It is always a wonderful roller coaster of a magical mystery tour when my friend Anna Roebuck from The Making House comes to stay. Add to that the fact we are both art and design fanatics, brimming with ideas, constantly creating with our own distinct styles, there is a recipe for something exciting to happen.
Frida Kahlo inpired tiles.A few years ago I created the Frida Kahlo tile mix. A wonderfully bright colourful folky mix, just as the artist herself would like it. Many of you have this mix, some of you have sent me pictures of them in your homes (picture above sent to me by Liz of her kitchen looking fantastic with the colourful mix)...(Also see customer gallery page for more customers pictures).
Anna has loved that mix from the minute I first listed it for sale. Obviously it was with this mix as a starting point that Anna and I started creating 'The Making House Mix' of tiles.
The Frida Kahlo mix is 20 tiles, each with a different design. I knew Anna wanted more than 20, would want them all different, so, added a few of my more unusual designs in, many never listed before designs that i thought she would like. Then she came to personally make the final choices.
Anna being a very good friend got access to every single tile design. I made a video of her choosing, in which I'm offering even more possibilities. Anna is not afraid of mixing up pattern, colour, pretty, floral, bold, dark. She went entirely with her gut, exactly what felt right. Normally I would need to guide someone through the choices, not here. The finished collection is fabulously bold and eclectic. A real expression of Anna herself.
Above is a still photo from the video of Anna (foreground) and I choosing the mix.
Anna also requseted that I make four tiles with off centre designs. I love how they came out, this also made me think of designing a whole other mix.
Here it is 'The Making House Mix' ..............
Now listed here, for all you lovers of the eclectic bright and colourful
The Making House Tile Mix.........A little more about Anna Roebuck and The Making House.
Anna is a mixed media Artist working in many mediums. Best known for her work recycling plastics (for which she has won awards) into an amazing array of beautiful products, especially jewellery. She started her first business Bags2Riches in 2001, now selling through her web page https://www.annaroebuck.com/
The Making House, based in Burton on Trent, is her studio and also a dedicated workshop space where you can learn and develop your skills in a variety of crafts. Anna's aim is to provide high quality workshops that enable you to enhance your skills, support you in your creative journey and, of course, for you to leave with something you’re proud of.
Many of the workshops are taught by herself, a qualified teacher she has been delivering creative workshops for over 18 years in many different formats. She also likes to bring in guest tutors, so that I can offer new and exciting projects to support my programme.
Visit www.themakinghouse.org for more information.
We both envisage teaching workshops at each others studios in the future.