A Review of November 2009

Following my first public sales event on the first of this month, I have spent my creative time making butterfly brooches, which was not as easy as I thought to make purely from FP. After many attempts, which looked flat and clumbsy, my last butterfly (CF022) finally captivated the look I was trying to get and I only deemed this one good enough to be sold as an Art-Brooch.

I have also spent a lot of time thinking about combining FP with other materials in my brooches, as I am keen to get different surface textures, particularly matt surfaces to contrast with the high gloss finish of the FP when it has been coated with Envirotex Lite.

Although the design stage is still in my head at the moment, I am thinking of making some moulds from my own designs. This would enable me to cast part of the brooch base (either in resin or clay) relatively easily, so that I can concentrate my time on the inlaid designs with FP and other materials. I may also have come up with a different type of fastening pin that could fit flush into the back of the brooch, so that it would fit into the frame better (which I am also considering casting from my own design as well). Lots more to think about for December!

Topmark Products

I went to visit Topmark Products, to see the range of model-making supplies available, after making contact with the Director of the company at the recent St Heliers Art and Craft Market. I was totally inspired by the vast range of products and felt sure that I would end up satisfying a latent desire to design and make my own moulds and castings.

AMACO Friendly Plastic Butterfly Design Challenge

Today I posted off my butterfly design for the AMACO Friendly Plastic Butterfly Design Challenge. It is called "Rainbow Shimmer". This was made very quickly at the weekend, to take advantage of the extended deadline for entries.

This butterfly was made by pressing FP from behind through a preformed metal butterfly shape. Next I need to try making some butterflies, just from FP, using the marbling technique. I have a commission for a butterfly brooch and said I would have a few to choose from at the next St Heliers Art & Craft Market.

Successful first event

The first public showing of my Art-Brooch designs took place at the St Heliers Art & Craft Market on Sunday 1 November. This was also my first craft fair in New Zealand. I believe this first event was quite successful considering that visitor numbers to the market on this particular Sunday were extremely low, due to other events going on in Auckland on the same day. This included the Auckland Marathon, which resulted in one of the main roads from the city to St Heliers (and the Harbour Bridge) being closed to traffic.

I was pleased to hear most people say what a great idea the Art-Brooch concept is and that they have not seen anything else like it before. I have been fairly limited in the amount of time I have had available to build the collection of Art-Brooches for this first event. However, I am inspired with ideas which need to be developed to refine the concept and also for new designs to add to the collection.