Halloween in Gotham City

I recently had the chance the star in my ultimate fantasy photoshoot... so I opted for living out my fantasy to the extreme..being Batgirl for the night.
I was contacted by Ian Macaulay, earlier this year, his hobby is photographing Redheads.
He finds them in all sorts of places, on the street, word of mouth, through friends or online like how me stumbled on my scarlet locks!
We met up for a tea in town and immediately I knew that this was my chance to get on my Batgirl gear and tackle some criminals.
We discussed various options, from me with a motorbike (or Batbike) to standing on the top of a tall building but in the end this alley way off Oxford Street with the BT Tower in the background was the chosen spot.
The photoshoot took place at midnight, in cold wet conditions, beside a drain so it was all very Gotham City like.
I developed a whole new appreciation for models doing this shoot as I had to keep completely still for the lighting to work and was in agony kneeling down!
Firstly Ian photographed me, and then his assistant lit up each wall in order to get the comic book style colouring. I was blown away by their creativity and commitment to making my dream shoot become real.
For me the other challenge was finding my outfit, rather than the classic purple and yellow Batgirl I opted for the darker femme fatale...a tight pvc bodysuit and I made gauntlets and a cape to match.
Not sure what I am going to do with my portrait yet. Ian suggested I blow it up and cover a wall in my flat like a proper poster girl!
But think I'll just share it here for now!
You can see Ian's other Redhead photoshoots here - www.ianshootsredheads.com.
And if you're a Redhead and fancy being photographed, get in touch with him!

Happy Halloween

London's First Renegade Craft Fair

Designs by Tee & Toast

I’m desperate to go to America…for crafting purposes. It’s home to huge mega craft stores, houses oddles of indie crafters, craft celebrities (Martha Stewart, Crafty Chica) and new crazes and products you can’t get over here. When I first saw images of the Maker Fair in Craft magazine (one of the fabulous US craft mags that is distributed in good book stores on these shores) I was amazed by the standard and originality of the work being sold. Then a couple of years ago I was first in the queue when Bust magazine came over and hosted their first ever Craftacular (another great American craft fair.) It was held inside York Hall, Bethnal Green and was HUGE!

The renengade queen

This Autumn (last weekend) it was the turn of Renegade to visit us and bring their quirky indie craft vibe to bustling Brick Lane, east Londen where crafters from around the globe gathered to sell their wares. I was so excited, I visited (and shopped) both days!! Pictured is one of the organisers who insisted on looking anonymous. Renegade started back in 2003 in Chicago and focuses on DIY craft culture of the highest standards. Any old crafter, can’t just pitch up a stall, they have to prove their work is original, unusual, and carries with it the full DIY ethos. The selection of work is balanced offering prints, textiles, fashion, jewellery, interiors and papercrafts.

Milliner Janine Basil

I was soooo happy to meet Janine Basil in person, she is a milliner extraordinaire who’s Batman inspired work I discovered in her Etsy and Folksy stores. As regular readers of my blog will know, I am Batman obsessed and I treated myself to a beautiful glitter Bat hat from her stall. Image to follow when I wear it out. (Someone invite me to a Halloween party please!!). Check out her work online, it’s fabulous!

Art collector Matt

In tow I had Art collector Matt who is always on the look out to extend his ever growing collection of fine art and prints (he nearly owns enough to fill a gallery and has been known to queue for 'buying' at 4am in the morning on more than one occasion.) Completely overwhelmed by the standard of the work, he was super excited but found it hard to decide. In the end he opted for three pieces. The first one is to remind him he should buy a dog one day.

Artist Katie Mac

Then it was on to another wonderful print stall where Katie Mac’s colourful creations including one about fidgeting, were on his list.

Artist Todd Stewart

Finally he bought a screen-printed poster (the Man Man one) designed by Todd Stewart. I suspect he would have bought plenty more if he’d brought extra money!

Illustrator Kate Sutton

Inspired by the feeling that maybe I should own more ‘art’ and not just crafts, I bought this adorable hedgehog picture by Kate Sutton. Oh my! Her work was outstanding, I wanted to buy everything! If someone wants to buy me a present, you can get me anything she has designed. (Thanks!)

My free alpaca bag!

Kate was very sweet and gave me a free alpaca tote bag to carry it home in.

The Make Lounge crafternoon

London’s crafty hub The Make Lounge were one of the stalls running free workshops where  needle felted woodland animals were the order of the weekend.

Janine felting an Ecuadorian bird

My craft pal Janine and I couldn’t get into the British 'woodland' mood (she had just returned from Ecuador so her mind was filled with tropical images) and I was drawn to bright pink felt so she made a jungle bird and I felted a flamingo.

Huge blooms decorated the walls

For such a huge space, the fair was smaller than I expected (not on the same scale as the Bust Craftacular) but this had it’s benefits that you could properly focus on each stall. It certainly set the bar for craft markets in the UK to measure up to, it really was ‘high end’ DIY crafting yet extremely well priced. 

Renegade: you're welcome back

Until Renegade come back and see us in the UK again you can either attend one of their fairs in the states or shop for art and craft by their favourite designers in their online store. 
Thank you for visiting the UK! 

Batman Crafts

No.1 Knitted face mask

I love Batman. He's my favourite super hero and this week I'm feeling extremely excited as Batman Live the stage show is coming to London and not just any old part, my home town, Greenwich, so to celebrate I've scoured the web for the best Batman crafts. If only I could own all these things. Starting with with a super cute knitted Bat face mask modelled on Blythe. Actually it doesn't look too hard to make, keen knitters can easily adapt a basic hat pattern to recreate their own.

No.2 Printed dress

What a dress, and it looks like it would fit me! I would like to wear it and twirl around all day as it has a beautiful cut which would swish in the breeze.

No.3 Kicks

But which of these???? The Robin ones are very nice, if not a little 'teeny'...perhaps I am too old to own a pair?

No.4 Thong

Ha ha, not these though, I could definatly wear this!

No.5 Pendant

Hmmm and what a lovely yet simplistic pendant.

No.6 Pinboard

Like many crafters these days I am obsessed by Pinterest but that doesn't mean we should not still have a physical pin board, especially one so fabulous?

No.7 Knitted cuffs

 The classic Bat logo looks good on everything, especially gloves.

No.8 Bento

I wonder if this is what the cast members are lunching on...Batman Bento?

No. 9 Wooden table

 A beautiful handmade table - doesn't even need any colour, it's perfect as it is.

No. 10 Wall sticker

Wow...! This wall sticker makes such a difference to a white room.

Me as Bat Girl

I know..... the auditions and casting are over, but the show is touring, and this is evidence I would  make a brilliant Batgirl....I already have the outfit!!

My Valentines Wishlist!

Hmmmm, with just over a week to go until Valentines Day I thought I would do a spot of online window shopping. These are the lovely homemade goodies I would like to receive if anyone out there fancies getting me a present!

I love collecting hamburger memorabilia. Last year I received a 'Ham Bag' for Valentines - a hamburger shaped handbag, this year, I quite fancy a matching hat.

My most favourite Super Hero in the world is Batman, I have a fantastic Batgirl dress made of yellow PVC it's a clubbing staple although I get very hot in it! This would be the perfect accessory to go with it!

I'm vowing to follow more recipes this year, I'm much more of a bung in a little bit of this and a little bit of that type person, I hate the restrictions of instructions. If I had a gorgeous apron like this to cook in though maybe things would be different? It's fully reversible too - amazing!