Handmade by Bunny Bosworth

Friday, 10 January 2014

New Year, New Projects: Traces 2014

Happy New Year to you all, I hope everyone has eaten and drunk to excess and is now begrudgingly back in work! I personally had a rather busy festive period, full of the usual Christmas Fair mania and a some other new ventures that I will tell you about soon... For now, however, I will stick to one exciting event that I am completely thrilled to be a part of .

Straight from their page, because they explain it much better than I ever could;

Traces is an immersive and theatrical multi-disciplinary art & design event inspired by real stories and histories of buildings. Every story, however hidden, leaves a trace… Have you ever wandered through a dilapidated and empty building, wishing you could see it as the last inhabitants left it?
For ten days in February 2014, ‘Traces’ will take a neglected old building and bring it alive again with the smells, tastes, touches and sounds of days gone by. Immersive and theatrical, ‘Traces,’ is a new kind of art and design event, showcasing the work of over 100 artists. Painstakingly researched, it will map and elaborate on the actual stories of the inhabitants of our event’s secret location.
The public are invited to discover these histories for themselves; wandering through the rooms left as if only a moment before, and unpicking their secrets. Interacting with the specially commissioned and selected art and design pieces, to unravel clues about the building and it’s inhabitants, whilst also having the opportunity to buy their favorites at the end of the night.

How amazing does that sound? So while I get to work designing and making my pieces (all top secret of course) Traces HQ will be doing their best to raise the money needed to make the event happen, and that's where you can help! By pledging even just a little bit of money you'll be helping scores of up and coming designers, and the brains behind Traces itself, to get a platform for their work and create a truly memorable experience for everyone involved. There are lots of fun rewards for your pledge too, so take a look at the Kickstarter page to see what's on offer and find out more about the project.

And if you're in London, or could be, then I really recommend following Traces on Twitter to get the clues for the location of the event and get down there for some site-specific, immersive, theatrical, art and design fun!

Sunday, 27 October 2013

Outside The Frame

I'm not as organised with my Christmas stock as I was last year (when I began in July...) so I've been racing through a few new ideas to get them into my Etsy shop and to other stockists as soon as possible. Yesterday I whipped up a batch of these kanzashi flower decorations;

When it comes to my product shots I have a go to set up of:

Big A2 sheet of off-white paper blu-tacked to the wall so it falls into a curve against the dining room table.
Sheet of white foamboard to bounce back light and reduce shadows.
Camera set on 'macro'.
As much natural light as possible, but not too much, and only from a certain direction, and not too bright.
Everything else can be fixed in Photoshop. Usually. Unless I've done a really bad job.

After a brief forage around Etsy this morning for Christmas decorations generally I came to the conclusion this category, more than any other, is full to the brim with shabby looking photos of what may or may not be shabby work. Determined not to fall into this trap I did the only sensible thing and snuffled round the shrubbery outside the flat for a goodly sized twig.

I know decorations are best shown hanging up, obviously, but I've not had any photos 'in situ' for any of mine for the past couple of years. Why? No idea. What I do know is that I don't like product shots of ornaments hanging on an actual Christmas tree, I know it should make sense, but I think it looks too heavy and cluttered, and a plain white or grey background will always win you brownie points with treasury curators.

Keeping my set-up much as I would use normally I rested my branch at either end on a vase, with my paper backdrop where it usually is, and Catsby where he usually is, right in the f***ing way.

Pesky felines aside I'm quite pleased with the results, not perfect but a good starting point. You can see how there is still a lot of space around the ornaments so it doesn't feel too busy, but it adds a wintery feel and shows them off as they would look on your tree. Having many branches gives lots of options for hanging things so you can create some depth in multiple shots.

I tried it out on a few of my old designs too so I can keep it consistent across the shop.

For muffs, a slightly different/precarious arrangement;

So, a multi-purpose twig, what every Etsy seller should have to hand, perhaps you know someone who might need one too? It's a budget friendly gift idea!

Friday, 4 October 2013

Etsy Picks: Foxy

I've been thinking about foxes a lot recently, probably an Autumn thing, and because I quite often see them snuffling round empty crisp packets on my street. Mostly because I wish I had a lovely orange coat though. And a tail.