From pod to print

I've been working on a project with Cocoa Wonderland (the most delightfully enchanted sweet shop you are likely to ever come across), who showed me this video of a single origin chocolate bar produced for Wallpaper* Handmade. It's from last year so you might have seen it before, but it's too beautiful not to share.

The chocolate is made by Marou Faiseurs de Chocolat (the only bean to bar chocolate maker in Vietnam) and the packaging is designed by Rice Creative. Every Marou bar is a work of art. Each wrapper is coloured to reflect the hue of the cocoa pod it came from, and over this a pattern of clouds, cocoa pods and flowers is silkscreened by hand in gold ink. The bars produced for the Wallpaper* Handmade issue bars also have a 'W*' embossed in gold - - - you can see them in the video or in the August 2012 issue of Wallpaper*.

I think Marou's bars and their beautiful packaging is an inspiration in design and quality, and proves it can be possible to keep every part of production, from pod to print, as local as possible.

There's more about the design on the Lovely Package blog or in Wallpaper*.

Love at the circus

Love is in the air at the circus.

Look closely in the trees high above the big top and you might just spot Mr and Mrs Owl. The circus carries on as usual below . . . zebras parade, silly birds swing, while an elegant elephant balances exquisitely on the tightrope. But despite all the marvels to behold, Mr and Mrs Owl only have eyes for each other. Betty Butterscotch watches them and marvels at how astonishingly wonderful love can be.

You can find the Twit-Two-I-Do Owls on two new cards made especially for Valentine's Day or equally nice to send at any time of year to the person you love marvellously too. They've even got the tale of Mr and Mrs Owl on the back. They're in my Etsy shop in either corals and pinks, or in black >>> here and here >>> 

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Or if you want to add a sprinkling of magic to your Valentine, Bumblewick Beesting has been creating playing cards in honour of the queen of his heart (Miss Betty Butterscotch, in case you were wondering). But these are not just any old playing cards. Heavens no. These are magical playing cards which you can pop in your mouth and eat. What a delight.

There are two versions of the cards, either King of My Heart or Queen of My Heart, depending on your fancy. Both come with a very special edible playing card to take out and devour. The cards feature hand-drawn lettering and original illustrations . . . although I'm not sure how anatomically correct the heart is, so it's probably best not to base any major surgery on my drawing. If you'd like an edible Valentine card, they're in my shop over here >>>

British Library Spring Festival 2013

This time last year I was getting ready for the British Library Spring Festival. Winning their competition was a huge boost for me and probably the first big outing for Butterscotch & Beesting. You might be able to spy me in this video. (I'm still not sure how they persuaded me to come out from my hiding place and put me in front of the camera.)



The second Spring Festival is coming up, and it's open to all designers/makers who've used the British Library or their Business & IP Centre (even just reading books there counts). If you win, you get a stall in their plaza, lots of press, a free workshop on how to market yourself, plus your work will be featured on the British Library website. If you can enter, do, do, do  – I really can't recommend it enough. The closing deadline is midnight this Sunday (27th January), so you'll need to be quick. Here's the application form.

If you can't enter this year, have a look at what else the British Library offers, as they have incredible resources for creative businesses, plus you get to pick the brains of the wonderful Fran Taylor, their marketing manager for creative industries. She's full of wisdom and hugely supportive of people trying to make a living from doing creative things. And best of all, most of their workshops and events are free.

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One of my best bits of last year was meeting the other designers at the Spring Market, like Kay from Ketchup on Everything, Pheobe Richardson, Kethi Copeland, Sarah Cole from Cole of London, Holly Barton from hb-design and Sian Zeng. Thanks for all the support and inspiration xx

New Year • • • New Work

I've been designing quite a bit recently.
It was all a bit crazy before Christmas, so I didn't have chance to list any of my new pieces.
But as it's a new year, new things will be appearing in my shop.

Here's one of them.
It's the Circus Tents Postcard Set and it's part of the Circus Tents collection, which also includes the  Teatime at the Circus Trio.
The set includes four postcards, each with a different design.
I think they're nice to hang or frame or send.
You can find them here >>

There'll be more coming soon.

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Teatime at the Circus

Like me, the inhabitants of the Butterscotch + Beesting Circus are partial to a spot of afternoon tea.
Betty's favourite is a layered vanilla sponge with raspberry jam and elderflower custard.
Bumblewick prefers to keep it simple with a gingernut.
The Tattercock rarely says no to a slice of treacly parkin.
And Wilhelmina finds it hard to resist a macaroon.

Their affection for the afternoon tea tradition persuaded me to make them an appropriately fine and circusy tea set.

'Teatime at the Circus' is designed to sit together as a trio, one on top of the other, with the illustrations beginning on the cake plate, continuing on the saucer and leading up the tea cup. 

The cake plates and saucers are decorated with hand-drawn circus tents, triangular flags and magical strobes that have then been digitally coloured in delicious shades of yellow, coral, mint, teal and jade. There are four different cake plates in the collection, decorated with the same patterns but in various colour combinations. So at a tea party of four, each guest could delight in their very own plate. Oh, what fun!

The teacup is decorated with a silly bird riding a trapeze accompanied by neon strobes of magic shooting down from the sky (an everyday occurrence in the Butterscotch + Beesting Circus). The back of the teacup is decorated with a triangular cloud of raindrops.

The tea trios use the very finest bone china (made in Stoke), which gives them a beautiful translucent creamy finish. They're still an incredibly limited edition - - - I only have four sets. I promise I will be making more though, as soon as I can sneak them into my mum's kiln.

Teatime at the Circus is available either as a full trio ( cup + saucer + cake plate)
or as a cup + saucer duo
or as individual cake plates.

You'll find the whole collection in my Etsy Shop.

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PS. The photographs are by India Hobson. She's wonderful.
Her website is a treasure trove of beauty.
Have a look at her 'Revealing Craft' series.
I have serious studio envy.

Fabulous Flags Calendar Tutorial

I'm excited about this year. I'm hoping it's going to be a good one.
And to celebrate the start of 2013, I've made you a little something.
It's a Butterscotch & Beesting fabulous flags calendar and it's totally ✸ free ✸ from me to you.

It's super easy to make.
If you happen to have an A3 printer, you can make a big one.
If not, don't worry, you can still make a mini one.

YOU WILL NEED...

> printable template
> 13 sheets of medium-weight paper (A3 or A4) - - - - I used Daler Rowney 180gsm Cartridge Paper
> a printer
> craft knife or scissors
> ruler

WHAT TO DO...

1. download and print the template.
(adjust the paper size to A4 if you need to, and fit to page. )

2. cut each sheet using the crop marks as a guide.
(the back page is slightly larger than all the others.)

3. assemble the pages.
(the 2013 page goes at the very back.)

4. hang up your lovely new calendar.
(I used mini bulldog clips and invisible string, but you could also cut circular holes in each page using a hole punch and hang it up with string or butcher's twine.)

5. that's it... ta da!!!

1 >> Print the PDF template

2 >> Cut out the calendar pages using the crop marks as guides 

 3 >> Assemble your calendar (tip... January goes at the front)

4 >> Hang up your lovely new calendar

5 >> Ta Da!

Happy New Year!!!

A little treat coming soon

I've been away for so long. Please accept my apologies.
To make up for abandoning you like that, I've made a little something.
Here's a peek.
And if you come back on Monday, it will be yours.
To keep.
For the whole year.
I hope that makes everything better.

✶✶✶ See you soon ✶✶✶