It’s officially SPRING in South Africa. The 1st of September is the day celebrated but it always rains and this year was no exception. So for or me Spring starts on the 2nd of September becuase it is always sunny (which it is today).
As part of the celebration I am letting my birds fly….
For every bag bought during September a ‘Bird Purse‘ (valued at $18) will be sent with for FREE.
*the small text: this offer only applies for bags bought online or through email. No biggie.
The sun is shining and there is no wind – the weather is gorgeous today and I plan to spend most of the afternoon outside. Spring is here (well almost).
Beatnik Bazaar has put together an amazing competition called ‘pretty young spring thing’ to celebrate the coming of spring. There are many fabulous and delicious gifts up for grabs and one of which is a WREN TOTE (and a bird purse for the runner up). Other sponsors are Charly’s Bakery, MAC makeup, Take Care Clothing, Lauren Fowler, Paige Nick and Honest Chocolate.
To enter visit Beatnik Bazaar.
The PPC Cement Bag’s beginning was similar to this. The design was more a result of playing with materials and allowing myself to be open to new experiences than an idea alone… I had been experimenting with fabric fusing and wondered if it would bond to paper. Some time later I was driving behind a PPC Cement truck laden with packaging, saw the elephant branding and thought it was pretty cool. What happened next was the creation – the PPC Cement Laptop Bag.
Words by Scott Witt that say it all.
This year marks the 250th birthday of Toile du Jouy. Its origins can be traced to Jouy-en-Josas, France, where the first commercial plant to mass produce it started production in 1760. Visi is celebrating and together two of my hand drawn Toile du Jouy fabric designs (see the other one here) are being offered as free downloads. This design (above and below) is called ‘Darling Toile’.
Inspiration for this design came from a trip I took to the small town up the West Coast of South Africa, Darling. There are many small towns scattered across South Africa that are similar and you will always spot a creaking metal gate, a bakkie parked under a flowering tree, a windmill and a rusted Mercedes parked next to a corrugated roof home with broekie lace trim around the stoep.
This design is a half drop repeat which means that once you have downloaded it you can repeat it till your heart is content and if you want, fill a whole wall with the design. How a half drop repeat works is similar to what I describe as brick laying. The vertical repeat is straight forward, one under the other like tile laying. The second row (horizontal) is where the ‘brick laying’ comes in becuase you drop the design by half of the original ’tile’ and place it. You will see that the pictures become complete and so the puzzle fits together. Vertically you continue just laying then directly on top and below. Horizontally, you keep laying those bricks half way. I have created a template to show you how it works above.
Download ‘Darling Toile’ for free on VISI.co.za by clicking here.
Remember the South African Toile I designed way back when? Well, now it’s got a purpose and I am so excited becuase I can share it with everybody. The design has been converted into a wrapping paper and you can download it (for free) from the VISI website.
The new bag to the Wren Jute Range is the ‘WREN TOTE’. A tote by definition is “a large handheld bag that is used to carry things, such as books, beach wear, or everyday items” and this is exactly what the Wren Tote is: practical, durable, eco-friendly, useful, secure and plentiful in space.
The bag is made from reinforced Jute Coffee Sacks that come from fair trade tea and coffee plantations all over the world (including some Groundnut bags that come from South Africa). The reinforcing is a fused black cotton that adds durability, helps maintain the shape of the bag and lines the inside.
The bag closes with a strong metal zip. On each end of the zip is a pres stud cap that clips down (or unclips). This changes the shape and size of the bag.
When I made the first sample Jeremy and I fought over it. Jeremy used it for his gym stuff and I used it to fit my handbag, my jersey, books and papers that I needed for a day of errand running. Now we each have one and I am never turning back. I keep my handbag inside and when I want to run into a shop I grab my handbag from it but when I am at a meeting or shopping, it fits everything in (including all sorts of odds that always end up in bag and you have no idea how). Packed or empty the bag is still petite and does not make you look like a camel carrying around the world.
To see the new WREN TOTE bags visit my etsy shop.
The Wren range of bags made from Jute is growing and encompassing more styles so it felt only right that the tags have a similar and unifying feel. After an ink cartridge and hours of deliberation, I decided on a card tag with three different designs.
The reverse side of the tag has the bag details which before was only conveyed in conversations with me or in the etsy product description. This way the person recieving the bag can read about it and know where their bag came from.
…and indeed another snippet of the new bag: ‘The Wren Tote’ that will be added to the Jute Range soon. To see all the new bags listed yesterday visit my etsy shop.
Along our walk on Saturday I collected small snippets of flowers from the veld. To avoid carrying them I pushed them into my pony-tail. Bruce took a picture whilst I was unaware and although the others said I had plants in my head, seeing it now I disagree. I think it is quite a lovely bouquet. These flowers now fill a tiny vase on my desk.
Citrusdal Hot Springs was full of signs of spring.
The orchids will bursting with orange, the tree’s blooming in pink and yellow and the mountain side full of Heather, Erica’s and all sorts of other wonderful plants in flower.
…and this picture (below) was too wonderful not to capture: grey walls, corrugated red roof and a little girl standing in the doorway wearing pink pants.
I couldn’t resist – I have to share this new bag with you even if only in part. It is such a wonderful bag – Jeremy keeps ’stealing’ it and everytime I want to use it he has got his ’stuff’ in it. We have to book the bag! It is deceivingly big and because it zips closed, its perfect for everything.
This *WREN TOTE* will be available next week from my etsy shop.
This is another project I did when I was a student and probably my favourite.
The ‘Swan Spats’ were for a 3m Super-sticky Post-it notes competition. Basically, inspired by spats which by definition is a short gaiter covering the instep and ankle, I extended the functional boundaries of a spat and made the function a decorative one.
Why a swan? The swan is a very sensual, graceful and elegant creature and similarities between the female ankle, curve of the calf and lines of the pointed foot are easily made. The plan was to make a spat in the shape of swan that wraps around the ankle and calf and use 3M Super-sticky notes for the wings. This would also create an effect similar to that when a breeze tussles the downy feathers that cover a swan.
Technically it was a challenge but I have always loved doing things differently and pushing my own knowledge of materials. I first tried to make it out of paper mache but this turned out to be a flop so I resorted to making the spats out of ABS plastic. The coverts and neck were then bent with a heat gun and several layers of paint was sprayed to be a similar colour to the post-it notes. The coverts were then punched together with eyelets which allowed them to still be movable. 
The competition rules required that 60% of the surface area of the fashion accessory be covered with 3M super-sticky. To create the fluffy effect I wanted, I found an origami pattern and using a pencil, rolled the folded paper to create lovely little feathers.
I had great fun prancing them around during the making but the photo shoot really shows them off best. The shoot was a bit unconventional but effective, elegant and wonderful (special thanks to Marisa for modeling).
In the end, I won third prize and sadly, I do not know where they are anymore.
My world has been turned upside down for the past two months. My computer went belly-up and I attended the funeral with tears and much anger. I am not shy to say: “never buy a Packard Bell in South Africa”. Today I got my laptop back and tomorrow it goes in to be operated on and have its hardrive removed. For two months I have recreated almost all of my docs (which has made Pye very upset because she never got ‘her’ chair until late into the night, hence carefully placing herself between my fleece and my pulled up knees. It is a bit awkward and after a few minutes it becomes uncomfortable for me but she is so cute and I like the company).
I have been working on a borrowed PC and last week I got a mac which is exciting, but the new interface and operating system has really pushed my patience. I’m at my wits end with these machines …where do I start and where does it all end? Please, cant I have some normality back? It will be nice to just work and not have to ‘made-do’ with temp docs or programs.
I am busy changing my ‘Lovely South Africa’ toile into a downloadable wallpaper for VISI (yes, you have read correctly; my design has a purpose and one that we can all enjoy for FREE). But this post is not about the toile (this will come later). It’s about what I found whilst going through my backup CD’s.
On it I found pictures of my Seaweed Lamp. I made the lamp as an entry for the ‘No Kak’ environmental competition when I was studying. It won third place and I won a years bursary.
The lamp was made from seaweed, glass pieces found on the beach and fishing gut. I collected wet seaweed and cut slits into it or used the holes that were already there to lay the sandy glass pieces in. The seaweed was then left to dry around the glass and because when seaweed dries it shrinks, it held the glass in place without any glue. When the lamp is turned out, the light shines through the colourful glass and the effect is quite wonderful.
I then stitched the pieces of seaweed together over a lamp shade frame with fishing gut. For the ’spine’ of the lamp I used a seaweed stem and ran the cables up the middle.
It was a very successful piece, a lot of fun and for once (honestly) this piece did get eaten by my dog… twice.
