Author: devinesdesign

 I thought it was time I did another post for my blog, I like to take my time on these things (it has been a while)! As the festive season is just about here, I have done a festive post of a little diary of me making some Devinesdesign created tree decorations. Hope you like them and Merry Christmas!

These shapes were taken from my new Two Tone range for this year. They are used as a fastener on the stud fastening bag and as edging on the zipper style in this range. Have a look at my products page for more details.

Just a quick blog to update you on some new things…

Finally, after too long, I have had some new photos taken of my work and refreshed most of the images on my website. The photos were taken in my studio by Claire Louise Legg and she has managed to take some nice detailed shots and inside photos of my work, something I have been wanting to do for a while so that my products can be viewed in more detail on my website. I hope to continue to do this and improve the way the site looks so the photos are a good start and hopefully more to follows….thanks Claire!

Other things I have been working on are monthly bulletins to my Twitter followers and mailing list which is another thing I have had headaches over but am pleased with the results and hopefully will continue to improve and highlight new products in the future.The good thing about these bulletins is that it makes you look at your work and photographs, hence why I felt the need to start getting some professional shots taken again. Give me some feedback if you have the time, I would love to know your thoughts! Here are links to a couple of the latest ones….

http://www.devinesdesign.com/bulletins/5thSeptember2012bulletin/index.html

http://www.devinesdesign.com/bulletins/20thmay2012bulletin/index.html

I have also ventured into the world of Pinterest! I don’t know much about it yet but I have a page and this will be linked to my website soon and am determined to PIN something on there by the end of this weekend…watch this space! (Find me under Devinesdesign)

Lastly, blooming eck I’ve been busy, I have a Folksy page which I don’t think I have mentioned in my blogs before. Check my page out under Devinesdesign.

Anyway, thanks for reading and hopefully more updates to follow, feel free to send me any advice for the above or any feedback you want to share or just to tell me what you are up to in your world of making.

I felt the need to write a quick blog even though it is only my second one, it’s 9.30pm on a Thursday night and it has been a long day! I thought that if I don’t do another blog now I may never do one (or maybe only achieve one every six months at this stage)!

I was inspired to write it after a lovely visit to Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP) this Monday. After a grey start to the day in Manchester I decided to think of places I wanted to visit that required “a drive out” too and came up with YSP. I have a fond association with the gallery as they were the first gallery to place an order with me at my first trade show at Harrogate British Craft Trade Fair (a few years ago now). Although I have only visited the gallery on one other occasion which was a very rainy day, unable to enjoy the vast area of gardens and grounds surrounding the gallery, I had a feeling that the weather was going to make my visit a different experience this time and I was right!

So sure that it was going to be a lovely trip I invited my parents to come, made a picnic and off we went. Welcomed by the sunshine on our arrival, my parents were sold as soon as we drove through the entrance. After a brief(ish) visit to the Miro exhibition in the underground gallery trying to educate my Dad into a bit of bronze sculptures we took to the grounds and explored all the huge sculptures and trails. 

Having my 18 month old daughter with me who wanted to walk the whole way,we did pretty well to cover as much as we did. We still need to another visit to get to the Longside gallery to see the Anish Kapoor exhibition which was unfortunately a little to far to walk when tiny legs were slowing us down. I think my daughters favorite parts were watching all the other children climbing and playing on the Anthony Caro ‘Promenade’ sculptures in front of Bretton Hall and also the hidden Shall Grotto near the Lake. For me, it was the whole place, the galleries are lovely and show some really high profile exhibitions, the Underground gallery being a great space in itself. Although I think it is the combination of the galleries and the huge space surrounding them containing more interesting pieces of sculptures that make it a special place.

So if you fancy a cultural day out in the sun before the summer is out, have a visit to YSP, it’s lovely!

P.S. take a peak at the Craft shop before you leave, it sells some lovely stuff too! x

People have been advising me to start a blog for a while now to get more in touch with the cyber world and help promote my business in various different ways, so after finally joining Twitter (and actually quite liking it), I thought I would try blogging. I might not be great at grammar and punctuation so apologies for that but I will try to keep you informed about various goings on and hopefully other interesting things.

I am hoping that it will also make me more aware of things that inspire and influence me and make me log things down more and act as a bit of a reference for myself aswell as being able to share with others.

I suppose I should start with a bit of a background on myself…..

I have been working as Devinesdesign since 2004 after finishing my degree in Embroidery where I started to sample making bags. I have continued to develop my work using mainly leather mixed with 100% cottons and silks to create simple, functional shaped items. My studio is based at Manchester’s Craft and Design Centre where I share with Jewellery designer Jo Lavelle.

My current work is based on traditional hand stitch and using individually sourced vintage Mother of Pearl buckles which are incorporated into the designs and finished off with linen hand stitch thread to complement the buckle and leather used. My work can be found on my website www.devinesdesign.com so take a peek if you can!

I think I’ve covered most things…here’s some recent photos of my work and process….

Next time I will post information on stuff I’m working on including an auction piece for our forthcoming exhibition at Craft and Design to celebrate it’s 30^th birthday…check out more on http://www.craftanddesign.com/exhibitions/craftinghistory

Thanks for reading..