#nofrillsfriday 06 - the silent bob of frilly speaks

You'll rarely hear from me. I'm the tech destroyer whose typos and long sentances require Adrienne's eye to curb.  

However, unless I take control occassionally then you will be inundated with doggy fun; like this snap of Adrienne getting her seaside fix with Louis. This sea living yearning of Adrienne's, and the loss of my much loved arcade at Newquay in Wales, has seen us develop some new designs that we'll be bringing out soon. 

What do you love about seaside holidays? Let us know and it might make its way in there too!

Adrienne at Hoylake beach with Louis

Adrienne at Hoylake beach with Louis

Besides the seaside, this week has been full of creative inspiration so I thought I'd give you a quick run down.

Luke Chueh x Clutter Kickstarter

This week has seen my oldest BFF head back home to New York but Miranda's company, Clutter Magazine, just launched a killer designer toy kickstarter with artist Luke Chueh. I had the chance to check out the prototypes back in October at New York Comic Con and they are perfectly sized to induce Hamlet quotes as you hold them aloft.  Seeing this project get successfully funded in 14 hours pushes us to continue to make and create.

 Luke Chueh's 'Dissected' Designer Toy

 Luke Chueh's 'Dissected' Designer Toy

Over The Garden Wall

It's important to continue watching cartoons and reading comics well into adulthood. Whilst I'm normally a Teen Titans, Rebels and TMNT girl, this new show on Cartoon Network is endearing, dark and oh so shiny. The older brother, Wirt (pointy red hat), is voiced by Elijah Wood. The narrative of two brothers on a creepy, perilous journey to find their way home has a surreal note. With a nostalgic, classic, Americana cinema edge to a Japanaese Amigurmi aesthtic it is deeply beguiling. You'll still be able to catch up if you check it out now.

 Wirt, Greg and Frog (aka Kitty and Wirt, name TBC) - Over the Garden Wall

 Wirt, Greg and Frog (aka Kitty and Wirt, name TBC) - Over the Garden Wall

Flame Off 2015

As I've yet to get the chance to read this weeks comics, the last inspiring highlight was Flame Off! 

Purple and grey Effetre glass rods

Purple and grey Effetre glass rods

The name alone makes me want to strike a waving hand, dance move. Adrienne has had a days lampworking tuition with Tuffnell Glass before, which sparked us buying a kiln and torch. Today was my chance to melt glass, spark an interest and ensure Adrienne had enough faith, that I wouldnt burn our office down when I attempt it. 

Having made a few beads today, I am all systems go for honing the skills so that we can realise some of our mixed media jewellery designs. Just gotta get set up and practicing! If you're scared by the thought of a hot torch and glass melting, then the pretty glass en masse should seduce you to take up a new craft.

If you're a lampworker or have had a go then we'd love to see what you've made. Please share your creations!

Mustards and Orange Effetre glass rods

Mustards and Orange Effetre glass rods

Other News

Our secret project is a go! But shhhhh, its still a secret for now so you'll have to keep checking up on us or subscribe to our newsletter so that you don't miss  out on the news. 

We were also lucky to be picked for the Blog and Buy Sale 'Spring Wish List'. There are so many great makers and designers that we'll be sharing our favourites in its own post. If you ever feel pressured to trawl the internet for a great gift then start there first for a curated list of top picks to help you on your way.

Finally

We've recieved many shiny magazines in the post this week ready for our #magazinemonday blog review; so check back in with us on Monday to see what we've been reading!

#nofrillsfriday 05 - short and sweet

This week has been a bit of a short and odd one.  Kirsty hasn't been in Wednesday - Friday as she's been catching up with old friends (as mentioned last week) who are only in town until Monday.  The beginning of the week we were a hive of activity and productivity - but working on a SECRET PROJECT that we still can't quite reveal just yet!  We'll be photographing things like crazy as soon as we can though!  It DOES mean that this week is image-light, alas.  So here's Louis in a sailor outfit that he looks very unsure of.. (how very Jean Paul Gaultier?)

"Louis is mostly unimpressed with the tshirt I unearthed! #bostonterrier"

As solo team Frilly, I've been pootling along through emails and admin stuff - getting in new thicknesses of wood to test out some new design ideas we've had which will be exciting albeit tricky to figure out. (My brain is great at visualising things, but not so great at precision.  I prefer to do things by eye and find it normally works out (due to my 'super-vision'* - thanks eye doctors!) however our latest ideas will require a fine degree of precision.  May need to bust out a ruler and EVERYTHING!

We've also decided to finally start investing in some magazine subscriptions - partly because we buy them regularly, and partly because we plan on doing little magazine reviews on Mondays.  Obvious magazine choices include 'Making' and 'Mollie Makes'.. but we also want to include independent magazines and small print runs - so next week we'll be covering this little beauty which arrived yesterday! (SPOILER ALERT: it's like someone designed a magazine just for us!)

"Speedy Gonzales delivery by #caboodlemag to @frillyind - exciting!! :)"

Today my friend Tim came to visit, which was good for two reasons: 1) we got to chat at length about a project We are Frilly are working on involving gaming and archives, and 2) I got to help Tim do his first ever laser cutting.  Whilst I still take childlike glee in the way Bertha works, nothing quite compares to the first thing you cut out - watching the teeny tiny red dot and beam magically zap away material leaving your work behind.  It was especially intriguing as Tim had designed his pieces in LibreCAD which is a program I've never used - we do our work almost entirely in Illustrator and Inkscape.  It took a bit of tweaking, but we managed to do a ninja star-esque model tool, a cube and a mini structure that resembled a boat.  

In other news, Frilly Photographer Extraordinaire Lee Allen was excited to be featured on Rock n Roll Bride this week - a very crazy wedding at Aynhoe Park, involving a LOT of taxidermy, dwarves and circus strong men.  

Lastly: weather has been hit and miss, but when it's been a hit it's been GREAT! Days like this one make me feel very glad we have our studio, and now I'm just eager to get out into the garden area and get it tidied up - and hopefully even install a bat box!

"Excited for summer to finally arrive at the @frillyind studio!"