My Art and My Plans

Art has always been a passion of mine, mainly because it was one the few things I didn't think I was terrible at.  I studied art in secondary school, and continued it through college, loving it so much that I even considered doing it at university. Sadly, I did not have the confidence to believe I was ever good enough to ever make it. To be honest, I still have those doubts now, but if I don't try, I will never know if I will. 

What I plan to try and do is make an Instagram account that will showcase my art pieces, and potentially interest people enough to like it, publicize it, and potentially even pay for it. This is the plan. The account has been created, a name has been thought of, and a logo has been designed. I hope to launch it by early September, once I have enough artwork to present.

Sarah's birthday canvas

I don't just want to show the final finished piece, I also want to reveal the process, however ugly that may have been. Let me tell you, my work tends to be very ugly before it transitions into something deemed acceptable. Before this would dishearten me when what I saw on the canvas was unlike the image in my head, however I have come to realise that with time and persistence it would eventually turn out OK, if not better. I hope to prove that with my posts. I also want to reveal the inspiration behind my pieces, whether that be an artist, an image, an object, a person in my life, etc.

Canvases for my family and friends have been my specialty so far as I don't fear their judgement and they seem to appreciate them.  I usually ask the person in advance for two or three things they would specifically like to be included in the canvas and then work from there. For example, my sister asked for Audrey Hepburn and Amsterdam; below is the result.

My sister's birthday canvas

Over the last two weeks I have created two canvases, one for my friend Sarah's birthday, and another for my friend Tessa's birthday. As they were surprises, I could not ask what features they wanted, I just had to guess. Sarah's favourite image is one of Audrey Hepburn blowing Tiffany blue bubblegum so I painted that for her with acrylic paint. For Tessa's painting I blended a photo of herself with a photo of Frida Kahlo, her favourite artist, not forgetting to give her that famous monobrow! Thankfully, they both loved their paintings!

Tessa's birthday canvas

Two birthdays have been and gone in the last two weeks, but my revived passion for art has stayed. I have requests for two more canvas from my mum and another friend. When they are complete, if all goes to plan, I will share them on my new Instagram account!

Fem

Soap Making Workshop

On Friday, I made handmade soaps with my mum, my sister, and a friend of ours. I wasn't sure what to expect as I had never made my own soaps before, or ever really enquired about the process behind it. Now I know how fun, easy, and simple it is to do!

The Workshop

Our natural soap only needs three ingredients: water, oil, and lye. This it what forms the soap base before we add our oils, colours, and flowers. You could choose between an olive oil base or a coconut oil base.

Olive oil soap base (left) and coconut oil soap base (right)

An olive oil base produces a transparent soap that shows off the flowers better while a coconut oil base produces a more opaque, pastel coloured soap. My sister chose the coconut oil base, and the rest of us chose olive oil. Next, we chopped them up into small pieces and added them to the heating pots. 

While the soap base heated up, we got to select our flowers. 

We could personalise our soaps even further by choosing our preferred scent and colour. After smelling all the options I chose the coffee & spice (it reminded me of cake), while everyone else went for fruity smells (passion fruit and forest fruits).

Once the colours, oils, and flowers had been combined we could transfer them to our desired moulds. We had enough soap mixture to fill either two large moulds, three medium sized moulds, or lots of mini moulds. 

There was a huge variety of moulds from letters to animals to even babies! The most popular mould, the one we all used, was a 100% handmade soap design, as it would be a reminder of our experience. 

100% handmade soap (left), and a heart design (right)

The bear mould was my personal favourite!

My glittery bee soap!

The whole process took around an hour and we had such a great time! Not only was it a brilliant group activity but you also come away with your own soaps that you can use or give as gifts. The place we went to for this particular workshop was called 'Token Studio', where they also do a variety of other craft activities during the week including crochet, jewellery making, and life drawing lessons (something I am eager to try!). In the future, I hope to be able to write more posts about these crafting adventures!

Fem