How much is a pinch of salt ? ...

For my latest project I had to make three containers to take on a journey. The containers I chose to make were to measure things that usually are considered "not an exact science" and making them into measuring devices that would make it into a science. My chosen material was copper and I decided that this would tie in well with traditional cooking implements such as saucepans and old copper jelly moulds. I got my inspiration from the pavilion kitchens at the Brighton pavilion. 

I was quite pleased with the final product but I really think there is a lot more mileage with it and I think I may develop this idea later on.

 This first container is to measure out a dusting of sugar...

 The second measures out a knob of butter...

And the final one measures a pinch of salt ...

New Magpie Cushions...

My guinea pig and rabbit lavender cushions have been very popular and so I have a new one in my shop !  My magpie cushion! You can buy it from my etsy shop now !

 Three for a girl .....

Four for a boy .....

Boil a bag...

As my first rotation on my degree I have been doing plastics. Last week I laser cut out the net for a fold out bag which if made from leather and boiled around a mould creates a hard form that cannot be re flattened. Here are the photos...

When the leather is boiled the two clasps become rigid and they cannot move so the bag is stuck in that position and cannot go back to the flat sheet.

Finished zebras...

Beci Callow at The Maisonette Glasgow...

Horrah ! I'm going to be in a shop, it's very exciting, I'm going to be in a lovely little shop in glasgow called the maisonette check them out here:

http://www.wearemadeintheshade.com/the-maisonette/

I took a little photo of all my bits and bobs before they went off on their journey ! 

Jesmonite zebras

Using the idea I developed from my badges I decided to use up the waisted animal bums to produce animal halves that interchange, so you can have a sheep head with a cow bum etc. In order to do this I needed to cast the heads before I used them, and make them in attractive plastics to enable the mix and match animal toy.

Because of the nature of the mould and the fact that I didn't realise the limitations of it I chose an object that won't cast very well.

Here I tried to use the gold powder on the inside of the mould to bring out the detail of the zebra.

Some of the issues I have been having is that the zebras are really fragile, the ears break off quite easily and so I haven't been able to get a full perfect cast.

I've tried many different methods, painting into the mould to ensure that the ears and legs come out fully formed. I've also tried casting in two halves, and casting in halves and using jesmonite to join.

When doing this cast the mixture was too dry and so this caused an air bubble to form between the layers.

In this cast the two halves of jesmonite cracked before I poured the middle layer, this was also unsuccessful.

I considered using the dremel to hollow out the leg area, these results weren't very good though because of the detail was erased when using this. I am still going to try cutting them in half and making my initial idea, just to see what its like. But I think now that the best idea is to do my idea but just with interchangeable heads and the shop bought bodies. I think the contrast between a block colour of the head and the multicoloured natural body that will look really good.

Fun on the farm...

This week we had a project to make brooches that represent our selves to then wear at a tea party. I decided to go with the theme of past, present and future to represent different aspects of my life, representing where I come from and where I want to go in the future.

From this I decided I really liked the cow brooch. I thought it might be a good idea to get rid of some of the plastic toys I had left over to make some different brooches to sell on my etsy shop.

Look out for them soon on my shop! And also some Christmas decorations coming soon..... www.etsy.com/shop/BeciMay 

Palma Cathedral

Recently we went on holiday to Mallorca and whilst we were there we visited Palma. I took a picture of the cathedral and made one of my sewn pictures of it as a gift for the people we were staying with. I'm very happy with how it turned out I just had to make sure they received it before I blogged about it !

Another new zine !

I have been working hard this week spurred on by the fact I've made my first few etsy sales and so I've made a brand new zine that has some of my families best biscuit and cake recipes. These are tried and tested favourites including butter biscuits, a chocolate sponge that always rises , and the nicest chocolate brownie recipe around. It's been hand made by me with a colour front cover and black and white illustrations A6 in size and contains 6 recipes spread over 8 pages. Why not take a look ! 

New lavender sachets in my etsy shop !

I love lino printing ! And because of this I decided to make some little drawer scenters with lino prints, so here they are, little guinea pigs and some rabbits. If anyone has any ideas for what else I can scent them with I would be very grateful indeed :) 

You can purchase them in my shop for a limited time only price of £2.00 an absolute bargain for a hand printed piece.

My brand new alphapet zine !

I've been working on a new and improved alphabet zine. Because my last zine was in colour this meant that it was expensive to reproduce and the printing wasn't as good as I had hoped so because of this they are now limited edition ! But I have produced a new one in black and white with different illustrations and this time with educational facts. It is available in my shop for the small price of £2.00 ! Here are the pictures.