Rob Ryan

On my little jaunt to Columbia Road a few weeks ago I visited Rob Ryan's studio Ryantown. I've had a slight fixation with his quirky cut out designs for a while now & visiting his cute little East End shop/studio was a right treat.

You'll no doubt have come across something by Rob Ryan, his designs seem to be popping up everywhere, in particular I keep walking into shops to be greeted by his kitchenware, mugs/plates etc.

Rob Ryan's lovely plates - set of 4 for £26.99... BARGAIN!

His whimsical illustrations usually come along side cute little quotes or poems that just make you go all warm & fuzzy inside. My fave of his laser cut artworks is his "Can we? Shall we?" design -

 

Isn't it adorable? I would very much like to have one of these hanging on my wall encouraging me to run away for a day of fun. You can pick up his limited edition laser cuts on his Etsy shop from about £80 (prices go up quite considerably though, depending on the edition size!)

I myself, decided to purchase a Rob Ryan vase whilst out on our day of fun, to house my beautiful Columbia Road peonies :) isn't it gorgeous!

Natter, Knickers and Nipple Tassels!

A few months ago now I attended a crafts evening with a couple of friends. All I knew about said evening was that it was titled "Natter, Knickers and Nipple Tassels", that it was held at a friend of a friends house and that wine was involved. Sold!

We arrived at 7:30, box of wine in tow, really not knowing what to expect and it was so much fun!

The lady running the evening was called Naomi, as soon as we were in the door we were presented with a glass (or in my case teacup!) of wine and within about 5 minutes were knee deep in material, picking out what we were going to make our first pair of knickers out of. There was a table full of feathers, beads, sequins and the biggest bowls of glitter ever!

I came away with a pair of home made knickers which I sewed myself (!) on one of the sewing machines that had been set up for us to use (under Naomi's watchful eye of course! My past experiences with sewing machines have been bordering on catastrophic) and 3 pairs of nipple tassels, 2 sans the tassels to be worn under clothing as jazzy nipple covers and one amazingly over the top pair for *ahem* "special" occasions!

I also left with the overwhelming urge to set up my own little sweatshop, make my own pants and never buy a shop bought pair again, but of course that didn't go quite to plan. I have however developed a penchant for drinking alcoholic beverages out of teacups!

Naomi also runs her own business, Sparkly Pink Designs, which has lots of lovely bits and bobs, take a look! http://www.sparklypinkdesigns.co.uk/