V-Day 2014: From Me to H

A space-bunnies themed hand cut concertina card…

…with a sticker on the envelope from my 'I've Always Wanted To Show You' collection… 

… and finally, I made him a little felt raccoon filled with beans so he stands up… 

 … and I wrapped him up in brown paper with another self-made sticker… 

… and sent them off to Germany ❤

V-Day 2014 from H to me

From Henning:

V-Day 2014 from Henning M. Lederer on Vimeo.

Mustard Cafe Valentines Art Fair

My 'I Love You' bunting was in the window…

I shared a table with cutie-animal illustrator Karl Newson

Cutie Creature print

I'm thrilled to have a large print of these cute creatures which I've admired for a long time. It's by Köln-based freelance motion-designer André Kniepkamp. I met him in 2009 whilst visiting Köln. He's a dude. This print makes me smile every time I look at it – it's such a lovely, friendly cuddly hug! It reminds me of how I hugged my cat!

Rob Ryan on my bed side

I finally got around to mounting my Rob Ryan ceramic tile. I painted a tile frame black, varnished it, stuck the tile in, and stuck felt corners over the staples in the bottom so they don't scratch the surface. I love how this fits so well into my bedroom. I also framed my screen printed 2013 Valentines Card. I love it.
PS – my mum made my the knitted bunny.

A day at Ryantown HQ

After winning the Rob Ryan Christmas Competition and visiting Ryantown HQ to collect my prizes, I was offered a day's work experience with them.

My main task for the day was trimming their hand printed Valentine's cards (available on Etsy). I managed to trim 60 in 5 hours. I guess this is quite slow, but I think it was more important that they were trimmed perfectly.

Rob took my photo and I have been added to their 'Toilet Door of Fame'.

I've been doing a lot of paper cutting since 2009, and I was very quickly getting blisters from the metal scalpel. I tried various things such as wrapping paper, tissue, plasters and tape around the scalpel. In 2011 I made my first scalpel sleeve out of a small strip of moleskin fabric. I machined the tops and bottoms, then stitched up the side with the scalpel inside so that it was a really snug fit. It did the job perfectly – it was quick to get on and off, protected my hand from the metal, cushioned and improved grip. When I visited the studio I noticed that they were using tape around their scalpels. So I made up a few sleeves for them to try. Everyone was thrilled with them, especially Rob. 

We all sat together for lunch – pie and vegetables. I thought this was a really lovely event for everyone to catch up. There was a very pleasant atmosphere in the studio all day – a small artist's studio is a wonderful place to work!

I spent the last few hours of the day fixing screen-printed transfer decals onto mugs. It was painstakingly difficult to get them straight and get all the air bubbles out, but not entirely impossible. I hope they turned out okay! 

Thanks for a great day! x

You Are The One For Me paper-cut card

I took the lettering from the end scene of our 'What It Takes To Decide' short film and made it into a Valentine's Day card. It's available to buy here.