website live!

I have not posted anything for 3 weeks as I was pretty busy preparing a craft fair and building my website...

I've been thinking for a while now to have a website where I could share my creations and why not sell a few ;-).  It got me busy the past 2 weeks to work on the layout of the website, create a new logo, decide which range to publish, select and organise the pictures...  I finally came up with a first version and it is live since yesterday. I will in the coming weeks work on a new version with an online shop, more items in the digital section and a range of printables.  Feel free to browse on [AKHATAN] paper creations.
I wanted to have the website ready for October 5th when I'll be participating to my first craft fair in Scotland. I am so excited. It will be such a rich experience sharing my passion and be surrounded by talented crafters. And I also feel privileged to be in place dedicated to promote and encourage art and creativity: Out the Blue
As I want to develop my craft and my range more and more, I also worked during the past weeks on a serie of handmade frames and handmade accessories.
The frames are made of paper and stand "alone" thanks to an "accordion" folding. I decorated the background with stamps, I added a piece of cellophane also decorated with ink and stamp.

For the accessories range, I created a few earring, rings and brooches. All made of recycled cardboard. I cut the shapes (butterflies and flowers) with a punch and decorated them with ink and stamps. I used a varnish glue as protective coating.

I hope you like it. 

Feel free to leave a comment.

Colony of Artists exhibition.

These weekend  (September 7th-8th)Edinburgh was hosting the Colony of Artists exhibition.
During an entire weekend, artists from the Abbeyhill colonies (block of houses in the London Rd and Easter Rd area) open their homes/studios to present their work.

I was impressed by the community spirit.  The community gathers artists from various disciplines: paintings, mixed media, photography, felt, silver jewelry, chocolate, animated short film, glass, ceramics, handwoven textiles. It was a new experience for me to visit crafters in their home. I must admit I felt a bit odd, like an intruder... But the artists were very welcoming, offering cakes and drinks. They were all so enthusiast sharing their craft.  I did not take any pictures of the exhibited artpieces. I strongly invite you to check on the community's website for more info on the artists and their work.  But to I took a picture that really illustrates the sense of community: a little girl from the neighbourhood selling homemade treats.

If you're interested and want to know more, check their website and their facebook page.
I actually got to know the event thanks to one of the numerous meetup groups I joined since I moved to Edinburgh: The Edinburgh High Brow/Low Brow Culture Group. It's a really nice group with friendly people interested in art and everything cultural.

Feel free to leave a comment or send me a message.

Customisation / Upcycling

I already introduced this subject in the two previous posts. When speaking of giving a new life to objects with paper, I usually refer to customisation or upcycling (with paper).

For me paper customisation / upcycling  involves 2 activities:

- upcycle an (old) piece of cardboard (postpackage, shoe box...)  and shape the material to create an object, such as a frame, a box, a bookcover,  a home decoration piece and even furniture and then decorate it.

- use an existing object made of paper or any other material, such as wood, a tinned box, a basket... and use paper to revamp it.

I do both as I love creating as much as I enjoy decorating and give a personal touch to a piece.
As far as the decorating process is concerned, I upcycle using stamps, collage, scrapbook...depending on the object, its purpose, who it is for and my inspiration of the moment.
Scrapbooking technique, which roughly consists of cutting patterned paper, fix them on an object and add other bits and bobs (buttons, flowers, rub-ons...) to finish up. I usually use this technique on objects with a regular, straight shape.
I also use the decoupage technique to cover objects with patterned.
The Decoupage technique consist of decorating an object with patterned tissue paper or with napkins. In order to cover the surface avoiding creases (especially for rounded or uneven shapes) it is advised to tear up tiny pieces and to arrange them one by one. If you use napkins,it is very important to separate the layers and only use the first one (the one with the patterns). If you don't do so, the layers will inevitably got loose by applying the glue.
I'll share more exmples in coming posts.

Feel free to leave a comment or send me a message.

belgium and crafts

I was supposed to write about customisation and up cycling but as I took a wee holiday break, I'd like to bring up how I spent my time in Belgium.
I went back to Belgium to spend some time with my family and friends. I took advanyage this opportunity to bring some stuff back: 15 kilos of books, paper, stamps, eyelets and other crafty bits. When I was not seeing a friend or my family, I plunged into my crafty world.  Even on holiday I have to keep my hands busy crafting. I made a few cards, some sketches for future realisations and I jotted down some ideas for my notebook collection (soon to come). I also put down on paper a sort of (business) plan defining how I want to turn my craft into a business activity (might take a while to realise though :-) but I'll sure share this later on).

While commuting from one friend to another, I made some stops in a few craft supply shops I used to go to when I was living in Belgium. Unfortunately due to the weak economy some gorgeous independant shops with lovely owners have closed down.  The big stores have remained, some have even expanded their business, offering huge diversity in craft materials. They also expanded their activities by running workshops from basic to more advanced knowledge for both children and adults.
Big craft stores in Brussels and Wallonia:
- Schleiper
- Creacorner
While having a look at the new trends, I was happily surprised to see that Doodles and Zentangles have reached the european continent and are getting more attention. I have been doodling for as long as I can hold a pen in my hand (like most children do!) and I still doodle as a final touch to add text, a border... Over the past few years Doodles and Zentangles have reached another level; it is no longer used as adding touch but as a design in itself. Some artists really developed the technique to its best and offer original designs/drawings with beautiful details.
Some examples and interesting links here:
www.creativebloq.com/illustration/doodle-art-912775
www.zentangle.com
www.tanglepatterns.com/zentangles

I hope this gets you inspired to grab a pen a start doodling :-)

The next post will be dedicated to customisation and up cycling.

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Back home and commuting

I just got back from a week to my homeland (Belgium) and as usual I was feeling a bit down. But a wee walk in one of the numerous green spots of Scotland's capital city (my hometown since 1,5 years) was enough to get me back on track.
I have not visited much while in Belgium. I tried to spend as much time as I could with my family and friends. And having 2 families with 4 sisters (and 1 brother in the US) makes the week look shorter :-)  And it implies and a lot of commuting as well. I travelled by bus, subway, tram (Edinburgh's nightmare at the moment - ha ha ha) and train. And of course I walked as often as I could - and barely used the car. I must say that using the public transport went pretty well. No delay at all! That's probably the best part of commuting during holidays: there's no rush and no worries if the bus runs late and I miss the 7:51 train (YES I took the train that early during my holidays - I'm an early bird anyway and it enabled me to enjoy longer days!).

Anyway, speaking of commuting, I was happy to see that people tend to cycle more and more. The bicycle is no longer just a way to enjoy a family day out during the weekend. More and more people commute to work using the bicycle. It is a great way to stay active without spending hundreds of pounds to go to the gym. Moreover you can enjoy the fresh air (can be rainy and windy in Edinburgh though!) and nice sceneries (maybe not that much in the city centre). But most of all you contribute to reduce car traffic, which means less pollution and Mother Earth smiling! And it gets even better when the local council is playing its part. Indeed, a lot of bicycle racks are available in city centres; and almost every train stations dispose of dedicated racks to secure your bike. Many big cities have introduced a large-scale public sharing system. Bicycles are securely parked on the street and available for hire. The concept has been developed in many cities by government agencies (sometimes in a public-private partnership).
For some reason the introduction of the bicycle share systems proceeded more slowly in the UK than in the rest of Europe. Why ? Too many hills in Scotland ? Or so many bikes already ?

In the centre of Brussels I came across an original concept : a private locked bicycle rack. It's an initiative of the Brussels City council for people disposing of a bike but no place to store it. Thanks to this system you can safely leave your bicycle on the street without the fear of having it damaged or stolen. It will cost you 60€ a year. If you live in Brussels and are interested by the concept, you can get more info on www.cyclo.org.
But is it really useful or more to be considered as a gadget ? I leave that to your own appreciation.

 

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