Re-Fashioned studio tour

Eco-fashion designer Eleanor Bland let me have a poke around her gorgeous studio and take my camera along with me, I do get so inspired whenever I’m there so thought I’d share the photos.

I love this waistcoat so much, she used it for an amazing wedding shoot which she used two women in in bride and groom outfits to highlight the issue of gay marriage becoming legal

I’m really gutted I only got one photo of her lovely clothes but luckily you can see what she’s making on her blog. You can find her on Facebook here and you can see her process and what she's making at the moment on her blog here.

Hugs and cake

Frocktopus

xxx

toadstool bloomers and 10% discount in my fancypants new etsy shop

I've been making bloomers, great voluminous fairytale bloomers, that look like toadstools That look like old-fashioned children's clothes, because I'm always bemoaning that they have the best clothes and us big kids miss out. They look pretty sweet and homely peeking out from under a dress, they look awesome with steampunk and mori stuff too. You can get yourself a pair in my etsy shop.x

It's my birthday in a weeks time so I'm having a sale through april for all my blog readers and likers on Facebook/twitter, so if you fancy getting yourself a pressie from my shop just use the code BIRTHDAYPARTY to get yourself a discount.

As you can tell I'm a little bit in love with them, I don't mind parting with them though as there's plenty more fabric at fabric corner so I shall be popping back there very soon (and if you're in Lincon and crafty you should too, it's in the corner of the indoor market, amazing fabric.)

Purdypuss has been back to stay again and has decided scissors are her new favourite toy and pattern cutting is pussycat playtime, it's incredibly cute but she nearly lost her whiskers the other day.

Hugs and cake

Frocktopus

xxx

Watercolour Historical Fashion Illustration

I've recently bought myself a set of water brushes and don't know how I got on without them, especially as they mean I've been working in watercolour again. it's very easy to make watercolour painting muddy, especially as I tend to work in thick layers, the same way I do with acrylic paint so I tend to use a thick white liquid watercolour for the highlights. I'm going to try more pen and watercolour wash work soon.

The brushes in the picture are Pentel aqua brushes, they're one of my favourite things, I don't really go in for a lot of kit but these work really well and it means I can keep them, an ink pad and a sketchbook in my bag at all times. If you fancy a pack you can find them here, there's also loads of different types out there for varying degrees of money, mine were £3 for three with postage.

On a sad note this painting was done for a local steampunk magazine, unfortunately there was a bit of messing around involved and, not to be a downer on things, I have learnt a valuable lesson not to work for free for a business if you've already heard worrying things, there's plenty of better ways to get your artwork out there. It's not only a waste of time but devalues your work and the hard work of other artists. On a happier note I have discovered an artists union that is trying to stamp out this kind of thing.

You can still have a read of the articles author Sandi James's diary of steampunk events at her blog sandi by gaslight though, it's really sweet and there's loads of fantastic photos of amazing costumes people have made, the fact Sandi makes historical and steampunk clothing really comes through.

Love and cake

Frocktopus

xxx