Wychbury Wunderkammers & Shop Display Ideas

I have a few small cupboards lying around that I thought would be perfect for 'Del Boy' style Wychbury showcases. I love the idea of turning up somewhere and opening the cupboards and selling Wychbury Victorian street style out of a box! Realistically I've converted them for some of our Wychbury stockists.
It has been proven to us time and time again that our work sells much better when grouped together rather than randomly scattered in amongst other people's work. (fondly known by Paula & I as Carrots Handbags Cheese)

This is a nice way of preventing that happening I think! (Also fits nicely in with practicing what I preach in my job. Reuse! Recycle!)

We first tried to prevent this happening when exhibiting at Created In Birmingham quite a few years ago with a pin board & then at We Are Birmingham using a wooden display shelf that my Dad had made.

    Pin Board 2010

Shelf Display 2010

Anyhoo, the first new Wychbury Wunderkammer is an Antique wooden cupboard bought from a junk shop in St Just Cornwall for a tenner quite a few years ago, now newly lined with navy felt. The second a wooden box, maybe a tool or art box rescued from a skip! Also given the felt treatment. I think the second box could do with a coat of paint, but I'm quite pleased with how they look. My favourite Wychbury display however is my antique hymn board, but I don't think I could part with that no matter how good it would look in a shop! L xxx

Antique Wooden Box 2012

Wooden Art/Tool Box 2012

Hymn Board 2010

Wychbury shop display, originally uploaded by Wychbury.

Comfort Sewing.

Autumnal poppy fascinator bands., originally uploaded by Wychbury.

My loft studio is often cold in winter and I drive my entire family batty by gradually migrating downstairs through the course of the season! What I have noticed in recent weeks is that my style of working has altered to accomodate this, right down to the type of pieces I am designing and producing. My Remembrance Poppies involve only handstitching and no machine so can be produced curled up on the sofa with a blanket and a cuppa!
The Poppy range went mad this year and all I seemed to do for weeks was to sew black seed beads onto deep red flowers. What was suprising to me was that rather than being bored I was actually rather comforted by continuously repeating the processes of making such a familiar and well loved design.
Designing and making individual pieces, although inspiring is sometimes daunting to me too. What if no one likes it? What was I thinking? That was really hard to make - is it worth it? The poppies though, no such worries. The are beautifully tactile, richly coloured, tried and tested and honestly - a delight to make. I'd already dipped my toe in the idea of producing other versions of the Poppy design through the Ghost Poppy/Grey Lady Fascinator band I made around Halloween time so when Goose and the Moose Gallery at Malton asked for more fascinators in other colours, it seemed a good time to make some more. I love the big faceted bead on the the 2011 Remembrance Poppies so ordered some other colours with a view to making some rich, Autumnal combinations. I've also used bugle beads instead of seed beads on some designs to add to the opulance of the design for the Christmas season.
These fascinators have gone off to Malton now but I feel I have a new reason to stay by the fire and am producing corsages in these designs. These will be available shortly on Folksy and Etsy as well as our fantastic stockists all over Yorkshire.
Keep warm this winter, grab your work box, put the kettle on and get comfy!

Paula x

In Hell.

Well the money from our remortgage to sort out our very overcrowded house had finally landed. The main implication this has for my end of Wychbury is that I will finally have a place to work as I am having my loft converted. There is no scope for a staircase in my house so I will have a space that is only accessible via a ladder and therefore should be child-free!

This cannot happen soon enough. In recent weeks I have been working on lots of stuff in preparation for Spring. I had hoped to have had the loft done in time for me to start making again in February but alas it has not come to pass!

The result of this has been a complete meltdown of all order in our home. Nothing has a place, there are heaps and piles on every surface, tiny bits of shrapnel and detritus lie everywhere from each job that I have attempted to complete in some random and innappropriate location! My memory banks are now totally full and I cannot remember where a single thing is. Yesterday I had to retrace my steps three times to remember where I had seen the hair slide I had seen, mentally noted to put in my daughter's hair and then totally forgot where it was! Making a coffee has become a major operation as things have to be moved and piled on top of one another just to make space for the kettle.

Hopefully I will have lots of optimistic things to say as the build unfolds in the coming weeks and have lots of photos of the new Wychbury Studio as it takes shape. For now though, I am fairly sure that this is what purgatory feels like.

Paula x

Snowdrops

Well despite the hideous weather here in Yorkshire, there are signs that spring is on the way. My 4 year old son came charging in from the garden the other day, very intrigued by the green spikes sticking out of the ground. Yay! the snowdrops are on their way in a multitude that will have no doubt doubled again from last year!

So, forcing myself out of the January doldrums, I started work on some snowdrop hair clips. I found these beautiful pictures on flickr and loved how the petals curved. http://www.flickr.com/photos/57309108@N00/398003162/in/photostream/.



First I had to find some white flowers so I unceremoniously destroyed some velvet roses to see what they were made of. They had a nice threefold petal in already so I just had to construct the centre.

I started with machine stitch like my pansies but the effect was way too heavy for what I had in mind. I also tried several versions with multiple beads in the middle but that didn't do it for me either. So less seems to be more and I've gone for a single, seed bead on a hand embroidered centre.

I'm getting a bridal vibe for these!

Paula x

Green Man Festival at Clun!

We will be at The Green Man Festival in Clun, Shropshire on Monday with lots of new goodies, including new medieval flower clips and herb garden earrings.

Come and see us and say hello! (promise we won't be in the beer tent! ;)

Here's the website link for directions and info!

http://www.clungreenman.org.uk/index.htm

Lesley & Paula. xxx