Open studios, sculptures and a dingle dangle

Following on from my previous post on the Open Studios we visited this weekend, here’s more from the second studio, hosted by sculptor Mark Hodgson who opened his garden and invited us to wander around to view his amazing items, and they were amazing.

The spade heads were amusing, and a great way to ruse old garden tools and more. While they were fun, I can’t see them in my future garden plans, which I think MOH could be a little disappointed by, but I do see one or more of Mark’s scrap birds in those designs, so that’s a definite watch this space.

They are great fun, and involve great skill - but it was the birds that really caught my attention. I can imagine one (or maybe more) on the fence posts of the trellis around the heat pump. And maybe it’d keep the crows slightly at bay, who knows?!

ROBIN

HAWK

So don’t be surprised if one of these metal scrap birds appears at some point in the future!

And a dingle dangle

It’s always hard to leave these Open Studio events empty handed, but often it’s hard to choose just one thing! Here it was one of the dingle dangles made by Kate Sell, a mosaic and fused glass artist, and there were many to choose from. I opted for a tiny Christmas tree design in a gloriously sparkly green oblong and very tactile piece of glass. I’ve plans for it to be our new Christmas tree ornament of 2024, though at the moment can’t quite bring myself to store it in the garage with the other decorations - let’s just hope I remember it in a few months time!

I also left with a couple of Mark’s wife Amy’s succulents to add to those I brought home from Gardeners’ World Live earlier in the summer - I already know my next challenge will be how and where to store them overwinter. Amy’s advice was shelter and some cover, but that they wouldn’t like no light, so that rules the garage out - unless I can get MOH to put up a shelf or rig up some Heath Robinson solution in front of the windows on the door!

So two great visits, with plenty on display from a small number of local artists. Do look out for Open Studio events near where you live, or where you’re visiting, and do pop along I know it means the world to the artists, and they’re even more pleased if you are able to buy some of their work, now or in the future.

Open Studios and some new cards

I spotted that this weekend some artists in a village close to us were holding an Open Studios weekend, and so waking to mist and rain on Saturday we headed over to see what there was to see.

The event in Long Bennington was split over two properties and our first stop was at the home of Roger and Carole Lee, both retired artists; him a sculptor and her a fashion designer, but both collectors. As we stepped into their home both MOH and I were wowed, it was full of the most amazing items - and by full, I mean full, though later when talking to Carole it was clear that she was still collecting and so there would be plenty more space for what’s to come.

Both the lives of Carole and her husband were (and are) fascinating, and I am sure they were both big players in the fashion scene in the sixties, making items full of awe for themselves and high profile clients, and with plenty of stories to tell. Carole showed some of the photos, and some of her dresses were on display among the many items - it was a truly wonderful place, and they have featured in Channel 4’s Millionaire Hoarders programme (still currently available), which is definitely worth a watch.

It was great to meet them and to hear the stories from their lives, and to get a glimpse into their wondrous home. We also met local artist Vanessa Stone who was displaying some of her work in the conservatory.

My eye was immediately drawn to the cards, and well it was a done deal really, I was always going to leave with some wasn’t I, because you never know when you’re going to need the right card, do you?

Five cards by Vanessa Stone

It was great to meet with Vanessa too, her art is “all about capturing a time and a place” which she does by making ‘richly colourful cut paper collages and had printed textiles’ of the English landscape, nature and architecture in her local surroundings. She layers paper and cuts them to reveal her design, and to me they have a wholesome and everyday feel to them which is fantastic.

THE BRAMBLE TREE

THE VEGETABLE PATCH AND THE WATERING CAN

BICYCLE AND THE BASKET AND THE FLOWER

THE MARMALADE CAT ON THE DOORSTEP

THE GOLDEN WHEATFIELDS

Aren’t they great?

Each one has detailing that I love, and I’ve a feeling that I may not be parting with the bike one anytime soon!

Our next stop was at the second of the two Open Studios, and I’ll share more of our visit there in my next post.

Repurposing a cycling top

Over the winter MOH spent some time creating a workout space in the garage, as let’s face it not many of us put our cars in there these days and there’s no longer a gym or such like on our doorstep. There’s still space for all our junk (though there’s getting less and less of that as we continue to sort through our moving boxes), the usual paraphernalia and my greenhouse station, so all’s good.

We’ve spent the summer using the space and it’s been really good to have - I already know we’ll appreciate it even more in the winter months - but it is kind of, well functional. There’s some finishing touches that I want to add and I’m hoping to get to more of those soon.

We’ve also finally had our large inbuilt wardrobes kitted out so we can make the most of the space we have (more on those another day!) and so we’ve been sorting through our clothes; some have headed to the charity shop and others are for sale on eBay and Vinted (with many more to list!) and some I’ve kept to reuse. One of MOH’s first cycling tops was in the reuse pile, along with one of his now holey Superdry t-shirts.

In our workout space we knew that storage was going to be key, and we’ve hooks of all shapes and sizes to add to the walls (when we decide where things need to go) but sometimes you just want to shove stuff out of sight don’t you? And away from the spiders (or as much as we can, anyway).

And so the idea for a drawstring bag was born.

Having looked for an easy tutorial on YouTube I set about creating the front and backs using the purple t-shirt as lining. I wanted to keep the cycling top details, so cut off the Altura logos from the parts I wasn’t using and supplemented these with the elastic waistband of some cycling shorts which were heading for the bin.

Rather than start by sewing the bag together, my first job was to piece the logos and elastic to add detail to the front and back of the bag, which I’d used the main body of the cycling top for. It was only then that I could actually make the bag, and it turned out pretty well.

THE FRONT, COMPLETE WITH THE CYCLING TOP ZIP IN ITS ORIGINAL PLACE

I kept it simple and kept the zip from the front of the cycling top, though at one point my sewing machine grumbled about that. The front has an additional logo (at right angles) and some of the elastic with poppers on the front, as well as the curved lower edge of the back, complete with the reflective strip.

The back, which is the back of the cycling top has another logo added across the back, and thinking ahead to spider-proof this (you can never be too careful) on this side the waist of the cycling shorts was used to seal the pockets.

AND THE BACK, THE THREE REAR POCKETS HAVE BEEN SEALED WITH THE ELASTIC TRIM

The yellow and white cord I’d kept from carrier bags - you know the duffle bag type - which were no longer used (and in fact had already been recycled long before we moved).

I’d planned to make myself a bag along the same lines, but was undecided about which of my netball kits to use. In the end I found my Adidas gym bag which I used to take to netball matches - I know this because it still had the eight safety pins pinned into in for pinning on those velcro bibs to non-velcro-ed tops - something I’d completely forgotten about!

So I’m reusing this one as a starting point, though I’ve a feeling that turning old sports kit into drawstring bags could become a bit of thing - and I’m not sad about that at all!