British Cream Tea : Delicious British Felt Food Sculpture

My pieces are now in an art gallery!

 
Yesterday I traveled to Newcastle to be in The Biscuit Factory art gallery at the opening of my exhibition and the coinciding late night opening event across art galleries throughout the city.

My pieces were displayed on beautiful cake stands handmade out of old chins...all of which I coveted like crazy...and little plates of real biscuits were dotted amongst my pieces. It was wonderful!



It was lovely meeting the public and seeing their expressions and being able to talk about my work and get feedback face to face, although I would be lying if I didn't admit to the fact that i was terrified, especially at the beginning.



After tonight my pieces will go into the gallery's glass showcases...and I am glad I saw them laid out on beautiful crockery and that I found the courage to go.



Oh and today is my birthday...I am open to gifts of cake, especially with candles :D

My Gallery Collection

  

This is my collection all ready to be posted to the Biscuit Factory Gallery yesterday morning...

It will be displayed on vintage cake stands and should (hopefully) look wonderful!

I am also hoping to be able to travel up and give a talk and demonstration next Friday evening if I can line everything up...so if you are in Newcastle on the 15th come along ;D

Inspiration

I thought after yesterday (a long day of panicking, procrastination and a final "slap me about and call me daft" decision making) I would share my inspirations for some of my work, particularly, as it is on my mind, my upcoming gallery collection.

1. The most obvious: Food. Namely British Food. The food I grew up with, the food I see every day in bakers, supermarkets, delis and my own baking efforts. The food I read about with wonder in childhood novels where lashings was a quantity of ginger beer and sardines went wonderfully with gingerbread (no...I've never actually tested this assertion). I love food. I love baking, cooking and eating. Simple as.

2. Jane Brocket's blog and book. After a morning of procrastination, that even included cleaning out the washing machine, and the hot tears of terror at the upcoming deadline I collapsed into a hot bath with her book, read 4 pages and spotted the photograph that caused the aforementioned eureka moment. I won't share which one as it is, as yet, top secret...but suffice to say it showed me not something to copy but rather the sort of path I should have been following all along. And I realised I have been trying to make a mountain out of a molehill rather than just do what I do best.

3. Felt. The colours, fell and warmth of it as well as its incredibly strong yet immensly pliable nature that enables me to mold it into what my mind sees. And the fact that my felt is recycled means it is not costing the Earth. Little is better than a new delivery, especially when it contains sheets of my absolute favourite...polka dot felt.

4. Kitchen retro. There is a huge amount of retro inspired kitchenallia in the shops and online at the moment and a wander down the shelves in John Lewis or Lakeland,picking up molded plastic measuring cups, scales, bakeware and pinnys in cotton candy pink, lilac and baby blue just sends me down all sorts of random directions as my mind plays my own form of chinese whispers with food and I end up thinking of toad in the hole whilst holding a red, heart shaped, silicone cake tin.

5. Afternoon Tea at the Ritz. I have had afternoon tea at a few beautiful hotels...The Dorchester, The Chester Grosvener, The Savoy...but the one that sticks in mind is shockingly nonBritish: The Ritz Hotel in Paris. Sitting in The Bar Vendôme for my 30th birthday, listening to a harpist, eating tiny sandwiches and cakes from 3 tiered tea stand and drinking the most divine hot chocolate ever surely has to be a high point to be remembered.

Another Front Page

I woke up this morning to find that my little Etsy boutique had 17 new hearts..and I knew something was up...

Turns out I was on the front page last night (when I say I I mean my little polka dotted butterfly cake) and my personalised stick of rock is in The Storque...Etsy's blog.



So along with the gallery collection I am slowly sewing and silently panicking about and the picture in a magazine (next week I think) it is all good in the world of British Cream Tea.

Now if only I could find some time soon to design some new pieces for my range and the world will indeed be rosy ;)

Etsy Front Page

My work has been on the front page of Etsy twice in the last few hours...

...I am so proud!!
 

Etsy "Seller's Top Items" Poll

My Egg and Toast Soldiers has been placed in an Etsy poll for best sellers...you can vote for it HERE!!

I am so excited ;D

2009

 

Happy New Year!!

I hope 2009 is fabulous for everyone ;)

I am slowly getting used to the new year: packaging away Christmas decorations ready for Chinese New Year ones, "helping" Toby write his thank you letters (he only needs help, naturally!) and working on having my resolutions in place by the end of January.

Every year I try a do or die strategy of resolutions. If they are not all in place, complete, by the time I go to bed on January 1st I feel I have failed. But this year Christmas was so busy and full on, and was our first chance to really both take time off together, that I slept most of New Year's Day. I was unbelievably tired. I kind of wish I hadn't allowed myself to stop as I am far more shattered after stopping for a week than in any of the 7 previous months!

So by the end of January 2009 I want to:

1.
Be back into decent eating habits and well on the way to looking in the mirror and recognising, maybe even liking, what I see. I have stuck a photograph on the fridge of me at 30, in Paris, for inspiration.

2.
Start dancing again seriously. At least 4 times a week. It makes me feel wonderful and stronger, plus I am hoping that it will help me take some time for myself and keep Toby entertained at the same time. He loves music and laughs when I dance in front of him!

3.
Try to work out ways of seperating work and home and me. They have all become too wrapped up and cluttered and I need to find a way of keeping them all at least slightly separated! I'll get back to you on how I plan to do this as presently I have no clue...

4.
To design and make at least 3 new pieces a week for my business, and work on at least a couple of specific pieces in time for each major holiday. As traditional British food does not enter into Chinese New Year the next ones are St Valentine's and Easter.

5.
To start doing the 365 days photography project on me, a 52 weeks project on Toby and restart his progression pictures. I hate that I have missed so many weeks but I cannot change that so continuing now after a gap is better than never starting again I suppose!

6.
To make our home beautiful every day, not just at Christmas. I will so miss the tree and the lights and need to work out ways of making it lovely all the time to fill the gap the tree will leave come Monday.

Also, thanks to Mum and Ruth, I now have a sewing machine so I can actually make things for the house quickly without having to handsew long straight seams ;)

If I don't get all of these set up before the end of January I will be disappointed, but life just keeps getting in the way!

If you see me straying give me a gentle nudge!

PS. if any one was following my Advent series I will be posting the rest soon both here and on Flickr ;D

British Cream Tea's New Blog!!

Welcome to my new blog home!!

I am still working on it so please excuse some of the images and links...I will be fixing and prettying everything over the next few days....

I have moved all my old posts over to this new blog but the comments seem to have disappeared...never mind ;)

Enjoy!!

Another mad week!

This last week I have completed and posted a wholesale order to a new boutique in Hong Kong, completed 2 blog interviews (one complete with pictures) and been featured in 4 more, have been in 7 Etsy Treasuries and sold 17 items...and developed a felt colour chart for an upcoming customisable stick of rock idea...

*phew*

I am loving it!

I am taking a break at the end of this week to spend time with my Mum but I know deep down I will miss little online boutiques, even if it is only for two days (without a computer or internet!)

I am looking forward to helping in the garden, walking with the pram in the park and having someone to sit outside with Toby whilst I sneak into all the little second hand and charity shops in the village that I usually cannot get the pram into ;D

Plus this week I won a Cath Kidson shopping tote *squeel*

and bought myself a cream tiered cake stand for my pieces, a matching bowl for my orders ready to be posted and a brightly coloured stripey fabric box for my sewing stuff..as well as tons of pink tissue paper, pink tiny envelopes, la parfait storage jars and jam jars, all in the name of storage *double squeel*

Almost a week....

I cannot believe it has been almost a week since my last post! I really have to get more organised in my postings, and find out where the time is all going!

This week has been busy. Toby is now teething so is extra grippy, cuddly and has been waking during the night for the first time in weeks; I have started to sell in both my Etsy and Folksy shops, which is ridiculously exciting, so I am making friends at the post office and have discovered that the best time to avoid lines in 9.15am on Saturday morning (now all I have to do is sell loads each Friday!!); I have worked out my packaging and branding (newly designed and hand cut business cards and thank you cards, bright pink crinkly tissue, striped paper sweetie bags and gold crowns...check); I am on a Autumn Scrub week so am making green cleaning products, scrubbing places I had forgotten existed and creating lovely new wintery room sprays and vanilla extract (yum) with abandon; and I am approaching 500 hearts fast ;D

Oh and I designed liquorice allsorts and a chocolate birthday fairy cake in a pink lace felt case topped with icing, chocolate sprinkles, silver balls and a lit pink candle ;)

Does life get any better than  a life punctuated by calorie free yumminess!!?

Oh and happy Birthday James :D Toby sends snuggles and I hope you love your cakes!