"Found" today

Today I took the prints that I bought over the weekend to get them framed;  the place I use for framing just happens to be at my local antiques/collectables/junk place so it was rude not to wander around while there!!

As I wandered it set me thinking about using "found" objects in my work.......I love to do that and I think I'd rather search for a year for just the right thing than buy a piece of, for example, ideology that I know everyone can just go out and buy.....where's the fun in that:)

FOR ME.....and I'm only talking about what I like to do and how I feel about these things here and not saying it's right for everyone.....but FOR ME I'd rather someone saw something I made with a "found" thing and think I wonder if I could do something SIMILAR.....or not....but just take the spark of the idea and run with it to make their own something rather than thinking I can go and buy that exact thing and make the exact same piece

FOR ME there is no fun in that!

OK, so rant over (though I'd love to hear what others think)......what did I find today.....well I took some pics of what was available, not that I bought all of it of course!

 There were doorknobs and globes.....I wanted a globe but couldn't think what I'd do with it......not that that means much:)

  tons of books....always tons of books

 and postcards

 and instant or faux relatives!

 Cutlery to feed an army

 old lace

 and poison bottles?

 I was very tempted by these 3 bottles....if they are still there when I go to pick up my pics they might come home with me

anyone for antlers?????

 

 

toy cars......

 

and of course dolls......though I have to say most were pretty expensive

 

 

So, what DID I buy? 

Well, I bought 3 Alice in Wonderland books......2 for the illustrations and will be added to my collection, the 3rd as a prop....maybe to sit a doll on......and also a copy of The Water Babies that I have been looking for for AGES!

 this little doll.....who I have now undressed and she is very sweet so she might not even get altered, might just keep her:)....and this clock

 and then..........from the same stand that had the antlers..........this HUGE haul of clock parts!!!! 

I was so surprised to see them.....there are loads of springs and some great clock faces......all pretty dirty but that will come off!!!

Entertaining elephants

 I've had this receipt and this circle card sitting on my desk for ages, today I decided to use them

.....fun name for a shop eh! It's in Church Stretton in Shropshire

 

My weekend

 I spent this past weekend in Suffolk. I have afriend who lives there so I get to visit quite often.On Saturday we planned visits to 2 open artist studios.....the first was that of CYNDI SPEER

I bought two prints that I'm looking forward to getting framed and hung. The second was that of COLIN SLEE  I didn't buy anything at this one but my friend bought 2 pictures.

 

 Inbetween the studio visits we went to SUTTON HOO for lunch....one of the prints I bought features the beautiful creature above which is to be found as part of the shield decoration

The famous helmet.....this is a reproduction of what it would have looked like.

As well as the arty visiting there was also a little shopping:) I got this fabulous ledger for only £3......and these galvanised troughs....for a bit more than £3:).....to use in the garden

On Sunday we headed into Essex to go to THE BETH CHATTO GARDEN

it was very beautiful

on the way back we stopped off in Dedham to visit the church, St Marys

it has a Tudor brick tower and we were able to take a tour of the tower climbing up the spiral staircase inside........my poor aching legs can tell you how steep they were

part way up you get to see the bells and the clock mechanism.....

on the way down we got to ring the bells! That was great fun:)

So, now I am home again and the troughs are in my garden.....thanks to my neighbour who got them out of the car for me....they are heavy and awkward! I think this one is going to live here, it just needs something to stand on....some bricks I think

planted this tub I already had with some of the plants I bought at Beth Chatto

and just need to decide where to put this other trough and where to use the rusty plant support

So, a pretty good weekend full of lots of things I love doing!!

Head games

I belong to a fun group on Facebook.....Hops Swaps and Do-waps......they have fun challenges, one of which is due today....it's called HEAD GAMES, this is my entry.

 I love using found objects so I thjought I might just run through what I used for this piece.

 A dolls head, of course

 and as the theme is head GAMES, I used an old style shuttlecock with real feathers.....it nis pushed up inside the neck of the head

 in the hole in the top of the head is an old watch face with metal charm hands

 a wooden finial thingy from an old dressform

 for the hanger piece I used an old wooden curtain ring, added screw eyes so it will hang, there is a second brass curtain ring glued on top of the wooden one

 I have a new favourite paint colour.....Paynes Grey.....it has a blue tinge to it, a bit less harsh than my usual black:)

 Quinacridone Gold lips and nose....all the best doll heads have them:)

 and finally the head is hung using an old set of hanging basket chains.

Owl always love you!

Sorry about the corny quote, saw it the other day and it stuck in my head!

Apart from messing around with dolls/heads my other favourite thing at the minute is using embossing paste through stencils....I like the height and texture it gives.

The stencils are ANDY SKINNERS and the paints are by Decoart.