Matchbox heaven

A couple of posts back I shared with you my found matchbox collection from India. I have been busy working on them transforming them into little homes for handmade collage books made from all the bits and pieces I collected on the way. At this stage special mention has to go out to Maggie one of my travelling companions who spent most of the time away handing over all of the ephemera that came her way (when not travelling she lives in a shed so has nowhere to store all these bits and bobs which turned out to be my very good luck!) We became life long friends, I love a person who collects rubbish for me.

So here is a little teaser, I will write a post about each one in turn as there is so much going on in each book they deserves their own space to shine and tell their story. But for now a quick peek at the first four beauties. 

Back from India!

I have just had the privilege to spend a couple of weeks travelling around south India. I love India and have been before but didn’t get down to the south so this time I wanted to explore the bottom bit thoroughly (or as thoroughly as you can in a two week window of opportunity). To prepare for the trip I handmade a sketchbook using the cover from an old book that once belonged to my dad (sorry Fath) and stitched in accordion fold pages with a range of pockets so I could collect stuff along the way.

 

It is kind of a big pocket size so it was easy to carry around. I had a couple of long train rides so used that time to create stuff and organise my finds.

 

When travelling my bed becomes my work place and desk making it difficult to go to bed sometimes it can get a bit crowded!

 

So keep an eye out in the coming weeks for more posts about what I made and drew and what creations arise now I’m home and back in the studio again. I have so many collected things to work with! Including a delightful set of found matchboxes…

And if you want to see more about where I went and what I did then you can follow all that on my other blog The Nomadic Northerner.

Fur Berlin

A tiny book finally complete with a new box for a home. If you follow me on Instagram you may remember the saga of ‘The dog who ate my homework’ and the little book that came out of that incident. Well I have finally got back to the original Berlin book and finished it and a kind friend donated me this box for its new forever home. It just needed a bit of customising and here we are!