Sometimes I walk in and wonder if I've just interrupted something...or maybe that's just me. Too long sitting in this room by myself?
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For ages now I've been planning to make my own logo and then carve it into a rubber stamp myself. I love making things and thought this would be a fun and not too difficult or time consuming thing to do. I was wrong.
I think sometimes it's good to outsource those jobs that require just a bit of professional experience and skill. Like my logo and stamps. So I asked the lovely, talented and patient Annette from Ginger Blue Graphics here in the Northern Rivers to help me create this logo which I'm so pleased with. And these awesome rubber stamps (with beautiful wooden mounts made from Western Australian Jarrah) are made by Scott at Penrith Rubber Stamps in Sydney. I could not be happier. Busy busy busy... some new pieces will be available in my online store soon.
Arts Northern Rivers are hosting a fantastic pop up gallery space in Lismore this month displaying some beautiful local artwork (including some of mine). I'll be running a workshop called 'Soft Sculpture Creation' at the space on Saturday 22 August.
I'll be sharing some soft toy design and construction techniques, and helping you to transform a drawing into a three dimensional hand-stitched fabric shape. Click here for more info or to book your spot. Friday night. In my little room listening to frogs and night birds, twisting wire into owl legs... you can see the finished product here.
A rare photo of me... making stuff in my sewing room. This is where I spend most of my days and it's my favourite room in this old house.
The weather these last few days has been absolutely perfect. Beautiful blue skies, cool-but-sunny mornings... makes me want to be outside all day. This lovely photo of us in our veggie garden was taken by the very talented Natalie McComas for Frankie Magazine.
This is one of the nicest gifts anyone has ever given me...
It's called 'Willowynn's table' by Danish artist Theresa Maria Jessing from Sort Lakrids. As well as being an illustrator, Theresa also appears alongside her husband Frank in their own television series, Bonderøven which documents their self sufficient life in the Danish country side. Theresa and I met last year via Instagram and have been sending each other pieces of our work ever since. A beautiful little package from across the seas arrived this week, all the way from the Isle of Mull in Scotland.
Little copper crowns made for me by Maike (Maike Browning jewellery). We've never met but decided to do a swap; some of our work and a collection of treasures from our parts of the world... Maike sent me these beautiful little crowns (for something I have brewing), some coral and tiny shells from her beach, ribbons, elderberry-dyed silk, postcards and a beautiful letter written on handmade paper. A wonderful experience I will never forget. (I'm wearing one of the crowns as a ring to remind me of Maike). You can see more of Maike's beautiful jewellery here. This is where I used to sit and sew... 5 years ago I think.
My youngest was a baby and we lived on a mountain in a clearing in the rainforest. It's called Mt Nebo and is where I grew up. Sometimes we'd hear a dingo howling right outside our bedroom window...and you had to shout to be heard over the sound of frogs on summer nights. Just going through old pics and remembering. My little boy asked if we could make a decoration to hang above his bed...so we made this. We made it by tearing up old egg cartons (for some reason I can't bring myself to through away egg cartons...) and dropping the bits into dye pots (just food colouring and water). Then we left them to dry in the sun. They really look like little flowers... Then we made them into garlands using a large needle and strong thread and hung them from a stick... I got the idea after seeing this post about a window display made from egg cartons at Anthropologie. Have you made anything lovely from egg cartons you'd like to share?
I have just had the best time making this, my first proper barn owl (with legs, claws and wings). He is a commission piece so I'll have to say good bye to him this afternoon. I love making new pieces...looking at illustrations in books, sketching, thinking, planning, experimenting and that feeling you get when something all of a sudden looks just how you imagined :)
Working on something new this week. I'm trying to make an owl with legs, claws, wings and a tail (my other owls are much more simple) and it's turning out to be a bit of a challenge! I'm having a lovely time though. Will show you what it looks like when I'm done.
With a woollen cloak to rug up against the cold, she is in her best forest-wandering dress.
She is made from discarded cotton remnants and wears a mauve silk dress hand-stitched from fabric that reminds me of moth wings. Her grey-blue wool hooded cloak is made from an old woollen blanket...all little scraps I've been saving for something special. She'll be available to purchase here.
Oh my goodness...Willowynn features in the August issue of online magazine, Winkelen. You can read the article here...it is so beautiful...feeling a little bit overwhelmed.
http://issuu.com/winkelen/docs/winkelen_august_2014/76 Today my boys and I turned some old cardboard boxes into houses. Something that I thought would be a fun thing to do for maybe half an hour, ended up occupying them for the rest of the day. I just cut in some windows and a door and stuck on a roof with masking tape... Here are the houses at night with a lamp inside one of them. Pure happiness. I can't believe how happy this made them (and me).
Frankie Magazine has just released their new book called 'Spaces, volume two', and it's GORGEOUS. Here's a bit of the blurb... "With a focus on resourcefulness and individual style, SPACES celebrates the importance of home to a creative bunch of Australians". ...and our house is in it! Pages of beautiful photos for you to have a bit of a sticky-beak around my place, garden and my work room...and they've said some lovely things. Such a special treasure for my boys to look at and read when they're grown...
Thought I'd give you an insight into where I work as I absolutely love seeing where people do their creative work. This is the sunny front room of my old house where I sew, paint, sit, think and have tea and chocolate away from all the noisy males in my house. This is the fairly neat and tidy side of the room which looks out onto the garden... This room is actually tiny and normally quite chaotic. Everything in here I found second-hand, including the cupboards and baskets which is where I store EVERYTHING I need for sewing and painting. Actually that's not true...there's lots of stuff crammed in under my tables and behind the arm chair too. Here is the view from the front window...
I finished repairing the seat of this old green velvet armchair by watching youtube tutorials...I am absolutely, madly in love with it and it's now my sewing chair. Here it is in its new home...
I'm working on some more foxes...so I guess my holiday is officially over. I've been itching to get back into my work room, with a head full of ideas...I've been thinking a lot about the wallabies and echidnas I've been seeing on my walks lately, and of course some owls, wolves etc...these foxes are for a photo shoot later in the month but I'll be putting some new creatures in my Etsy shop in Feb. Happy New Year!
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HelloMy name is Margeaux Davis. I'm a doll-maker, sewing pattern designer and children's book illustrator, based in northern New South Wales, Australia. Categories
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