a trip

It must be almost nine months ago now that I sat in my parents house, faffing around on the internet on a drizzly afternoon, when I stumbled upon something that I almost didn't follow up. But I filled in the forms, sent back the application and the references (at the very last minute). I even went to an interview, but four months of job hunting had taught me not expect much from those.

So when I got a call, on a similarly dank afternoon in August, and the woman on the end of the line was telling me I'd been accepted to Platform2, that they were sending me to volunteer in a developing country for 10 weeks, I was honestly so shocked I sat down on the floor and could not speak. I don't even remember if I thanked her.

In less than one week I will be flying to Kenya to volunteer at a forest conservation project thanks to this scheme. Platform2 is run by Dfid, Christian Aid and Bunac, and gives young people like me the opportunity to visit a developing country and learn about global issues first hand. Despite all my research and reading, I still can't conjure a satisfactory image of what its going to be like, thats why I can't wait to get there, so it will finally feel real.

minimalist cake

Very beautiful images from the new IKEA cookbook that has no words in it. Probably not very useful for making a cake though.

The End of the Road.....

Just got back from a fantastic weekend at End of the Road, the first outing for the thermochrome lanterns.

Leaning off a ladder  twenty feet in the air, we raced the fading light and my spinning head from vertigo to get fifteen lanterns safely hanging in their tree. Rejecting kind offers to go up the ladder in my place, I stubbornly hung each lantern from the branches of a huge evergreen. Each night I dragged my assistant/ spokesperson (while occupied up a ladder)/ official photographer away from the music and the beer to light each one in turn. I was so pleased with how they looked I didn't get even slightly furious when one was broken.

Thanks for everyones help and support, especially Dave, even though I would let him climb that ladder, thanks to End of the Road for having me and for lovely weekend.

mess

One week to go before the festival and I'm spending all my time, when I'm not painting things pink, inventing things that could go wrong, then thinking about them and deciding they are going to happen. Also, trying not to make a mess of the kitchen.

Success

One down, fourteen to go.  The first lantern for End of the Road had emerged unscathed from the kiln, and now it really exists. Here he it hanging from a tree, just waiting for the other to join him. I'm afraid you will have to imagine that its pink.

No more disasters

Lets's hope.

After an infuriating few days last week trying to fix my slip, to no avail, I've bitten the bullet and bought some. I have no idea why I didn't do that in first place. So, way behind schedule, and therefore causing me some severe anxiety, I have cast a grand total of 1 lantern. Better get on with it then

Let's Do Nice Things take over SHOP

From the 26th to the 30th of July Lets Do Nice Things take over SHOP on Christmas Steps with films, art and naked people, as well as a pop up gallery on Friday, in which I shall be featuring. I'll be showing the Thermochromes, not sure exactly where and how yet...

back in overalls

First day back in the studio yesterday, making a model for the new Lanterns for End of the Road. I pulled out my trusty overalls, immaculate and untouched for quite a while. Two hours in there were 50 pints of plaster leaking all over the floor, much of which ended up all over me. Its good to be back.

The End of the Road.....

VERY exciting news!

I've been commissioned by the lovely folks at End of the Road festival to make an group of lanterns to be installed at the festival site, Larmer Tree Gardens in Dorset. The lanterns are an evolution of Thermochromes ( colour changing candle holders) using the same heat-sensitive coating and candles as a heat source. A group of lanterns will be suspended from a huge tree throughout the festival, and when the candles are lit they will change colour from hot pink to delicate translucent white. All I have to do now is make them...

Pottery shards excavated from my back garden last week. The sixties printed pattern was about two feet down, the blue and white a few feet deeper. Digging a hole for a post became an impromptu archaeological dig.