I *heart* Fridays: I *heart* eggs

Image source: marthastewart.com

Eggs are pretty close to perfect. The name of the company I created over 10 years ago for my graphic design work is 'egg star'. I chose the word egg because an egg is such a great example of design perfection. Eggs are strong yet fragile, the beginning of life, a wonderful package, and the sort of shape that makes me want to cradle them in my hands. The colours are glorious and range from creams, whites and soft browns, to pale blues, and the rich dark blue/green of emu eggs. I also love the way the word 'egg' looks when written.

I have recently started to paint goose eggs and I'm going to make Christmas decorations out of them. I'm thinking about adding them to the Red Thread creations available on my website. I have dyed them with natural dyes and I'm loving the soft watery and earthy palettes I've achieved. I'm working on getting the right tone of barely-there aqua at the moment as well as painting directly on to un-dyed eggs for a very subtle effect. My designs are similar to the nature-inspired illustrations on my SushiBird Tiles, which are based on Japanese motifs, and also have some reference to Scandinavian design... a somewhat eclectic series of inspirations!

some of my decorated eggs

I am also working on more detailed designs on glorious big ostrich eggs. They really are a joy to work on - I *heart* eggs!

And of course I love eating them too...mmmm... nature's most perfect package contains it's most perfect food. Eggs offer endless culinary opportunities, but a simple soft boiled egg is a treat all on its own. Bill Grainger is known as the egg master - here's his recipe for scrambled eggs. Our three chickens in our little back garden give us delicious organic free range eggs. What could be better?

Happy Friday!

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Sneak Peek

I'm still working on my new website and hope to have it up and running with all the new products in the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, here's a sneak peek of my new range of Vintage Storybook Tiles.

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another year

This is my birthday week - another year has passed in a flash. I've never had a thing about birthdays or age, but I think this year maybe I do. I feel like there is so much that I want to do, see, learn and accomplish and the days and weeks and years are just flying by. It's especially true when you have a little person in your life who grows and changes literally every day. Roxy celebrates every month that she is closer to being 5: "Am I still four and a half mum?" she asks. Today I said "No, you are four and three quarters now". I can't think of many things that would excite her more. Except perhaps if I told her she could have lollies instead of dinner tonight. In total contrast, right up until the day of my birthday I'll be thinking that I am the age I turned last year.

That's me on the right in the mauve jumper and the yellow crepe paper hat, both of which were made by my mum.
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Loving Amy Sol's work

images from amysol.com

I thought I'd introduce you to an immensely talented artist whose work I've long admired (although she has a HUGE following, so you may already be aware of her art). Amy Sol creates the most divine dreamlike artworks on timber. The combination of her innocent looking subjects, beautiful technique and muted colour palette results these gorgeous etheral paintings.

This info/bio came from Amy's website:
Amy Sol spent her childhood years in Korea then moved to Las Vegas, NV where she currently lives and works. Though the style of her work is greatly influenced by a combination of manga, folk-art, vintage illustration and modern design, she remains a self taught artist. She has dedicated many years of her life mixing pigments and mediums to achieve a unique color palette of subtly muted tones. The artist works intuitively from the beginning to end of each piece, with the intent that each painting's theme or message can be interpreted subjectively. Within these delicate works, you may often find whimsical landscapes populated with exotic plants, animal and females... Amongst the expressions of each character are notions of peaceful reflection and a sense of companionship.

I was really disappointed to find out after the event that Amy spoke at Semi-Permanent in Sydney earlier this year. Oh how much would I LOVE to own an original Amy Sol! To see more of Amy's work visit her blog and website.

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before & after

I think I could happily spend a lot of time finding vintage chairs and revamping them. Although I must admit that I actually get the professionals to do the revamping, but I do enjoy finding fabric and seeing the results. The shapes of '30s and '40s chairs really appeal to my design asthetic.

The chairs in the top images were a bargain buy in a second hand shop - I just love the curve of the arms. We had the timber professionally restored and bought the heavy cotton French fabrics from ici et la in Surry Hills. They have the most wonderful collection of striped fabrics in a feast of scrumptious colours. Because the fabric is very wide the stripe on each of the chairs is different, which reminds me of Camper "twins" shoes: they're the same, but not.

We bought the 1930's bedroom chair from an estate auction at a deco house in Dover Heights. It was an amazing home filled with the original art deco furniture. It was a shame to see the house contents being dispersed, although I guess it also meant that new generations would get to enjoy and love each item. I had the chair covered in pink floral barkcloth which I bought in Hawaii a number of years ago. I think it really suits the chair and gives the old girl some of her former style back.

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