristol

6- narrow red ribbon: liberty, london

7-country lace combo: stitched ribbons from bookbinders, holborn and trimmed st nics market, bristol

8- large bauble: poundshop, hammersmith

9- cream satin ribbon: mumbles, swansea

10- mini polkadot fabric – town, swansea

finding ribbons is like shopping in those little london newsagents and cornershops.. products are obscure and inconsistant. youre always going to find something new.. this combining and stitching ribbons is a bit of a new discovery.. i can make so many more ribbons from my existing ribbons…

for mum and dad.

everyone else got hand wrapped cookies. this ribbon turned out to be a great buy.. i brought it as a poor mans paperchase ribbon (3 on the picture above) it came at half the price but looks similar enough to pull of the same job. i have a love hate thing about paperchase.. they made unusual and quirky, common and massproduced.. but it has some lovely lovely ribbons..

thats about it for now.. more random loafing at home on christmas things to come. again sorry about the crappy quality piccies.

merry christmas everyone!

a few things from london

a few pictures i took before i left london.. i wandered around piccadily and leicester sq ..

.. sort of a funny poster… looks like the guy on the left is trying to kick a slightly giant sized coward running up a wall..

..yes children thats right!! soo many fluffies they’re falling out of the lorry mwahahahaha  pleasant dreams children…

hello!

‘what are you taking a picture of, theres nothing there.’  -dad

back in wales for the time being. stuffing face with chips. lots of chips. with a nice bit of gravy and mushy peas. i have no photoshop at my disponal. instead rather a lot of lag. soo..apologising in advance for crappy quality images.

just a few things before i dash off..

…chiswick

been cooking a lot lately.. a bit of russian beetroot soup and at the bottom some christmassy ginger and cranberry biccies… looks a bit like ice cream..

wondered around Angel with a friend.. we stumbled upon this lovely little shop.. nigerian fabrics made into waistcoats.. the textures are lovely and they sold strips of fabric too.. will definately be returning at somepoint..

even though im a bit strapped for cash couldn’t not buy this… its a cute little house thing.. with potpourri that no longer smells… a fiver from an antiqueshop.. just another novelty to add to my collections..

dan came to visit me. he brought me this .. a childrens book… ‘yeah.. i got you this because i knew you like korean things..’. the piggy illustrations are so cute…

seen two shows recently .. monkey and wicked.. monkey as amazing as it was was slightly dissappointing.. monke could have been so much more awesome and a much better fighter.. loved the back up fighters… lovely martial arts stuffs.. Wicked was amazing.. i love elphaba and kerry ellis completely stole the show.. amazing.

wip… a nice bargain i found today. the glass is cheap but the glass goes straight down rather than some weird bottle neck.. purrfect.. more to come on this..

just an advert that i thought was very clever.. its perhaps everything an advert is not supposed to be but it does the job and the writing is witty.. its a great series of ads!

this is so random.. in the sainsburies in Angel theres a slice it yourself bread machine.. nice! im going to go back and take it for a spin!

festive fuzziness

sooo.. fa la la la lahhh… i bet that picture shocked you… ho ho ho.. yep.. weeell after leaving canary wharf i thought it would be a good chance to go fabric shopping.. unfortunately pretty much all the shops were closed.. i took a strole through shepards bush market.. ghost town.. shutters and the odd box and plank of wood.. nice.. i came across this one convenience store/supermarket. i think one of the things that really makes london great is the presence of these middle eastern run newsagents, corner shops and conviences stores like this.. they stock the most obscure of items… and quite frequently items with very old, low budget graphics that haven’t been tampered with for decades. for those who rarely venture outside of london.. the great cornershops stocking shoe polish and soup don’t really exist outside of london much.. well at least not where ive ventured.

most of these pictures are quick ‘hit and runs’. every art student knows that photography in stores is strictly prohibited.. but i thought these were well worth it. the dried cat fish sitting on the shelf was an oddity even to myself.. and ive seen a lot of bizzare things being sold … i wonder how the stuff is eaten… even after steaming and boiling it would surely still be very chewtastic..

here are a few of the random purchases i made.. this is how i do ’shopping spree’ . the tin of tomato puree was just the cutest thing.. very adorable.. and one of the smallest tins ive seen.. palmolive soap.. have you ever noticed how shop like boots and superdrug never stock mini soap.. theres always travel sized showergel and bath foam but never soap?! what happened to good old fashioned soap.. i love soap.. nothing gets the dirt off like soap. if i want to feel like a well greased up sea lion then i’ll use shower gel thank you very much.. moving on.. the crown blue caught my eye. it looked like a cube of chicken stock,l its literally a cube of blue wrapped in a sheet of paper like a sweet with the instructions printed on the reverse.. lovely! what ever happened to good oldfashioned minimal wastage wrappy? the blook is used as some sort of bleach alternative afaik.. for your lovely whites. the tin of robb is this lovely spelling balm used for ‘aches & pains colds, etc’ whatever etc means..  it smells rather a lot like some chinese ointments or deep heat.. and rather interestingly its made in ghana… i don’t know either im not looking enough but its quite rare to find things from ghana..  and lastly .. ahmed jelly.. its lovely firm fast setting yummy jelly.. not so easy to find unless you walk into the right cornershop. i highly recommend the stuff!! The grand total was £2.01 not bad for a few novelties and trinkets!

arriving back in turham green.. welcome to christmas at chiswick.. the cosy middle class family neighbour hood really lets you feel that kind of classical glittery warm christmas that all children and adults dream of.. that is unless youre a scrooge. its lovely seeing all the seasonal greens, pine, wreath and misletoe brought out <3

for those who have been to here, im sure ive introduced you to the guerilla.. hes usually sitting in either the bathtub, the shower or on the toilet.. he’s some sort of mascot for the local bathroom units shop.. well even he’s dressed up!

soo cute.. and soft too.. this lovely dear is parked up outside the local pet and associated goodies kind of shop.. nice.. especially parked up next to the bikes and cars..

this is adorable.. its something that ive only really seen in chiswick..  its like a bicycle with a box over the back wheels.. big enough to fit a few children and a tree.. perrrfecttt!! (again.. the pics were all ‘hit and runs’ so very spontanious.. dont give a damn just get it on card..)

a bit random.. i love the waitrose own branded cooking ingredients.. its unmistakably theirs and its very sharp to the point.. i love this lemon juice bottle. the shape is loovely.. i will go back for it when im not so desperately poor.. i love my jars and containers.. and that odd shape is  a really nice touch.

strolled through robert dyas.. and went to the bargain basement.. this i found completely hilarious.. ive never liked art attack.. it must have been my over sensibility at a young age.. not sure if you noticed but everything is made with paper mache and is completely useless.. like oversized photoframes with woodgrain drawn on with a marker and pen holders… .. for one pen.. literally.. youre making shit out of shit.. that takes up more space than the shit you started off with.. smart on the other hand i loved.. and blue peter had some pretty good make it yourselves! anyways..  and in the later generation of childrens shows. fingertips was very very good.. a dash of scientific know how never hurt anybody. if this kit isn’t the true presentation of dated im not quite sure what is.. i can’t recal when gnomes were popular to children.. the product also shows a huge problem with their marketing/ideas department…

yet again more books.. reading material.. and im pretty sure our context tutors recommended the semiotics book.. here i go.. time to get .. cultured?? now .. will i actually read it instead of just looking at pretty pictures..

brought some more supplies.. books and craft related bits and bobs and food are my biggest spending vices… theres no restraint on me at all.. anywho.. dispite my hatred for paperchase they do some stuff really well.. the ribbons are from paperchase. the rolls of paper are rather special.. its a sort of coloured parcel paper, look at all the lovely stripes!! lovely stuff by clairefontaine.

lastly german gingerbreadish stuff?? actually i have no idea what it is. brought it to take back home with me.. anywho … looked lovely and pretty unfortunately it tastes rather strongly of aniseed.. and aniseed is just as bad as licorice.. ikky ikky.. noow if they tasted of um lets say.. er.. marmite.. mmmm .. anywho thats all for now.. lots to do before i leave..

good morning south side

ahh what a weekend.. terribly knackered. went out this morning to bid shin bye byes.. and what a better time to catch the cold winter sky in the ideal place, canary wharf. The last five were from saturday .. just a few things that caught my eye.. the greenwich station looks very different.. would fit in hong kong perfectly.. anyways.. three sequential late nights and very little sleep has left my brain completely fried… otherwise i would be on ramble mode.. more pictures tomorrow that will conclude this crazy weeekend!!

the family.

a few weeks ago when the pest control man came to sort out little mouseys we had a lovely chat about being an art student.. my old sewing machines and then typewriters… well i’m glad to announce a new member to my family of old bits and bobs. I now have 3 typewriters.. here are their cases from first acquired to newest member.. my new typewriter is made by Imperial .. same as the other two.. this one is called imperial companion 5 which is by far the poshest one. with a beautiful sturdy case and lots of accessories..

Imperial good companion: model 6 :  made in the uk:  This is still my faviourite. Its my first typewriter which i acquired myself. four pounds from a charity shop in wales.. i love the colours and the dual ink band. its just adorableand it has no base plate or anything so i turning it over is fun to have a little poke around. It needs a new ink band atm im using copy paper.

This is also made by Imperial. originally i wasn’t sure if this was the same imperial because of the logo but the design suggests its a lot newer so maybe they went under some rebranding. made in holland. mum brought this for 2 pounds for me. a bargain. unfortunately i think its suffered some hard times.. it doesn’t always work..

The newest member. The user manual is almost identical to my first typewriter. model 5 made in the UK. this one i acquired for free. theres a church being renovated a minute walk from where i live.. they’re throwing out a massive load of stuff.. me and dad were scavinging and picked up some great bits and bobs.. a british enamel red cup. very cute. and also some intricate plastic doillies made in isreal. really beautiful.. well the guy working there .. seeing that everything was to be thrown away asked if we wanted a typewriter.. YESSIREE!! so we followed him.. (we were also offered a piano…i was tempted..) so here it is..

its much larger and much heavier. came with lots of its own original accessories in very good shape.

this is may favourite the beautiful pale teal eraser pencil with that metal cap on the end.

the only downer was that the keys were covered with a horrible hard to remove white powder mould.. very fine stuff.. most of it has been cleaned off.. and whilst cleaning i noticed something.. IT HAS A DIFFERENT TYPEFACE!!!.. dad didn’t understand.. to which i had to start explaining typography to him XD good times!! he understood personally i prefer the first one.. from my first typewriter, but it gives me more to work with .. i think it will grow on me. (quotes are from stereophonics’ I’m alright song)

i think we as a family have quite great luck in getting lucky bargains/being at the right place at the right time.. dad picked up two sewing machines .. its wonderful.. i’l take care of all these treasures. old but irreplacable like letterpress XD in print production our tutor was saying that dispite the progression in technology theres been a backlash and ppl are returning to letterpress something that might/should have died out… YEAH!! for keeping old and original alive.. pest control man was saying how these things last and last.. thats right..they don’t make things like they used to.. hm heres some food for thought.. maybe things are made to break to continue this vicious cycle of consumer culture.. anyways! holiday at last! more later!

days in london

(running out of ideas for titles…)

just a few places ive been wandering around lately.. actually i don’t really wander unless shins there to hold my hand :’(

1_ 2_ the view i see every wintery morning on the way to uni after little sleep…

3_ the view from john lewis.. thank goodness for my zoom!!

4_ this is just here because the colours were a little interesting.. a bit of an odd misshap really

5_ not the greatist picceroo but the street was just such a lovely corner of london.. all the brickwork and window frames were just made of stylishness that lovely london cold and almost industrial feel that goes hand in hand with our lovely grey clouds.

the other….

.. pictures that never made it in the last entry. Not too sure about the last one.. a little to multicoloured for my likings…

choochoo to the mooon..

This is chiswick.. where i live.  didn’t mean to focus on the rubbish. but it was a rather interesting sight… unfortunately most of the pics didn’t come out well.. shivering and long exposure in darkness are a bit like oil and water. photoshop isn’t happy and its late so i’ll post the others later.. Just trying to make the most of my camera.. im not quite sure how i managed to live so long without one but its wonderful just snapping things that take your fancy.. a bit like being able to buy things even if only a sliver of it captures you. that estate agent is amazing.. every week they manage to churn out the same amount of binliners.. how im not quite sure.. thats an aweful lot of paperwork…