Thursday 29 November 2012

Turning back the clock

This clock found its way from a old cargo ship, through Bangladesh and into my dining room via the Pretty Dandy Flea (where it was traded in exchange for a Circus Triangles Cushion).

It was made in 1982 and when the ship was dismantled, it was one of the lucky parts to be salvaged. It used to be wired up to captain's clock, to make sure all the clocks on the ship told the same time as the ship passed through different time zones. Now it will serve the important task of overseeing our breakfast and helping us get to school on time. Isn't it beautiful?

vintage clock, boat clock, time zone, mint, teal, old clock, wall clock, vintage wall clock





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★ VICTORIAN MARKET ★


Talking of clocks, I'll be turning back time this weekend at the Victorian Market. I already have my corset ready. Although I may have to stop eating and breathing to squeeze into it.

Victorian Christmas Market
Kelham Island Museum, Sheffield
Saturday 1 December // 10am-7pm
Saturday 2 December // 10am-5pm

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★ 20 CRAFTY MAKES COMPETITION ★

And there's still time to enter my competition to win a copy of the fabulous 20 Crafty Makes book and the original Reinbin stamp. As some people have had trouble logging in to leave a comment on the blog, you can now also enter by leaving a comment on the Butterscotch & Beesting Facebook page. So if that's easier, head on over there and say a little something about the competition.

More details here.

The deadline for entries is 9pm on Sunday 2 December.

Thursday 22 November 2012

★ 20 Crafty Makes ★ and a GIVEAWAY ★


20 Crafty Makes is a little book bursting with creative projects, published to mark the 20th anniversary of the Stroke Association. Each book has twenty little gems of deliciously crafty projects to keep you busy on the cold winter nights (or lazy summer evenings) and each book sold raises money for the charity. It's a perfect little Christmas present that also gives something back.

Twenty makers have produced super-easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions on how to make lovely, clever, crafty things. You can learn how to print a collagraph card, crochet baubles, cross-stitch like Mr X Stitch himself, illustrate a tee, sew a purse and design a wonderful Christmas tree decoration, plus lots and lots more. You can even follow my project too if you fancy, which teaches you how to print your own reinbin wrapping paper (a reinbin being a reindeer and a robin muddled by magic, of course).

And here's the GIVEAWAY. Hurray!

It's super simple >>>>>>>

I'm giving away one copy of the book + the original Reinbin stamp I used in my project. So if you win, you not only get a 20 Crafty Makes book, but you can can merrily print lots and lots of wrapping to make your presents extra special this year too.

For your chance to win, just leave a comment on the bottom of this post before 9pm on Sunday 2nd December.* The winning comment will be picked at random and announced here on my blog.

The book is for sale from the 20 Crafty Makes Folksy Shop and costs £5, or you can order your copy by sending an email to 20craftymakes@gmail.com
Profits from the book and e-book sales will be donated to the Stroke Association to support its future work and research.

* Competition is open worldwide, and the prizes will be posted as soon as possible. 


 〪〭〫〬 Just leave a comment below for a chance to win this Reinbin stamp as well as a copy of the 20 Crafty Makes book 〪〭〫〬

Monday 19 November 2012

Pretty Dandy Flea

This Saturday (24/11) I'll be taking Butterscotch & Beesting to the Pretty Dandy Flea. These people who will be there too >>>>>>>


From top left: < 1 > Abstract Print by Eloise Renouf.  < 2 >  'Folks That Do Coffee' by Katrine Brosnan3 > Bearded Man Brooch by Emily Rowley from Curiosity Haus< 4 > Illustration by Lou Illustrator5 > Fox print by Amy Blackwell6 > Birdie Brooch by Modflowers7 > Kissing Birds Plate by Carly Dodsley8 > Mobile by Ding Ding > Racoon Card by Lisa Jones from The Curious Pancake




This is the second ever Pretty Dandy Flea, and if it's anything like the first it will be pretty darn fabulous. Not to mention the sandwiches . . . smoked mackerel, beetroot and horseradish from the Pop-Up Sandwich Kitchen. Yum Yum. And music by record label Hello Thor. Did I mention that? All organised by the very wonderful Becky from Pretty Dandy.

Saturday 17 November 2012

Neon cushions

Drum Roll please  -----  four new cushions have entered the Butterscotch & Beesting ring!!!!

strobes, neon, cushions, pillow, brights, coral, ultramarine, blue, mint, teal, circus cushions, circus pillow, linen cushion, zipper pillow, print, original, original print, screenprint, pattern, design

strobes, neon, cushions, pillow, brights, coral, ultramarine, blue, mint, teal, circus cushions, circus pillow, linen cushion, zipper pillow, print, original, original print, screenprint, pattern, design

strobes, neon, cushions, pillow, brights, coral, ultramarine, blue, mint, teal, circus cushions, circus pillow, linen cushion, zipper pillow, print, original, original print, screenprint, pattern, design

strobes, neon, cushions, pillow, brights, coral, ultramarine, blue, mint, teal, circus cushions, circus pillow, trapeze, bird, linen cushion, zipper pillow, print, original, original print, screenprint, pattern, design

These ones are from the Neon Strobes collection, and feature the circus silly birds performing among striped clouds and strobes of coral, mint, teal, ultramarine and mustard yellow.

strobes, neon, cushions, pillow, brights, coral, ultramarine, blue, mint, teal, circus cushions, circus pillow, linen cushion, zipper pillow, print, original, original print, screenprint, pattern, design

strobes, neon, cushions, pillow, brights, triangles, coral, blue, mint, teal, circus cushions, circus pillow, linen cushion, zipper pillow, print, original, original print, screenprint, pattern, design

lion, neon, cushions, pillow, brights, coral, ultramarine, blue, mint, teal, circus cushions, circus pillow, linen cushion, zipper pillow, print, original, original print, screenprint, pattern, design

This one is called Lion, and shows the Not-Really-All-That-Scary-At-All Lion standing on his podium surrounded by turquoise triangles.

All the cushions are available from my Etsy shop.



designers, makers, logo, London, UK, England, handmade,
// DESIGNERS / MAKERS //

I'm very, very, very excited to announce that you can now find Butterscotch & Beesting on Designers / Makers. And if you're quick, Designers / Makers are offering a special festive discount of 10% off all items until 30th December 2012 with the discount code 10percentoff --- you can find all these cushions in the shop.

I'll also be taking part in the Designers / Makers Christmas fair at Spitalfields on Saturday 15th December, where I shall be wrapped up warm and drinking lots of juletide hot chocolate.

Thursday 8 November 2012

Ghosts of Gone Birds

A while ago, I said that I'd been busy working on a couple of projects. Well, this is one of them.

Ghosts of Gone Birds, Mauritius, extinct birds, conservation, birds, wildlife
'Red Snail-Eating Dodo'  by Camilla Westergaard aka Butterscotch & Beesting

I'm lucky enough to be part of the wonderful Moonko Collective, which represents and supports both emerging and established artists and designers. Through Moonko I became involved in the Ghosts of Gone Birds project, whose mission is to "raise a creative army for conservation through a series of multimedia exhibitions and events that will breathe artistic life back into extinct birds species".

Last year Ghosts of Gone Birds held an exhibition in London, where its 'creative army' included Sir Peter Blake, Oliver Jeffers, Ralph Steadman, and Angie Lewin. This year it's moved to the seaside, to the ONCA Gallery in Brighton.

Ghosts of Gone Birds, Mauritius, extinct birds, conservation, birds, wildlife
'Oh Martha' by Victoria Foster aka The Aviary

Ghosts of Gone Birds, Mauritius, extinct birds, conservation, birds, wildlife
'Red-Moustached Fruit Dove' by Emily Sutton

 'Triptych of Hawaiian Gone Birds' by Eduardo Fuentes

 'Snail-Eating Coua' by Brandon Lodge

'Laughing Owl' by Alexia Claire


I was one of the artists asked to help breathe life back into an extinct bird for the show. Reading through the list of extinct species, I found it really hard to pick one. All their stories are so sad, how do you choose just one? Some of them we know so little about, and even the ones which were captured on paper while they were alive, like the Dodo, vary so much in their depictions.

Ghosts of Gone Birds, Mauritius, extinct birds, conservation, birds, wildlife, ONCA

'Dodo' by Emily Reader aka Rose Petal Deer

One of the most touching stories was the tale of the Kaua'i'o'o which was native to Hawaii. In 1981, a single pair remained, but by 1982 the female had gone, probably killed by a hurricane. So then just one male was left. There is a recording of his voice from 1987, but nothing since. Imagine being the very last of your kind. It's his story that Deborah Moon chose to tell in her beautiful piece, where he sits among the branches of a tree, surrounded by pinned flowers, looking for his mate. 
 
Ghosts of Gone Birds, Mauritius, extinct birds, conservation, birds, wildlife, ONCA
Kaua'i'o'o by Deborah Moon

Kaua'i'o'o (in progress) by Deborah Moon

As I was reading through the list, I started to imagine what might have happened if these birds had been allowed to survive. What would they look like now? Would the Dodo still be flightless or would he have regained some flight to escape the reach of man's knives, non-indigenous pigs and rats? Could any have started evolving into new species? 

Maybe if they had survived, David Attenborough would right now be crouching in a bush in Mauritius, whispering above bird song about a species no one had seen before, which appeared to have the characteristics of a dodo but mixed with some features of the extinct Red Rail that shared its island. 

Even though my knowledge of biology and evolution is shaky at best, I do know that would be very unlikely and would take thousands of years ... but what if a monkey called Solomon had been there? What if the Butterscotch & Beesting Circus had arrived on to the island? What if the Dodo, the Red Rail and the Snail-Eating Coua had loved the circus so much they had run off with it. What if, while they were there, they had been muddled by magic? Well then, we could have had a … drumroll please… Red Snail-Eating Dodo. But we never will. And we'll never know if the Red Snail-Eating Dodo would have flown across the Big Top, or balanced plates on the end of his beak. Imagine the stories he could have told.

So I thought I should tell his story instead. The one of the imaginary Red Snail-Eating Dodo.

Ghosts of Gone Birds, Mauritius, extinct birds, conservation, birds, wildlife
'Red Snail-Eating Dodo' original screenprint by Butterscotch & Beesting

Sadly I can't save those poor birds from their fate. But I can take them into my imaginary circus, where they can live forever. And I'll try my best to help protect and cherish the birds I share my real-life world with too.

All the original pieces featured here are available to buy through the gallery, and I also have a limited edition of 50 four-colour screenprints available. If you would like to buy any of the pieces, you can email ONCA or contact me directly and I can forward your message on to the gallery. A percentage of the profits from the sale of all the original art and prints will go directly to help frontline conservation projects fighting to save the lives of endangered species around the world.


The exhibition runs until the end of January at Onca (One Network for Conservation and the Arts), 14 St George's Place, BN1 4GB, Brighton. 

There are more details on the 

Thursday 1 November 2012

Spooky

Yesterday was the Halloween, which according to my children is the most important day of the year. We were woken up to declarations of . . . "I can't believe it's actually Halloween . . . T O D A Y!"

The morning was full of costume dramas. Firstly Pia decided she wanted to be a flamingo. This one stumped me a bit, until I found this incredible outfit on a blog. Sadly I was so totally last minute, my dreams of making her a proper hat with feathers and a beautiful winged cape ended up instead in a last-minute panic-fuelled stuffed flamingo headband, using left-over linen and fabric pens and attached to a sequin headband.


Middle wanted to be a spooky doll, so we scoured her drawers for the spookiest skirt and top, found some orange hair that matched her huge skirt (both given to her by my sister last Christmas) and finished it off with an apron I'd sewed from an old pillow case ages ago. I painted her face with orange cheeks, purple eyes, black stitches and heart lips.  




Nearly-Teen isn't always enthusiastic about dressing up, and spent most of the morning shrugging his shoulders at all our suggestions, until he decided on Sherlock Holmes. We didn't have a cape or a hat though, so while he went on a mission to the fancy dress shop to find a hat, I sewed him a cape.

He came back with a trilby.

So then I had to quickly sew him a hat too, which turned out to be a bit too small. The deerstalker pattern I used was great though, and I'd definitely make him another one, I think I'd just enlarge all the pieces by about 20%. I used this pattern for the cape, but as I only had a bit of grey fabric left, I had to adjust it quite a bit and make it much smaller.


It was all a total manic rush because I am tragically far too last-minute, but we managed to get to the party only forty minutes after it started. (The party was brilliant by the way, and the fabulous Monique had even made delicious homemade veggie burgers especially for us non-meat-eaters, and lots of warming mulled wine.)

This was our kiddie's second Halloween party in a week. For the last one (which had a crazy, crazy number of children running wild) we made these ghosty cupcakes. The cake bit is basically a chocolate fairycake mix and the top is made from vegetarian marshmallow. A few ghosts suffered in transit, falling victim to Pia's hat swinging in the back of the car, but most arrived unharmed.




Back to yesterday though, which ended with trick or treating in the rain followed by Witch Zelda's Birthday Cake as a bedtime story. If you haven't seen this book, it's incredible. It's shaped like a pumpkin, and has pop-out, pull-out, lift-up flaps galore. And Eva Tatcheva's illustrations are utterly fabulous.






So that was Halloween. Spooky, a bit manic, but wonderful.