Thursday 17 April 2014

Moroccan Tiles





We've been looking at tiles for our bathroom floor.  Kundra at Moroccan Warehouse in Cape Town sent us these photos of some of our favourites.  Although we're worried about how trippy they might look (especially after a 'night on the tiles' - cringe), we've finally decided on the second geometric, blue and white pattern. 


Thursday 13 March 2014

'Potato' Printing


I've had this idea for potato printing for ages.  This was actually my second attempt after meticulously carving out the perfect 'p' only to discover that I'd done it back to front, (obviously I then grew despondent and put the whole idea off for a while)!!!!  So chuffed with how it eventually came out.  Not sure if the dappled effect has more to do with printing it on grass than just the potato itself.  Need to do some more experimenting with printing on a hard surface, otherwise I'll be spreading the lawn with rolls of white fabric.  I've put the potato in the freezer to see if it will keep.  Got big plans for this print...


Tuesday 4 March 2014

Painted Dresses








I almost wish I hadn't found these pictures of painted dresses, whilst experimenting with painting my own fabric.  I was discussing just recently with some friends, how there is a fine line between being inspired without being overly influenced by someone else's idea and subconsciously copying it.  These vintage dresses by Hermes are beautiful and humorous.  Hopefully I can be inspired by them to produce some modern and also tongue-in-cheek textile designs.

To see the full story see The Vintage Festival Facebook page.

Tuesday 4 February 2014

Nesting


Some girls spend their whole life planning their wedding (ha, not me we didn't even tell anyone), for as long as I can remember I've been saving images and dreaming about my first home.  Finally the h-bomb (still not comfortable using the word husband) and I have purchased our first home!  Excitement aside it is definitely a project albeit a small one...


It's currently being used as an office.



It's a super old building so there's a bit of a damp problem and an old fashion skylight in the ceiling otherwise known simply as hole.


Measuring out our new bathroom.


Original floor detail.


It consists of two rooms, one big and one small!  We're hoping to install a mezzanine level in the large room with open plan living - otherwise know as; shit where you sleep!  In this case it will only be cook / eat where you sleep as we're going to put the bathroom in the smaller room in the back of the building!  We're aiming to keep the style of the space fairly industrial and we've already started to attend auctions and flea markets to find mid-century, vintage furniture.  So my blog might be taking a more renovation diary direction for a while, as I fill it with all my inspiration for our first home and the 'before and after' shots.

Sunday 2 February 2014

Painting fabric


I've been meaning to paint this David Hockney inspired pattern onto fabric for ages now.  It's quite a literal interpretation of Hockney's swimming pool paintings / photos, but as it's my first time experimenting with fabric paint, I'm ok with that!  I'm definitely going to try doing more of this, it was great fun and really easy to do.  I just need to wait and see if it's going to dry stiff or not and test it in the wash.  Then I think I'm going to make it into a skirt.



I also wanted to see if the paint would run on wet fabric, which it does, hopefully this will lead me to a more adventurous design next time...