Jessica • Louise

After the beading phase, my Mum helped me get in to a little bit of sewing. Together we made a patchwork blanket for my bestfriend’s baby and she taught me how to blanket stitch (I know, I know, I’m very lame) but would not allow me to get close to her sewing machine as it was her expensive and highly coveted machinery.

I also learned to crochet with the help of a neighbourhood friend and while furious with an ex, I crocheted my first blanket angrily at a rapid, wide-eyed rate while watching the entire series of Roseanne. This was probably the first bit of art that I felt that I was pretty good at and for awhile I crocheted amigurami, blankets and other doodads around the clock:

My joy of crochet has never really grown stale, I just find it hard to sit still for long enough to work on anything to finish a large pattern (like a blanket or such).

My heart truly lies in making clay works. I got introduced to polymer clay with a friend and together we bought tools and clay and had crafternoons where we made a lot of cool stuff. Here are some of my first-go attempts at making kawaii food and chibi characters from clay:

And then I discovered how to transfer images to clay and that one really, really spoke to me. I sold a lot of these on Etsy at one stage. I made them with just about any imagine you can imagine -- and just as I figured out how to keep from getting pixelated images, I kind of lost interest..... and I’ve never really gone back to this. Maybe one day?

Since my Mum was such an artsy person, I feel like I’ve taken a little leaf out of her book. She unfortunately passed in November 2016. I found art to be a very therapuetic part of grief and loss and have since really picked up the pace of what I do. It all keeps me happy, relaxes me and allows me to feel accomplished in a way that I know my Mum would be proud of.

I’ve inherited her sewing machine -- the highly coveted one that I could never even look at, but I’m careful with it and haven’t messed anything up (yet!) and have only been successful at all of my creations up until this point.

In the past year or so, I have taught myself some very cool polymer clay techniques - how to work with resin, how to design for acrylic art and bamboo art. I have taken up watercolour brushing, lettering, bullet-journaling, acrylic pouring, glass work, sewing bags and probably more stuff. I have gone back to doing a little bit of graphics for quotes and things that I like to promote on my shop. Here’s a tip: I don’t suffer feel-good full-of-sh*t life quotes. Mine are fairly more relatable.

So thanks for stopping by and checking out my stuff, or if you have bought anything, I extend a soft little kiss upon your nose.

If you’ve read up to this point, then perhaps you should be a beta reader for my novel that I’m still working on.

All my love, loves, Jess