Flowers for the Home

While working on my crafting skillz over our first few months in London, I decided to kill two birds with one stone: adding some needed decoration to our flat, and honing my aforementioned skillz. (I am now a whiz with the Xacto knife.)

I did two small bouquets. The first is more sparse and elegant, to work with the purple paint in our living room (which looks much darker in person):

The second is much more vibrant, and went in the kitchen. The kitchen itself, while fantastically spacious, was a bit cold and IKEA-y. I've tried to add a more vintage, homey feel to it using touches of red and aqua, and vintage British kitchenware.

This little arrangement is sitting on a shelf above our '30s white enamel bread bin:

The Horlicks and Ovaltine mixers and the egg beater all came out of one trip to the Portobello Rd. market. Incidentally, both M. and I have become Horlicks aficionados. We drink it literally every day, and our milk consumption has skyrocketed in consequence.

Accessories

One of the many things I took away from visiting the Origin Craft Fair was kind of a no-brainer: I don't just have to stick to bouquets (and corsages and boutonnieres). Like I said, obvious, but somehow I needed to see all of those creative people, most of them doing a ton of different things, for it to hit home.

So, I went home and started making accessories, especially hair accessories. Here's the first batch, ready and waiting to be varnished:

Just a few coats of varnish will make these puppies weather-resistant and ready to go. They probably wouldn't be happy in the monsoon, but I did some experimenting and they should be able to handle a sprinkle here or there.

Paper Source fans will notice that I'm very much enamored of their Indian paper line from this summer. I was so mad that it wasn't out in time for my wedding, that I went and bought the lot for use in BWEF products. That'll show 'em.

These and a few more I'm holding up my sleeve will be in the first batch of products availabe for sale. That should be happening very soon, so stay tuned!

Origin Craft Fair 2009

The 2nd annual Origin Craft Fair was held in London this month, with scores of different makers exhibiting over two weeks' time. The fair's focus was basketry, and there were all sorts of crafters there (milliners, knitters, potters, you name it).

Of course, I was interested mostly in the paper crafters. There weren't too many of them, just three or four each week. But what they lacked in numbers they more than made up for in creatvity and artistry.

I was amazed by the cloud lamps created by Yu Jordy Fu.

(cloud lamps by Yu Jordy Fu)

I need a new lamp shade for my office, and I really wish I could afford one of these. In the picture they look pretty amazing, but seeing them up close is incredible. They're ridiculously intricate, and some of them are made from only one sheet of paper.

Several people made jewelry out of paper, which was ingenious, but not really my cuppa. It might be my prejudice against jewelery but--while I found these very cool to look at--I couldn't see wearing any of them.

(rings by tt:nt and bracelet by saloukee)

There was one paper jeweler whose work I enjoyed a lot. I chatted for several minutes with Sabrina Meyns, an Irish artist. She makes her own paper, and uses seeds and precious metals in her jewelery. Now that's something I can get behind. And, although she works with a minimal palette, her colors are all very rich. Even her white jewelery was warm. Unfortunately, she only had jewelery, and well, I'm just not so into that.

(small cup pin by Sabrina Meyns)

Possibly my favorite, and the only maker from whom I bought anything, was Jennifer Collier. I actually visited her booth several times during my visit. I really wanted to pester her with questions, but her booth was crammed with customers every time I went by. Her work related most to mine--although it's nostalgic, soft, and actually art, whereas my work is cheery, bright, and more on the craft side--and I learned a lot from looking at it.

Jennifer works mostly with found materials (something I'm planning to incorporate in my work). She waxes or varnishes and then sews together paper with other materials, such as old buttons and jewelry. I really, really, really, really wanted to splurge a pair of these ballet slippers (not wearable, of course):

(ballet shoes by Jennifer Collier)

But instead I went for this framed rosette:

(rosette by Jennifer Collier)

It's hanging in my office as inspiration, accompanied by a funked-up rose experiment of mine that didn't quite work out. 

And here's one last thing that I really enjoyed:

(ceramic milk cartons by Hanne Rysgaard)

How cute is that?

There was so much at the show, there's no way I could tell you all about it here. Check out Craft Council UK's website for more goodies.

The Beginnings of BWEF

Last May, I got married to this lovely guy:

Not being much of a flower fan, I floated the idea of making my bouquet out of paper. He said no.
I mentioned the idea to one of my sisters:

She shot it down. Too tacky, apparently.

Well, a few months later we were all in Frederick, MD, for a wedding planning weekend. I mentioned to my florist, Sharon of En Masse, that I'm not so into flowers. In fact, I spent most of that meeting raving about the paper in a floral book she showed me. So, she suggested I should make my bouquet out of paper.

Which just goes to show that bride plus florist is greater than groom plus bridesmaid.

So, I made the flowers (mostly out of leftover Christmas wrapping paper) and mailed them down to Sharon, who put them together beautifully in a bouquet and a boutonniere for my husband. And here are the results (all photos by David Spence):

Everyone who saw our bouquet and boutonniere, or pictures of them, were so enthusiastic, I knew it couldn't end there. Since my husband and I were planning to move to London, it seemed like the perfect time to take a risk and start a business. Thus Bookworm Eats Flower.

The name comes from a conversation with my husband. It has something to do with me being a bookworm, but really has more to do with us liking how weird it sounds.

In a few weeks, I plan to open a shop online, selling bouquets and other paper flower crafts. In the meantime, I'll post my progress and new projects here.